Power went off

[pkveazey]

My power went off at 2:30 and I broke my 30 minute rule. If the power is off for more than 30 minutes I hook up the generator. Well its still daylight so I think I'll give them a little more time before I hook it up
.

[pkveazey]

2:30 to 5:00 PM is long enough to wait. I hooked it up and now watch what happens. In about 30 minutes I'll see the neighbors sercurity lights back on and I'll have to go unhook all that crap.

[Sir John Honeybucket]

Yesterday, immediately after finishing re-reading "One Second After", our lights went OFF for a few seconds, its was a BRILLIANT ending to this famous EMP Apocalypse book.  I do wonder how the author arranged that??? 

Sir John Honeybucket

[pkveazey]

I took a ride while the power was off because I wanted to see how large an area was affected. Damn! I went 14 miles out and there was no power. Later I went to the truck stop(there power comes from a different company) and I ran into 2 Deputies and asked them if they knew how large an area was without power. They didn't know but one of them said that Main Street in Waverly was dead. Waverly is 21 road miles away. OK, the power came back on at about 8:30 pm. Well, it was a good dry run because I haven't used the generator in about a year. It started and ran fine and running it recharged the dead battery. I hooked up jumper cables to a full size car battery that I just removed from my SUV. I hope it also charged that one back up so next time I won't have to jump start the generator. I've had that generator for at least 20 years and I keep it in a storage building so it still looks new. The tank was about half full so I put 4 gallons of non-ethanol gas in it to top it off. I've been lucky all these years because I've always just used regular octane gas and it didn't ruin the engine. From now on, now that I have a local source, I'll be using non-ethanol in it and all my other small engine equipment.

[JohnyMac]

Good AAR PKv. Thanks! 

[DMCakhunter]

One thought on generators - I always have a can of starting fluid handy when starting a generator. As much as I try to run them every month, I don't always follow through with it. Sometimes they start up just fine, other times a small shot of starting fluid is enough to convince them it is time to run without having to stress the starter motor.
I also keep the batteries charged with a battery tender, and use only stabilized non alcohol gas.

[pkveazey]

I always keep a can or two of Starting Fluid handy. So far I haven't needed it. I also keep a full can in the house as a possible weapon. Spray that ether in somebodys face and they'll go nuts. They might even go to sleep. It also makes for a really good 10 foot flame thrower.