No POWER! - Montana Owners Club

Ozz · 09-01-2012, 02:29 AM

Woke up this morning about 5:30 when the bedroom A/C went off. Dang it's quiet when you lose power. Fumbled around found flashlight, looked out.. no lights. Went out to detached garage/shop and tried to start back-up generator... flooded it, pulled spark plug, it was wet, blew it off with CO2, dropped spark plug and broke it..
Plan 'B', went to patio by swimming pool and started back-up to the back-up generator Honda electric start.. started right up. Had a battery minder on it.
(I shut off the main 200 amp breaker and back-feed the panel, so everything is hot.) I have the breakers painted red that need to stay off for power management. Shut down two refrigerators, two freezers, de-humidifier for basement and main A/C. The Mitsubishi mini-split in the bedroom stays on. The C.E.O. likes to snooze in the mornings...
Not how Jim Fischer would do it.. but works for me. I do not recommend this to everyone, should have a transfer switch. Maybe some day, but probably not.
Oh, there is a site where you can check your local power outages here in K.C., tells you who is out, and the history, maybe something like that in your 'Hood'
http://www.kcpl.com/kcmaps/frameset_menus.htm

**DQDick** · 09-01-2012, 02:52 AM

Sorry to hear about your bad morning. Hope they get it back on soon. I finally did install a transfer switch on our S&B and then sold it a year later. It was convenient and safe for the lineman now that I'm not there anymore to shut it off at the pole.

NCFischers · 09-01-2012, 03:59 AM

Around here, the power co. will drive around in a pick-up listening for generators. If you have one without a transfer switch, they will unplug it. If you start it up again, they show up with the law and pull your meter. When power comes back on, you are the last to get your meter back. The potential to kill someone is too great. If you screw up and burn your house down, your insurance company may not pay and cancel you. If you kill a lineman, you will loose everything you own.

Ozz · 09-01-2012, 04:17 AM

Yep it is a bad thing.

steelpony5555 · 09-01-2012, 05:42 AM

It was one of the things I worried bout when working storms and we had lines down. I was a phone man but during those times the power wires are usually draped down over our cables. Most of the time the power companies breakers would pop out and I could test a down line and it would be dead, but you never knew if someone a mile down the road would plug a generator in and start it up while I was working. Most people don't know when your use a generator and reverse the flow back thru the transformers it bumps that 110/220 power back up to Kill You power.

NCFischers · 09-01-2012, 06:47 AM

I was a phone lineman also and that was a very real danger.

Ozz · 09-01-2012, 06:54 AM

Well, power came back on, turned gen off, turned 200 amp house breaker on, everyone is safe and we have POWER! Glad it didn't last long.
I was looking at the power outage map of the K.C. Mo. area, we had a ton of areas out of power. It didn't blow that much, but a LOT of rain from the remnants of the Hurricane. Our power grid must be bery weak, I have heard it is.

CORattler · 09-01-2012, 07:11 AM

This A.M. It was 58F in the Springs. We don't need no stinking A/C in the A.M! We slept with the windows open. Glad to hear you have power back!

Ozz · 09-01-2012, 07:38 AM

58! Early Colorado Fall?
The low humidity, nice breezes, beautiful scenery.. wish we still lived there. Spent many days climbing the mountains when we lived in Cascade.
29 days 22 hrs 21 minutes, and we are OFF!

**DQDick** · 09-01-2012, 09:57 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by CORattler

This A.M. It was 58F in the Springs. We don't need no stinking A/C in the A.M! We slept with the windows open. Glad to hear you have power back!

Seriously envy you!

steelpony5555 · 09-01-2012, 05:14 PM

Hmmmm, at midnite last night is was 85 and humid as all get out, totally miserable. No rain or wind from the hurricane but it sure pushed a whole lot of humidity our way.

Ozz · 09-02-2012, 01:50 AM

I can not wait to get pout of this sweat-bath called Missouri. The Desert is so nice, Sue has hardly any breathing issues there. We went biking a week or so ago, she about passed out, she laid on the driveway for 10 minutes when we came back up the hill to the house, I was about to take her to the horsepital. I tried to get her to stay down by the bike path, I was coming back for her with the truck.
I can see that the weather from the hurricane is still causing problems, but the farmers got a gift from it up in the mid states.

Tom S. · 09-02-2012, 02:30 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by NCFischers

Around here, the power co. will drive around in a pick-up listening for generators. If you have one without a transfer switch, they will unplug it. If you start it up again, they show up with the law and pull your meter. When power comes back on, you are the last to get your meter back. The potential to kill someone is too great. If you screw up and burn your house down, your insurance company may not pay and cancel you. If you kill a lineman, you will loose everything you own.

I cut them off at the pass, so to speak. I don't have a transfer switch, so I cut the tag on the meter and pull it myself. When power is restored, I call our provider (Detroit Edison) and tell them to send someone out to replace the tag. It doesn't happen often - this year was the first time in several years. The guy that came out told me replacing my tag reminded him he needed to call his in for replacement becuase he did the same thing I did.

Ozz · 09-02-2012, 02:34 AM

You are always thinking Tom!

NCFischers · 09-02-2012, 05:05 AM

Tom,
If you tamper with the meter in any way here, they will fine you $250.00. It's not always a good idea.

steelpony5555 · 09-02-2012, 05:35 AM

Our electric company spazzed out when we pulled the electric meters at house fires, easy way to cut power to a burning house. Can't imagine them being nice about it with a normal home owner....

Tom S. · 09-02-2012, 10:52 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by NCFischers

Tom,
If you tamper with the meter in any way here, they will fine you $250.00. It's not always a good idea.

I wonder how that would hold up in court? "Your Honor, I had the choice of pulling the meter to run medical equipment, or leaving it plugged in and risk someone getting killed." Your electric company has way too much power (pun intended!). Here, unless they suspect you of fraud (pretty hard case for them to make given our bills, plus the fact our meters are read electronically every month) they bend over backwards to work with you. When we moved into this house, the first upgrade I made was to change the 100 amp service to 200 amps. Their instructions: "Pull the meter and change your panel, then bus it when you're done and call us. We'll come out in a few days to install the new meter." True to their word, they were out in three days with the new meter and pro-rated the time without the meter based on the first month's usage.

jimcol · 09-02-2012, 11:45 AM

I have pulled meters on three different occasions. Two for house fires and once because they disconnected the wrong service. The two burning houses I got praise by fire department and electric company. Not a harsh word when I pulled the meter and removed the isolation insulators when they disconnected the wrong house in error and it was 17 degrees outside. I'm not saying everyone should do this but if you have a good knowledge of what you are dealing with it is better than not doing anything.Originally posted by NCFischers

Tom,
If you tamper with the meter in any way here, they will fine you $250.00. It's not always a good idea.
[/quote]

Ozz · 09-02-2012, 12:48 PM

It's no question, in general, the power companies frown on the practice, they want everyone to be safe and legal, and who can find fault with that.
But there are situations that require some 'out of the box' thinking. Different managers of the companies look at their rules differently, some strict, some not so much. I know when I was a slumlord, I dealt with some pretty low forms of carbon-based units. I worked with the power companies in my area, it is amazing what people come up with trying to steal electricity. We had a guy that just went around and investigated such cases, he would drop by my office and we would have coffee and he would tell me the crud people do. I would rat-out the ones I came across. I would pull meters all the time and make the wiring safe in the homes and buildings I bought and renovated, never had a problem. The city inspectors worked with the Power and Light company, sometimes the P&L guys would contact the city when meters were pulled so the city inspector could come in and check to see if there was a permit pulled for any work done. I never had a problem with that, just didn't get caught. They put on special meter enclosures here, when it has been tampered with, you can't pull the meter.. it's on there good!
I never pulled a permit..our inspectors were all crooked where I had my properties. Kansas City, you know...
If you are working on your residence, you can do the work yourself, if you are working on an investment property, you have to be licensed. I did all the wiring on my Casa here when I built it.

NCFischers · 09-02-2012, 11:44 PM

You all make valid points. When I ran my business in two other states, things were different. I still pull meters on occasion to look for bad connections in meter bases and such. I have a good rep with the powers that be (pun intended) so they don't give me any grief when I do it.

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