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PSA: PG&E announces potential for blackouts due to high winds for Bay Area and Central Valley

We’re you affected by the power outage?

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JVU said:
My condolences, what a bummer.

I do think we all need to rethink our electrical backup strategies since it seems like longer outages like this are the new norm.
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thanks. Just noticed that my big r WD colony was one of the casualties.

I can’t really complain though. Loss of a few corals is obviously nothing compared to what many folks are going through in the actual fire areas. Stay safe.
 
sfsuphysics said:
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
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the annoying thing is, I do have lots of back up power options, just not if I’m away. I also didn’t know that AI hydras nor Orphek V4 would not default to their programs after a few days off.

regarding temperature, I don’t know what it would have been as I was out if the country, but I doubt too cold. The average day temp was about 68F, so probably about low 70s in the house.

Unfortunately an auto start generator isn’t really an option: people get really annoyed by the noise if they are running at night.

I think best option may be to increase solar (currently have 4kW installed) with an auto-isolator transfer switch and a power wall.
 
@RobMcC or others... I am unclear what caused so much damage, since I have not had the misfortune of 3 days with equipment down. Were the Tunzes not enough flow compared to what the corals were used to? Some systems have no sump with return and no skimmer. Also, can't corals live for 3 days without light? Did something die, like snails, and set off a chain reaction due to water chemistry? Did CO2 build up quickly and make the pH plunge?
 
MolaMola said:
@RobMcC or others... I am unclear what caused so much damage, since I have not had the misfortune of 3 days with equipment down. Were the Tunzes not enough flow compared to what the corals were used to? Some systems have no sump with return and no skimmer. Also, can't corals live for 3 days without light? Did something die, like snails, and set off a chain reaction due to water chemistry? Did CO2 build up quickly and make the pH plunge?
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Sure. Good question. Flow in my tanks is not just the Tunzes (I also run 3 MP40s in the big tank, which are not connected to battery back-up). Also the back-up battery is 12V, whereas most of my tunzes are set using the 24 v jumpers, so the flow of those on backup is approx half of when supplied my the power grid. True, some tanks are designed without sumps, but that is the normal case for them and is what the inhabitants are used to. For example, I'm sure zoas and other softies would be fine even in reduced flow to normal, but acro colonies not so much if they experience drastically reduced flow for 3 days. The skimmer is also the primary source of aeration in my tanks (as for many). Hard corals, and big acro colonies in particular like stability and need flow and oxygen and without it they die very quickly (which is why they do not ship well). Basically, as I mentioned my system was designed to run for a day or so on battery back up before requiring the back-up generator. Indeed, this worked fine for the first round of power cuts three weeks ago, as I wasn't able to start the generator until about 18 hours after power went out, but it would seem the limit on my systems is somewhere between 18 and 72 hours. The big tank was hit much harder than the small one, so I presume its limit is shorter. This may be because of the higher fish load, but it could be for any number of reasons (it is in a windowless room for example, so had no light either).

I doubt the chemistry of the water changed much, as no fish died. Likewise snails and other mobile inverts are very hardy (alk was increased very slightly in the small tank and by 1 dkH in the big tank, but that is expected given the dosing pumps resumed dosing, but there were less acros and/or stressed acros, hence growth and therefore alk/cal uptake is reduced.

Regarding lighting, as I mentioned, they didn't come back on when the power was restored (it appears they default to 'off' after an extended period without power), so the lights were out for about 6 days until I returned home. This may or may not have caused some of the issues, as it is confounded with the reduced flow and colder water, but it probably wouldn't have helped.

To be honest, I'm surprised more corals didn't die. Some acros colonies had half stripped, but appear stable now. Usually when that happens they are done for. I have two nems, they also look stressed, but at least they haven't started wandering, so I'm sure they'll be fine.

In terms of lessons for the next outage, in the short term, I think I'll add another deep cycle 100 Ah SLA to each tank and use 12V to 36 volt transformer for the return pumps. I have a DC to AC 500 W inverter that I could use for skimmers, but given this will drastically shorten the back up time, and I'm not often away from home, then I won't pursue this option.

Long term solution, power wall and auto-isolator/transfer switch. If I didn't have neighbors close by, I definitely go with a Generac whole house back-up generator, but they are just so noisy it isn't an option for most folks in a suburban area.
 
RobMcC said:
Not sure how that would have made a difference here. What were your ideas?
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If for instance @sfsuphysics was out of town and we were experiencing power outage I would be on it with a generator for him for at least a few hours a day. I know he’s only a couple blocks away.
@Oakland Evan was out of town, and without power for 3 days. I checked in for him. He had battery powered air pumps going which seemed to help a lot. I was able to borrow a generator from @The_Lazy_Reefer and keep everything going for him.
Just a couple examples.
 
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Shut offs have been announced due to high temps so I wanted to bump this thread. They said to expect 1-2hr shut offs in parts of SF, I didn’t read into their plans for other areas.

with my small tank I’m going to get a battery powered air pump and will look into a battery backup for my powerhead or surface skimmer
 
max_nano said:
Shut offs have been announced due to high temps so I wanted to bump this thread. They said to expect 1-2hr shut offs in parts of SF, I didn’t read into their plans for other areas.

with my small tank I’m going to get a battery powered air pump and will look into a battery backup for my powerhead or surface skimmer
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Get a marine battery and battery tender from autozone. A nice marine battery has enough amp/hrs to run a reef fully for quite some time. Also need a converter from the battery to plug into but not a bad solution to have around.
 
Ok PG&E can go eat a f'ing dick for shutting off power in San Francisco due to high temps. SF homes on average are some of the lowest electrical usage in the country, this is evident by our minuscule baseline amount they give us before they start getting all rapey with the pricing, and to top it all off.... SF homes typically do not have any way to cool using A/C unless you buy a window AC unit.... plus it ain't even that hot in SF.

That said, I do have an Ecotech battery, so I can plug it into one of the Vortechs in the tank if needed.
 
The shut offs when the weather is hot are not PG&E’s doing: the CAISO forces them to do rolling blackouts when demand is higher than supply.
 
from what I’m hearing at work out meteorologist are say we might be waking up to lightning and thunder for a few more days. So they already have Raised the fire index higher. And also they are going to do another round of rotating outages. I will update if it affects the Bay Area directly.
 
Just got this now:


PG&E Outage Alert: Due to extreme heat and high demand that may be greater than supply, the state's electric grid operator (CAISO) may require PG&E to turn off power in rotating outages from 3-10pm each day from August 17-20. Outages typically last 1 - 2 hours. Please conserve. More info: pge.com/conserve or caiso.com
 
svreef said:
Just got this now:


PG&E Outage Alert: Due to extreme heat and high demand that may be greater than supply, the state's electric grid operator (CAISO) may require PG&E to turn off power in rotating outages from 3-10pm each day from August 17-20. Outages typically last 1 - 2 hours. Please conserve. More info: pge.com/conserve or caiso.com
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That’s the same alert I was sent and I am in SF near marina/Russian Hill
 
People are googling, schooling, and zooming more from home now, maybe that's the reason for the blackouts.
Sorry boss, blackouts. Talk to you later!
 
Is there a website for when the rolling power outages might happen and in which areas?
Does this one work for the rolling outages? https://psps.ss.pge.com/

Edit:
The PSPS website doesn't include these forecasts since they are not caused by extreme weather, but caused by usage.
 
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