any of you lose power?

[bionic knees]

if the power goes off and my generator pisses off the neighbors that is just tough titties!! I am neighborly that way. lol

 

[rjmt]

I spent 3 years in Germany, slept in a GI mummy bag and shelter half in the snow many a time
then 2 winters in Colorado, I remember getting excited when it got up to ZERO
as long as it was above 32 deg, we were doing PT
at that time, I could run a mile at 5200' in 32 deg weather
but now, in my retirement years, I like my comforts
refilling a generator in 19 deg weather with blowing snow is for younger people
and now my pipes in the well house froze, forgot to run a cable from the generator to the well house heater the other day, will pull out the Salamander tomorrow to thaw them out
but no flushing toilets tonight

 

[kenboy]

When the temps get low, like in the teens here, it takes a while for exterior cold to penetrate. The longer the extreme cold persists, the deeper it penetrates until you reach an equilibrium of how much interior heat you can produce versus the exterior cold. Ordinarily, I don't have to touch the thermostat on our heat pump. Which I supplement with wood heat. But in the teens, I have to play around with the thermostat a bit. The heat pump has a kind of little brain in it that considers the outside temp. and decides how long it should run in advance to achieve a certain set interior temperature. In any event, the longer the temp. is in the teens, the longer the heat pump wants to run because the exterior walls have cooled down to that equilibrium point. Of course when the power goes out, without any heat, those walls (and the interior of the house) would eventually cool down to the natural equilibrium point -- the outside temperature. Or close to it. If you have concrete floors, those tend to retain some of the natural warmth of the earth, especially if shielded from the exterior.

Of course this worry mostly goes away here when our normal, coastal weather returns. But it makes me wonder why people live in mainland Alaska (or whatever they call that large area which doesn't include the SE part). Where these concerns are permanent for long periods of the year.

It was my electric Heat Pump that failed the first night when it got down to 17°.

Do you have to manually select emergency heat on your thermostat or does it automatically kick into that mode?

The increased amp draw may have just taken out a 60 amp Breaker in my panel, but waiting for a buddy to come run a test on the furnace.

 

[Tlock]

It was my electric Heat Pump that failed the first night when it got down to 17°.

Do you have to manually select emergency heat on your thermostat or does it automatically kick into that mode?

The increased amp draw may have just taken out a 60 amp Breaker in my panel, but waiting for a buddy to come run a test on the furnace.

Hope you had backup heat!

 

[Savage Jav]

Have power. However garage gym is cold af so I have resorted to kettle bells and pushups in the house

 

[gmerkt]

Do you have to manually select emergency heat on your thermostat or does it automatically kick into that mode?

Mine has an automatic setting that causes the little heat pump brain to figure out how much emergency run (electric resistance) heat it should blend with the compressor output. It doesn't typically shut down the heat pump side and go completely over to emergency run, or I should say, that's never happened here including lately. There is an exception to this when in defrost mode, see below. My thermostat also has a manual setting so you can choose only the emergency run resistance heat. I guess that's in case the compressor side goes bad or whatever.

The little brain in the heat pump figures out the least expensive electricity to use in a given external temperature situation in relation to the indoor setting requirement. As temperatures go below the efficiency level of the heat pump, the unit will call for more electric resistance heat in the mix. As I understand the unit that I have. Which was installed in 2019.

By "least expensive electricity" what I mean is, if the temp. gets real low, the compressor has to run so long to generate heat output that it can reach the cost of electric resistance heat. The little "brain" in the outside unit works this out.

The electric resistance heat (emergency run) draws way more current than the compressor side of the unit. My set has two each 60 amp breakers for power. I've watched the electric meter when the heat pump goes into defrost mode. The compressor stops producing heat to the inside unit when in defrost mode, so the inside unit goes into emergency run. When that happens, I see the wheel in the elec. meter rotates about twice as fast. Here in my location this latest weather episode has resulted in low humidity, so the defrost isn't coming on as it does in "normal" conditions of humidity.

 

[Illuminaughty]

Keep loosing power for 3-6 hours at a time here in veneta OR. Have battery backup, wood grill, propane heaters and a lot of cuddlin

 

[The Heretic]

My plan for the future (when I sell this property and build anew) is geothermal heat pump, with radiant hydronic floor heat for the house and shop. I would love to have a shop that is moderately heated so I can work in it during the winter if I want to - right now the temp inside my current shop is surely below freezing - plus it would be nice to be able to store things in the shop that might freeze in my current shop.

 

[rjmt]

Have power. However garage gym is cold af so I have resorted to kettle bells and pushups in the house

try a chainsaw and hunks of frozen Big Leaf Maple
don't need no kettle bells

 

[Jay Walk]

18 in Vantucky. I am in the burbs, rural is where some power outages are more likely.

 

[oremike]

Power went out Saturday around noon and came back on Sunday about 10 pm. Wife got the wood stove going right away so the house stayed toasty warm. Our freezers are out in the unheated garage so with the ambient temperature out there being 28 degrees nothing thawed. We did empty the house refrigerator into a couple of ice chests on the back porch so nothing would spoil. We didn't cook this time other than a kettle of hot water on the wood stove for Coffee, surviving instead on PB&J's, Bagels & cream cheese and Tuna in a bag. We have Kerosene lamps and candles for stationary lighting, flashlights for moving about and headlights for reading. In other words we are warm, dry and comfortable hunkered down here.

 

[rjmt]

I was reading on this just now
will your red dot and holographic sights work in this weather?
my Eotech has Lithium batteries and is rated below zero, can't say about my budget holo sights
I'll put a couple outside to check

 

[The Heretic]

18 in Vantucky. I am in the burbs, rural is where some power outages are more likely.

Maybe up there, but out here (edge of WA/Yamhill county), from what I see on the PGE outage map, most of the outages are in suburban/urban areas.

I haven't gone into town (yet), but the snow up here (900') on the mountain (Chehalem) did not stick to the conifers, so they have no snow load, which is what usually causes the power outages due to limbs/trees falling/touching onto the power lines.

 

[rjmt]

I was reading on this just now
will your red dot and holographic sights work in this weather?
my Eotech has Lithium batteries and is rated below zero, can't say about my budget holo sights
I'll put a couple outside to check

Holosun also has Lithium batteries
it's outside for a freeze test now

 

[CougarMtn]

Propane genset used sparingly. Try to stage our "on time" to pump water, shower, cook etc. during it's run time. The little 2200 Honda meets our needs for lites, frige and freezer. Each generator has its own transfer switch.

And some quality time in front of the woodstove with my honey.

 

[rjmt]

Propane genset used sparingly. Try to stage our "on time" to pump water, shower, cook etc. during it's run time. The little 2200 Honda meets our needs for lites, frige and freezer. Each generator has its own transfer switch.

And some quality time in front of the woodstove with my honey.

View attachment 1802778

I've seen a lot of those water holding tanks in this area in the new construction
what is the capacity?
how did it hold up in this cold weather
I only have an old steel 100 gal tank now, want to upgrade

 

[rjmt]

I've seen a lot of those water holding tanks in this area in the new construction
what is the capacity?
how did it hold up in this cold weather
I only have an old steel 100 gal tank now, want to upgrade

is that just a holding tank or also a pressure tank

 

[CougarMtn]

It's a 5000 gallon poly tank. Partially set into the bank for freeze protection. Keep it full year round, mostly for fire protection. Insurance company gives us a decent discount, so its more than paid for itself.

On that note, i added a 4" discharge valve so it can be used by a firetruck, or my tractor powered water pump.

 

[rjmt]

It's a 5000 gallon poly tank. Partially set into to bank for freeze protection. Keep it full year round, mostly for fire protection. Insurance company gives us a decent discount, so its more than paid for itself.

On that note, i added a 4" discharge valve so it can be used by a firetruck, or my tractor powered water pump.

It's a 5000 gallon poly tank. Partially set into to bank for freeze protection. Keep it full year round, mostly for fire protection. Insurance company gives us a decent discount, so its more than paid for itself.

On that note, i added a 4" discharge valve so it can be used by a firetruck, or my tractor powered water pump.

View attachment 1802791

View attachment 1802791

does it freeze? I read on line if you keep the tank full, it should not freeze

 

[CougarMtn]

does it freeze? I read on line if you keep the tank full, it should not freeze

No problem with it freezing.