[dianedebuda]

At least we've got a few days of super weather in the 70s right now. Saw that PEC (my power co-op) only had 9 customers without power last night and thought about you. Forgot that you're 100 mi west of me instead of 50, so not on same co-op. Hang in there, pal.

 

[etcallhome]

johncanfield said:
And yet another lesson learned (learned it a long time ago) - keep various plumbing fittings on hand because when pipes burst due to a massive winter event like this is the big box stores get stripped of supplies. Inventory your plumbing and get a shopping cart and run down the plumbing aisle and keep throwing parts in the cart - seriously.

Gizmo2 I have on hand exactly that and this ↓↓↓

Same here , living where we do I have extra's I think of everything. I walk past a bag of 4" elbows of different angles, and 3/4 and 1/2" fitting , shark bites, just about everyday. You never know when you , a family member or friend will need.
Also keep , 12/3 wire , outlets, switches, connectors boxes all for same reason.
The longest we went without electric was15 days of those 15 days no power at

Just a thought, with all the cold weather, and you mentioned using the washing machine.

You might want to drain some water down your drains, to see if they have frozen. Could really make a mess when the washer is pumping out the water. 🤷‍♂️
Glad to hear things are improving, and as warmth returns that is when some of the water lines burst.

 

[coaltrain]

Great to hear of your progress John!

A couple comments from your writings -

With no power to run the cash registers and store servers, cash is king.

We always have a fair amount of cash on hand that is not touched. Probably too much but again....I feel our economy the way it’s going is going to break sometime in the rest of my lifetime.

And yet another lesson learned (learned it a long time ago) - keep various plumbing fittings on hand because when pipes burst due to a massive winter event like this is the big box stores get stripped of supplies.

Since there us no such thing as running to a big box store around here (3 hour round trip on good roads) I keep a pretty good inventory of plumbing, electrical, and hardware on hand.

Within the last couple years I found out about PEX and SharkBite fittings thanks to a couple members here. What great stuff especially for an emergency repair. One fitting amount others I keep on hand are SharkBite caps in 1/2” & 3/4”. To be able to isolate an area until a proper fix can be made and still have water to the rest of the house is golden,

Thought of another useful mention - we have a good bread machine ($250 class) and she makes a loaf of bread each week. Stores might have bread and milk now but they didn't a few days ago.

Now there is one place I am lacking - thanks for brining this up! However I won’t opt for an electric appliance being I try to keep things that work off grid totally. You reminded of what we did when we lived off grid which was keep half dozen or so frozen bread dough on hand. Yeah, you still would need generator power to keep the freezer going and some way to bake but it’s what we used to do.

These are pre shaped frozen bread loaves - all you had to do was thaw, let it rise, and bake.

Thanks for keeping us updated. I’ve been telling my wife about your predicament and progress. Even about Wonder Boy. Boy did that make her mad as she is such an animal lover.

We’ve had some good conversations the last couple days about what we have and what we need. Great that we are like minded about these things.

 

[Fuzzy]

A boot recommendation is Muck Boot Company model name "Chore". I bought mine from Cabela's (Bass Pro Shop) and have used them for everything outside. I start in fall with pheasant hunting and wear them outside all winter long. They're warm, dry and super comfortable. They even work great for snow shoeing. Best boots I've ever owned. Neoprene uppers and thick rubber lowers.

 

[coaltrain]

A boot recommendation is Muck Boot Company model name "Chore". I bought mine from Cabela's (Bass Pro Shop) and have used them for everything outside. I start in fall with pheasant hunting and wear them outside all winter long. They're warm, dry and super comfortable. They even work great for snow shoeing. Best boots I've ever owned. Neoprene uppers and thick rubber lowers.

I bought the Arctic version a couple years ago.

I didn’t buy them as dedicated winter boots but more for spring and fall. I like the fact that I can just slip them on with bare feet and go outside to do whatever I am doing.

Second winter now and they are phenomenal! I never wear socks (long story) and my feet have never been warmer.

Men's Arctic Sport Tall

The Arctic Sport is our tall wellington boot for extreme winter weather conditions. These boots step up the warmth factor with soft fleece lining and a 5mm neoprene inner boot for ultimate warmth in harsh cold conditions. The stretch-fit top-line binding keeps the boots snug to your legs to keep...

www.muckbootcompany.com

 

[ddinham]

Guys, I don't think any of our GTT members are cause to worry, but we don't know who might be trolling this site. Be cautious about mentioning having "funds" on hand. It could put you in a precarious position.

Dave

 

[JD4044M]

Good point on the cash and also being armed to protect it and you! Best not to let them know and have one up on them.

 

[johncanfield]

Oh boy, Houston we've got problem. The Honda EU7000is just gave up the ghost. Engine is fine but any kind of a load on any outlet causes it to cut power. At first we were getting an overload light then that stopped coming on. Even with a light load (800VA) it cuts off power. Both 120 v and 120/240 round outlets. We need to start shuttling food to the coach fridge.

The adventure continues

 

[Fuzzy]

The climate has been changing for thousands of years 🙂

I bought the Arctic version a couple years ago.

I didn’t buy them as dedicated winter boots but more for spring and fall. I like the fact that I can just slip them on with bare feet and go outside to do whatever I am doing.

Second winter now and they are phenomenal! I never wear socks (long story) and my feet have never been warmer.

Men's Arctic Sport Tall

The Arctic Sport is our tall wellington boot for extreme winter weather conditions. These boots step up the warmth factor with soft fleece lining and a 5mm neoprene inner boot for ultimate warmth in harsh cold conditions. The stretch-fit top-line binding keeps the boots snug to your legs to keep...

www.muckbootcompany.com

I'm not so sure how much warmer they need to be. I've snowshoed with mine this month in -30F windchill and my feet never got cold. I have also pheasant hunted with them last fall on 70 degree days and feet were not too hot. Yes, they do make an excellent boot.

 

[Treefarmer]

Oh boy, Houston we've got problem. The Honda EU7000is just gave up the ghost. Engine is fine but any kind of a load on any outlet causes it to cut power. At first we were getting an overload light then that stopped coming on. Even with a light load (800VA) it cuts off power. Both 120 v and 120/240 round outlets. We need to start shuttling food to the coach fridge.

The adventure continues

Sorry to hear that. You don't by chance have a welder/generator in the shop do you?

I hope a power crew gets to you soon and you can start putting stuff back together. I know this is getting real old.

Treefarmer

 

[ttazzman]

Oh boy, Houston we've got problem. The Honda EU7000is just gave up the ghost. Engine is fine but any kind of a load on any outlet causes it to cut power. At first we were getting an overload light then that stopped coming on. Even with a light load (800VA) it cuts off power. Both 120 v and 120/240 round outlets. We need to start shuttling food to the coach fridge.

The adventure continues

Don't know how far it is but if you have extension cords you could hook the fridge up from the rv .....very bad when a soilder quits like that....makes a case for several small ones vs one large one (but lots more to service etc)......very bad luck never heard of a Honda going down like that but thats symptoms of a bad inverter board $$$

 

[Gizmo2]

A fireplace is a poor choice to heat a home. It sucks all the warm air up the chimney. A good quality, properly installed wood stove however, can easily heat a small home. Our Lopi stove kept us at 72 degrees when it was 4 degrees outside. For a large home I would consider two or 3.

My mothers place, glass doors...

 

[johncanfield]

My contractor buddy is bringing a generator to use temporarily. I traded him my trusty 20 year old Honda EM3500 for some work but he's using it in an assisted living facility where he's the maintenance supervisor. We will power the fridge and garage freezer from the borrowed generator. I have about 60 minutes of UPS for the house network equipment so we're busy twittering until that starts beeping.

This is getting so old, fortunately there's a Honda dealer in our big town (20k population), so I guess I'll haul it there when possible. It only has about 135 hours, sigh. On the boat we had backups for the backups. I have three Honda EU2200i's on order but won't see those until Thursday or Friday (hopefully.)

 

[johncanfield]

Sorry to hear that. You don't by chance have a welder/generator in the shop do you?

I hope a power crew gets to you soon and you can start putting stuff back together. I know this is getting real old.

Treefarmer

Thought for a long time about buying a welder generator but don't have one, maybe that's on my Christmas list. At least we have the coach generator and fridge running.

 

[johncanfield]

My contractor friend brought over a Predator generator (Harbor Fright) and we are powering the house - thank goodness it has a 30 amp twist outlet. That Predator sounds like it's going to self destruct at any moment, it's like five times the noise level of the Honda but it works..

 

[etcallhome]

John , hate to hear your Honda generator gave out, but glad to hear your friend brought you a generator to use. Hopefully the ones you have ordered will show up and your local Honda dealer can get yours working again.

Continued Prayers

 

[johncanfield]

Thank you Gene for the prayers, we believe that they work. One thing of note in all of this mess is having a network of like minded friends makes for sharing the load. Wonder Boy has zero local friends and he doesn't want any, it's a setup for problems you can't handle by yourself. I'm staying up late (it's 2000 local time) for the fridge and freezer to chill down.

Signing off until tomorrow morning and thanks again for all of the help and advice. I'm old enough to know I don't know everything.

 

[Gizmo2]

Signing off until tomorrow morning and thanks again for all of the help and advice. I'm old enough to know I don't know everything.

I like to say, I'm smart enough to know I don't know everything.

 

[Treefarmer]

Thank you Gene for the prayers, we believe that they work. One thing of note in all of this mess is having a network of like minded friends makes for sharing the load. Wonder Boy has zero local friends and he doesn't want any, it's a setup for problems you can't handle by yourself. I'm staying up late (it's 2000 local time) for the fridge and freezer to chill down.

Signing off until tomorrow morning and thanks again for all of the help and advice. I'm old enough to know I don't know everything.

When my brother and I went down to help my sister's family after Michael, one of the things I noticed was they were so tired from just doing the things necessary to exist there wasn't much energy left over for anything else. Keeping generators running, cooking on a camp stove, getting things out of water soaked rooms, making a path through the debris field etc. just took so much energy that it was hard to do any larger projects. We were only there a few days but extra hands and a different perspective seemed to help some.

That's why I asked about the welder generator. I thought it was possible that one could be in a shop and JC was so necessarily focused on day to day or hour to hour tasks that stuff gets forgotten. When the power does come back on, there is going to be some tiredness that takes several days or longer to recover from. Then he can go strangle Wonder Boy who no doubt will be talking about how terrible his ordeal was.

Treefarmer

 

[johncanfield]

In spite of a new issue to deal with I had a fairly good night's sleep, yesterday I forced myself to basically do nothing (almost nothing) which was really difficult. The couch faces my deck that's covered with broken limbs, every time I looked out I was reminded I have things to do.

I'm going to ask if I can borrow that Predator generator for the long run, my EM3500 I traded to my contractor buddy has 20 amp twist lock and not 30 amp twist lock. If it was here I would have to run extension cords to power everything. I think I made a dryer outlet to 20 amp twist lock adapter (yes, potentially lethally dangerous) but the main load center breaker is off.

Got a shipping confirmation that two of the EU2200i's will be delivered Friday. If I ordered a EU7000is it would have to come truck freight which is taking about two weeks. I'll call around San Antonio to see what's available. San Antonio didn't have power issues other than the rolling blackouts.

The Mrs noticed one of the brand new tires on the boom lift was not only flat but the bead broke - it looks like when they first mount the tire. The boom life will be a major player in the cleanup so I need it fixed, I'll call the tire shop and get a service call on the books.