The Big Blackout!!!

[Pick]

We are running on two generators now. EU2000 running Airstream and house fridge. 5 KW contractor type running water pump for house and this computer. We do have some local power due to 1 MW genset at power distribution center. We were able to get some gasoline for our generators at local convienent store because of this.

All of the drinking water at grocery stores is gone. Big run on beer and wine. Long lines at gas stations. Almost like 9/11.

BTW, this Campbell Hausfield generator is a real POS, almost falls on it's face when well pump kicks in. I may try and run A/S air conditioner off it it to cool coach down.

By for now, I may check in from work tomorrow morning.

[Fun-Lovin]

Do you think this might be the y2k bug finally showing up.
At least you have a generator most people don't.

Greg

[Silvertwinky]

Hey Pick,

I was wondering if you got caught in that black out!

We were without power in Feb. due to the big ice storm for two days. I went and bought a generator and before I could get it running the power came back on but that's a long story, maybe I'll tell about it sometime!

Those generators are nice!

[59toaster]

If you haven't been able to watch the news they are starting to come back online. Last report in NJ is back and at least part of Detroit. You should be back on soon.

[john hd]

pick

i know i wouldn't want to be working trying to restore an outage of that magnitude!

from what i heard at dinner time they lost a plant in new york. then it was a cascading outage due to load.

john

[85MH325]

Originally posted by john hd
pick

i know i wouldn't want to be working trying to restore an outage of that magnitude!

from what i heard at dinner time they lost a plant in new york. then it was a cascading outage due to load.

john

that's gotta be a nightmare getting back on line. i thought the switch systems were set up now to isolate specific power companies' distribution systems rather than a failure causing a cascading failure such as this, specifically as a result of y2k planning. i guess it either wasn't fully implemented, or something failed...

any opinions, john?

Roger

[74Argosy24MH]

I sure am glad I didn't use any of my 53 ohms of gas in the mh today. They say it will probably be out through the weekend. Using a little generator to run some fans. Sure seems weird without any lights, but it should be a good night to look at Mars without all the city lights.

John

[john hd]

roger

as much as the power company would like you to believe they are independent of each other, they are not.

most automated substations have under frequency relays that trip when you go below 59 3/4 cycles.

this prevents overloading to the point of actually burning the lines down to the ground.

not good any way you cut it.

then, when they get around to re energizing circuits that have been out for quite some time they will experiance "cold load pickup". in other words, linemen will need to go out and sectionalize lines into small pieces. allowing load to be added to the system a little at a time.

lots of work.

it ain't just flipping a switch to get it back on!

i have been told the worst part is starting power plants cold. they don't self start. you need to get power to them first, so you can restart the internal machinery.

good luck folks

john

[drboyd]

You're right about starting plants cold... a "black start" of the entire system is one of those things that gives utility planners nightmares. Also, steam plants aren't real happy when they're running at full load and suddenly trip; things tend to break and steam shoots all over......and the guys in the control room all start yelling, "&%^@#%!!!!!!" and running around like crazy.

I've heard the main relief valve go on a 800 mW steam unit, and it sounded like a 747 was flying thru the office building with the doors closed. It won't hurt you unless you're sitting on top of it, but it'll scare the heck out of you!

[85MH325]

Originally posted by john hd

it ain't just flipping a switch to get it back on!

i have been told the worst part is starting power plants cold. they don't self start. you need to get power to them first, so you can restart the internal machinery.

good luck folks

john

I work for a city that has municipal utility power, and a good-sized five-engine dual-fuel generation plant. We only run for co-generation at peak load. They're scheduled to run today from 1PM to 7PM. It's a fascinating operation. We've had some outages here, though, and they've been localized pretty much to our county. When we went off-line, we haven't taken anything else with us. Is it that because we were not co-generating at the time, and our load wasn't sufficient to overload the transmission system?

Interestingly, one of those five engines is just large enough to power City Hall, the power plant, and provide start-up power to the big engines. That's really it's only job, although they can run it for co-generation too, if the necessary load is big enough.

I hope that all of you out there without power are doing OK!

Roger

[Pick]

Our power came back on around 11:45PM last night. I had my main breaker shut off, for protection and did not know it was on, until this morning at 6 AM when I went out with a voltmeter to check for power at the main panel. We kept the EU2000i running all night, hooked to the A/S and house fridge. I filled it up at 11:15 PM and had it running in "econo" mode. It never ran out of fuel.

Everyone seemed to be quite civilized in our area. No price gouging on fuel reported. For some reason everyone needed to fill their vehicles with fuel. On the 11 o'clock news, they showed a local convience store with 40 cars in line for gas. This store was next to the local municipal coal fired power plant. (30 MW) They had power in a 10 block area surrounding the plant.

[Penguin]

I live in NC so we weren't affected, except for the "what if" trauma.

But I was thinking that people could be very flexible and accomodating once they figure out it's "just" a power failure, and their new President is not a 6-4 guy on dialysis named "Osama"!

[trumpwer]

I have worked with the Red Cross for years, we always push preparedness packs, never occured to me till now we call ours Airstream. Pulling it down by the river under to cottonwoods is better than AC.

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally posted by Penguin


But I was thinking that people could be very flexible and accomodating once they figure out it's "just" a power failure, and their new President is not a 6-4 guy on dialysis named "Osama"!

?

Eric

[Penguin]

Sorry, Eric, didn't mean to be obtuse!

With the worm in the computers and the massive power failure, most people I know were immediately drawn back to 9/11. It was a great relief to learn that the power failure was NOT because someone or some group (Osama bin Laden) was attempting to sabotage us.

I think that relief carried into folks' behavior. Everyone has been very patient and I think that's a result of not being fearful about terrorism. I'll take a dozen power failures over ONE successful sabotage!

Is that more clear?

[Silvertwinkie]

Gotcha! Thanks for the clairification....I'm not the quickest on the planet!

Eric

[Penguin]

Well, I'm a writer...I'm supposed to get it right the first time!

[71tradewind]

Well its 6:10 Friday evening and still no power in this region of Metro Detroit . Good news is I have an Airstream to cook and stay cool in ! I knew this AOL account would come in handy one day.

[74Argosy24MH]

Well its 6:10 Friday evening and still no power in this region of Metro Detroit.

Hang in there it is on the way. Mine came back on about 7:30. Less than a mile away had been on since 9 am, so it is hit and miss. But it is nice to have it back, that generator sure does suck some gas.

John

[InsideOut]

Yeah...and this darn blackout prempted our rally coverage!!! Bummer...

Shari

Update:

I spoke with the producer in NY this morning, they have rescheduled the segment to air this Friday the 22nd, at 5:30-6:00 MDT, check your local listings. Again it's supposed to be at the end of the the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw...kind of a "have a good weekend" segment...hopefully no more crisis will preempt us...