by kpeavey » Mon 06 Oct 2008, 00:31:48
It was a long hard day, as many of them are. I have a belly full of chinese food, I'm tired, and I have to be out the door in 6 hours. However, this thread needs my 2 cents.
First, the background...
July 30, 2006
A small but strong thunderstorm rips through town. About the only damage was a few tree limbs down, some fences blown over and a whole bunch of wet dogs. The storm only lasted for 15 minutes, but when it was over, half the town had no electricity. I found this out when I got home, looked at the fan in the window and saw it was not running. Flip a switch, no lights, I have no power. I look back at the fan in the window and think to myself "hmmm...That's funny." It was not the fan that was out of place, but the 50 foot yellow poplar tree visible in the window now had a slope of 45 degrees.
I went outside to discover the tree had been blown over. Going around the corner I further discovered a bunch of electric company trucks has shown up to remove the wires from the tree. When I made it to the back of the house I found the full extent of the situation. The tree had fallen with the limbs tearing the power off my house-snapping the weatherhead in half, torn down a utility pole, split the next one in half, tore the wires from my neighbors house, crushed 30 feet of stockade fence, ripped the greenhouse up, and was resting on the northwest corner of my roof, with parts of my house scattered in, amongst, around and under the tree.
At this point the insurance claim has entered arbitration, with a secondary suit filed for bad faith. Depositions begin in the next couple of months. Blah, atty, blah, blah, lets do lunch, blah, atty, blah. I'm sick of it.
In the meantime, life goes on.
In order to get electricity restored to this old house (built 1929), the entire house grid must be brought up to current code, since the weatherhead was sheared. This will cost a couple grand. The rest of the house is more crooked than a politician, so repairs are pointless as the structural integrity has been compromised. I got no electricity, aint gonna get no electricity, been like this for 2 years now, and all I want to do is put beer in the fridge, take a hot bath and cook some bacon. City gas service is also shut off due to structural damage where the gas main connects to the house.
I ran a generator for a night, but with the busted ass fence, the generator now belongs to someone else. On to plan B.
I have the best neighbor in the world. When I move, I must take her with me. She has a back porch with electricity for her washing machine. 150 feet of extension cords later, I could plug in a light. Add a 6 plug power strip, I can power a few things. By now the one cord serves the greenhouse, camper and the house. I must have 1000 feet of extension cords. Finally added a light to the bathroom last month.
The key to the whole operation is GFI. Ground Fault Circuit Interrupt. Since I have to connect 2 cords in the middle of the yard, and again in the greenhouse, if it rains or water gets in there, the thigs will short circuit, melt, screw up a whole lot of stuff. This has happened twice, and the cost of replacing 100' of 10 guage outdoor extension cords is outrageous. I've taken other measures, but the GFI is the siht. The drawback is that I am limited to 14.5 amps of 110v service. I can squeeze about 18 amps out of the rig if I take out the GFI and my neighbor is not doing laundry.
With a limit on amperage, I have no choice but to monitor my electrical use in great detail.
How much power does my stuff use, what can I use simultaneously, what is the test to determine if I am drawing too much? The test turns out to be either A-no electricity or B-smoke in the greenhouse. I strive to pass the test at all times.
Time for priorities.
Alarm clock, gotta get to work to fund my continued misery.
Lighting
Coffee maker
Phone charger
Cold food storage
Cooking ability
Laundry
Heat and fan
15 amps is enough to operate the clock, a fluorescent light bulb, phone, 1.6 amp fridge, and 1 major device at a time, be it the coffee machine, or a washer, or an electric cook top, or a microwave, or a toaster oven, or a blender, or small space heater, or a skill saw, or a-you get the idea. If I'm getting close, the lights start to pulsate. I have to turn something off, the first to go is whatever the big thing was that I just turned on. Leave the coffee maker on, I find out fast about the error in my ways.
Adjusting lifestyle is mandated. Make the coffee, turn off the machine, pour it into a thermos. Do laundry when I'm not cooking or when I leave for work. Turn off the heat when I make supper. Plastic up the windows in the winter, have plenty of blankets around, sweat like a pig, a big fat sweaty pig, in the summer. Buy milk by the half gallon so it fits in the fridge, get the smaller dish of margarine, can the meat when it gets home. It turns out that ice is not that important after all. Until I get another power strip, extension cord and lamp, carry the lamp into the next room when moving around the house, and stock extra light bulbs to counter a complete lack of dexterity/lamp handling skills. Don't just turn off the TV/DVD, unplug them. I need the 10 milliamps. Charge the phone in the truck whenever possible. Get the 18 watt fluorescent tube, not the 26. Give up the Norelco, listen to McEnrow. Youtube uses less power than the DVD player.
Here are the Rules:
1 word: SolarLinerClothesDryer.
2 Words: Long Johns.
3 Words: Make Do Without.
4 Words: Get More Backup Systems.
5 Words: Sh Sh Sh Sh S-hi-v-v-v-e-e-e-r-rr-r
What they mean:
1 Find ways to do things without using electricity. The sun is a beautiful thing. Do you really need to run a fingernail polish drying machine? For that matter, do you really need fingernail polish?
2 Find ways of getting by without electricity. I heat hot water with 500 feet of tubing in the driveway.
3 Give up things and ways which require electricity. My outside night time lighting is the Moon. It works half the time.
4 Develop other energy systems to replace electricity. I bought a woodstove a couple weeks ago.
5 Suffer when all else fails. There will be things you will lose completely when the power goes out. The hardest one for me is when it gets cold. There is no heat in the house. I can afford the bill. I can keep my blue haired mother toasty warm all winter in Maine in a trailer with oil heat, but I freeze my nuts off. go figure.
---
I've done the math, figured out what I can leave on, what has to be turned off. You can go ahead and count your kilowatts all you want, come up with MOL for your electricity use, by all means, if it pleases you, get right to it. But be sure to put things into perspective. There are plenty of things which will run on just a little bit of power-cell phones, laptop computers, alarm clocks, for example. Their use and function is well defined but has practical limits. 5 amps for 24 hours, You'll be able to operate most of your tiny things and have a light to use it by.
Let's take a look at history. When electricity first started making its way from town to town, and houses were wired by those first electricians, the old places were set up to handle the electrical demand of the day: A couple of light bulbs, a radio in the sitting room, maybe one of those brand new clothes washing machines- deluxe style with a wringer. All that was needed was a couple of 10 amp fuses, maybe a 20 amp fuse and the entire house was electrified. Appliances and tools were designed with these common limits in mind. Things like toasters, toaster ovens, coffee percolators, power tools, all stayed under a 15 amp limit in order that they can be used by just about anyone. To this day, most household circuit breakers are in the 20 amp range. With the exception of a stove, dryer, water heater, central heat and air, just about everything else can be plugged in anywhere and operate smoothly.
If you have 15 amps of 110 volts, you can run pretty much anything you like. You might not be able to run much else at the same time, but you can run something. You can cut a board. mow the yard, cook dinner, heat a small space, make coffee, freeze ice, store cold food, boil water. This is function, purpose, use, practicality, ability, advantage. The machines are all over the place and will be around for a considerable period. Few people will have the ability to operate them, making them worthless to them, valuable to you. Trade a dozen eggs for an electric food dehydrator, hell yeah.
A solar PV system capable of dependably delivering 15 amps will run you about $6k. You can run your entire home off a system this size, but it won't offer everything you have running right now. The biggest energy consumption devices-stove, hot water, dryer, AC, will all have to be done another way. Get yourself a woodstove and plan on sweating like a pig, a big fat sweaty pig, in the summer.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984
_____
twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, and what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-George Yeats
). Anyone actually do this?
). Thanks! 
My electric bill breaks it down to kwh per day. Last month we used 15 kwh per day vs. 21 kwhpd a year ago. I had two more adults living with us last year and I have been switching over to twisted floresent bulbs. If I could remember to shut off the desk top computer after I get tired of reading all the stuff here on PO then I could probably cut it further. Last months bill was $76.34 or $2.39 per day. Not enough to buy a gallon of gas to run a generator.
