Mondays at the tire shop

[KyDan]

Hey Bobby, good luck getting your mom's power back on!


Several years ago we had a major wind event here.... seems like it was straight line winds remnants of a hurricane but don't remember which one....
Tree blew down next door. Little old lady. Tree hit supply line going from pole to her house. It bent her conduit over 90 degrees. The conduit came from her meter up thru the overhang and out the roof. Bent 90 at the roof. Luckily it completely severed the supply wires so no need for the power co to come disconnect her. Electricians all over town were swamped.
I bought her a new rigid conduit and supply wires and did the repair. It was all new and ready for the power company to come and reconnect. BUT I could not call them. A licensed electrician had to make the call.
I called several and finally got one to come out. He was grumpy because the job was done and he just needed to "inspect" and make the call. We told him that when we called him. We were happy to pay a reasonable amount for his time to drive out and look it over and make the call.
He charged her $250 for a service run and a phone call. I thought that was about 2 times normal but what are ya gonna do??

We hope you can get someone to fix your mom's house soon. Good luck!!

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by eye95

One of the advantages of being RVers is that most of us already have generators.

I have two. One would keep the fridge going. The other would be assigned to TV, Internet, and a few lights.

On those in line to get gas: The time to get gas is before the disaster hits. I keep several cans full of gas. At the end of the season, they will be dumped into the truck tank and refilled with fresh.

This is one reason I love my dual fuel inverter/generator. While I usually run it on gasoline I keep a coupld 20# tanks full of propane on hand all the time. While gasoline may get stale, propane doesn't seem to care how old it is.

Also, while others are lined up at GAS stations I rarely see a line at any of the local Propane distributors or farm supply stores that sell it too.

A note on keeping refrigerators and freezers cold during a power outage. I've found it's not necessary to run a generator 24/7 to keep food cold/frozen. If the doors aren't opened things will stay cold for hours. CDC says four hours on a refrigerator and 48 hours for a full freezer.

If fuel needs to be conserved run the refrigerator on generator for an hour or two then off for 3-4.

[eye95]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

This is one reason I love my dual fuel inverter/generator. While I usually run it on gasoline I keep a coupld 20# tanks full of propane on hand all the time. While gasoline may get stale, propane doesn't seem to care how old it is.

Also, while others are lined up at GAS stations I rarely see a line at any of the local Propane distributors or farm supply stores that sell it too.

A note on keeping refrigerators and freezers cold during a power outage. I've found it's not necessary to run a generator 24/7 to keep food cold/frozen. If the doors aren't opened things will stay cold for hours. CDC says four hours on a refrigerator and 48 hours for a full freezer.

If fuel needs to be conserved run the refrigerator on generator for an hour or two then off for 3-4.

Thanks for the tips!

[NXR]

A note on keeping refrigerators and freezers cold during a power outage. I've found it's not necessary to run a generator 24/7 to keep food cold/frozen. If the doors aren't opened things will stay cold for hours. CDC says four hours on a refrigerator and 48 hours for a full freezer.

We just had a one-hour power outage at home this morning. Our three year-old fridge went from 0 to 4 in the freezer and from 37 to 41 in the fridge but the fridge was opened briefly to get milk out and then in, about three seconds each time. The fridge is about half-empty whereas the freezer is pretty stuffed.

If the power outage went to two hours I was going to drag an extension cord from the fridge to the portable generator I have. Or fire up the motorhome generator and run the extension cord to it. It's nice having a spare house in the driveway.

Our Norcold 1210 has a defrost cycle every 49 hours that we set to run overnight. It shuts the cooling unit down until the fridge gets to 42 degrees. I've seen it take five hours for that to happen. The freezer climbs into the high teens, though, probably because it's a lot smaller than the fridge.

Ray

[5picker]

Best of luck Bobby cleaning up and regrouping after the mess. Reach out if you see a need for anything.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by LizzyRN

As a Labor & Delivery RN, I can tell a lot of crazy stories such as this. It's unbelievably disheartening and maddening to witness number of deadbeat parents, maternal or paternal, our country produces.

Some of my favorites are when "dad" gets arrested in the hospital. I use quotes because often neither knows who the lucky guy is.) Our local officers are kind enough to do it outside of the patient room.

Don't get me started.

A little late in this thread, but this is worth listening to:

https://youtu.be/9eVRPf1RYxo

Bruce

[CAT-RN]

Getting things back in shape down there Bobby? Look like some more flood damaged vehicles be back on the market soon.

Most major damage S/W of you?

Russell

[SlowrideHD]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

This is one reason I love my dual fuel inverter/generator. While I usually run it on gasoline I keep a coupld 20# tanks full of propane on hand all the time. While gasoline may get stale, propane doesn't seem to care how old it is.

I cleared out my father-in-law's outbuilding when he passed away in '98. He had a 100 lb propane tank that was in the building when he moved there in the 60's. He told me once that he had tried to find a place to dispose of it but nobody would take it, and it felt nearly full. It has a date stamp on it from the 40's if I recall.
I loaded it up and brought it home where it sat out in my barn for nearly 20 years. I took it over to my oldest son's house a couple winters ago when power was out. They hooked a multi-port pole to it and ran a lantern, stove and heater from it. Worked fine and it still has gas in it. Evidently, propane will remain good at least 70 years!

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by CAT-RN

Getting things back in shape down there Bobby? Look like some more flood damaged vehicles be back on the market soon.

Most major damage S/W of you?

Russell

He may be busy patching tires with roofing nail/staples in them.

Back when a huge Tornado went through Oklahoma our store near it's path spent days on end repairing tire punctures from all the nails and staples spread over the roads as roofs (and other things) were ripped off the houses.

Being able to do so of course depends on whether or not the electricity is on so the compressor can run. Some stores that offer road service often have to hook one of their service trucks to the air system in order to operate. Makes for interesting times.

Hope all is going well, at least as well as it can under the circumstances. As of 8:00 AM local time there were still 8,000 or so customers without power in the County where wmtire is located. State still has 230,000 or so people relying on flashlights, candles, or portable generators. Some won't see power for a month according to some reports.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

He may be busy patching tires with roofing nail/staples in them.



Back when a huge Tornado went through Oklahoma our store near it's path spent days on end repairing tire punctures from all the nails and staples spread over the roads as roofs (and other things) were ripped off the houses.



Being able to do so of course depends on whether or not the electricity is on so the compressor can run. Some stores that offer road service often have to hook one of their service trucks to the air system in order to operate. Makes for interesting times.



Hope all is going well, at least as well as it can under the circumstances. As of 8:00 AM local time there were still 8,000 or so customers without power in the County where wmtire is located. State still has 230,000 or so people relying on flashlights, candles, or portable generators. Some won't see power for a month according to some reports.

Uhh Sir, may I remind everyone that this is Louisiana. We do not have anything here called a county. Lol

We also don't have non pothole roads, real mountains, or subzero temps

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Uhh Sir, may I remind everyone that this is Louisiana. We do not have anything here called a county. Lol

We also don't have non pothole roads, real mountains, or subzero temps

Sorry, I grew up associating the term "Parish" with a church

Things you do have in Louisiana are Hurricanes and Tornado's. But of course you don't need reminding of that.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Sorry, I grew up associating the term "Parish" with a church

Things you do have in Louisiana are Hurricanes and Tornado's. But of course you don't need reminding of that.

We also have great food including crawdads, mosquitos large enough to require an FAA transponder, excellent jazz, and the best A&M college in the south

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by wmtire

We also have great food including crawdads, mosquitos large enough to require an FAA transponder, excellent jazz, and the best A&M college in the south

Gotta love cajun cooking!

Here in NJ we have a weekend-long crawfish festival every year. All the good cajun food you can eat and zodeco bands all weekend.

I worked with some folks from Baton Rouge who poo poo'd the thought of having crawfish outside of Louisiana....until they tried it! Said it was as authentic as it gets.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by wmtire

We also have great food including crawdads, mosquitos large enough to require an FAA transponder, excellent jazz, and the best A&M college in the south

That you do. I spent a week in Lake Charles some years ago on business. When I flew back home the airline wanted to increase my fare because of the weight I'd gained (and it wasn't in my luggage).

As for the large mosquito's, you may have some competition there. When I traveled in Alaska, people there told me that their mosquito's were so large it was considered the "State Bird". Nothing like having a conversation with someone a few feet away from you and his face is almost obscured by the cloud of mosquito's between you.

[chriscowles]

Originally Posted by wmtire

... the best A&M college in the south

Your neighbors to the west may dispute that.

[Qwkynuf]

Originally Posted by chriscowles

Your neighbors to the west may dispute that.

When the interviewer asked the Aggie what he thought about the international situation, he replied "I think that the International Situation is a *great* tractor."

[TheWolfPaq82]

Are Crawdads the Veal of the Lobster world ?

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by chriscowles

Your neighbors to the west may dispute that.

Lol, I was baiting with that comment. Many people know of Texas A&M, but not of Louisiana A&M .......which fyi is LSU.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisi...ate_University

[JWood422]

Originally Posted by wmtire

We also have... mosquitos large enough to require an FAA transponder...

Just last week an aircraft landed at the Sumter, SC airport. They had it half-way refueled before they realized it was a mosquito.

[FordHauler]

Originally Posted by Qwkynuf

When the interviewer asked the Aggie what he thought about the international situation, he replied "I think that the International Situation is a *great* tractor."

Same guy who described asphalt as a disease?