Well we got absolutely hammered by the winter storm that rolled through here. Intense, heavy wet snow of up to 14 inches in some areas around here. Plus 60 MPH winds creating blizzard conditions. Even worse the snow clung like glue to power lines, poles and trees, dropping them like kindling all through this part of the state.
The result was wide spread power outages that took out power to 200,000 or more people. Entire counties were were blacked out. The entire Door Peninsula was blacked out. As of 10 AM this morning, there were still something like 60,000 people without power and some could be waiting another 24 – 48 hours before the lights come back on.
Our power went out at 4:23 yesterday morning. I sleep with a fan running in the bedroom to mask household noises that sometimes wake me up, so I woke up when the fan shut down. I wasn’t surprised at all to find the power out when I looked outside and saw the snow flying sideways driven by high winds and sticking to everything like glue.
We’d planned for something like this when we put in the solar power system, so all I had to do was throw a couple of switches on panels in the basement and everything in the house was energized again. By 4:35 I was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, and the entire house working normally.
It was considerably different in the rest of the town. There wasn’t a single light anywhere in the entire town. It was spooky. It was a really odd feeling to be sitting there comfortably, having coffee, some toast, reading the local weekly newspaper, with the entire surrounding down completely black.
This was the first lengthy blackout we’d experienced since we put the system in and it worked even better than we’d thought. We’d put in enough batteries to keep the house functioning more or less normally for about 24 hours in case of a blackout, and it exceeded our expectations. We still had about 75% battery capacity left when the power finally came back on after about 14 hours.
And just to make sure our backup to our backup, the old Generac gas powered generator and the battery charging system would work properly I tested that too and used it to recharge the batteries back up to 100% and that worked too.
Damn, it’s nice when your plans actually work!
grouchyfarmer 
I love it when a plan comes together!
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Sounds like you have it together….well done chuq
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Awesome!
I’ve been known to hook an inverter up to the car battery for an hour or two when these things happen. Just enough to get us a light or two in the house, charge phones, and watch the weather to see if more is coming.
I don’t like doing that, but there is the small pleasure of having a smidge of power when everyone else is dark. š
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I must admit to feeling just a wee bit smug when I was sitting there at 5 AM smelling my coffee brewing while the entire town was dark.
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I would too!
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I share your joy in seeing a plan work out for you.āI am under the impression, though, that you must be an outstanding craftsman and technician and you have to be proud of yourself for all the challenges you have met and overcome. From what I have been reading of your writings on your blog, it seems to me that you are an excellent pioneer-type person fully capable of creating the perfect homestead for yourself and your loved ones. I admire a man of achievement and ability.āI am sort of a stickl in the mud myself when it comes to fixing things.
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Partly it’s my up bringing, partly it’s my intense curiosity about how things work. I grew up on a small farm where you had to be a jack of all trades to survive. We did our own plumbing, carpentry, cement work, repaired equipment ourselves, etc. You had to back then because hiring professionals to come in and do the job was prohibitively expensive. I’ve dropped trees, even worked, briefly, for a tree service in the early 170s. I’ve put up simple buildings, done a lot of plumbing work, been a carpenter. I know how to care for cattle, plant crops. Later in life learned computer programming, then electronics, then went back into building maintenance for a while, did some teaching. Heck, even preached a sermon once. All it takes is curiosity, a desire to learn, and knowing where to find the resources to teach yourself or find a mentor who can teach you.
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And a few “smarts.”
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And maybe a few “smarts.” š
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