Power Outage in the Rainy PNW

[Slartybartfast]

Spent the weekend at my wife's place near Seattle. A Pineapple Express was blowing through. Had six inches of rain in about a day and a half. Then some lightning and what they call "pelletized rain" to top it off. Middle of the night on Monday it was lightning and thundering. Pine cones were bouncing off the roof and occasionally you could hear a branch snap off and thud on the soggy ground. Hope it smashed a few banana slugs. The cats were sleeping on the foot of the bed, when about 11 pm all of a sudden it got really quiet. Refrigerator, heater blower, fan that my wife needs to drown out bothersome noises, all went silent. Power was out. Immediately I woke up, knowing what happened. Another blasted power outage. So I took off my mask, rolled onto my side and tried to sleep. Geez. What an effort. Wife discretely relocated to the other end of the house because of my snoring. The cats soon followed her. I really don't recall sleeping, and when I awoke, I had a sore throat and my chest ached. Power came on just after it got light, wouldn't you know.

What a difference CPAP makes.

[jules]

just over 3 years ago that nice storm that hit the coast and further inland was fun to deal with - we were out about 5 days and first day or more no one could get in or out of this community because of downed trees

[Slartybartfast]

Yes, I'm still hearing about that storm from the wife. She's a nurse, and when it got cold, she ended up putting her mom in a nursing home, boarding her cats and sleeping at the hospital across the bridge in Tacoma during that ice storm. She's in the forest. Huge trees all around. Apparently a woman in Port Orchard died the other night when a tree fell on her house. Poor lady. To die in one's sleep is not a bad way to go, considering the alternatives, but not from a tree dropping on you!

Diesel generator is next on my "honey-do" list.

[jules]

ice storm out here was 2 years ago - this was wind (130 mph gusts at Westport until the wind gauge at the Coast Guard station died) and wasn't cold but there was a nasty ice storm in 1996/7 I heard about

[Slartybartfast]

Ok, well, I guess maybe that's the one she was talking about. Trees came down all over the place.

Take home message, though, is that when the power goes out sleeping without my machine is just not worth it. I'd rather stay up all night. 'Cause even if I do manage to sleep, my wife and the cats won't. Until I get the generator hooked up I might keep a 12V battery in a vented box with an inverter handy for my machine.

[jules]

After the storm 3 years ago I invested in an Everest. I will not keep a 12 volt battery in the house. I have also learned how to sleep all night in a recliner chair. 3 years ago there were trees all over. Our county electric company brought in about 20 extra crews to help put lines back up. What we heard the first day was we have been hit hard, don't expect power back for a week and that one of the big metal major transmission lines coming from Bonneville Power (their supplier - ppl who own the big dam and nuclear plants) was down and they had no idea yet how to replace it.

We personally didn't suffer any damage except lost the freezer and fridge contents and the ice in the freezer melted all over the kitchen floor and we didn't catch it fast enough. I told the cats we were camping (they didn't know what that meant) and meals were interesting but we had ample food, warm clothes, and blankets and I had a crank radio.

The generator to run the pumps at the local Shell station (for those who needed it for their generators) were not available - they were coming in after the first day and got stopped as the roads were all closed. So if you get a generator, make sure you have fuel on hand for it. No one for miles had gas to sell (not that you could get there anyhow).

[DocWeezy]

Another PNW-er here...on South Beacon Hill near Boeing Field.

We got the incredible hail Sunday night, along with the wind. Amazing! We measured almost 2 inches and the hail part only lasted for about 3 minutes. The wind was so strong that in some areas the hail actually moved into drifts.

I was living in the old part of Everett during the late 80s and 90s era storms, and was fortunate enough to be on the "home grid" of the local PUD up there. Was never out of power more than a couple minutes, even when one storm was so bad that my neighbors a block away were without for almost a week.

Now, hubby being the engineering kinda guy who is ALWAYS prepared, we have a generator with fuel to run it. He's currently working on a backup power system for Darth so that I won't have to sleep "naked" in the event of a power outage. While I'm still not real happy with Darth, and still not sleeping real great, I AM to the point where I simply won't even try to sleep without him--not even for a nap. The one time I did recently, I woke up from a suffocation nightmare again and I hate that. Would rather have the mask on.

BTW, I always laugh when I see your name, Slarty. Adams is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I have a quote of his as part of my email signature: I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

Weezy

[Aces]

I too am a PNW'er. I didn't loose power. But I happen to be in the middle of an experiment with powering my CPAP machine by 12 volt DC power. It seems like a much better idea than a generator, unless you are looking to save your frozen foods. I bought a 12 volt power cord ($25) with my machine. And I already have a Jumpstart unit for my car ($55), which has a cigarette lighter outlet on it. It's rated for 18 Amp-Hr. I don't use a humidifier, and have my REMstar Pro set at 8cm H2O. I've used it for 6 nites now, on a single charge. I'm not sure how many more nites I want to try for, before charging it up again. My goal is for when I go camping this Summer. I typically go for 10 nites. I thought if I could go every other nite with the machine, it'd work. but I never thought I'd get mor than 3 nites out of one Jumpstart unit. So if anyone else here on the forums have done something like this too, how low can I run it down before things act up on the unit? After 6 nites of use, then go back to my outlet, then back again, for 6 nites use, I"m at 11.8 volts, which is suposed to be 25% of a full charge. Any comments would be appreciated. And if anyone wants to know more details about the equipment I'm using, let me know. BTW, My total CPAP hours on this single Jumpstsart charge are now at 41. and I unplug the unit from the Jumpstart when I don't have it on.

[Slartybartfast]

I'm not a full timer in the PNW (Gig Harbor). Got back together with my old flame from 25 years ago after being a single dad with kids for 10 years. The one that got away all those years ago finally relented and said, "Yes." Come to find out, I was her "one that got away" too, but was married by the time she realized it. I'm taking care of elderly parents and I have teenagers in high school, and am mid-career, so can't move at present. Hence, I fly Alaska Airlines about once/month to make sure she doesn't forget about me. So it was on one of these visits that the power went out.

Re: the generator: It's really as much hobby as practical. It's an old single cylinder diesel that weighs about 800 lbs. (Think: "Thump, thump, thump . . ." ) Looking forward to putting it to work in backup generator service.

re: the battery, everything I've read has it that anything below 50% charge (12.3V at rest) and you're doing damage to a lead-acid battery. So you might want to try to keep it charged a little higher than that.

And DocWeezy: Pithy quote from Douglas Adams that seems appropriate these days:

"Anyone capable of getting himself made President should on no account be allowed to do the job."

[Aces]

FYI, I'm the same guy as the guest "Aces" that posted earlier today. And since that post, I came across some great ones that talk about that problem. So I'm done at 6 nites. What really amazed me is that my doctor thought you could only get2-3 nites out of a jumpstart unit. And he wasn't thinking about long-term battery damage. This Jumpstart unit is 3 years old. I mainly keep it in my car for jumpstarting, and I use it's air pump to keep my tires inflated. So I'm very happy it did so well. I'd thought about getting another Jumpstart unit under the guise of being for my wife's car. But actually it would be to get me through the camping trip. After hearing others stories of how their snoring kept their camp bunkmates awake, I'm thinking I may still get the second unit, and then not have to alternate between CPAP and not.

[Slartybartfast]

He might have been talking about getting 2-3 nights out of a jumpstart unit if you're using a humidifier. I could get by without using the Climateline and heated humidifier, but it's more comfortable with it, especially if it's cold/dry.

FWIW, I saw a similar unit in West Marine the other day. Had 12V DC, I think a small inverter for 120VAC, a radio, a light, and several other doo-dads. I think it might have had an ear wax remover and nose-hair trimmer as well. Like a Swiss Army Knife. I looked at it just as a curiosity, but thinking about it now, it makes sense to have something like that if you live where the power is "iffy."

Actually, a computer UPS (uninterruptable power supply) might be worthwhile. I've got several lying around that run off 12V lead acid sealed batteries. Hmmm . . . I feel another project coming on.

[jlk]

FWIW, please see "any S-9 battery packs yet " john

[JohnBFisher]

I know you mentioned not wanting a 12V battery in the house ... I put together a backup battery design that works well, keeps the battery safe, and allows you to periodically check it (and use it).

viewtopic/t49115/Battery-Backup-Design.html

Can there be hazards of using a 12v battery? Sure. Especially if a short can occur. Or if it is not allowed to properly vent. Or if ... But this design helps to minimize those risks. I've used this design for about 6 years now (two different batteries). The first battery lasted 5 years with no problem.

Anyway, it's something to consider.