NJ Storm

[Jenny]

I live in Florida

Well that changes everything

For potable water, I do recommend a water service. A couple of years ago we bought a water cooler and now have the big jugs delivered and picked up at a very reasonable cost. Doesn't solve the bathing problem, but at least we always have a good supply of drinkable water for ourselves and our pets, should the city supply be compromised.

For the generator, could you just get a small one that can power a fan in one room? Might be a lot more efficient than trying to cool the whole house - I though AC systems were particularly high energy users.

[cruisin]

Yes but with a whole house generator you have a big propane tank installed - it's not the little ones like you use for a barbecue grill. Everything is all hooked up and, if it senses that the power is off, after XX minutes it fires up and, voila, power to everything. Still not sure if I want to drop 10-15K on one, though. Although the next time the power goes out I'll be considering it again.

I suggested to my husband that we consider one, he said that we've lived here for 25 years and this is the first time we would had needed one. True, but we lost power twice in 2 months - Irene and this storm with no name. 10-15K is a lot! So, I doubt we'll do it. Probably will regret it if it happens again.

If you have natural gas, I believe it's possible to have a gas line piped directly into your generator.

I've never heard of that, but I suppose you could.

If we had gas, I don't think we'd even consider a generator. If we could have kept the house warm and used the range, we could have gotten by just fine.

We have gas heat and you would need a generator. The gas heats the furnace, but you need electricity to force the air. Possibly hot water heat, baseboard heating might not cut out, if it is gas. We had hot water because our hot water heater is gas. We have neighbors who recently changed over to the "ready hot water" system. That needs electricity, they were kicking themselves. It is greener, but no power, no hot water.

We have electric ovens, but a gas cooktop - so we could boil water for coffee (in a French press), cook soup, make oatmeal. But since the fridge was out, couldn't really do much more.

[Aceon6]

We have gas heat and you would need a generator. The gas heats the furnace, but you need electricity to force the air. Possibly hot water heat, baseboard heating might not cut out, if it is gas.

I was thinking steam. Our house is older and it would be a fairly easy conversion from forced hot water to steam. Problem is, there's no natural gas service on our street. Otherwise, we'd convert from oil in a heartbeat.

[milanessa]

I suggested to my husband that we consider one, he said that we've lived here for 25 years and this is the first time we would had needed one. True, but we lost power twice in 2 months - Irene and this storm with no name. 10-15K is a lot! So, I doubt we'll do it. Probably will regret it if it happens again.



I've never heard of that, but I suppose you could.

If you have natural gas that price goes down a lot - a good chunk of that cost for me is burying a propane tank.

[cruisin]

If you have natural gas that price goes down a lot - a good chunk of that cost for me is burying a propane tank.

Hmmm, this is interesting. So many of my neighbors got generators after Irene, because their sump pumps cut out. None, that I know of, have gotten anything that can hook up to the house. Does that only work with big, whole house generators? Or can you do that with smaller ones? I know you can hook a bar-b-que grill up to natural gas lines from the house.

[milanessa]

Hmmm, this is interesting. So many of my neighbors got generators after Irene, because their sump pumps cut out. None, that I know of, have gotten anything that can hook up to the house. Does that only work with big, whole house generators? Or can you do that with smaller ones? I know you can hook a bar-b-que grill up to natural gas lines from the house.

I'm not sure I understand your question. I suppose someone in Florida might have a sump pump but I've never heard of anyone with one. (We don't have basements.) The whole house generator is probably the size of a central AC unit and is wired through a transfer switch. Power goes out, it comes on and that's about as technical as I can get.

[cruisin]

I'm not sure I understand your question. I suppose someone in Florida might have a sump pump but I've never heard of anyone with one. (We don't have basements.) The whole house generator is probably the size of a central AC unit and is wired through a transfer switch. Power goes out, it comes on and that's about as technical as I can get.

I was asking if small generators can be connected to the house gas lines. Or, is that only an option for the bigger, whole house ones? Or are all generators pretty much the same size? I have no idea.

Did I explain better?

We have basements here, we're 1,000 ft above sea level. Flooding here is a fluke, but because of the floating slab basements, many people have sump pumps. Irene was a perfect storm situation. There was no above ground flooding in this area. What happened was the water table was very high, from all of the spring/summer rain. The water seeped up into basements through the channel in the floating slab basements. some homes had 4 feet of water. Because they lost power, the sump pumps didn't go on. We were fine because our garage is basement level, so the back of our basement is above ground. The slope of our yard/driveway (which is treacherous in the winter) saved us from a flood.

[Cachoo]

My father was the oldest of 8...all still in NJ and wondering when in the hell the insane weather will end. My aunt told me the last two winters are the worst in memory, followed by endless rains in the warm season and now this. What is happening?

[milanessa]

I was asking if small generators can be connected to the house gas lines. Or, is that only an option for the bigger, whole house ones? Or are all generators pretty much the same size? I have no idea.

Did I explain better?

Yes.

Some portable generators can be hooked up to gas lines coming into the house, they're more expensive than those running off gasoline, though. Instead of a couple of hundred dollars you'd pay about a thousand for a good one. Generators vary a lot by size. Not only physical size but also in kilowatts. The more appliances/outlets/equipment you want to run the more kilowatts you need.

[cruisin]

Yes.

Some portable generators can be hooked up to gas lines coming into the house, they're more expensive than those running off gasoline, though. Instead of a couple of hundred dollars you'd pay about a thousand for a good one. Generators vary a lot by size. Not only physical size but also in kilowatts. The more appliances/outlets/equipment you want to run the more kilowatts you need.

Okay. But you don't need a whole house generator to hook it up to your house. I think that most of my neighbors got generators for around $500.00, probably too small for a hook up. $1,000 is a lot, but over the years it could save a lot of money in losses. Thanks for the info. All I would really need is keeping the heat or A/C on, and the fridge. Lights would be nice but not a necessity.

[milanessa]

A lot of companies make generators but one in particular gets excellent reviews almost across the board. If we do take the plunge we'd use them. They come to your house and help you determine what your needs and wants are and help to select the generator that'll work under your conditions.

http://www.generac.com/

[skatemommy]

^ I live near a lake and almost all the residents have this brand. You can get small ones to run a few things or mega ones that you will never know the power is out!

[judiz]

We are seriously discussing getting a generator, we moved into our house in August and so far we lost power twice, the hurricane and the snow storm. Talking to our neighbors, they tell us our block loses its electricity every time there is a storm. My son is on medication that must be kept refrigerated so a generator would be easier than finding someone with a working refrigerator to store the medication.

[euterpe]

My power was out only for about 7 hours, probably because I live within a mile of a major hospital complex. But my son's power was out for an entire week, as was his girlfriend's.

I saw many power trucks on the roads today, some from states as far away as Alabama, and that's because there are still a significant number of people without power.

There are still trees down everywhere. My next-door neighbor lost a huge maple, and the entrance to my development was blocked for a day by a row of downed trees. After seeing all the damage around me, I feel very, very lucky that the trees on my property are OK.

[cruisin]

What is concerning me now is that many trees still have broken branches on them. Some are huge and it would not take much for them to break off completely. Some are straddling above ground wires that are not down. Nothing is being done about these broken trees. Many of them are trees that the town planted. The town has a hold harmless policy, so any damages the trees they planted causes, they are not responsible for. However, we are not allowed to touch their trees.