Power is out and it's cold!

[bil]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Roberta, et al...Our small GH runs on propane because the utilities service charges were killing us. Paid even when no gas flowed. We have an electric heater as back up. However, said heater was not turned on when the propane tank ran.out, first thing this winter. I am a forgiving person. A bu generator would be a good idea.

We have been toying with a whole house system for the dwelling but, they are pricey and need a professional to install. So, that project is lower on the list.

Cheddarbob, my hat is off to you. Without you climbing those poles in dangerous conditions, people would freeze, food would spoil, and medical equipment wouldn't run. Thank you, even though you don't work for NIPSCO.

Remember if it is cold enough butane liquifies and the heater won't work.
Propane is more cold tolerant.

[Dollythehun]

I think you are mistaking my abbreviation "bu" as butane. I am meaning "back up" or auxillary. Sorry the confusion is my fault.

[Roberta]

I think the takeaway from this thread is that no matter what heat source you have for your greenhouse, you should have something different for backup. No utility system is 100% failure-proof. For yourself and your house, you can always put on more clothes and light the fireplace. But some of the orchids are not portable and also not forgiving of even a short cold jolt. For electrical failure have a propane backup (remembering that larger gas heaters may require electricity to run fans), for gas failure have an electric heater.

[Dollythehun]

Amen, Roberta.

[Cheddarbob14]

For an emergency situation, smaller space especially, type "Terra cotta heater" in Google. Only requires a tea light candle for the heat source, and I'd imagine there's a few of us orchid owners that may have a Terra cotta pot or 2. There are many variations using different style candles also.

---------- Post added at 02:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:01 PM ----------

Ok, I have a few minutes. In regards to this wind storm/mass power outage in Mi......biggest outage in dte's history. The amount of wires down has been astronomical. Even on bigger storms, usually within 24 hrs, all of us are back to restoring power exclusively. The priority being public safety, most of us did what we call "cut and run" thru yesterday evening. Many are still doing it today. Cutting all wires that are in contact with anything on the ground or within reach. It's obviously a good thing, but what's bad, is that it creates a lot more work when going to put the wire back. Instead of using whats there, we are starting from scratch. Sometimes it's only 1 span (from 1 pole to the next), sometimes it's the length of the entire block. Not to mention all the broken poles, arms, transformers, etc.. My crew was not able to restore 1 house yesterday, we actually had to cut (what was partial) power to 2 blocks in order to prevent more wire from burning to the ground. For the few in this thread that don't have it, we are busting our humps trying to get it all back on, 16 hrs a day until the last person affected by the storm has the lights back on. Over 2,000 lineman have been brought in from out of state and are up and running as of this morning. Outages will start to drop dramatically starting this evening, but many will be without power for a week. We don't get any preferential treatment either, my crew leader has no power at his house and doesn't have a crew even assigned to his outage today, so at the very least he's out until tomorrow night.

Side note, the mass amount of OT is very nice for the checking account. I get paid next Thursday.......2 days before my 1st trip to an orchid show (Ann Arbor Orchid Festival), I'll be making some vendors happy

Edit-1. The worst thing that anyone can do to us.....come up and ask when the power is gonna come back on, then go into why it's so important that your power comes back on. It only delays your power from coming back on. Spent altogether around 2 +hours yesterday being polite and listening to customers.

Edit-2 it's very good to be close to a substation, less lines available to have something go wrong whether overhead or underground. Plus if you're power is out, you are most likely part of a much larger outage, which is going to take precedence over a much smaller outage

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Cheddarbob14

Side note, the mass amount of OT is very nice for the checking account. I get paid next Thursday.......2 days before my 1st trip to an orchid show (Ann Arbor Orchid Festival), I'll be making some vendors happy

Enjoy the show! You sure have earned any indulgence that you desire!

[bil]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

I think you are mistaking my abbreviation "bu" as butane. I am meaning "back up" or auxillary. Sorry the confusion is my fault.

Duuuhhh, brainfade on my part I think.

[Dollythehun]

Cheddarbob, I for one appreciate you and as you know,I do not live in Michigan. Enjoy the show! Show us your goodies when you get home.

[estación seca]

Thanks for doing a difficult and dangerous job.

[Cheddarbob14]

I much appreciate, the appreciation! I just hope we can get through this with no outage related fatalities (downed wire, poorly placed generators, candles, etc).

I'll definitely post pics of my purchases at the Ann Arbor Orchid Festival, displays too (after I make sure it's ok to do so). My kids have become attached to them also, probly gonna let them each "adopt" a paph for their rooms. They love helping repot and learning about each individual orchid and they are as excited as me when a bloom pops.