Open Mike: Boxing Day! And Elliott (OT)

I'm really not sure if it's such a good idea to name storms. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel the next time I meet a human being called "Elliott." I might feel...wary, at least.

Elliott kicked my ass. Winter Storm Elliott, I mean. I survived, of course, and that's good, and I'm not as bad off as some people—I'm not trapped in a car on a freeway with no gas left, and I'm not without power after two and a half days with no help in sight. I didn't die, and some people did. So I'm grateful it wasn't worse.

We had intermittent brownouts all day Friday, and the home backup generator cycled a bunch of times throughout the day. On Friday night, the rest of the neighborhood was without power and I was sitting there feeling smug, with the lights and the heat on, listening to the generator chug away, thinking, aren't I lucky to have a generator. Then I heard its little engine go berserkoid for ten or 20 seconds and fall silent. The house went completely dark and quiet save for the momentary beeping protests of all the electronic equipment shutting down. Uh-oh.

This isn't good.

It was not good. It was one outside. I mean 1°F (that's –17°C for you Europeans). The wind was howling, 21 miles per hour sustained and gusts to 47 mph. What used to be called the wind chill (now called the "feels like") was –20°F, and felt every bit of that. Bitter cold. Snow was blowing everywhere and the roads that were wet with rain that morning had frozen. I live at the bottom of steep hills. There was a travel advisory. And it was eight o'clock at night on the day before Christmas Eve.

The guy from the company that sold me the generator said he wasn't going to try to get somebody to me that night, so I should try calling him in the morning. So I piled up all the blankets I could find and burrowed down. Kinda like Winter camping, but without the wind and the wet. (I went Winter camping once as a Boy Scout and woke up with my hair frozen to the floor of the tent. That's a little more inconvenient than it probably sounds. This wasn't as bad as that; but I didn't sleep much.)

The rest of the neighborhood got power back at 7:00 Christmas Eve morning. But not me. That's when it dawned on me that the problem with the generator, whatever it was, was what was keeping me dark. The generator was somehow stuck in its "generator is supplying power, keep grid off" position.

I went to town for breakfast and a little warmth. The nice man from Home Power Systems arrived about 9:00, worked for a while, told me he had bad news for me, collected a check for $240, and left. As I understand it—and I don't really understand it—first the generator fried its own transfer switch (a $2,000 repair), filling the basement with that sickening aroma of "something electrical is burning"; then the fried transfer switch and/or the bitter cold and/or something else destroyed the motor in the generator. Upshot: the home backup generator is totaled. Worse, in the moment, was that there was no way to get me back on the grid. It was very cold in the house, and I was dressed in my full Winter gear but still cold—my body doesn't seem to generate heat like it used to. And it was Christmas Eve.

The HPS guy told me I needed an electrician to "bypass the transfer switch," and that any electrician would know what that meant. Using my phone, I tried to find an electrician...and found a long list of "CLOSED, reopens Monday morning." I started worrying about the pipes freezing and all the rest of the damage that could occur to the house if it spent a sustained period below freezing. And what were Butters and I going to do for two days? I kept my cool, but to be honest I was not in the best state of mind at that point.

Long and short: I finally did find an electrician, by the name of Richard Bruno, a strapping young go-getter about six and a half feet tall who is 21 years old and had started his business at age 18. He says he works on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day "every year." Meaning, I guess, the three years since he was in high school. He arrived, bypassed the generator panel, and I finally got power again at about 3:00 in the afternoon. Big relief! It had gotten down to 37°F in the house, and the pool shed hit 19°F. Richard collected a check for $540—emergency call, the holiday, all that—which I was glad enough to pay, and grateful to be able to pay. It's going to cost another $500 if I decide to make the bypass permanent and go back to living without a backup generator. All told I was without power for 19 hours during the worst part of the storm.

I kept the heat up and all the lights on all Christmas Day! Just because I could. In my 12-step program, we're supposed to start our morning prayer with a "gratitude list," and I do what I'm told because I want to stay sober. As you can imagine, "a warm house" started my gratitude list on Christmas morning. My prayer was more fervent than usual.

Like I say, other people had it worse than I did, some much worse, so I'm not complaining. My homeowner's insurance might pay for a new generator or at least the cost of removing the old one and making the bypass permanent. We'll see.

The whispering cold
You know the two worst things about the experience? One was the irony. I mean, I have a generator to give me a backup in case of emergency. The irony is that it was supposed to provide power in a blackout, and instead, it was what was locking me out of the grid after clean power to my neighbors had been restored. Irony of that sort does not sweeten life.

The second was that I had a sort of existential crisis in the silence and the darkness. I live alone, and I don't mind it so much usually, but I depend on my electronic devices for a sense of company. I still had my phone during those 19 hours, but I didn't want to use it more than was absolutely necessary because I didn't know when I could recharge it again. Sitting and lying there in the dark through that very long night, hour after hour with nothing to do, with the house getting colder and colder and the wind howling through the trees, and relief uncertain...let's just say it was pointing out to me how alone I really am. Not pleasant.

There is a poem, number 37 of the 200 or so Cold Mountain poems by the legendary hermit-poet of China, Han Shan, who anonymously left his poems written on rocks and bits of tree bark at the foot of the mountain he lived on. It goes like this:

I think of all the places I've been,
Chasing about from one famous spot to another.
Delighting in mountains, I scaled the mile high peaks;
Loving the water, I sailed a thousand rivers.
I held farewell parties with my friends in Lute Valley;
I brought my zither and played on Parrot Shoals.

Who would guess I'd end up under a pine tree,
Clasping my knees in the whispering cold?

Han Shan
(translated by Burton Watson)

I remember being moved by that in college, and the book is still on my shelves all these years later.

But I'm back to normal now, and all is well. No complaints; these things happen. I just need a couple three days before I have to meet anyone named "Elliott," is all.

Mike
Flickr page / New Yorker author page
(Inset: Han Shan by Yan Hui, 13th century)

Original contents copyright 2022 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Bob Keefer: " Does this fancy generator system come with a warranty? I mean, what a disaster, though it's good you appreciate the irony. Living in the woods in Oregon we're well accustomed to power outages, and last year we finally broke down and bought a generator ($1,000, delivered from Amazon). Nothing as fancy as yours—we have to haul it out and plug it into the main electrical panel (our non-automated transfer switch cost us about $200 to have installed on the panel) and fire it up. I think we've used it four times already, and have been very pleased with it. You're making me really glad we didn't spend the money on a higher-tech operation! Glad you survived.

"Merry belated Christmas, and wishes for a great 2023. Thanks for all the work you do to make photography fun and interesting for the rest of us."

John Berger: "Just to note: don't minimize your little Acura Survival Pod that should be available with at least half a tank of gas all year long...and very capable cell phone recharger as well. Hmmmmm...."

Daniel: "Could be worse...you might have a plug-in electric car."

James Bullard: "My name isn't Elliott so you are safe reading this. During the Ice Storm of '98 (I think it was '98, correct me if I'm wrong), my house went without power for an entire week. We survived it because we had a wood stove. The state (NY) wants to phase out wood stoves but if you have the space to have a small wood burner it can run when the grid or a local thing like your bypass switch fails and they are simple enough that you don't need a degree in engineering to stay warm. Here's hoping your heating system isn't tested by nature again. Happy New Year."

Juan Buhler: "…And here I was thinking I was going to read some story about Elliott Erwitt with my coffee this morning. Glad you’re well Mike, and greetings from California! It was sunny and in the 50s yesterday where I am."

Anton Wilhelm Stolzing: "Not a nice Xmas story. And so revealing. Backup generators—I would not say they do not exist in Europe, but indeed they are the exception, not the rule. My idea would be: Step down: Opt for a camping equipment for emergency situations, one that provides warmth for one room, light, and a one or two flames hotplate for cooking. A huge battery pack to recharge smartphone etc. does no harm either."

David Brown: "I feel your pain! We have occasional ice storms down here in North Texas. Actually, they used to be a lot worse. Ice will form on every surface, especially tree limbs and power lines, until a tree limb and/or a power line will snap! The worst for me was January 1979 (that storm is famous and still remembered down here.) I was without power for five days. When the power finally came back up on my block, my neighbor only then discovered that his electrical service panel had been pulled off of his house by the ice. He still did not have power. Suffice it to say, that I now own a very good and dependable portable generator. It will not power the whole house, but we can have light and heat from natural gas. I have considered getting a whole house generator, but now I’m not so sure.… "

Mike replies: In fairness, my electrician said my whole house unit was a inexpensive one, and he pointed to the motherboard in the transfer box and said, "that's older than I am." He said the new units are much smarter than mine, and that they can distinguish brownouts and cope with them.

Geoff Wittig: "Sincere sympathy, Mike. We have lived on a rural hilltop an hour west of you for the past 37 years, at the end of a 1,000-foot-long gravel driveway. It's gorgeous in Summer and especially in Autumn; and Winter has its own austere beauty. I have made many lovely photographs and paintings here. But the downside is not trivial. We were snowed in for three days by massive drifts 10 feet high after the 1994 Nor'easter. We lose electrical power typically 4–5 times a year, usually just for a few hours after a high wind. Last month it was because a runaway downhill truck took out a transformer pole. After the 1991 ice storm it was two weeks without power. We long ago decided not to bother with a generator, after hearing numerous tales just like yours, along with carbon monoxide horror stories. We're now very experienced at lighting the candles and oil lamps, and gathering around the wood stove until the power returns. Kinda like 19th century life.

"Generators are complicated devices with many potential modes of failure, built to meet a price point. Manufacturers have surely run the numbers and know precisely how unreliable they can be before profits take a hit."

Robert Roaldi: "Makes you respect all the more those pioneers from centuries ago."

Chris Dale: "It is a hell-of-a-thing to be without power and thus without heat in a part of the country that gets cold. I live in Minnesota, perhaps one of the few places that is consistently as cold as northern New York. You story made me cringe; of course, I was thinking about your pipes all through the story. So glad to hear you didn't have to deal with that nightmare. I have been considering a generator. Now, not so much."

Mike Ferron: "This so reminds me of two years ago when we in central Texas got hit with first an ice storm, then six inches of dry powder snow with a temp that was 2°F in the morning and the temps never went above the freezing mark for five days. Understand, I moved to Texas from Maine, and these conditions are no big deal. In Maine that is. In a latitude that = Northern Florida it is a big deal. We went five days unprepared with no power or water. Four pots of water on the gas range kept the house in the 40s and I filled the bathtub with water and then snow for flushing water. I now own two Dyna-Glo kerosene heaters with a few days' supply of fuel, a small inverter generator, and four lights that run off of power tool batteries and lots of those batteries that remain charged. Fool me once!"

Kye Wood: "As a writer, you'd hope to elicit an emotional response in your readers minds. Well, sport, you did. Your post immediately took me back to every dark, long night of the soul I've ever lived through. I don't think I've ever seen swearing here, but SH*T MIKE! What a horrible horrible no good bummer crap of a series of things to happen. Glad to hear you landed on gratitude. That's where it's at. May your trials be trivial and first world problems at best, from now on. Kind Regards, Man who lives in 22°C during Christmas zone."

Tom Burke (partial comment): "Sorry to hear about your misfortune but glad to learn that you had power for Christmas Day. That was potentially very serious—long periods of exposure to cold really aren't good for humans. Here's a rather alarming account of what just getting cold can do to the body."

Mike replies: Yes, I noticed the long dose of cold seemed to take a toll. Interesting article.

Comments

[Zyni]

Is nice legend among linguists that there are groups of people who live in cold places who measure temperature in 'dogs'. This is number of dogs you need in/on your bed to survive.

So probably you should discard generator and have more dogs, as currently could survive only temperatures of one dog, and severe winter storms will become much more common as other severe weather events. Also dogs quite useful in case of zomby apocalypse of course. However avoid zomby dogs.

Is lesser-known legend that cats measure temperature in 'humans'.

(These groups are always assumed by linguists to be some very remote group of Inuit or similar, so actually getting data to confirm (or, really, disprove) legend is conveniently difficult: thus legend persists.)

[Albert Smith]

I live in Florida and they announce the names of hurricanes at the beginning of each season, alphabetical hoping the number of storms don't exceed 26, which it has done several times the last few years. We scan the list hoping our own name is not on the list, and if it is that it is not "the one" that makes the news.

The last few days here in Central Florida the temperature started in the 20s and never got out of the low 40s during the heat of the day, with wind chill factors keeping the "feels like" temperatures in the freezing range. I felt sorry for the tourists that did their one big trip to Florida with Hopes of beautiful walks on the beach and getting some sun. On the other hand, those that made the journey were having some of the best weather east of the Mississippi River. FWIW, the forecast for us is temperatures in the 80s by the end of this week. We'll be running both heat and air conditioning just days apart.

Hope everyone gets through this event.

[Jim Arthur]

That does sound a little unnerving. I’m glad everything worked out…sort of. Having to spend money on surprise infrastructure repairs is always annoying. I had something similar happen to me in early December. My ancient heat pump gave up the ghost and left me without heat for several days but because I live in the Sonoran Desert and my nighttime lows were in the mid 40’s it wasn’t that big a deal.

You should probably buy a 12 volt car charger for future emergencies. Another option is something like the GOOLOO GP4000 which is an auto battery jump box that can also charge smartphones, tablets, cameras, etc. I bought mine about a year ago and when I checked its charge the other day it still read 100%!

[Richard Parkin]

Power bank batteries for your phone? Given how much work has gone into solar power which has encouraged battery development I wonder if a battery is a suitable backup instead of a generator since your grid is probably only down for short periods.

[Sal Santamaura]

Sorry about your tribulations, Mike. I've heard from people who deal with those things that the relatively inexpensive auto-transfer backup generators found at big-box stores and advertised on TV are notoriously unreliable. Apparently one must spend a lot more for a product like this

https://www.wincogen.com/product/pss20b2wc/

to get something decent. In your situation, it might be better to have a manual transfer switch installed, then purchase a portable Honda generator and limit loads to heat, refrigerator and a few lights when running it during emergencies. Just be sure to set out the generator some distance from your house and windows.

There's a big lesson to be learned from this TOP post. Not by you, but rather those in high school who might think they need to become indebted for the sake of obtaining a college degree. Richard Bruno illustrates how lucrative, not to mention rewarding, the trades can be. Many more like him are needed. However you can spread the word will be a huge service to society, for which we would all be grateful.

[John Krill]

My primary power is called California and my backup is called Coachella Valley.

Yea, it's tough out here.

[David Zalaznik]

Happy Holidays, Mike. Good to hear the power is back on for you. I am in Utica and we dodged the major snow fortunately.
Being a recent transplant from the Midwest, last Monday night, on returning from photographing at Montezuma Wildlife Complex not far from you, I had my inaugural "white-knuckle drive in lake-effect snowstorm on New York Thruway in darkness." While I drove 45-50 mph peering into the white wall ahead of me, I am still astounded at the consistent line of trucks passing on the left at seemingly full speed. Is that something I will get used to?

[darlene]

Thank goodness for Richard. You are never totally alone, Mike. You've got Butters, your son, and so many friends who think about you and are grateful for you. A fireplace is in order, with a few days of firewood stowed for emergencies. A backup battery like the Jackery Explorer I have in my camper van will keep your phone, and other electrical necessities charged and run some lighting while you wait for the lights to come back on. I hope you have better luck with your insurance company than I have had with mine thus far. Even though my insurance adjuster said my damaged home was 100% covered, what they estimated for damage repair and what it has cost me are two very different numbers. Lawyers can be our friends when we feel a capitalistic industry is trying to snooker us. Glad you are up and running!

[Ernest Zarate]

So glad you, and the TOP World Hdqtrs, are safe and sound! As I read reports in The NY Times I did wonder how you were doing in your neck of the woods. It’s a great story you’ll have to tell for my Christmases to come, the one where the very technology that was supposed to assist you tried to do you in! Stephen King material, for sure.

Here’s hoping that 2023 is a year you can avoid encountering any other Eliots!

[J Williams]

I can't tell you whether getting a new generator is worth it but I'l offer some advice anyway (power outages are more frequent at my house than I'd like so I deal with this a couple of times a year). Living in a potentially rather cold climate in winter I'd make a backup heat source my number one priority. Even above electricity. Something that can heat without electrical power. The best and simplest thing you can get if you have a functional fireplace in the house is to get a set of ventless gas longs for the fireplace. You close off the flu and all the heat stays inside the house. They can run on natural gas if you have it or you can get a good size propane tank installed in your yard. My heat once went out for 2 days in an ice storm and I had ventless logs running in the fireplace and I was nice and toasty the whole time.

Second thing is think about getting a battery powered generator. You can get a roughly 2 KWHr one for about $1500. It isn't a long term power solution but can get most people by for about a day running their refrigerators and other essential devices.

Lastly I'd have a propane powered generator for use when the power is out for a longer time. Not some big whole house one but just a small one you can use to run a few things and also charge your battery generator if/when needed.

Might sound like a lot of devices vs. just a big backup generator but you also can't get in the situation you were in unless you have multiple points of failure. You're not depending on one device for everything. Hope that is of some help.

[PaulW]

Sorry to hear about this Mike. Have you considered a woodstove? Woodstoves have saved my bacon on more than one occasion. Heat, light, and stove all rolled into one. And the sense of security you'll receive is not to be underestimated.

[Luci]

Hello Mike,

I am glad that you are back on power now. I hope it will never repeat, not like this. It may be easy for me to think of advice from a long distance away, but perhaps you could enquire about the option of a backup generator without an automated switch-over. Your experience pointed out to me how important electricity is for many aspects of todays’s life. I’ll pay more attention to my powerbanks (I have several), at least to have some more autonomy for communications.

Thanks for the post. My thoughts are with you. Hang in there!

[robert e]

What a harrowing ordeal, Mike. And on Christmas Eve eve, to boot. On the other hand, getting the power back on so quickly was very fortunate. I would have utterly panicked in your situation. I can't imagine what those further north and west are going through.

Here in northern New Jersey, we're fortunate to be getting out of this storm with minor discomforts and inconveniences. Sure, our apartment unit's heat is on the blink and so are the building's hot water heaters, but it was a balmy 10-20F here in NJ over the weekend, our power never went out (knock on wood) and we have a few small space heaters and a kettle. We also have dozens of neighbors living under the same roof, in the most densely populated state (I believe) in the union.

I'm glad you're alright and hope my fellow TOP readers are too. Here's wishing you all a safe and happy Rest-of-the-Holidays and beyond.

[Andre Moreau]

Hi Mike,
In northern climates, one would need an as low as possible tech solution to power outage. When your safety and possibly your life is on the line, you don't want to depend on something that has the potiential of breaking down.
That why a lot of people depend on a wood stove to for heat and cooking, like this:
https://www.vermontcastings.com/products/aspen-c3-wood-burning-stove
Plus these stoves are elegible for a substantial tax credit.
Reserve the small gasoline operated power generator for things like sump pumps, electronics.

[Robert Gordon]

Be sure to get a phone charger for your car.

[Bear.]

When you replace your generator - and you definitely should (maybe a print sale fundraiser?) - have them install a manual bypass switch. That should guarantee it will never be needed. On this side of the world, today is forecast to be the first 100 degree day in Melbourne Oz this summer … and well on the way at 11.30 am.

[Frank Gorga]

Sorry to hear of your power woes. Here in southwest NH, we were without power for about 30 hours (just before 7 AM on Friday to 1:30 PM on Saturday). Ours was one of many local outages, but when you live in the woods on a dirt road in the woods with only ten houses in a mile fixing the downed lines on our road is fairly far down the triage list.

I second the recommendation for wood heat. We use wood as are primary fuel so we were fine temperature-wise. The thing I miss most when the power goes out is running water.

When we researched backup power sources last spring we decided to go with a battery. I can't tell you how well it works since, despite putting down a deposit in May, it has yet to be installed... ugh!

Since we have solar panels the battery will recharge automatically even if the power is still out and as long as it is not too cloudy we should be good indefinitely. That's the theory anyway.

I also, recommend getting a smallish power bank for recharging your cell phone. I have one that recharges with a power cord or with a small solar panel. I use this mainly on (1-2 week) back country excursions to keep camera batteries charged. However, it comes in handy for power outages at home. It is slow to charge off the solar panel but I have always been able to limp along with at least one partly charged camera battery at worst.

Glad you survived the ordeal!

[James]

Mike,

Glad you're ok.

Have you considered a backup battery instead of replacing/repairing the generator? Not big enough for the house, but enough to keep a few things running? A couple hundred watt-hours and bucks.

I remember growing up, nobody had backup generators. If the power went out, it went out. Ok, we depend on electrical devices for more and more today, but there are really only a few essentials. Can you light your heater? Pump water? Light enough to see yourself around the house? Charge the phone? That's all you really need until you get grid power, no?

[John Camp]

Then there's the Wisconsin Northwoods solution, which I'm sure you're familiar with. You have a tap installed in the basement, or at the lowest point around the house if you don't have a basement. You turn off the water, drain all the pipes, and for places where it's tough to get rid of all the water (toilets) you pour in anti-freeze. Then when the storm hits, you're on your way to NYC to cruise a few museums. That's also the best way to deal with hurricanes, but without the pipe draining -- don't be there. I lived in Florida for eight years, was brushed by a few hurricanes, and what I learned was that I didn't need the drama. They were a pain in the ass, not a movie. Same with snowstorms.

We now live in a society where electricity is not only critical, it's assumed to be infallible, which it isn't, as Texas proved a couple of years back. Without power, you can't even pump gas for your car, to get out. One relatively cheap solution for you would be a woodstove, which would at least provide heat and a way to cook certain kinds of food. While a big gathering of wood stoves isn't so good -- air pollution -- burning it is better than oil or gas, because it's new CO2 that you're releasing, not ancient stuff that's been sequestered for millions of years. .

[Steve C]

Glad you're ok Mike.
It's 38ºC here in Melbourne, Australia today.

Did you make any pictures?

[MikeR]

Two-stroke? I hope not. Two cylinders?

I've lived in a wooded area for 23 years; bought a portable generator soon after moving in, and a manual transfer panel. Vital circuits only: sump pump, water pump, septic pump, furnace, fridge, kitchen outlets, and master bedroom and bath. I placed it on a level mound of driveway gravel, near the garage.

Many's the night I needed to go outside in foul weather, start it up, attach the thick power cable, then go down into the basement and flick the transfer switches. In May of 2019 a derecho came through and knocked out power in a wide area. Three days on that 7 Kw generator. Lots of heavy gas cans.

October this year I had a 20 Kw Kohler generator and transfer panel installed. Needed to buy two large propane tanks. Expensive, but, I'm getting old, and my wife can't handle the gasoline cans. Now, when the power goes out, it's only a few seconds before the generator takes over. Heaven!

Replace the burned up generator! It's worth it.

[John Krumm]

I was definitely thinking about you, what you might be dealing with, as I read the news. We had scattered outages in Duluth, but fortunately it was restored in short order. I was thinking your photo vacation was likely interrupted at least. I only took a few photos indoors during the storm. It was all I could do to walk the dog to the back of the yard as the wind howled around.

[Nicholas R Von Staden]

Diesel Heaters....really the cheapest and most efficient heat out..really Don't believe me read the YouTube reviews

[Phil Aynsley]

"I mean 1°F (that's –17°C for you Europeans)." And the rest of the world apart from the USA basically! Glad it was a survivable experience! A balmy 30ºC here in the Southern Highlands of NSW!

[David F]

One warning about ventless gas- or propane ventless appliances. They put lots of moisture, CO2, and some amount of CO (carbon monoxide, definitely unwanted!) in your air. Be sure to have working CO detectors in your house if you run one for hours at a time.

Elliott took our power for 27 hours here in rural Maine. Fortunately, our wood stove kept the house warm, and our battery backup provided for lighting, refrigeration, and water. Didn't even know the power was out for the first six hours the changeover was so fast.

[Tom Burke]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune but glad to learn that you had power for Christmas Day. That was potentially very serious - long periods of exposure to cold really aren't good for humans. Here's a rather alarming account of what just getting cold can do to the body: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-63602501

I was struck by how many other comments contained suggestions, based on experience, about what to do for your emergency power supply arrangements. Fun fact: here in the UK, not only do I not know anyone who has such arrangements, but I don't think I ever have. I'm sure that some people in the UK make such provision - remote Scottish communities, for example - but apart from them we depend absolutely on our National Grid. In really bad weather (which mainly takes the form of Atlantic storms racing across the country) power lines can come down, but the power workers get them back up pretty quickly. Perhaps, also, there is a benefit in living in a small country - England, with a population of about 55m has an area a bit smaller than New York State - so if there is a problem power supply workers are never far away from the problem.

[Marco Sabatini]

I second the suggestion to get a woodstove. Easy and effective. As for batteries or similar accumulation devices, this could be interesting:

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/06/21/concrete-flywheel-storage-system-for-residential-pv/

"[...]
According to the general director, carbon flywheels currently cost around €250/kWh, steel flywheels €200/kWh and concrete ones around a few euros. “The particularity of our patented technology is that the concrete cylinder is pre-stressed by a winding of fiberglass and is held in a vacuum to avoid friction,” Gennesseaux stated. Thanks to this, maintenance operations are reduced because the mechanical part is sealed and the lubricating oil is also in a vacuum environment, without risk of oxidation.
[...]"

[Speed]

It seems to me that anyone whose income comes from running a blog should be able to deduct from his taxable income the cost of installing and maintaining a backup power system.

I am not an accountant or tax professional, but I do know that the US tax system isn't always rational or reasonable.

[mike rosenlof]

Mike,

I'm glad you're back on the grid. A relatively economical emergency heat source might be a Kerosene heater. The Japanese have used them for indoor heat for a long time. Many cautions about indoor combustion apply, but one or two can keep a house considerably warmer when there is no electricity.

[Hélcio J. Tagliolatto]

Mike,
did your generator only have the automatic changeover switch? Didn't have the manual by-pass option?
Our farm has a diesel generator with this option, and we've had to use it more than once. The automatic changeover switch always burns out at the worst times. Strong voltage variation causes this.

[Speed]

A brand name 16,000 watt "whole house generator with Wi-Fi and 200-Amp transfer switch" from a big box store costs about the same as a Canon R5 with a 24-105mm f/4 lens.

Installation not included with either.

[Phil]

Oh my goodness, Mike! That sounds like an awful trial. I'm glad you came out of it in one piece, for the most part.

As several folks here have already commented: you need a second heat source that's not powered by electricity. I live on the west coast of Canada. It's nowhere near as cold here as upstate New York but even so, it's still considered advisable to have a fireplace (wood or gas) that can run without power.

Hope you get things sorted and have a good New Year.

[craig]

we have two gas gensets

one we use for truly portable power and short term power to a couple of appliances via a cord through the doggy door

a larger one that could probably run the house

we skipped the xfr switch and went with a pass-through connection box instead but still extension cords

i suppose the longest we've been without power in the last few years is three days...quite long enough!

i've always embraced redundancy
should you go whole house again (if i was spending your money) i'd get a generac whole house and a sine-wave genset just in case

our camper is equipped with both solar and gas

the solar panels seem to work even in cloudy conditions...not all do...but i'm not sure they would keep up with several days of load

the gas genset runs off the vehicle's gas tank and provides more than enough for the truck and its appliances

all that is a long way of saying the new solar backup systems are amazing but some due diligence is required before you trust your life to one

glad you are OK

[Olybacker]

Here in the UK we have had warnings from the people who oversee our National Grid (electricity transmission) that we could have outages (see that? I speak American :-) for up to a week this winter. Needless to say, I have a good collection of battery lights, batteries both disposable and rechargeable, and a bettery radio. I have experience of past outages and gas heating system failures that mean no heat from the gas system because it relies on electricity to fire the boiler and drive the water pump.

Mike, as a person ages, their blood thins and they can lose core body heat more quickly, especially before meal times. Get yourself a wood burning stove and wear lots of layers, including a fleece or padded gilet and/or fleece jacket around the house.

[Jim Freeman]

This is hilarious, it reads like a Garrison Keillor monologue. I think that this is my favorite TOP post of all time.

[Tom Duffy]

We lost power for a prolonged period of time twice in northern New Jersey once was a famous Halloween storm and the second was tropical storm Sandy. Both times the power was out for over a week. The house got down to the upper 40s. I recall being amazed that at about 52 degrees you couldn't sit on a couch; the cushion was cold enough to suck the heat right out of you.
Out bit of irony, which didn't directly impact me, happened in a town a little to the north of me. When power was finally restored, everyone rejoiced. Then a tractor trailer took out a telephone pole and about a half square mile of people lost power again for another day. I assume the driver escaped with his life. I didn't read about any murders in the paper.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Given that Richard started his own business as an electrician at 18, I suspect he was working in the industry before then, perhaps in a family business. So he may have been working the holidays for more than 3 years :-) .

[Bruce Bodine]

Mike,
What brand of backup generator do you have? Looking myself and would like to know.
Thanks,
Bruce Bodine

[Hi Bruce, mine (bought with the house) was a Briggs & Stratton. Consumer Reports has a list of ratings for the category. --Mike]

[Dave]

Mike,

I'm glad you survived the lack of electricity and heating.

Lots of interesting info in the comments. (You're lucky you haven't been roped into buying an electric car.)

I got sidetracked with the link to the Vermont Castings website. :>)

Those wood stoves do look nice and several models have catalytic converters to cut down on pollution. Automatic thermostats and everything. All you have to do is feed wood to the stove.

I would assume you could find a good source of decent firewood around your environs.

Thanks for sharing your tale of woe. Maybe some will reconsider a backup generator as being foolproof. Although you mentioned that the electrician said your generator wasn't the best, it's good to think of additional backup heating sources. Like several comments, I think the Honda generators are pretty reliable, as long as the purchase price doesn't scare you off.

Good luck!

[Mike Peters]

What a harrowing experience. I've lost power many times in my house, once for 11 days after Sandy. That's no fun, but it wasn't freezing out either.

Once during a particularly frigid January, our ancient steam boiler just up and died. Thankfully our plumber was able to secure a replacement and get it installed and running the same day. At a premium, which I was glad to pay.

Makes me realize how important tradespeople are to our daily lives. Too bad more young people aren't going into the trades.

Almost three years ago we sold our old house and moved into a modern apartment building that has a backup generator. Many times the surrounding area has gone dark, but not our building. It's kinda nice, and I don't have to maintain anything. Now I realize just how much stress owning a house caused me.

Glad you and Butters are ok.