PSA: PG&E announces potential for blackouts due to high winds for Bay Area and Central Valley
- Thread starter RandyC
- Start date
The_Lazy_Reefer
Supporting Member
Presumably because they cut power to the telecom node(s) required for those services.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Wonder if this run of generators and presumably more of these outages will have an appreciable effect on air quality
RandyC
Supporting Member
So I've had around 18-19 hours on the Champion generator I bought
Couple of really good things about the Champion:
- It's pretty quiet for a generator (one neighbor didn't wake up when I started it and slept through the night, the other didn't even know I had a generator going)
- a 20lb tank of propane lasted me 14 hours (granted I did transfer some load to solar when the sun came out)
- I have 4 tanks, one fridge/freezer, and another freezer running off it and it's running like a champ
Couple of minor things I wIsh they had:
- a load (watt or amp) meter
- run timer so you could log the number of hours between oil changes
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Oakland Evan
Guest
Good to know, just had Vivent solar out to give a bid, who did you get your solar panels from? Why no backup battery/s with it?
RandyC
Supporting Member
Sunpower. Make sure you inquire about having an outlet available when the inverter is disconnected from the grid (not an issue if you get batteries). It's not usually a default install option.
This is the feature description for my inverter model:
Batteries weren't an option when I got solar installed. I should have installed the Tesla powerwall when they came out because the tax credit was awesome.
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sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
You will survive through these dark times
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Whats the 20lbs propane tank size? Is that the same size as the tanks on a grill?
RandyC
Supporting Member
henergizer
Supporting Member
Glad to hear people's tanks are surviving through the power outages
MolaMola
Supporting Member
In Pleasant Hill my house had no power for 24 hours, but school with tanks is a couple miles away and was fine - yay!
Was planning to go to Yosemite area to get to the high country one more time before winter closes Tioga Road. The house there had had no power for 24 hours either, but who cares, right? We came up Thurs and had no power for another 36 hours but were out and about anyway and also there was a full moon. Fortunately, had cell service to check weather. Now we have power again.
I have been out of the PGE loop for a couple days, but what I do not understand is along the way here was like in the Bay Area - multiple cities with partial outages but not in the business areas. I can't imagine adjacent neighborhoods are served by different transmission lines, so why spotty outages? To give a million customers a taste of PGEs power (pun)? Also, in my school district it seemed odd that some school outages changed after health inspectors made their rounds and said certain schools slated to have no power would have to be closed due to canceled food service that is required if open, so they were suddenly off the outage list.
Was planning to go to Yosemite area to get to the high country one more time before winter closes Tioga Road. The house there had had no power for 24 hours either, but who cares, right? We came up Thurs and had no power for another 36 hours but were out and about anyway and also there was a full moon. Fortunately, had cell service to check weather. Now we have power again.
I have been out of the PGE loop for a couple days, but what I do not understand is along the way here was like in the Bay Area - multiple cities with partial outages but not in the business areas. I can't imagine adjacent neighborhoods are served by different transmission lines, so why spotty outages? To give a million customers a taste of PGEs power (pun)? Also, in my school district it seemed odd that some school outages changed after health inspectors made their rounds and said certain schools slated to have no power would have to be closed due to canceled food service that is required if open, so they were suddenly off the outage list.
Curious - how did folks do with the more recent longer blackout that ended a few days ago?
I didn't do so well, as I was visiting friends in Europe. Battery backup worked fine, but as it only powers my tunze circulation pumps, 3 days without any other equipment running is straining the system a little (no skimmer, heater, lights, return pump). I didn't lose any fish, but lost 90% of SPS in my big tank and maybe 20% in my smaller tank and weirdly quite a lot of LPS (including several of indo trachys and torches and irreplaceable acanthophyllia
).
One thing that is a bit annoying is that even when the power came back on, some of the IoT reef equipment doesn't restart/reset to on..., so my smaller tank was without light for almost a week.
I need to re-think my set-up, as I designed it to work for approx 24 hours with me not present, then I need to be there to start the propane generator (which worked great for the PGE shut down two weeks ago).
I didn't do so well, as I was visiting friends in Europe. Battery backup worked fine, but as it only powers my tunze circulation pumps, 3 days without any other equipment running is straining the system a little (no skimmer, heater, lights, return pump). I didn't lose any fish, but lost 90% of SPS in my big tank and maybe 20% in my smaller tank and weirdly quite a lot of LPS (including several of indo trachys and torches and irreplaceable acanthophyllia
).One thing that is a bit annoying is that even when the power came back on, some of the IoT reef equipment doesn't restart/reset to on..., so my smaller tank was without light for almost a week.
I need to re-think my set-up, as I designed it to work for approx 24 hours with me not present, then I need to be there to start the propane generator (which worked great for the PGE shut down two weeks ago).
My condolences, what a bummer.Curious - how did folks do with the more recent longer blackout that ended a few days ago?
I didn't do so well, as I was visiting friends in Europe. Battery backup worked fine, but as it only powers my tunze circulation pumps, 3 days without any other equipment running is straining the system a little (no skimmer, heater, lights, return pump). I didn't lose any fish, but lost 90% of SPS in my big tank and maybe 20% in my smaller tank and weirdly quite a lot of LPS (including several of indo trachys and torches and irreplaceable acanthophyllia
One thing that is a bit annoying is that even when the power came back on, some of the IoT reef equipment doesn't restart/reset to on..., so my smaller tank was without light for almost a week.
I need to re-think my set-up, as I designed it to work for approx 24 hours with me not present, then I need to be there to start the propane generator (which worked great for the PGE shut down two weeks ago).
I do think we all need to rethink our electrical backup strategies since it seems like longer outages like this are the new norm.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
That stinks. With the way Pg&e is going with this new policy of theirs you really need to rethink a reef tank if live in an area where you might lose power.
Just like a chiller it's standard equipment in hotter climates, a generator that auto starts may be standard equipment in "windy" climates. 3 days without power as a just in case is not acceptable under any circumstance. I wouldn't be surprised to see lawsuits going toward then soon
Edit: or something like John has with solar plus the powerwall
Just like a chiller it's standard equipment in hotter climates, a generator that auto starts may be standard equipment in "windy" climates. 3 days without power as a just in case is not acceptable under any circumstance. I wouldn't be surprised to see lawsuits going toward then soon
Edit: or something like John has with solar plus the powerwall