Along Chester Road in Raymond, New Hampshire, a line crew sets about their work to repair downed lines. You can see that the top of the power pole snapped off (it’s what is lying at their feet).
It’s been an interesting few days. The power went out after the storm Thursday night. We have a generator, one I purchased at the end of the power outage caused by the ice storm of 2008. Back then, I got home from the store with the generator fifteen minutes after the power turned back on. We debated taking it back to the store, but kept it. This weekend I have really been glad of that.
We’ve been able to keep the house reasonably warm with a space heater in the room we’re using. We have light. Today at 3 PM Eastern, there will be USA v. Canada hockey. Life is good… but the best part came late yesterday afternoon.
You see, we have a well. If there’s no power to the pump, there’s no water. Also, while our hot water heater is oil fired, and oil doesn’t require electricity, the pump to push the oil into the burn chamber does require electricity. Both of these items are hardwired into the house’s electrical system. What to do?
Yesterday I completed bypass circuits in the basement. It took several hours and a trip to Lowe’s in Manchester for parts, but I’m pretty happy with the results. The only negative is that the generator doesn’t quite supply the same amperage to the well that it normally gets, so the water pressure is not that high. All in all, if that’s as bad as it gets, I’d say we’re in pretty good shape.
Our utility company, PSNH, says that as of 11 AM, 2/3s of their customers have power. They start with the highest density areas, and work steadily to less populated areas. I saw a line crew less than half a mile from the house yesterday, but so far our neighborhood is still dark.
I get a kick out of thinking that guy’s beard is covered with frost (not just grey, as it obviously is)
What a storm! What an amazing feat to get power back up and running so quickly.
We take these things for granted – I was amused but also somewhat taken aback by a few posts on psnh, railing at them for not getting things done quicker, the unrealistic expectations. “why don’t you just get better power lines”… ??! huh?!!
You’re in New Hampshire; storms happen – Live Free (of overbearing gov’t and big business) or Die. . . (and don’t be such a spoiled weenie)
‘Nuff said.
I thought the same as #1 fan, I thought the guys beard looked like it was covered in frost, like someone I saw on Ice Road Truckers (we love that show over here). These guys work really hard in freezing conditions to get the power back on, well done to them.