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General => IHADAV8 Playground => Topic started by: nocooler on December 02 2019, 01:21:49 PM

Title: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: nocooler on December 02 2019, 01:21:49 PM
Without power for 32 hours. Ended up packing up and staying at the parents last night. When we got back here this morning it was 57F inside and 23F outside.
Oh yeah and the ice took out a tree in my front yard.
I called my dad and asked him to bring me a chain saw. I started going to town with my 10" pole saw and when he showed up 1.5 hours later my wife and I had it pretty much all done. So he helped shovel the driveway!


It's nice to be home with power/heat!

Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: daveismissing on December 02 2019, 04:57:06 PM
Pole saw is tough on the back- well done. We had Christmas eve and day+ without power a few years ago, brought my turkey to my sister's oven and everything else on the BBQ.
Starts you thinking more like a prepper...
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: nocooler on December 02 2019, 05:34:54 PM
My wife and I talked about getting a generator - but when you need one isn’t the time to buy one! I’d be okay to attempt hooking it up if I had the internet to fall back on but not something I want to do flying blind. I’m pretty damn sore but it wasn’t safe to leave it dangling next to the house. It missed the window by 1-2”. I’m pretty impressed with the ryobi 40v system, batteries lasted 45 minutes each in the pole saw cutting pretty much non stop. 
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: TexasT on December 02 2019, 08:51:58 PM
I bought our generator on clearance after the hurricanes when we lived in Houston in 2005 or so. I keep it full of the stabil. It is a honda engine so it has always started so far.  

Nice job on the tree. I hate cutting wood though I do like burning it.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Forzfed on December 02 2019, 10:52:14 PM
Wet and heavy snow?  We had that a month and a half ago.  The amount of trees in the city it took out was crazy!  I had two trees on the side of the garage break but they weren't that big.  Another one was touching the garage window and I was able to clean the snow off of it and it popped back up two days later.  I also had one tree break four big branches in the back yard.  I still have to clean that up.

Those natural gas back up Generators look neat, but are expensive.  They can run on propane too.  Good to see there wasn't any damage to your house or garage!
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: daveismissing on December 02 2019, 10:55:04 PM
Once I figured out a die grinder with the right sized grinding stone sharpens a chain in 3 minutes  I began to enjoy the cutting. Spent many a day clearing properties with my dad.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Steve Wood on December 02 2019, 11:44:01 PM
These modern cordless tools are a godsend.bim glad it missed the house and you have power again
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: nocooler on December 03 2019, 11:26:12 AM
Quote from: Forzfed
Wet and heavy snow? 
Freezing Rain and wind

Quote from: Steve Wood
These modern cordless tools are a godsend.
I'm really liking the brushless stuff. It doesn't have the noise, heat, smell, nvh of the gas counterparts. 

I spent a couple hours this morning cutting branches that hung over the driveway. Brush pile is getting pretty big....
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Steve Wood on December 03 2019, 04:59:21 PM
My son had a couple of ryobi tools so I gave him a chainsaw last Christmas.  He has gone beserk cutting down stuff LOL.  It's a lot less hassle than using my Stihl
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: SuperSix on December 09 2019, 01:18:44 PM
That's a beautiful house, Jeremy. I have a 6500w (running) generator, and a spare carb just in case.  Spare carbs are $15.00, no reason to not have a spare. Even with Stabil, the carbs still get gummed up. I take the carb off after running and clean it just to be sure.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: nocooler on December 09 2019, 01:37:16 PM
Thanks Mark! Come tax time I think we are going to look at whole home generator setup. I don't think we are in a good location for solar or I'd consider it.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Grumpy on December 09 2019, 02:17:36 PM
Quote from: nocooler
Thanks Mark! Come tax time I think we are going to look at whole home generator setup. I don't think we are in a good location for solar or I'd consider it.
Just put a propane one at my mothers a year ago. One less thing I have to worry about. Runs the whole house.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: SuperSix on December 09 2019, 09:47:03 PM
Here you go, SBC 350 ! :)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Generac-91A-5-0L-Standby-Natural-Gas-Stationary-Generator-Set/262080321814
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: daveismissing on December 10 2019, 10:34:17 AM
You guys would have laughed at the setup I kludged together to build my cottage.
A belt driven 15A genny driven by a 6HP horizontal Briggs. Had to blip the circ saw and let the Briggs governor ramp up the throttle before actually using it.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Steve Wood on December 10 2019, 11:23:26 AM
The Cowboy Church here is about five miles out of town.  It's electric bill was horrendous and the power companies thumbed their nose at it because they thought they had no choice.  The Church figured out they could buy their own generator and propane tank and pay for it in just a few years as compared to continuing to pay the commercial rates.  When the utility heard about the plan, they immediately wanted to offer a new rate but the Church went ahead and is supplying it's own power and living happily ever after.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Tim Hensley on December 10 2019, 06:08:40 PM
I work for the electric company in Hawaii I have solar and if the rates keep going up I’m going off grid. We’re over .30 cents a kw
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Steve Wood on December 10 2019, 07:14:07 PM
Damn!!  the price of living in paradise is more like hell
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Tim Hensley on December 11 2019, 02:50:05 AM
Ya sometimes.i was just as broke at the end of the year on the mainland.
Got to admit sometimes it’s a pain,and sometimes it’s overwhelming joy. Think we adapt to our surroundings take the good with the bad. I try to get my mom out here to get her out of the cold  Illinois winters. She won’t have it.
Preparing for the weather is a hard one. Store what we can share with our family and friends and they  will share with us.
We take time to share our time and experience with each other , so we have shown sharing is in our hearts.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: Steve Wood on December 11 2019, 09:58:08 AM
It seems to average out with the living costs.  Salaries are higher, costs are higher, we remain equally poor in the end if we are lucky.

Sounds like you need to go kidnap your Mom!  I understand how she feels, tho.  At least you all are not in southern California.

My electric bill at the peak this summer was about 11.8 cents per KW including fees, etc.  My base rate is .067/kw.  I was still griping LOL

The biggest complaint I have is expensive and iffy internet and satellite TV.  If the net was more reliable, I would ditch the tv as much of what I watch can be streamed if I could count on the net connection staying up.  MotorTrend app and Youtube TV gets most of it. 80 year old telephone lines that are not going to be replaced make for terrible dsl service.
Title: Re: What a way to end a holiday weekend...
Post by: SuperSix on December 11 2019, 11:26:15 AM
We cancelled cable TV earlier this year, clipped over $120/mo off of the bill. Getting ready to dump Netflix too , We use Prime Video and Youtube primarily, I put up a $20 HDTV antenna outside if there's something we want to watch on local broadcast TV. There's also an app called Tubi which has some great classic movies, albeit with minimal ads. 
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