We got power back

[Tired of Waiting]

Let's see,,,,, how can I do this and keep within the rules for the forum.

Oh I know.

Hope all of you folks at the big lake have power!!!

Mrs ToW and I have been waiting for power down here in MA. sence last Saturday night. It finally came on this morning.

Mrs ToW being a city slicker had to live with this old country bumkin for the past week. It was sort of fun living in the 18th century for a week.

Trips to the brook out back for water to flush the john. Draining the water from the water heater to drink and cook. Cooking on the fire outside and best of all sitting together in front of the fire place at night to keep warm.

We must have 15 blankets on the bed to keep us warm at night.

The only lighting in the house was from the 2 hurricane oil lamps.

It seemed like a long time but we made it through with our health so all is fine.

Now we can scratch one more Tired of Waiting off our list.

Hope all is fine with you forum friends.

Got to go now and clear the trees off the house.

ToW

[fpartri497]

good luck and be safe

[robmac]

We got ours back on Thursday night,first two nights were bad then the third got a generator fired up and that wasn't bad. The cost to families with fuel if they had generators,lost wages,food etc. is devastating at any time but in this economy. Don't forget your local soup kitchens and others that help those less fortunate and those in need.Hope everyone made it through safely.

[Kamper]

I got my power back on Wednesday night. I credit my neighbors who gave in and bought a generator Tuesday!

[RLW]

We didn't loose any up on Alton Mountain thanks to the full house generator. We didn't even know we had lost it until we got up in the morning and heard the generator when we were making our coffee and then it was for a told of 3.5 hours and most of that was during sleep time...

[Jeanzb1]

Where in MA are you located, ToW? My sister in Washington, CT is in her TENTH DAY without power. YIKES!

[Tired of Waiting]

Originally Posted by Jeanzb1

Where in MA are you located, ToW? My sister in Washington, CT is in her TENTH DAY without power. YIKES!

We're in Southampton Ma. that's about 10 miles North west of Springfield.

After we got our power back on the furnace quit working. Needed a new burner control. The burner for the hot water air locked and had to be blead. All is well now as the repair guy just left.

We had a large tree on our rental house down in CT. It punched holes in the roof. I removed the tree and made temporary rapairs to keep the water out but it will be a contractor that does the major repairs.


Oh well, more things to be "waiting" for.

Hope your sister gets her power back and then all else works.

ToW

[TOAD]

North Centra Connecticut still has 80,000 without power as of 12:30 today.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/06/us/con...ery/?hpt=us_c2

[RLW]

For all those that do not have or just got back their electricity, come on back to the lakes region as we have had it for awhile now and enjoying almost summer temps and sunshine and lots of warmth in the evenings.

[TOAD]

Originally Posted by RLW

For all those that do not have or just got back their electricity, come on back to the lakes region as we have had it for awhile now and enjoying almost summer temps and sunshine and lots of warmth in the evenings.

I'm trying real hard to do that. Looking at more houses on Thursday.

[RLW]

Originally Posted by TOAD

I'm trying real hard to do that. Looking at more houses on Thursday.

We that are here full time wish you the very best in locating a new homestead here in NH.

[LadyJane]

North central Ct. here.....day 10, and we just got power back, thanks to the wonderful trucks and crew from none other than New Hampshire who showed up in our neighborhood this morning. Yay !!!! The damage from this storm is absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything like it in all my years. Trees and limbs blocked many streets, hung on power lines, and lines were down on the ground everywhere. Unbelievable destruction.

[TOAD]

Originally Posted by LadyJane

North central Ct. here.....day 10, and we just got power back, thanks to the wonderful trucks and crew from none other than New Hampshire who showed up in our neighborhood this morning. Yay !!!! The damage from this storm is absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything like it in all my years. Trees and limbs blocked many streets, hung on power lines, and lines were down on the ground everywhere. Unbelievable destruction.

Totally agree Lady. I've seen hurricane and tornado damage (of course nothing like New Orleans or Florida) but here in the north east I have never seen anything like this and never thought I would. There will be debris from the broken trees around for several years before all is cleaned up. The expense to the cities and towns for clean-up will be phenomenal.

[NoRegrets]

We got our power back Friday night in Hudson. The crew was preparing to go to Ct. While they were working on the lines on our street they installed a wire that created a short from the power to the ground wires on the pole. I have never noticed that before so I asked them what was up with that? The response was it was a direct short in case a home owner incorrectly fed power back onto the grid through a generator or solar panel it would short the home owner device and protect them.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by NoRegrets

We got our power back Friday night in Hudson. The crew was preparing to go to Ct. While they were working on the lines on our street they installed a wire that created a short from the power to the ground wires on the pole. I have never noticed that before so I asked them what was up with that? The response was it was a direct short in case a home owner incorrectly fed power back onto the grid through a generator or solar panel it would short the home owner device and protect them.

That is one of the reasons restoration efforts are lengthened. Nearly all of the electrical utility companies now ground the lines before any work can be done. That means the tree crews can't work on cutting the branches and trees that brought down the wires until they are made "safe". In the not so distant past, linemen have been electrocuted because the primary lines were not grounded. Now it is standard practice.

Now I'll get up on my soapbox and go out on a limb, pun intended, to defend, in general, the power companies and their response to this past storm. It is IMPOSSIBLE to have the appropriate number of crews and equipment ready for something like what just happened. Heavy snow in October when the trees are still more than 50% leafed out is extremely rare. Leaves on the trees and wet snow do not mix. Many cities and towns do not allow the power companies to trim the trees near the power lines often enough or to the extent necessary to prevent or reduce outages. That greatly contributed to what we have just seen. Compounding that is the fact that whole trees, not just branches came down due to the weight of the snow. The damage an entire tree does to wires and poles is exponentially greater.

[TOAD]

I have no complaints about the time it took/is taking to get power back. All one has to do is drive around The Commywealth of Western Massachusetts and look at the damage. In some places it is incomprehensible. The amount of work that got done by the power companies is phenomenal in my opinion.

This storm was a historic freak. You cannot have contingency plans for something like this unusual weather occurrence.

[NoRegrets]

Thanks Blue Thunder for the insight. We were out seven days. Seeing the work that was preformed and the impacted area we were lucky to only wait a week.

The utility companies actually had to re-wire from the street to house service's where needed. 75% of the homes on our service had the wires pulled off the house in this scary storm. They all deserve a great service commendation but in today's world there will be politicians fueled by entitled citizens that will start a witch hunt for this Halloween storm.

I also heard that you can be charged criminally if your generator sends power out on the grid.

[Tired of Waiting]

Got up this morning and there was a crew out in front of the house cutting any broken limbs and cutting the trees back away from the wires. Seems a shame that the trees were not cut back earlier before damage could happen.

In Otis MA there was a bad ice storm a couple years ago. They have cut all the trees back and DID NOT LOOSE power in this storm. I'll admit that the snow was not as heavy there this storm but still some trees did loose branches and none hit the wires.

I hope the state/cities learn a lesson from this and keep the trees back.

ToW

[Merrymeeting]

Like Blue Thunder, I defended the power companies when we lost power for 8 days after the famous ice storm of December 2008.

But after that storm, I called our power company 3 times over the next 2 years. After the repairs from that storm, we still had major tree limbs hanging over our wires. Of greater concern, we had a non-used wire hanging down from a pole that I worried was a safety concern.

Irene hit, and we were out for 4 days.

This time, we were out for 6 days. In all that time, I've never seen a tree/maintenance crew in our area or anywhere in our town.

Sorry, this time they deserve all the criticism they get. They cheaped out on routine preventative maintenance, and now the bill is due.

(PS, this is in our "winter" home in north, central MA, National Grid, not PSNH. Our lake home never lost power)

[NoRegrets]

If the trees are on "private" property, who is responsible to keep them cut away from the power line? We and our neighbor had all trees taken down close to the street after the 2008 Ice Storm. I think the property owner may share the blame when I see some very weak or sick looking tall trees.

[Winnisquamguy]

Originally Posted by Tired of Waiting

Got up this morning and there was a crew out in front of the house cutting any broken limbs and cutting the trees back away from the wires. Seems a shame that the trees were not cut back earlier before damage could happen.

In Otis MA there was a bad ice storm a couple years ago. They have cut all the trees back and DID NOT LOOSE power in this storm. I'll admit that the snow was not as heavy there this storm but still some trees did loose branches and none hit the wires.

I hope the state/cities learn a lesson from this and keep the trees back.

ToW

I think part of the problem is that PSNH didn't have enough workers to handle the problems. This is due in part because they are trying to save money and they have laid them off or gave them early retirement. They need to come up with a better plan, maybe part time workers that come in during storms. The only way this problem is going to be fixed, is if they have to start paying us money back for the number of days we are without service. I feel bad for the people down in CT that are still without power.