Over 2 feet of snow and now rain!!

 

Okay, we all live in Ohio or have at one time right?

So it should come as no surprise that it snows in the winter, right? And it sometimes snows a lot. Well at least up in the "SNOWBELT". Which I moved out of, right? Well I had been enjoying the Global warming, and the promise of short no precip winters. But, then reality struck, fortunately I had cut up a trees limb, and repaired the furnace in the little house. The Propane tanks were filled about a month ago, of course the billing was a mess and still isn't squared away, but that's another rant. And everything seemed pretty good, Russell called and warned me about the impending weather, which I figured would miss us, as it has mostly for the last three years, and BOY WAS I WRONG!

The most susceptible area for us is water, it's a good well, but not near what the city water was, actually the quality of the water is surely better, just the quantity is limited in a 24 hour period. Some people around have large tanks in the ground they fill over a period of time so the amount used in a short period of time, is replaced at a reduced rate, Oh you know what I mean. Anyway we haven't gotten that sophisticated yet, but I have plans. Anyway we are still required to get under the house to turn it back on, if the water is used when the electricity is out. And that is the big issue living here. The electricity. It is better than it had been the first year, when it was out every couple days, and wreaked havoc with our computers and clocks and water, and well, it made everything pretty "iffy". The cause of the power issues was identified as "replacing a damaged substation", a necessary upgrade and repair caused by a variety of factors, blah blah blah. As soon as that was done, it was summer time. Soon we were getting "peak alert warnings requesting things be turned off at meal time and bed time" as everyone was using too much power at the same time. Then the August winds started up and blew down a lot of trees, which of course fell into power lines and a big push was on to cut everything around a power line. ASPLUNDT to the rescue! Well they sure chopped and hacked a plethora of trees. Then the winter weather hit again, and snow and ice and wind worked together, to cause downed lines yet again. It seems the whole system out here is really rag tagged together, of course it is based on the remnants of the rural electrification projects spawned during the last depression, 1930's. Check out this link for kicks , http://www.gmenergy.com/AboutUs/History.aspx Maybe that's what the obamites ought to look at doing to create jobs, get the rural systems repaired or updated and include the internet and working communication systems in the package.

Well that is a great dream but "it ain't agonna happen," it doesn't guarantee votes or provide any substantial profit for the democrats so it won't happen. But what difference would it make to anyone? In reality, everyone around here has developed systems to cover for the lack of dependability of the provided systems. Generators, water reservoirs, and gasoline or diesel in large tanks, wood burners, propane systems, and it's obvious there is a lower expectation, for good cause. Well, that is where I am right now. Setting up my own survival systems to cover for the weakness of the governmental and locally political provisions. Here we go, the power went out once in Akron for about 4 days, of course I had wired a back up system into my garage with my Lincoln Electric Ranger 8 welder as the generator, and I powered my house and a couple neighbors for the four days it took the electric company to repair the damage.

The situation here is that we could usually get by for a day or two with out needing power except to flush the toilets. Which I have the secondary system set up to cover, if it becomes necessary. But it's tough to use in freezing weather as I still have to move the water in barrels. So, when I recently moved the washer and dryer from the rear entry way to the bathroom, (where I removed the garden tub, we didn't have the water to support anyway). I added a wire from the dryer connection out the rear wall. When the electric went out again for a period that had reached over 24 hours I decided they weren't going to get things working anytime soon. So it was time to get a system operating on my own. The house's temperature had dropped about 10 degrees, and the forecast was to get colder. And the toilets, well, they needed flushed and the dishes were piling up. Also, I had everything I needed just hadn't arranged them in a working system yet. So I worked for about 4 hours to get the welder running, and the old 4 wd truck out of the deep snow and backed up to the garage so I could load the welder. That maneuver took about ten runs at the garage door and a lot of shoveling when the truck went the wrong way, or not far enough, or ended up where it could not pull away when the welder was loaded. Which was a treat, after working the welder from the rear of the garage, to the front door, and setting up the hydraulic engine hoist so I could load it, and making sure it would run when I got it hooked up. I also had to find the plug that matched the cable I built when we need it in Akron, (which I also had to find) and making sure the tools were with me, so I wouldn't have to walk back to the garage in the middle of setting it up. I finally got moving from the garage and started up the road in front of the house.

The next challenge was the ridge of snow created by the road grader used to clear the road, which is very effective, but does leave a pile of snow at the end of the driveway, no different from anybody else's situation. Just a little challenge for a guy who can't really shovel. The obvious option is to take a real run at it, and hope to clear it. Yeah, well I had a wheel mounted, 600 pound welder, sitting in the rear of an open truck. I moved only enough snow out of the truck to allow the welder to sit in it on the floor. And the two cans of gas I had setting in the garage, because I'm adverse to having empty cans around. Good plan. Anyway, I tried a run at it from the West first, which is uphill to start, that didn't get to far at all. But I didn't get stuck, so I hit it again but from the East this time which gives me the advantage of starting off down hill. Well, as the rules of physics might predict, it also means I might get a little too much momentum to control with wide tires on ice. And I got to shovel for a while to get it out of the ditch behind my mailbox, which I didn't hit by the way. I finally got lined up to the driveway, with the wall of ice out of the way and I gently attempted to give it a run up the hill. I gave it a try, and it nearly floated up the drive! Right up the hill, didn't even fishtail! I was really happy, glad I hadn't bothered to try to cut a couple tracks up the hill first.

I turned behind the house and swerved around Chris's Ford Escape, and pulled directly out from the house, and started to back toward the house, to get the generator into position and then, Stuck!

Back to the shovel.

Chris brought me a drink, unfortunately water, and a little white pill, fortunately Vicoden. Then I continued digging the truck out and finally getting it up to the house. I removed the tailgate and backed as close to the house as I dared. I actually got as close as possible without hitting the house. Mostly by luck, I mean, due to my incredible driving skills!

 

 

Now the trick to making this work, is to be able to feed the house on both circuits. sending 220 into the house, broken down to 110 on each of the 110 circuits.

But even more important is not sending the power back to the street. Because believe it or not, I can charge the entire system I'm part of, back through the transformer at the street. In fact I can charge it to 7200 - 13000 volts, I'm not sure what line voltage we have out here and nobody wants to tell me for some reason, I'll find a lineman someday that knows, and will talk, it's just a matter of time.

And the most important point I'm trying to make here is that, any poor line man working on the power system, could end up dead! It won't charge the system for long, but surely enough to kill somebody. So, if you don't know what you are doing, buy the safety block that is designed to allow a safe connection at the meter base. Because it is designed to prevent this back feeding into the system, which will most likely burn out your generator anyway, and provides a nice plug to hook it to your generator, and even has a feature that can automatically trigger your generator to start if it has that capacity. The nice thing about it, beyond providing a safe and convenient way to connect, is that you don't have to run around the house flipping breakers and such while attempting to get it started, it takes care of all that by itself. If your well pump and hot water heater are set up for 110 v operation you only need to power one circuit. But if you don't know that, power the entire system to 220. If you don't understand anything I've mentioned get an electrician to advise you. {DISCLAIMER, I'm not telling you how to do this, just that it requires a specific knowledge of the systems that run your house and doing it wrong will destroy thousands of dollars of equipment and can kill people so react accordingly.} Meanwhile back at the insane stuck truck digger. I got everything hooked up and working after only 5 hours. And about an hour and a half later I went to the garage and found the lights on. Small problem with setting up the system I have, I don't have a way to tell if the power returns, yet another advantage of the Meter base unit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's their propaganda Generlink

Now, with all these great features of this unit, why don't I have one?

$600 to $800 dollars, that's why. But eventually when I get the systems established, in the yet to be constructed basement addition. I will have it wired in, so it's all automatic, because "I ain't getting any younger", and automatic systems will be at least desirable, if not necessary. Also the current connection (pun intended) is only good for about 30 amps, by wire size and breaker situation. My house in Akron had a 30 amp service when I moved in. Now Akron is 100 amps, and down here it is 200 amps, in each house, and the garage. Because, that is the only place (the garage) I'll ever come close to needing more than 60 amps at any time. But it's nice to have overkill, it's even nicer to have dependable electric service, which, as long as that generator sits out there in the truck, I seem to have.

Now that was the first big snow, and we survived pretty well, but the second snow has pretty much blocked the drive. I have checked the situation as I go to the mailbox each day, and check the little house to make sure the furnace is working. In any event I'm concerned that the little car will drag too heavily, to go in and out without damage. I used the truck to make the original tracks which we navigated pretty well after the first big snow but it is twice as deep now and I don't want the generator stuck at the bottom of the drive. That will surely cause a major power outage. So I have been trying to think of a way to clear the drive with the equipment I have. The steepness of the hill is the major problem, I think the tractors would probably reach about 30 MPH before going sideways and rolling over on me, a fate I don't desire at present. But I am considering building a snow removal device, just need to accumulate the right parts, heck I have a machine shop, and lots of junk. Seems, I ought to make something dangerous just for fun don't you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, it will probably get done about mid July, when it will be useless. But you never know, things that are homemade often serve more than one purpose. Maybe I can use it to harvest something, like cats, or coyotes.

But after careful consideration, realizing the likelihood of having anything constructed and functional in less than a month, I decided to attempt the hill with the Ford Explorer, its main problem, (other than the transmission, which got it nearly permanently parked) is a broken brake line to the rear brakes. So I jacked it up, pinched off the brake line with vise grips and added brake fluid. I got it dug out, and it backed right out of the bottom drive, I also put the engine hoist in it for weight, and because I wanted to get the generator out of the truck, so I can drive it around if I need to. After only seven runs up the hill, I finally got it to the top, only had to shovel one area, about twenty feet long, where the snow was waist deep from drifting. I dug out Chris's escape and pulled it back out of the way and "bonsai'ed" the Explorer over behind the kitchen.

I then removed and set up the engine hoist, lifted the generator out and set it near the back of the house, where I can still hook it up if I need to. Pulled the pickup truck out front, into the drifting area, where it will set until Chris has to leave tomorrow. I also placed her car (Escape) so it is lined up for a down hill run in the morning, right behind the pickup. I was amazed at how well the Explorer back out of its position in the yard, because I really expected to just leave it there until spring if it got stuck. So after another 5 hour day in the snow, and shoveling, and driving like a madman. I am again master of my domain, well sort of, at least I think I can leave it, if I have to.

While the girls are gone to town tomorrow I will get everything rearranged, and hope they can make it back up behind the house, after the all important "town for hair" trip is accomplished. Well that's all for now, I'm bushed.

 

 

The Chores, Fresh Air, Green Acres is for ME.