Home ownership
Maybe I missed a thread similar to this, but that's ok. I have been in my home for 10 years now, and there are some thi
When our power goes out it takes down a perfectly Coffin-shaped area on the Duke Energy map.
I just recently upgraded my outage prep with a 4800-watt Wen inverter generator and two LiFePo4 "solar generators" which can each run a fridge for a couple of days. My electrician says he can put an interlock in my panal for a lot cheaper than the transfer switch I was planning on.
Last month I dusted off my propane/gas generator that sits in the corner of my garage. The hoses were mostly dry rotted, The starter 12v battery was dead. Cleaned things up, replaced the hoses, repaired/charged the battery.
I'm now all set for a power outage!
I replaced my electrical panel last year and did something similar to what your guy is saying. I just don't have the interlock because I know to turn the main off before connecting the generator. Will definitely have to change it up a bit when/if I ever sell. Power pretty much only goes out in winter and I have gas heat so I can hook my generator up and run the whole house.
Outages are rare here, maybe one every 2-3 years? Maybe even further apart. Since I'm in a newer neighborhood, everything's buried, so don't have to worry about wind/trees taking down power lines.
Also noticed this AM the apple tree is blooming, which (from memory, lol) is generally more a mid-to-late April event. Trees and bushes are coming out. It's going to be bad in the older arts of town if we get a not-unusual late, wet, snow with all those leaves out already.
Our lines are overhead and the crossposts are rotten as hell, but they won't change them out to the fiberglass/plastic ones until they break, so ice breaking a tree branch off gets us every year or so. Like you, we can then look longingly at the neighbors across the street who still have power, lol.
Our lines are overhead and the crossposts are rotten as hell, but they won't change them out to the fiberglass/plastic ones until they break, so ice breaking a tree branch off gets us every year or so. Like you, we can then look longingly at the neighbors across the street who still have power, lol.
I'll swap with you. Last fall our power company trimmed any branch within 10' (I think) of their lines. I spent two full days picking up and burning downed limbs that they didn't pick up when they were supposed to be cleaning up. In addition, I think their cherry picker ruptured my water line which took a chunk of change to have fixed. The plumber agreed they probably broke it, but he said "probably" was the best he would say.
I cut grass yesterday and still hit a few small but thick chunks of limbs that I missed picking up. At least they only seem to make the rounds every 4-6 years.
Yeah, they don't butcher the trees regularly here either. Whenever there's an outage from a fallen limb they'll do that block.
This is the most aggressively they've cut them around here. They used to at least pretend to care about the aesthetics, but this year it was "if you're a millimeter over the line according to my eyeball you're coming down" and "if I can make one cut lower down the tree rather than two higher up to save me some time and effort" ...
the roof of our house is visible somewhere in this image
Spoiler
a place of all powerlines overhead not unfamiliar with much a gust up o above 50 or so after three inches of rain over two days before
or when those whore columbia gorge winter winds funnel most our frozen air smack dab head on tword warmer foggy ocean breezes drifting eastward from the sunset intersecting where well i met ya terminates into rivers of lets see nope so i called um bye ya
week long ice storms plating wires and branches with extra weight while uberly delaying pdx flights
we did not have a single ice storm or snow at our elevation this winter for the first time in a quarter century
yet another thing to scare me
Damn, I thought you guys normally got a lot of snow. Had no idea you could go without.
Red, what elevation are you at? You're in Oregon, right?
I know some people in Oregon who said they have recently been moved to a higher USDA grow zone. They are almost in Idaho tho.
Power out for about 3 hours today. Everything seems to be ok.I don't understand the circuitry (?) of the neighborhood. I live on a small north-facing cul-de-sac, six houses, 3 on east, 3 on west. It attaches to a small half-circle, which connects on both ends to the through street (all residential).Anyway, on the occasion we have a power problem, it seems to be the three wes
When laying out the grid for a planned neighborhood the power company will usually block the circuits out in squares or rectangles to avoid line losses and your cul-de-sac is likely a good dividing line.
Our house in St. Louis was on the corner of one of those rectangles. The houses across the street were on a different circuit so one of us could lose power and the houses across the street would be lit. Occasionally we'd run a long extension cord for each other so we could keep a refrigerator going.
I know some people in Oregon who said they have recently been moved to a higher USDA grow zone. They are almost in Idaho tho.
Heard a story yesterday that wine-growing is moving north into Oregon, and some existing places had to change their grape types to varieties that are more heat-tolerant. Not being a wine person, I wasn't listening closely enough to have any details.
Got home from the bar-poker league last night, and got a beer to watch the end of the NCAA games. I have a little bar fridge in the basement. Something looked odd when I pulled one out,
Turns out, it had a coating of relatively clear ice on top. I figure when the power was out yesterday, the little cooling plate in back melted off a little ice, which dripped into the top of the cans in that last row, then re-froze when the power came back on.
We have gas hot water and stove + 2 fireplaces so kinda dont mind an occasional power outage. There is an unboxed Generac 3500w generator in my garage my BIL gave us but never found a need to open
we're around 800 feet and the closest this year snow fell within a knuckle of sniffing distance was among the 1000+ countours excepting a couple lower oddly cold valley micro-climactic pockets along the crick bottom, but nothing in any of those places was ever really felt or stuck to other objects
so you made me look re: verses on our past winter
spoiling primairly for data annoyingly reported backward
Spoiler
feb low temp was 33 once, avg lo 39, avg hi 51.
more rain than usual, prevailing warmth didn't help keep it around
jan low was 28 twice, two other days at 31. avg 37/48 with half the typical rainfall at only 3"
dec low was 35 twice, avg low 43 six degrees warmer than normal
8.5" of rain was over 1 more than dams expected, powering through otherwise secured spillways with a primordial rare record scoured earth flood campaign momentum always flowing relentlessly toward the ocean
fema and the bible will surely be tested with this one
it should slow down
nov low 37 with average rain
mountain snowpacks are 25% below median and among the lowest ever recorded and there are already wildfires being fought in parts of washington and oregon before easter has even had a chance to rehappen yet
currently storking up on one pole wired big box window fans with ample square furnace filters bungee cord jungle strapped while listening to this particular flautist recording
may the ironic fire of mother natures lips have mercy on my lungs
Spoiler
Let's begin!
Go mark! Looking forward to the before/after pictures.
I had the HVAC guys put in a MERV filter, thinking it might help with allergies. If it has, it's been a small improvement. It was time to change the filter, so got on HD's website and searched around.\
Unlike normal filters, these have a nominal width (20x25x5 in my case), and then an actual, somewhat smaller width.
The unit has a little channel of sheet metal to slide the filter in, 4 3/8" wide. Most of the ones I saw were 4 1/2" wide, so they won't work. Of course the filtering is only to the nominal width, not the actual.
Anyway, found a MERV 12 filter with the right width, so ordered that up. It arrived yesterday. Walked up to HD, thinking those are really light, I'll just carry them home. While I'm up there, I'll grab a jug of grass seed.
They were light. However, did not factor in how cumbersome a two-pack of filters of that size were to carry. Plus the seed. It's probably just short of a mile walk, so not too bad, but wasn't pleasant.
Anyway, get home and--of course--the filters are 1/8" too deep. I thought I'd double-checked all three dimensions, but obviously failed.
The little door to the filtering unit didn't quite close, but it's snapped on good enough. It'll work until next spring, when I will try to be more careful.
That's the one part of the job that I could handle, Mark. Not that I would want to ...
The start of the journey is always the most exciting part!
Are those studs old-time 2x4s that are actually 2x4?
2x4 is a rough measurement from the mill, even in ye olde times if they got a 2x4 from a mill they had to surface it losing however much before you can put it in a wall. But they surface at the mill because shipping is expensive.
The house I grew up in had 2x4s that were 2x4. Made it a bitch when my dad and I replaced windows.
I make no claims about the carpentry in your house, only the history of commonly available lumber in America.
If you started with a 6x3 you could finish it to around 2x4 and put that in a wall if you wanted to.
After dealing with my 1969 house, they're significantly more dense than the wood today.
