as an employee of a electric utility i have done "special jobs" dozens of times for things like ag shows, carnivals, small town festivals, school events etc. just imagine hundreds of nesco roasters at a massive potluck! lots o kilowatts!
our recent 4th of july fireworks show had dozens of rvs hooked up to temporary service for almost a week. it was for the crews building the firworks show.
we always galdly build whatever size service for the above, even if it is torn down a week later. builds goodwill in the community.
an international rally would not be any different...
a good electrician or team of them could do it quite easily given enough notice. the utility will provide the rest, poles wires transformers etc.
Originally posted by john hd i cannot believe they don't go for full hookups!
a good electrician or team of them could do it quite easily given enough notice. the utility will provide the rest, poles wires transformers etc.
all it takes is enough notice and money!
john
True, true... woudn't you have to put in a transformer station to run 2000 trailers/motorhomes with 30 & 50 amp hookups to run the A/C units etc. etc. etc.? Wouldn't that be nearly like wiring a 2000 unit subdivision?
If that's the case, part of the problem is that there typically aren't big enough feed lines to the locations where they have these things. The wiring (so I've read in the Blue Beret) is done by volunteer member electicians. They try to give about 3 amps to each unit. I suppose that they re-use the wiring & boxes every year?
Oh, and Jack... I'll bet you can't live without one!!! Keep us posted!
Roger
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AIR 2053 “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” Robert Heinlein 2006 Bigfoot 25B25RQ towed by a 2001 Born Free 23RK moho
If you gave 2000 units a full 30 amp service that would be around 7.2 Megawatts! However not everyone will be using full power 100% of the time so I bet 5 MW would still be overkill. This would be a piece of cake for a company like Agrekko to handle. A modern 1 MW gas turbine generator is suprisingly small. (Actually I don't think anyone makes one that small anymore, Solar used to make a 750 KW model for AT&T) Not sure how an existing electric utility would handle such a large temporary load. The power supply end is easy, distribution is the bear.
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CP 9 miles off Exit 399, I75.
2003 GMC 2500HD 4X4 D/A Ext. Cab
Propane Powered Honda EU2000i
Lots of Hot Sauce! Air # 283
John... you sound pretty casual about this... do these things just grow on trees? every truck carry 'em?
seriously though, what would it cost to provide full service electricity to 2000 trailers like that? wouldn't the temporary wiring for 30 amp circuits be outrageously expensive? I was thinking about how many pole transformers, 2000 circuit breakers, grounded outlets, and God knows how many feet of heavy wire...
Roger
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AIR 2053 “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.” Robert Heinlein 2006 Bigfoot 25B25RQ towed by a 2001 Born Free 23RK moho
Well, I'd think it would be, but like John said, anything is possible with time and money.
Eric
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Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 1991
If these International Rallies draw 2000 to 3000 every year, and all participants are registered members, why not pool the resources of all members and purchase land centrally located that would accommodate this rally every year? It may sound like an outrageous suggestion but, 3000 members chipping in on a piece of land that could be laid out for the purpose of a large rally with full hook-ups for everyone (electric, water, sewer) may not be that expensive per member as you think. Also, with the addition of new members joining constantly, the cost could be reduced.
All I know is that if I'm gonna be in a place with 1999 other campers in a confined space and it's hot, I'm gonna need A/C. Now that I have the unit, I might as well use it.
Heck with 2000 units mult that by a $8/night electric fee to me would be worth $40 for 5 days. Then figure the math and the best case that's $80,000.00. So let's say half that is what happens, that's still $40,000.00.
Just a thought. It would be worth it to me.
Eric
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Computers manufactured by companies such as IBM, Compaq and millions of others are by far the most popular with about 70 million machines in use worldwide. Macintosh fans note that cockroaches are far more numerous than humans and that numbers alone do not denote a higher life form. -NY Times 1991
Well keep your eye on the Springfield International Rally in 2005 because this may be the first big full scale roll out of electric. I wouldn't be surprised to see them probably try a smaller version in Lansing next summer.
Jack
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Jack Canavera
STL Mo. AIR #56
'04 Classic 30' S.O.
'03 GMC Savana 2500
'08 Vespa GTS 250
The 2003 International Rally was my first Airstream rally. I was impressed with how friendly everyone was. We were issued "first timer" ribbons and almost everyone greeted us with "welcome, first timers". I only attended a couple of the scheduled events but spent most of the time meeting and talking with other Airstream owners about their trailers and travels. We met some really nice folks that we will continue to correspond with. We have a dog so we were parked in the "doggy section" which had a big open grass field behind it for walking and exercising your pets. I was really impressed at how diligent everyone was about picking up after their pet.
It was quite hot and air conditioning would have been nice but we really didn't spend much time in the trailer other than to sleep and it was quite comfortable by 10:00 pm. I was one of those who had a Fantastic fan installed (my second one).
The vintage section was particularly interesting to me. The owners opened their doors to all who wanted to look inside and some even offered snacks and drinks. There was a 1935 TT which was built from Wally Byams plans. The original owner's son owns it and I believe he said it has over 400,000 miles on it.
Since this was my first Airstream rally I can't compare it to local or regional rallies but I think I will attend others in the future. I think 2004 is in Lansing, MI, 2005 in Springfield, MO and 2006 in Portland, OR.
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Jerry Sullivan
'01 Limited
'01 Safari
On The Road, USA
I arrived with another trailer around noon on Friday, June 27. By the time we arrived, the Exposition grounds were full to capacity as was the overflow parking located a couple of miles down the road. WBCCI ended up negotiating a deal with the owners whose property abutted the fairgrounds to let us park on their property. For those of you who attended the rally, our location was to the right of the Vintage section, next to the red barn with the large silo.
As it turned out, this was a very good location because we were parked on grass which minimized the dust. The only drawback to the location was the owners of the land needed us to vacate their yard by July 3 as they had a July 4th family bash planned. It was a minor inconvenience to have to pack up and move as we didn't have far to go. We just moved 500 yards to the other side of the fence in the Vintage area.
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