Greenhouse: Ice storm - 2-1/5 days without power, 1 by digital_dave

digital_dave wrote:
Can't edit the title - should be 2-1/2 days, duh...

The area around I-44 in Southwest Missouri was devestated by the worst ice storm since we've been here (29 years). On Friday we received record daily precipitation all falling as rain with the temperatures around 30 degrees. This persisted on and off through Sunday with the total precipitation reaching 3-1/2 inches. We lost power at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday following large booms as ice laden branches touched the primary electric lines across the street. We got our generator going in about 45 minutes after discovering the battery was dead. This was odd since I had just charged it in anticipation of the forecasted storm. One of the car batteries worked well as a replacement. The generator (5500 watts) is wired in to the house circuits with a Generac load transfer switch which will not allow dual feed. This is a safety issue for workers out on the line trying to restore service. The generator ran well through Saturday night when it began to run roughly, then died. Not amount of effort (by me) could get it going. Plan B.
We got out the two kerosene heaters (also tested in the Fall and got them fired up in the greenhouse. They were able to hold the GH temps to a minumum of 40 degrees. (Outside temp never got much below 26.) One of the heaters went out overnight apparently due to a bad wick. We made an emergency run to Lowes who had pallets full of large kerosene heaters they were selling at 50% off. Bless them - they have earned my loyalty. Fortunately the heaters were full and we had three gallons of kerosene in reserve, for by Saturday afternoon there was none to be had. Power came back on Monday at noon. DSL (phone lines) just came back this morning.

Springfield looks like a war zone with a high of 75% power outages. From a high spot it looks like someone with a giant brush hog came through and sheared off the tops of all the trees. There are numerous large trees on the ground and low hanging wires everywhere, making it difficult to get around. Moral - Mother Nature is an charge. But you can survive the worst she has to offer with proper planning. It was a horrible three days but I pity the poor souls who are still without power. It's 7 degrees here this morning.
Dave.

This message was edited Jan 16, 2007 3:55 PM