• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

power outages

R

reef boy

Posting this to remind everyone about being prepared for power outages. Make sure you have everything you need to keep your livestock alive in one easy place to get to. I also recommend that you get something that can hook up to your car for power or a generator. Storm season is coming and we all should be prepared.

Last night out of nowhere my power went out and the rest of the block too. I don't know what happened because there was no storm at all and it wasn't even raining. Trying not to panic I went to the fish supplies where all of my battery powered air pumps are and started to hook them up. I have 3 of them and they worked perfectly the last time I used them which was last summer. Well not this time. Two didn't work so I found the adapter thing to plug into the car battery to get some oxygen to my fish and coral from my tunzes. I put the one battery powered air pump upstairs in the biocube. Since the entire block was out and more the power got back on within a hour or two. This is why everyone should be prepared for this situation! I thought I was prepared but I wasn't. I really recommend that you check all of your equipment for this situation and make sure it still works! Like I said there wasn't even a storm so this was very unexpected. You can never be too prepared.

Here is a list of some things that would be helpful in case of a power outage and feel free to add to the list in your posts.

Battery powered air pumps
Adapter to hook up to car
Generator
Flash lights
Batteries
Candles
Extension cord
Cup to pour into water for oxygen
Towels
Air tubing
buckets and containers to take out water from tank to prevent overflowing water

This is what I can think of off the top of my head but I'm sure there is more. Like I said feel free to add more.
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

Not to rub salt.....but I paid for it, a whole house generator! One that goes on when the power is out regardless of your presence. Where I live power outs are the norm and I can't count how many times in prior years it would go out while I was away. The frige food cost alone is a few hundred dollars! In all honesty I could not imagine a system of large size without one. Yes,it's a big ticket item. IMHO you got too much at risk and with one the other stuff is not needed.
 
ryanpal

ryanpal

NJRC Member
Zippy69 said:
Not to rub salt.....but I paid for it, a whole house generator! One that goes on when the power is out regardless of your presence. Where I live power outs are the norm and I can't count how many times in prior years it would go out while I was away. The frige food cost alone is a few hundred dollars! In all honesty I could not imagine a system of large size without one. Yes,it's a big ticket item. IMHO you got too much at risk and with one the other stuff is not needed.
Click to expand...

Whst generator did you pick up?
 
Zippy69

Zippy69

I live where you have propane or oil for fuel, no natural has lines. Most will say Kohler is a true workhorse but I found them to be fuel hogs. Up to one more gal of propane per hour at max power for the 20kw I have. Mine is a honeywell that has a generac air cooled engine. Electronics are all honeywell and have a 5yr warranty. I could have gone with a 12kw but for like 250$ more I got a 20kw. The reason for the more kW engine is I never went above resting and a 20 kW engine sips less fuel per hour than a 10-12kw engine at max. So for me fuel consumption was an issue. Now with all the fracking and suburbanites enjoying natural gas at the lowest it's been in years I would have gone Kohler.
 
R

reef boy

Yeah a generator would be ideal. I guess I'm going to have to start thinking about saving up for one. Where I live power outages are not very common at all. This was a first that I know of where the power went out when there was no storm. It's only when there is a bad storm that it happens and I have been able to use other resources to keep all of my livestock alive. When hurricane Sandy happened my power didn't go out at all which was honestly surprising to me. In your situation I would do exactly what you did though. That would be on my list to buy ASAP haha.
 
lefkonj

lefkonj

After Sandy we did the 20kW natural gas Generac. Great solution and unfortunately have used it many times since its installation. NJ power is just so unreliable. I lived in Earthquake country for 8 years and even with quakes, never lost power as often as I do here.
 
saltkreep88

saltkreep88

lefkonj said:
After Sandy we did the 20kW natural gas Generac. Great solution and unfortunately have used it many times since its installation. NJ power is just so unreliable. I lived in Earthquake country for 8 years and even with quakes, never lost power as often as I do here.
Click to expand...

In Cherry Hill I have lost power for like 10 minutes total in 5 years, so I guess some are better than other, with that said I have a car inverter and power cords set aside for the tank.
 
K

Kcav54

saltkreep88 said:
In Cherry Hill I have lost power for like 10 minutes total in 5 years, so I guess some are better than other, with that said I have a car inverter and power cords set aside for the tank.
Click to expand...

I wish we were that fortunate I'm out in hunterdon and ever since they build some power facility off of 202 we are constently having short power outages for what seem like no reason.
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

We lost power 3 weeks ago (friday from 5:30pm til 8:30PM ) - entire town. I had to kick start the portable generator. A whole house generator is on the wish list...
 
kschweer

kschweer

Administrator
Staff member
Officer Emeritus
Moderator
Things are not looking good. I really think I may pick up a generator tomorrow. Hopefully I can find something in my price range.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
They are calling for 2-3 feet here on the coast with very high winds which has me the most worried. Picked up some more d batteries today for the air bubblers, going to get gas and oil for the generator tomorrow.
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I just got this photo from my daughter, where she titled it, "Snowmageddon." This is the bread isle at her local grocery store. Never could understand the run on bread because of the chance of snow.




10409137_10102085604174424_9052974055677381928_n.jpg





That reminds me, I need to go buy milk! :grin:
 
Hockeynut

Hockeynut

NJRC Member
I hope everyone is getting ready, I just started both my generators and snow blower sounds like it's going to be a bad one. Here in Jackson power goes out all of the time must be all of the trees we have close to power lines. Good luck to all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top