43 hours without electricity.

[Mr.Bill]

Public Safety Power Shutoff, courtesy of PG&E, our power company. They shut it down to prevent fires that could be caused by their equipment going down in severe wind conditions. Power was estimated to be restored at 10:00 pm tonight, but came back on around 1:00 this afternoon. Wasn't so bad since we got a small generator to power the essiantial things. I guess it's better than being on fire.

I live in a senior mobile home park, and it was good to see the community come together and help their neighborhood out. Where necessary people shared their generator power with neighbors who had none, and we all looked out for each other. It's so quiet now that all the generators are shut off. This is the most friendly community I have ever lived in.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Do you move your fridge away from the wall, set up multiple extension cords and plug it into

the generator which I assume is outside?

Curious how people do this with these mini generators.

[DonaldsRump]

5. These generators are fine

I actually bought ours for earthquakes, never imagining in my wildest dreams that we would be using it for deliberate cut-offs by PG&E to avoid further liability for causing fires.

PG&E is one messed up organization.

[Mr.Bill]

6. Yes, that's exactly what we do.

My generator has two 20 amp outlets. I plug power strips into there and run cords around the house where needed. After you've done it a few times it takes maybe 20 minutes to set it all up or tear down. I keep 5-10 gallons of gas on hand with Stabil fuel stabilizer in it. I had a fridge, an upright freezer, TV, Wifi, space heater, some lamps and 800 watt microwave running at the same time, but not for an extended period, of course. I shut it all down overnight and lock the generator in a storage shed because unfortunately there have been a few stolen in the area.

[Nictuku]

10. That is what we do

And until rainy season, I just leave everything on the extension cords, plugging that into the wall when the power is back. Easier to set up next time it happened. This will be the 4th one this year for us, although they cancelled one at the last moment. One of them we were evacuated for 8 days due to a fire that burned all around us. Thank the gods that my house is still standing. I really don't know what I would do if I was homeless along with my 80 year old mother who I care for.

[Sherman A1]

2. Remain safe!

Hope that the power stays on for you all.

[DonaldsRump]

3. We went through this last fall and may still go through it again

(We're in NorCal).

We have a generator, and last year we had a 2 day power outage. I would plug in the refrigerator every now and then after monitor the temp inside. If you don't open the doors, it will tend to keep the inside air cool. That's why I would juice up the fridge at night for about 30 minutes or so and then disconnect it.

[Mr.Bill]

12. We went through an outage last year with no generator.

I think it was about three days. Our clubhouse has a generator and Wifi so we could use the internet and charge our phones and they also had coffee. We hung out there during the day and it became an impromptu BBQ and pot luck. Good times, actually.

One trick I learned years ago is in my upright freezer I keep frozen gallon jugs of water in there. It's cheaper to run a freezer if it's full rather than empty. Right now I have 15 jugs in there. Using those jugs last year I easily got through three days without food spoiling by spreading them out in the freezer, refrigerator and a few ice chests. I even loaned a few of them to neighbors.

[DonaldsRump]

13. Very good tip. We'll keep that in mind

We are 41 minutes away from lifting of a Red Flag warning in NorCal that started at 11am on Sunday and ends at 5pm PDT on Tuesday.

Nothing happened, but we were prepare to evacuate, deal with no power etc at least for a few days. The frozen water idea is brilliant as it keeps the freezer cool and gives you water in case you need it.

Will suggest to my family. Take care and I hope all is well!

[dianaredwing]

23. And you'd survive a hurricane

Just what I do. Also, make lots of ice cubes as soon as one is headed this way and put them in plastic bags so always have ice and it fills up the freezers.

[Timewas]

4. I would bet

That their plan is to eventually make it so bad for california that they can get any amount of financing they need pretty soon to fix the problems that they caused to start with and permssion to raise the rates significantly .. I remember when I lived in central valley and we were all told to cut back a lot to help so we did and shortly after that PG&E was in there crying that they needed to raise their rates because we weren't using enough and the were losing momey

[Nictuku]

7. Same here

Power came back on a couple hours ago. I live near Lake Berryessa. At least we can have a hot meal tonight. We have a generator too, but it is only powerful enough to run our fridges(2) TV, Internet, Computers, and some lights. Everything else in our house is electrical, water heater, stove. It was a Red Flag and so we couldn't even grill anything outside.

[Mr.Bill]

14. Yeah, I couldn't run anything that uses 220 either.

No water heater, (although what was in there staed pretty warm for almost two days. Enough for washing dishes) stove, AC dryer, etc. Fortunately the weather was mild so didn't need the AC. I have tested an idea for hot weather, though, and this is another use for the frozen jugs of water. I put three or four jugs on a table and run a fan behind them and that cools a room pretty well. Takes about six hours to melt the jugs.

Another time those jugs came in handy is we had a water main leak a few weeks ago and got a notice from the city to boil our water before drinking. This went on for three days or so. I realized I had 15 gallons of frozen water on hand that was safe to drink because I had filled the jugs months ago.

[misanthrope]

8. Sounds like life on the Gulf Coast

We were without power for four days following Hurricane Sandy. We expect something similar after Zeta comes ashore tomorrow night.

I have thousands of dollars of medication in the house at any given time and it has to be stored at lower-than-room temperature. Coolers and ice packs come in handy for us.

[dianaredwing]

25. It's been one for the record books

In NOLA here and don't expect much except lots of rain, but the power ALWAYS goes out at some point. Stay safe.

[NurseJackie]

9. Hello fellow mobile home dweller! I'm glad things worked out well for you.

Our generator is used for just such emergencies too. We don't need it for 24/7 power... but just long enough to keep things charged-up and to keep the freezer's temperature below freezing.

I know what you mean about how nice it is that neighbors can come together and help each other out. It's good to have reliable and helpful and concerned neighbors.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Those Gens Are Worth Every Penny

I consider it insurance. Pay up front, and when we need it, it's there.
I run separate cords too.
Advantage I have is my garage is in the basement. So, I can easily run from driveway into the house.
My cable & internet hub is in the basement, and so is freezer and old fridge.
In a couple minutes all that stuff is up & running.
Our longest period was 8 days. Tornado. Didn't touch down, but went directly over the center of town. We live in the center of town. 8 inch tree limb tore down the lines!
Did much more damage SW and NE of us, so we were lower on the priority.
That 8 days alone was worth what we paid for the generator.

[Mr.Bill]

15. The way I look at it,

it's just another appliance your house needs, like a washing machine, refrigerator, etc.

[Roy Rolling]

16. Makes me Think

When we were without power and services for a month after Hurricane Katrina, all neighbors were united and helped each other out.

Maybe some people Now are just living too comfortably to not appreciate their neighbors?

[AZ8theist]

17. How dependent we humans are on electricity....

Nothing much happens here in Arizona where the power goes out, so we have it pretty good.
That being said, I've been looking at a generator as insurance, as another poster rightfully pointed out.

Any recommendations? Power vs cost, etc...

[Mr.Bill]

27. I'm far from being an expert,

so I rely on my grandson who is a motorcycle mechanic and knows all about anything with a small engine. There are huge price differences between brands and available features. I have a Honda eu3000i. It has, I think a 2200 watt output. Now I got it cheap because my grandson knows where the deals are and he found it used. I had a smaller Honda and he let me trade up with him because he was getting a huge one for his house and my smaller one fit his needs for camping. The price on mine would be about $2,200 new (gasp!), but I have far less in mine thanks to him. Their are generators out there that have that much output for one fourth of the price.

What you are paying for with the Honda is quiet operation and reliability. I can't speak for every brand, but I can tell you most people on my street because they are on fixed incomes have the cheaper ones. Let me just say for the last two days my street sounded like the pits at a NASCAR race track. But I'm a bit of a gear head so that didn't bother me. Mine was by far the quietest one. It's rated at 53 decibels. The cheaper ones are really intended for use at construction sites and places where noise doesn't matter. They would not make you a good neighbor at a campsite or apartment building.

Then there are other bells and whistles like electric start vs pulling a rope. Mine has both. My neighbor just bought an inexpensive one but it has a remote start key fob. The Honda has a feature called an eco throttle. The engine will idle low and rev up only as much as it needs to according to the demand. It does this automatically and saves some fuel. DO some research, most of them have a decibel rating you can find on the manufacturers website.

Another important tip: Don't wait for the power outage to go buy extention cords. Last year the power was out here for seven days and you couldn't find an extention cord within 100 mile of here. Same goes for gas cans. Keep them full and if you are not going to use the gas within about three months add a product called Stabil. It's a gas preservative and will keep your gas fresh for up to two years.

Any way, being new to this, that's about all I know. Hope this helps somewhat.

[shanti]

28. FWIW

I've also been told that Honda makes the quietest generators. My brother was in the building trades and when the subs had to use them, Hondas were worth the money. My biggest fear is the grid going down.

Looks like the winds have stopped. Stay safe!

[lambchopp59]

18. Mine's still out at Blue Lake, last I checked. May be on tonight or tomorrow morning.

Brought my laptop and phone to work to charge it up. I'll be leaving for a quick sojourn to AZ tomorrow thru the weekend, heavily masked sojourn.
I so seldom catch a break at work just to say 'hi". So I'll do it here. C Ya!

[Turbineguy]

19. It's nice to hear about your community

coming together.

[Illumination]

20. Glad you have power again Mr. Bill! Makes it so much better when a community works together

like that! You're very fortunate! I owned a mobile home in the mountains of Colorado. WOW! It would have been hard to find a more beautiful view! The neighbors there were some of the best I've ever encountered. We took care of each others places while on vacation. So I know what you're talking about...

[AllaN01Bear]

21. mine didnt come back untill (3 pm-1500 gmt) on monday eve in sonora ca)

i live on the top floor of an 2 story apartment complex ,so couldent have a generator . now if i had a balcony which i dont , id probably get away with puting it on the balcony . power went out around 4 pm sunday ( 1600 gmt). power was supposed to go off at 3 pm but didnt . about 4:30 the generators started to rev up and sounded like old propeller powered fighter planes on the flight line and bing . four pm rolled around and out they went. i use a 12 v batt for lights and a portable light bulb in other spots .

[mwooldri]

22. Sounds like an investment in solar + battery backup...

... might be worth it. Maybe your mobile home park can club together and build a system to be able to fire PG&E ?

[Mr.Bill]

29. Problem is, it's difficult to impossible

to put solar panels on a mobile home, especially older ones. There are 55 units in our park and not nearly enough open area for solar panels to produce that much power. And few here whould have any money to invest in it. The park is going to be putting in solar to power the clubhouse, common areas and street lights.

[erronis]

24. Thanks for all these tips. Has anyone used escapees.com - An RV lifestyle site?

I have found them very useful over the years. Solar panels, energy-saving tips, etc.

https://www.escapees.com/

[a kennedy]

26. Hello.......I would just kill myself without electricity for 43 hours......

[safeinOhio]

30. I paid $200 for a natural gas space heater.

Have a small house and it heats it all when needed. It does not need any electric and has a thermostat.
I can always charge up my phone in one of the cars. Also have tickle chargers on a couple of deep cycle boat batteries. So far it has worked for me.

[BobTheSubgenius]

31. What a great and hopeful vignette you described!

Being without power is no joke. When my wife lived in FL, they were without power for 9 days. It was definitely a group effort to get through that.