Neptune Aquatics

Going to have no power for 2 days

J

Jonathan Chia

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Any ideas on how I can still keep the tank powered? The house will be losing power for at least 2 days due to electrical panel and solar upgrade

I was thinking of maybe just using a generator and running it in the garage....but not sure about noise and if it can even make it overnight without being refueled
 
Evan has a good idea assuming you're on good terms with neighbors, I know some neighbors literally are just living next door and no more interaction occurs.

Well if it were me and given the issue, maybe a generator until 10pm when things need to go out, then a battery backup to keep a pump going, assuming you have Vortech type pumps. Another option is to ask your installer about having temporary power, a little wink wink nod nod thing and they can pop off the meter and tap directly into the power... illegal as all crap I'm sure but it's a possibility.

And WTF no power for 2 days? Why so long? Electrical panel upgrade ok maybe the day, but once that's up you can use power you don't need to wait for solar to go up. If it's a waiting for the inspector type of thing just turn that sumbitch on as soon as the electrician leaves, then turn it off when they get there the next day :D
 
1) Neighbors with an extension cord.
2) Big inverter and an idling car.
3) Neighbors with an extension cord.
4) Lots of battery powered air stones.
5) Neighbors with an extension cord.
 
euod said:
There goes the idea of doing solar if I ever get around to it.
Click to expand...
Yeah I dunno why he's going to be out of power for 2 days. For me it was a matter of they did all the wiring just to the main panel, flipped the box off spent maybe an hour to hook it up to the main panel, and turned the panel back on. I mean I get it if they're redoing the entire panel maybe taking most of a day, but unless they're rewiring the entire house can't see a 2 day power loss. That said I'm not a general contractor so who knows.
 
If you get a couple of air pumps and one power head, on a big battery backup, you can go through the night fairly easily.
Then run a generator during the day.
You need to be awake when running the generator. If nothing else, to refill tank.
 
2 days sounds nuts to me. I’ve installed a large complex solar system that ran into issues, later installed high-voltage run for electric car charger, and then later installed whole-house backup batteries. Never was I down for more than a couple hours, during switch over.

I would directly ask the installers how long you will be without power, and tell them about how your tank can’t go for more than a couple hours without power.

In addition, I’d follow the advice from others above. Also I wouldn’t worry to much about running the generator after hours if you can get permission from your neighbors. One of those things that’s only enforced when there’s a complaint.
 
Garage with door cracked open should be ok for gen I think? Maybe you can apply for an expedition in the after 10 pm rule? Some are much quieter than others. Def run it by your neighbors. If they don’t wanna let you run an extension cord maybe they’ll put up with the noise.
 
I did not read the first post fully. This is for an electrical panel and solar upgrade?

Dump that contractor now and find someone better.

There is no reason to be down 2 days. You could rewire the entire house in less time.
I did solar, and power was down for minutes. They wanted an hour, but I pushed them.
 
Just run that generator and take a fine if need be

I’d tell my neighbors first, and if they don’t like it, screw em. It’s only 2 days
 
you can run a inverter generator in the garage. run a some kind of pvp pipe out side for the exhaust. make a cover for the generator out of some cheap wood to help with the noise. my gen can go up to 8 hours depending on the load. the inverter is not as loud as a regular gen, but still very noticeable if its dead quiet outside. i heard that egg crates make good sound proofing
 
I’m not an electrician but I’ve done plenty of city inspected electrical work (2 sub panels and all wiring for my basement and garage work shop). There’s no normal reason that the power would need to be off for two days. When you got bids, did the other contractors mention needing to have the power off for two days?
 
so the line needs to be upgraded from the Electrical box on the property, and so I need to have a trench dug, conduit laid, and then my solar contractor said that after they swap out the old 100A main panel for the 200A, city needs to come inspect it and what not. He said typically its a <1 day down time, but due to the new wire run from the main panel to the PGE box, that makes it a bit more of an involved process?
 
The trench is for the solar? Or the trench is to pull bigger wires to the house? Either way the electricity should be hooked up before the inspector inspects it the main breaker will simply be turned off, and the installation of the solar should happen regardless of what your panel is doing requiring minimal time to turn it off to do the final hook up.

While I still would be prepared, I'm willing to bet a dollar to a donut that you will have power it's just you're "not supposed to have it turned on" until the inspector signs off and slaps whatever sticker on your panel to show that he "looked at it" which depends upon the inspector and how close to lunch it is. My solar they told me not to turn it on until the inspector came, which was later in the week, but I turned it on as soon as they left :D
 
Yeah when they pull wires for the panel they should hook that up as soon as they do it. The solar installation should be just like adding another circuit meaning you should have power, you shouldnt have to wait until the also do the solar side of things
 
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