[gymrat]

Just filled my gas can. That big ol Snowblower of mine aint gonna do me no good if I aint got no gas. We are expecting 1 to 3 inches overnight and 6 to 12 inches tomorrow.
Closet full of canned food...check
10 gallons of bottled water...check
10 cases and a keg of beer....check
Bring it on

[kramerog]

I assume the bottled water is for brewing more beer.

[gymrat]

I like the way you think. Now that right there is what it takes to be a survivor.

[theDarkSide]

What about a generator?  I was shocked when we didn't lose power when we got 20" and blizzard conditions about a week ago.

Maybe all the weak trees have all fallen down with the storms we've had the past 5 years (ice storm 2008 - 6 days out, wind storm 2010 - 2 days, Hurricane Irene - only 2 hours, Hurricane Sandy - 36 hours, various winter and summer storms, etc ).

[gymrat]

I definitely need to get one of those.

[Slowbrew]

I was just the opposite during the last storm we had.  We lost power for several hours and I was completely shocked.  20 years in our current house and we had never lost power due to a snowstorm.  Thunderstorms knock us off the grid all summer but you don't freeze to death in July.

One of my neighbors stopped by last night to ask if I would clean their drive tomorrow.  Something about his wife having labor induced and his mother-in-law needing to be able to get out or something trivial like that.     Of course I said yes.

Paul

[gymrat]

My neighbors are in their 80s. I plan to clean their driveway as well.

[theDarkSide]

My neighbors are in their 80s. I plan to clean their driveway as well.

And I can assume none of them are having labor induced    You will definitely earn your snowblowing merit badge.

Most of the neighbors on my street will help those who don't have snowblowers/plows.  It's like the old days when we were kids walking around with shovels, clearing driveways/walkways.  Except now it's with power tools and we don't get paid in cookies from the nice lady down the street    Growing up sucks!

[redbeerman]

We used to lose power if a butterfly flapped it's wings within 5 miles.  Since they've upgraded the grid here, we didn't even lose power when Sandy went through.

[nateo]

We have like 5 generators and a couple gas tanks. It's supposed to be ice by the time it hits us, so I'll be busy either plowing the roads with the tractor (if it's snow), or using the chainsaw to clear fallen limbs (if it's ice). It's kind of a PITA to get the tractor running when it's that cold, though. I need to get a better heater for the barn.

[euge]

I mowed part of my neighbor's lawn last week... I also pump out about six of my neighbors backyards when it floods. Apples and oranges.

In my old apartment complex we would lose power during storms and high winds. After a couple years of this one day I went outside while it was really windy and saw the powerline swaying and sparking at the transformer. Called the power company. Problem solved!

Do you guys power the whole house when switching to a gas generator? Any sort of special connections to do so?

[nateo]

Do you guys power the whole house when switching to a gas generator?

Yes

Any sort of special connections to do so?

A really thick 4-conductor wire. You can jury-rig the thing straight into the breaker box. A better way to do it to use an extension-cord type cable and an outlet box. A lot of (maybe most?) generators come with those cables. The big one we use, we got for cheap because it didn't have the proper cable for some reason. 

So, we just wire it directly to the box. The well-house is the on the same circuit. I don't remember how big our generators are, but they're a good size. We can usually run either 1) the water heater + everything else, or 2) the furnace + everything else. We can't run both the water heater and the furnace, and everything else.

[gymrat]

You really should not wire those things straight into you box. That feeds the grid then when linemen are working to restore power they get injured by lines that should be dead. You should use a transfer box. And yes I am an electrician

[nateo]

You really should not wire those things straight into you box. That feeds the grid then when linemen are working to restore power they get injured by lines that should be dead. You should use a transfer box. And yes I am an electrician

You're right, I'm doing it the stupid way.

The only way it'd hurt a lineman is if I left the box connected to the mains (which I don't).

[gymrat]

I wouldnt call it the stupid way. But you should at least put in a second 200 amp breaker ahead of your box so when you switch from one source to another your not handling live power every time.