Hey Paul,...

[Jamie.270]

Are you spending the weekend battening down the hatches?

http://m.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/weathermatrix/strongest-storm-in-the-world-to-approach-alaska/36942007



Hang on tight up there buddy.

If that puppy sweeps across the N. pacific along Alaska's southern coast, it's gonna be ugly!

If we don't hear from you for a few days, we'll know you got slammed.  Keep us posted as is practical.

[gitano]

It started blowing day before yesterday, but pretty much calmed down since. The storm has stalled a little bit in its eastward travel. I don't know when it will hit but 'God willin' and the creek don't rise' maybe it will dissipate before we get hammered. We are prepared and the Skvorc household. The most significant prep is getting the house wired for running off of an auxiliary generator.

I gotta run, literally right now, as I am a pall bearer in my friend Jim's funeral. I'll discuss some more about our windstorms and my house later.

Paul

[Jamie.270]

Prayers sent.

[gitano]

Long day, in many ways.

So far the storm 'out west' hasn't created any local problems, and I saw this morning that it is "weakening". That'd be good. We get hurrican force winds up here about twice a year, and they last longer than hurricanes do. No mention in national news. I thought this storm might be bringing one of those events, but it doesn't look like it. I'm hoping it fizzles out.

About 6 years ago, we had the worst windstorm I have seen. My neighbor has a fairly sophisticated weather station and among it's various sensors is a wind speed indicator. It can't register speeds above 90 mpg, but it stayed above 90 mph for 104 hours. Let me repeat that: wind speeds were above 90 mph for FOUR DAYS AND 8 HOURS. When have you ever heard of a hurricane effecting one place more than 12 hours? It was in March, and wasn't particularly cold - in the teens - but with that wind speed the wind chill was colder the -60 F. I went out to screw some sheets of plywood to the side of my house so no MORE of them would go sailing by the glass front of my house. It was so cold I could NOT turn my face into the wind.

As I was preparing to build my house of stress-skin-panels, I realized I could increase the exterior thickness of the walls of the whole house from 6 to 8 inches for just over $800. That was a no-brainer. Not only "stiffer" by A LOT, but another r-8 worth of insulation. The power went out in the above mentioned storm not too long after the wind started. At my house it was out for 78 hours. At the end of that time, the temperature in my house was 48 F. Remember, houses experience "wind chill" as does ANY heat generating body. So the house was able to maintain an internal temperature of 50 degrees for three days when the outside temperature was colder than -60 F. I'm "ok with that". When the indoor temp went below 50 F I got out the propane heaters. The power came back on shortly thereafter. I was very pleased that I spent the extra $800 on the walls, MOSTLY for the extra stiffness. There was some $250 million in damage in The Valley. Not even a passing word in national news.

It wasn't until last year that I finally got around to wiring a backup generator into the house. Now, if the power goes out, the critical circuits in the house - boiler, well pump, kitchen/referigerator, and lights in the bathrooms and primary living spaces - will still be in use. That keeps the gas heat on, the food in the refrigerator safe, water for cooking and toilets running, and "light". So, if this storm knocks out the power, we should be able to hold out for at least a week without getting 'excited'.

Paul

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Sounds good.
I have a 5500 KW gen. I can wire into the house by just turning the main off and plugging the gen.into the welder receptacle.
I am thinking of having a standby gen. installed and supply it off propane.
The several times I have needed it, the big problem was finding gas, so having a 250 gal. propane tank that I had just had filled would relieve a lot of the strain.
We would need only the smallest unit as the connected load is quite light.
Hang in there and hold onto your hat.

[gitano]

HAH!

FINALLY got to catch YOU in a numerical gaff! Been waitin' years! :D

5500 KW (5.5 megawatt) generator is one BIG generator. Since that would 1) power a city of about 10,000 and 2) take A LOT of gas to run, I'm guessing you have 5.5 kilowatt or 5500 watt generator. No?

Paul

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Drat that "K"! Brain phart by a professional electrician.

:cens:

[sakorick]

HAH!

FINALLY got to catch YOU in a numerical gaff! Been waitin' years! :D

5500 KW (5.5 megawatt) generator is one BIG generator. Since that would 1) power a city of about 10,000 and 2) take A LOT of gas to run, I'm guessing you have 5.5 kilowatt or 5500 watt generator. No?

Paul

I would say that's a good guess. We used 5KW's in foward field locations Nam to power lights, refrigerators etc for 70 Officers & 160 Enlisted. One 5KW powered up each platoon, One for HQ(TOC) and one for the mess hall. In Garrison like Phu Bai, 60 KW powered up a whole Cobra Battery, An Air Cav Troop and a maintenance facility. The Engineers had it all planned out.

[gitano]

Been blowin' steady 35 mph for about four hours. "Things" might be crankin' up.

Paul

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Still using the anvil on a chain to judge wind speed?

[gitano]

Looks like - from the weather guessers this morning - that the worst of it will be the winds we currently have and some small showers. Looks like it's headed farther north. It's messing with the jet stream and that's what's bringing the cold and snow to the northern tier of states. I think it might miss us down here in South Central. Temperature is going up. Could be in the low 50s today.

Seems like you were getting flooded,Don, from what I see on the national news. Any of that 'bother' you?

Paul

[Jamie.270]

Good to hear Paul.

[drinksgin (deceased)]

Nope, we have had less than 2" in the last week.
Supposed to be at freezing by mid week, we shall see.
I am going to put the pepper plants in the little greenhouse about Monday.