Author Topic: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?  (Read 17379 times)

dkmc

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Anyone on this forum running their Lister-or-roid on the west coast due to power outage?
I suspect if they were, they'd have already posted here
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xyzer

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2019, 05:46:19 AM »
My dad ran his 6/1 to keep the freezer inline! He is 93. I bought 2 from George many years ago. He put electric start on his. I think that may be a good idea as years move on.
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mike90045

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2019, 05:58:29 AM »
I'm here in the thick of it, but I'm also off-grid and it's been sunny, haven't run the 6/1 for power for several months.  Rain expected next week, may need it then.

Tom in Hopland, same thing, off grid, solar, and it's sunny.

Stores were a mess. Costco out of bottled water, all grocery stores were swarmed. Hardware stores sold out of generators and parts to make suicide power cords.  Lots of rural folks on wells needing 240VAC to run, but not with a cheap genset.

dkmc

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2019, 06:13:10 AM »
Gentleman, glad to see a quick response from a few of you. We all, (group members from all over the country and the world) can learn from your experiences with this situation. Sounds like stocking up on water or having a well is a GOOD idea. Please share your experience here and tell us how you managed this situation.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2019, 06:15:52 AM by dkmc »
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mike90045

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2019, 06:31:58 AM »
I think the final count was 700,000 households and business shut down for about 3 - 4 days. PG&E was pretty quick to get the grid inspected and turned back on.   The wind patterns were only mild and dindn't knock stuff down (but at the mountain tops they logged +70mph winds) .

But stores and restaurants lost cold storage inventory (any fixed generators over 50hp need an expensive permit from the AQMD (air quality management district) ATM's and credit card systems went down because of disconnects in the data lines - somewhere a phone system looses it's backup and there goes everything that feeds thru it.

dkmc

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2019, 06:55:21 AM »

I haven't watched TV in over 10 years......WHY did they shut off the power??
I am on the internet, but don't look at the news sites regular. Did anyone have forewarning on this? Enough time to stock up on gasoline?

Why wouldn't Cali require the permit for gen sets over FIVE hp.....just to make life a total PITA?
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BruceM

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2019, 04:03:51 PM »
PG&E was so busy handing out large dividends to shareholders ($4.5B) and huge paychecks to executives, it didn't have the money to trim trees and maintain the power lines.  They've got a million miles of lines which need complete replacement, lines, poles, transformers.  Now they have filed for bankruptcy.  American's are suckers for the "glories of the free market" swan song, and then act outraged when corporations act to maximize this years profits for shareholders.

Anyone with disposable income in California should be planning on pulling the plug on the power co.s, because the rates are about to go up, up up.  AZ power rates are rising fast as CA is buying power from AZ companies.  AZ couldn't stop them because of federal interstate commerce laws.

I sure like being off the grid with Listeroid backup/boost power.


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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #7 on: October 14, 2019, 03:30:59 AM »
And then there is this rosy gem of an article

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/10/11/the-lights-went-out-in-california-that-was-the-plan-all-along/

Guest opinion by Chuck Devore

The power has been out in Northern California. More than 1 million Californians were without electricity, one of modern life’s essentials that is frequently taken for granted. The blackout was done on purpose—to prevent sparks from powerlines that could ignite deadly wildfires.

On the surface, the blackout and its causes are simple to understand. But the deeper causes are complicated, span decades of public policy, and dozens of overlapping unintended—and intended—consequences of decisions, both related and unrelated.......

dkmc

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #8 on: October 14, 2019, 03:35:26 AM »

Well, if they gave Tesla more respect, we'd all be enjoying wireless electricity these days.
"No Wires -No Fires"

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BruceM

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2019, 03:43:13 AM »
The author is very likely a Koch brothers & Co. propagandist. Whenever I see someone working for a bogus (Texas) foundation (so called right wing "think tanks") and text blaming environmental restrictions I smell Texas oil money in the air.

It is a popular ploy by such writers to blame politicians and environmental restrictions for actions that are clearly as simple as greed and profit motivations.  They didn't trim trees along their easements, and they didn't have a reasonable schedule to update line equipment until it explodes in a shower of sparks.  It's that simple.  We have the same problem in rural AZ. 

« Last Edit: October 14, 2019, 04:25:18 AM by BruceM »

cobbadog

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #10 on: October 14, 2019, 11:32:14 AM »
Welcome back Glort.
We have way too many outages here and they always claim it is for maintenance and the last one definately was as they went the length of the street putting up new poles.
For a village supposedly on the grid I had to buy a gen set to keep power on for the fridge and seperate freeezer.
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BruceM

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2019, 03:54:03 PM »
I wonder if the power co.s will abandon rural residential and small farm service altogether in time, just as phone land lines are being abandoned now.

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2019, 05:48:37 PM »
Hey!  Enough of this bad mouthing the utility form of capitalism.  Growth almost always means pain.  Or does pain almost always mean growth?

I, too, am a bit burned out on the capitalistic model.  Too many victims and not enough winners.  I was in a classroom one day complaining about the profit margin of the local electric company and a couple of people recommended I invest in the corporation and take advantage of myself.  I still don't have a solid answer to their recommendation.  But I am grinning.

Of course if only the people of California had the ball diameter of those found in the Oz they would be just fine.

How big of battery pack would a household need to back up a generator to start a 1/2 hp well pump?  I'm assuming the light duty big box generators would be able to sustain them once they're up and humming.

I simply believe that solar panels on most every house and building would solve a lot of problems.
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BruceM

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2019, 06:14:41 PM »
My deep well submersible 1/2 hp pump draws 1400 watts running, and 4KW generator will start it readily, as does my 6/1 Listeroid w/ ST-3 head.  Start peak is about 3x running.  This is a 230V pump with both start and run wires.

I think there are gird tie PV controllers that do support isolated operation sans batteries.  That could keep your freezer and refrigerator from a total melt down, and give you some power for cooking. 

broncodriver99

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Re: California power outages......anyone running on Lister-roid power?
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2019, 11:05:27 PM »
Do half the people in the US use Bore water rather than have town water running to their house?  Having a well ( bore) here is very rare and only used in remote properties and then mainly for non human consumption because the majority of it has too many minerals etc. some is palateable but mainly it's used for stock watering and gardening and the like.
Seems every second house in the US has a Bore and everyone is concerned about running the things.  Here we tend to pump up to tanks so there is always a reserve anyway. 

I don't know the exact percentages but I would say it is 50/50 and chances are more of the country uses well water than municipal. Another thing is many of the smaller municipalities simply have a distribution system for well water where they have multiple high volume wells that they draw from. There are also areas of the US that still use rain water or snow melt collection and cisterns.

From what I have seen most properties(in rural areas) are developed with a well and septic system and only abandon them if/when a municipality expands it's distribution system and forces the land owner to connect to their system. In most areas if municipal water/sewer is available you HAVE to connect to it, AND PAY. I personally prefer well water. I currently have municipal water and it tastes like Sh*t and often smells like swimming pool water, it didn't used to though. The area I live in has some of the cleanest municipal water on the east coast but the overreaction, and over treatment of water, by many municipalities to things like the fiasco in Flint, Michigan where the municipality essentially poisoned every one they served has given municipal water a sour taste, no pun intended.