HAMBers affected by the Seattle-area storm

We lost our power on Thursday the 14th and haven't gotten it back yet. A friend loaned me a welder with a generator on it Monday the 18th. I just got my internet connection back tonight, so with the generator I'm able to get back on-line. We still have power lines down, just down the street. The power company just started working around my area yesterday. So maybe in the next couple of days it will be working again.

 

Wow. Where exactly are you?

Dave
http://www.roadsters.com/

 

Something my dad p***ed on to me I'll be using next time my power ****s (it will, I have faith!). He's been using the same idea at his place and it makes sense. "Should" work for most folks as well.

If you have a generator with a 220V oulet can get your paws on or make a 220V cord with a male plug on each end, then run it from the jenny to your clothes dryer outlet (***uming you have electric dryer that is, any 220V outlet will do). In this way it's possible to power your entire house.
Now you wont want to try & run the oven or an electric furnace off of one, but it will give you power to all of your plugs & lights instead of running cords all over the place. Really need to limit what you have on at one time & keep everyone in one room with a small space heater.

****WARNING****
To do this you MUST turn off your main breaker for the house at the utility drop.
This keeps you from back feeding into the utility system and either trying to power the neighborhood or zapping one of the men trying to restore your power (they tend to get pissed about this). Also trip the one for the furnace if you have one, any of the base board heat if you have those, and the range/oven if your jenny isn't rated for the wattage. I have a 6500W jenny & it's not enuf to run either of those, but it runs a few lights, the refer, TV/satelite, and microwave with no issues.

Just thought I'd p*** that on.

 

Freq2002: Interesting idea to back feed your panel through the 220 outlet. You'd better know what your doing before trying it though. We have sent a bunch of line crews (PG&E) up to Washington & Oregon to help get power back, hope you guys dig out and are back to normal soon! Oh yeah and Whidby is beautiful too, we fell in love with Lopez and i could not get the idea out of my head of just bombing around on a cafe racer or in my Hudson. Hell I'd never leave the islands if I lived there...

 

RATBOY> Yeah, not for the faint of technical skills for sure. Ya have to be sure your house electrics are in good shape and you have the plugs wired right. Good thing to get an electrician freind help you with.
I'm thinkin about adding a plug directly to my power drop, need a 220V outlet out there anyway, figgure that way I can wire it direct without backfeeding the house system, and the jenny is safely away from the house.
All depends on where the utility drop is located as far as if it's something good for other folks to look into. The less distance the better, but who needs a 220V outlet in thier back yard? Well, could be a good excuse to get a hot tub, but you know,... It's also something any homeowner can do without requiring an inspection, but I'd get it inspected by the state anyway. Better to know than ***ume!