. . . not having to worry about being cold when the power goes out since you have a woodstove (although having a generator to keep the refrigerator going also rates right up there.)
Re: Happiness is . . .
- Thread starter firefighterjake
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil. -
Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here
I was happy my power didn't go out but less happy about the 20 inches of heavy snow I got. Normally I can do my driveway twice on one tank of gas in the snowblower. This morning I had to refill to finish...
and when your son comes home for winter break with 2 of his buddies and they help you cut split and stack a years worth of Oak...so happy!
Last edited:
I had a few recloser trips this morning, I don't mind one but two in row and the next one the recloser opens.
In an older electrical system if there is something that shorts the line to ground (squirrel, seagull, tree branch) a fuse would blow and the power would be out. This required a linesman to get dispatched to change the fuse. Reclosers are circuit breakers with brains, if the logic sees a short to ground the breaker will open shutting the power off for a short period. The logic will then try to reclose the breaker hoping that the short has gone away. If it still detects a short it will trip one more time wait a bit and the try resetting one more time, if it trips again the power goes out until the utility either manually resets it or its done remotely. Many utilities now remotely communicate to these breakers which are usually on secondary and primary circuits. They can have logic in place that detects which breaker was "first out" and in many cases rather than leaving the entire circuit out, they can remotely deduce where the fault is and re-energize all of the other breakers on the circuit. Many rural utilities haven't spent the bucks to upgrade to this technology.
In an older electrical system if there is something that shorts the line to ground (squirrel, seagull, tree branch) a fuse would blow and the power would be out. This required a linesman to get dispatched to change the fuse. Reclosers are circuit breakers with brains, if the logic sees a short to ground the breaker will open shutting the power off for a short period. The logic will then try to reclose the breaker hoping that the short has gone away. If it still detects a short it will trip one more time wait a bit and the try resetting one more time, if it trips again the power goes out until the utility either manually resets it or its done remotely. Many utilities now remotely communicate to these breakers which are usually on secondary and primary circuits. They can have logic in place that detects which breaker was "first out" and in many cases rather than leaving the entire circuit out, they can remotely deduce where the fault is and re-energize all of the other breakers on the circuit. Many rural utilities haven't spent the bucks to upgrade to this technology.
VirginiaIron
Minister of Fire
..., not having to work hard to maintain the wood heating system and the temperature in your house.
Last edited:
If my power goes out when it's cold I put every thing from the frig in the large cooler and onto the back porch.It keeps till the power comes on.
...standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon and realizing your teenage kids have put there phones in there pocket.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
Nice job explaining, Also there are many other things that go on, Starting at the sub there's adaptive relays, basically using the sub station breaker as a recloser, You can program it to (3) shots or if someone is working in a "lock out zone" or if a large storm is coming you program it to (1) shot.
Main line reclosers are great tools to have, most utilities have them programmed for (3) shots like you said, the new smart grid technology utilizes what is referred as a loop tie recloser scheme, if theres a trip on one circuit another relcoser senses it and closes automatically picking up the back half of the tripped circuit, this happens at predetermined areas using reclosers, voltage sensors.
On a side note with rural area's, the majority of utility companies prefer main line and branch line fusing rather than reclosers and sectionalizes, the reasoning is basic risk vs benefit, the risk is that in rural areas you are more likely to have a phase to ground faults due to tree's, cpa's or equipment failure rather than animal contacts, (basic construction has animal guards on on xfmr bushings, tops of cut out boxes. Many customers complain in these area's about lights flickering, sensitive electronics being reset, low voltage if theres a partial fault, so a fuse is a better option in the thinking that if its a true fault let that section of line go out vs causing a main line to trip open and close multiple times.
St. Coemgen
Feeling the Heat
Or, maybe happiness is just living in a warmer climate....
i have lived in warmer, tropical, climates than I do now. They were nice. Just some thinking outside the box.
Last edited:
You're still out of luck if you're at the end of the circuit! Isolating the fault's effects to as small a number of customers is desirable (also helps the utility's stats which might keep them from getting a penalty) but if you're in that group that's out, it still might take awhile since the crews are working on larger, more 'important' outages, ie, not yours.
heavy hammer
Minister of Fire
Winter days when the sun shines and temps are above freezing, plus a good amount of dry locust to get through the not so sunny days and freezing temps!
. . . coming home after a day of sledding, stinking of two-stroke exhaust and seeing that a) the power is back on so you can shower and b) your wife has put on the overhead outside light so you can unload your gear easily enough.
Incidentally . . . power went out shortly before midnight on Thursday . . . came back on according to my wife around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Never once was cold.
Incidentally . . . power went out shortly before midnight on Thursday . . . came back on according to my wife around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Never once was cold.
Happiness is: Enjoying the holidays with the majority of the family, relatively healthy!
Oh yea, staying warm easily too ;-)
Happy New Year!
pen
Oh yea, staying warm easily too ;-)
Happy New Year!
pen
I second the comment about not having to worry about being cold or the pipes freezing when the power is out. Our power was only out for about 12 hours. But when it went out, I immediately thought of my deer defrosting. A generator would be peace of mind.
VirginiaIron
Minister of Fire
Walking into the foyer and you think to yourself "Brrrr, it's a little chilly in here" then you look at the thermometer and you realize it's 72° Inside and 4*F outside.
Edit- readability.
Edit- readability.
Last edited:
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
Was thinking about this the other night. Was sitting downstairs reclined on the couch next to the insert, home brew in one hand, book in the other when it was 8F outside and snowing. Meanwhile it was a comfy 75 inside and every once in awhile I'd watch the secondaries. At the same time, wife and son were upstairs sleeping and all was peaceful.
All I could think about was that we're fortunate to have what we have, especially this time of year.
All I could think about was that we're fortunate to have what we have, especially this time of year.
Similar threads
