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Etihad upgrades Melbourne flights
Abu Dhabi, February 25, 2013
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, will increase capacity on its daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Melbourne, introducing a new Boeing 777-300ER from December 1.
The three-class, 328-seat Boeing 777 will replace the current Airbus A340 fleet, delivering 252 more seats per week – a 12.3 per cent increase – between the capital of the State of Victoria and the capital of the UAE.
The service upgrade was announced in Abu Dhabi by James Hogan, president and chief executive officer of Etihad Airways, at a business dinner hosted by the Victorian Government and attended by 400 people.
"Melbourne is one of the best-performing routes in our global network, and has the highest passenger load factor of our three Australian destinations," said Hogan.
"Victorians are not only flying with Etihad Airways to Abu Dhabi, an emerging business and leisure destination, but also on to destinations in the Gulf region, Middle East, Europe and Africa."
Since launching flights between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi in March 2009, Etihad Airways has carried over 580,000 passengers on the route, including 162,112 last year. Already this year, a load factor of 87 per cent has been achieved, one of the highest in the airline's network of 86 destinations.
"Our decision to increase capacity between Melbourne and Abu Dhabi reflects not only the growth we have achieved so far, but also our confidence in the Victorian market," Hogan said.
"In addition to increasing the number of seats we offer to Melbourne, we also continue to invest in the city, having opened a line maintenance base at Melbourne Airport and secured high-profile sponsorships of Etihad Stadium and the Melbourne Recital Centre."
Louise Asher MP, Victoria's Minister for Tourism and Major Events, and Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, said: "The State Government of Victoria has been active in the UAE for over 15 years and our links with this key market across trade, investment and tourism continue to grow rapidly.
"Etihad Airways already has a well-established presence in Melbourne through its significant sponsorships across the city and we have developed a strong relationship with the airline over many years. This announcement of increased capacity to Melbourne will bring immense benefits to both the UAE and our State, and we can now look forward to boosting ties with the region even further."
Etihad Airways' three-class Boeing 777-300ER will offer eight seats in Diamond First class, 40 in Pearl Business class and 280 in Coral Economy class. The airline currently operates 13 Boeing 777s and will add a further five this year, enabling the increase in capacity to Melbourne. – TradeArabia News Service


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Dial-a-Ride bus service has expanded in Wauconda and Fremont townships to provide a wider choice of destinations, backers say.
The transportation option for the disabled and general public had a soft opening with limited service in those townships in October as part of an extension of the Northwest Demonstration Project. That project began early in 2010 in Grant, Avon, Lake Villa and Antioch townships.
"We have a much more expanded service," Wauconda Township Supervisor Glenn Swanson said.
Service is provided through federal grants and matching contributions from Lake County and Pace, the suburban bus agency.
Wauconda Township since 1986 has offered a transportation service for seniors over 60, but this is a separate effort.
"This is the first service of this type in the township," Swanson said.
The menu of specific stops for the new service has grown to 10 and includes the Metra station, Lake County Center for Independent Living and Health Reach Clinic, all in Mundelein. Riders can go anywhere within the two townships and also connect with services to travel to the College of Lake County, or medical centers in Gurnee, for example.
Eligible riders also can connect to the Metra station in Mundelein, the two stations at Prairie Crossing and to suburban bus routes to travel to other areas in Lake, McHenry and Cook counties.
"This is a huge quality of life changer for a lot of people," said Kelli Brooks, president of the Lake County Coordinated Transportation Services Committee.
The coalition of government officials, advocacy groups and service providers works to coordinate and improve transportation for persons with disabilities or medical challenges, those needing to get to work, the elderly and low income residents.
"Especially in Wauconda (township), there is just nothing out there. Now, they'll be able to get to places like CLC," Brooks said.
The service operates Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with a one-way fare of $2 for people with disabilities and seniors and $4 for all others.
Seniors and those with disabilities can make seven-day advance registrations for work and medical appointments. All other ride requests must be scheduled a day in advance.
The Northwest Demonstration Project was initiated to coordinate paratransit services in those townships and provided buses at earlier and later times to accommodate those going to work or school.
The service has averaged about 1,200 one-way trips per month, according to Valbona Kokushi, senior planner with the Lake County Division of Transportation. About 42 percent of the trips have been for work and about 21 percent for medical purposes, she said.
Ridership in Fremont Township, which has Dial-a-Ride twice a week, has not been great but 50 one-way trips were reported in Wauconda Township in November, she added.
Riders must register through their respective township office. Interested people should call Wauconda Township, (847) 526-2631 or Fremont Township, (847) 223-2847.

subset: commoncrawl


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Library Hosts Mexican Cooking Program
ST. MARYS — Local teens learned a few recipes they could cook for themselves as part of a activity that corresponds with a summer reading program at the library.
On Tuesday, local teens made salsa, guacamole and cheese — and black beans, if they wanted to add them — quesadillas as part of "Mexican cooking — Make it Yourself" activity at the St. Marys Community Public Library.
"Our theme this year is doing things internationally," Youth Services Coordinator Paula Drummond said of the library's summer reading program, One World, Many Stories. "We're visiting Mexico this week — so our story time, crafts, everything is based on Mexico."
The cooking activity, Drummond said, is new for the program.
"This is something I tried to do with the teens," she said. "This is the first cooking project we've ever done."
The children had experience with food earlier this summer, Drummond noted.
"For our first program this summer, we did European foods," she said. "We had scones, baklava and crepes. We ate, but we didn't cook. That was one of our biggest groups."
Approximately 20 teens came to Tuesday's activity — close to the number of teens who attended the earlier food event.
"I think it's fun," Noah Miller said. "I like cooking. I don't cook often, but I like it when I do it."
To choose her recipes for the day, Drummond said she looked online.
"I went to AllRecipes.com and picked the ones that were rated the highest," she said.
The teen group, she noted, is open to students entering grades six through 12, and each teen was able to eat what they made on Tuesday.
The summer reading program wraps up this week and next, with a story time and Mexican birthday party today, a craft and book Bingo on Thursday, followed by a movie on Monday, a teen auction on Tuesday and the final fiesta on Wednesday.


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LINDSAY Kennedy is hopeful of bringing in the new year in style when he takes two runner's to today's Gilgandra non-TAB meeting.
The Narromine trainer will saddle up handy sprinter Dodge Tide in the GK & LH Rohr Benchmark 45 Handicap (1000m) while Sergeant Bilko will back up for his third run in seven days in the Harry McKechnie Handicap (1300m).
Greg Ryan replaces Cowra-based rider Michael Travers on Sergeant Bilko, which ran fourth to Castlereagh Grey over 1100m at Wellington on Boxing Day before finishing a narrow second to Big Black Beauty in a 1400m event at Warren on Sunday.
"I got him from down at Wagga for nothing because he had been barred and they couldn't get anyone to ride him trackwork," Kennedy said.
"He was a problem horse but I've had him for about seven runs now and he hasn't missed a cheque for us.
"Mick Travers came back at Warren and said he should have won and when I watched the replay I think he was right. Mick had the whip in his right hand and the horse hung out."
Dodge Tide has been a bit of a flag-bearer for Kennedy's stable, despite not living up to what Kennedy had expected of him.
Purchased as a horse that may appreciate a bit of distance and maybe measure up in some cup races, the six-year-old Quest For Fame (GB) x Tidal Rhythm (NZ) gelding has been more effective over sprint journeys.
Today he will have just six rivals and Kennedy is confident the gelding, who's last two starts have been behind the well-performed pair Dragon's Keep and Sticky Danish, can run well.
"In these lower class races if you win them you only go up a couple of benchmark points so you don't cost yourself a chance at the TAB races," Kennedy said.
"He's got a big weight (61kg) and I thought about claiming but if you take 4kg off, you also take about seven lengths off them so I thought it was better to have the best rider on the horse.
"Nobody ride's Gil better than Greg so I'll leave the tactics up to him but I'd think he will be near the pace somewhere because it's hard to comes from too far back at that track."


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A Topeka man convicted in a 2006 murder is asking to have his "Hard 50" sentence voided.
A Topeka man convicted in a 2006 murder is asking to have his "Hard 50" sentence voided.
Antwan Peppers was convicted in 2008 of killing Jermaine Cunningham and wounding another man in a shooting outside a Topeka bar and grill. He was given a "Hard 50" sentence and a consecutive term of about 21 years.
On Wednesday, Peppers' attorney told a Shawnee County judge that there is newly discovered evidence in the case. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/18SR7e8 ) that Peppers also contends one witness recanted his statement in the case and he received ineffective counsel during his trial.
Prosecutors objected to Peppers' allegations and said an evidentiary hearing wasn't warranted.
Judge Nancy Parrish said she would issue a written opinion in the near future.


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BOSTON — Bruins head coach Claude Julien called his team's effort against Buffalo tonight "flat."
And there's no doubt the Bruins played like day-old opened soda in dropping a 4-2 decision to the Sabres at TD Garden.
Thomas Vanek broke a 2-2 tie 5:13 into the third period on an end-to-end rush after a Nathan Horton giveaway for what proved to be the game-winning goal. Vanek then added an assist on Jason Pominville's insurance goal.
Here's a glance at the box score:
•After my post about Tuukka Rask's quality starts this afternoon, the goaltender failed to post one against Buffalo for the second time this season. He allowed four goals and stopped just 29 shots.
•Dennis Seidenberg and Gregory Campbell scored Boston's goals.
•Ryan Miller stopped 38 Bruins shots to earn the victory.
•Defenseman Andrew Ference returned to the Boston line-up after a three-game absence with an upper-body injury. He skated 18:22 and fired one shot on net. Adam McQuaid was scratched. Before the game, Julien said the rookie had been playing "banged up" so he could use the rest.


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At a minimum, you need:
You can get a lot fancier than this, but this will function perfectly as long as you are there to do the switching soon enough after power fails that your building doesn't get too close to pipe-freeze (I wouldn't want to go below 40 degrees f, pipes are often in walls that are cooler than the rest of the house.)
If that won't do, you're looking at an auto-start system with an auto-generator switchover, and the only thing I can tell you about that is prepare your wallet for deep excavation.
No way man - you don't need anything nearly that complicated. Since you're just covering an occasional power outage, you don't need anything permanent. Just put the generator outdoors, and run a long extension cord (or a few) inside.
Make sure the generator is in a locked location, or at least chained down. They have a tendency to sprout legs during emergencies.
If you want something permanently in place, you need an electrician, and no less. Because you need a huge On-Off-On lever switch to ensure you never attempt to power the house from both the generator and grid simultaneously.
Make sure the generator is in a locked location, or at least chained down. They have a tendency to sprout legs during emergencies."
I 100% agree! That's how most everyone along the coast does it durning hurricane season when they hit and take power out here. I was at a friends house during Gustav near Baton Rouge...and he had one generator we did fine on. I'm not sure the size, but, will try to ask and come back with an answer.
But, with this one generator...we kept a window unit AC going (hot and muggy is our problem during that time of year)...we could run his 50" LCD flatpanel tv...along with DVD and stereo for entertainment...we'd also plug in cell phones, charge computers...etc. I know we had to unplug something occasionally to plug the fridge(s) and chest freezer in, to keep food good, but, over all it worked well.
The things get pretty darned LOUD tho....but, I've heard that the Honda ones...at a premium price, and very, very quiet. Just make sure to have plenty of gasoline stocked up, and oil. We actually ran through our gas supply...and built a little dc pump out of a fuel pump, hooked to a hose and run off a car battery...to siphon gas out of their large Surburban SUV. Now..I am not a fan of SUV's....but, the thing did serve well as a tanker truck for quite a number of days. After the gas stations got back online, and actually got gas delivered to them...we filled up all our tanks...and the SUV tanks to brimming....and had plenty to last us till the electricity came back on.
Thank goodness for gas to cook on, as well as for the water heater....and we also used the propane gas grill outside s few times too....kinda turned into a fun camping trip with them!
... The things get pretty darned LOUD tho....but, I've heard that the Honda ones...at a premium price, and very, very quiet....
If you put the generator in a hole in the yard, you'll have a night-and-day difference in noise levels. Just make sure that it is well-drained and set up so that no one will fall into it. Under the deck or patio is often good.
Rather than digging down, you can build up a small hill for the same effect.
I bought two generators in the last few years. One was a Coleman 5500 watt, and one was a generic Chinese made 5500 watt from Walmart.
I put the Coleman in my RV, as a temporary power source for air conditioning for a drive. Bad idea. It was so loud, even though the RV is 40' long, I couldn't talk over the sound of it. Driving, it sounded like a Harley was parked beside me. That lasted for about
The Chinese one had what looks like a small car muffler on it. It's only about half as loud.
Besides the noise level is the reliability of the generators. Both sat for the same period, about a year. Neither one would start. The Chinese generator's spark plug was oil fouled. I cleaned it, and it started right up. The Coleman has some mystery carburetor problem. It still won't start. I suspect even after cleaning the carb, I must have not gotten all the passages cleared.
But, back to your idea... A hole will get full of water, bugs, or whatever. It may get filled by small children falling into it accidentally. A built up hole would be a better choice. Pick your spot, put down a firm foundation for the generator (a few bricks in the ground would do), put together sides around it with say lattice and screen. A few feet of 2" PVC at the bottom would be a good idea to get rid of any rain water that soaks in. Backfill dirt around it to make a small hill. A piece of plywood (preferably secured somehow) would be a good idea to keep things from falling in when you don't want them to (again, kids, water, stray animals, etc). It would be a good idea to be able to secure it open, yet covered. so if it's raining or snowing (depending on your environment), that won't get all over your nice generator that you've protected so well.
It'll also make for a nice bunker when the revolution comes to your neighborhood.
Everyone seems to have their own method of doing this. It seems to me it's a rather simple process:
1) Go to Home Depot store or website.
2) Plunk down cash (or credit/debit card) for THIS [homedepot.com] plus installation costs.
3) Enjoy whole house LP or NG powered emergency backup power.
See? That wasn't so hard now, was it? And nobody got electrocuted in the process either.
(yeah, yeah, I skipped the stupid ??? -> Profit! meme. So sue me.)
Now that's what I'm talking about! On my wishlist for next Christmas
* If you leave the Main Breakers ON you will backfeed power to the entire neighborhood, and the power workers think the lines are dead. Very bad.
* Technically, you need an electrician to wire a breaker/cut-off switch to the generator. In this manner when you switch the generator connection to ON you also switch the Main Breakers to OFF. Expensive, but safe and complies with NEC.
* Most people just use a male to male plug, plug one end into the generator, and the other into some house outlet. If you turn the Main Breakers OFF ~BEFORE~ you do this, it is possible to get power to everything in your house, limited by the breaker capacity and the power generation capacity, and not feed the neighborhood. The relative safety of this is up to others to argue.
* IF THIS MAKES NO SENSE TO YOU, SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP. Or at least a neighbor with a subscription to Popular Electronics. Your local linemen will thank you!
The first thing you need to do is define your needs. If blackouts are only occasional, your planning is similar to planning a camping trip in your house.
My father has a professionally installed generator with all the bells and whistles - he lives south of Sarasota and has fairly frequent power outages due to the hurricanes. This was needed since the well water pump is electric. I first thought it was overkill, but he's in his 80's and can no longer deal with blackouts himself.
Unless you're need is both f
Good advice. I have a generator and a manual transfer switch set up, and I did the "define needs" process, too. Since we'd just had an ice storm that knocked out power for two days, I knew exactly what I would've liked to run off the generator.
In my case, I'd have a generator anyway, because it's permanently mounted in my camper (I probably wouldn't bother otherwise). Also, the generator in the camper was new; I'd just had it replaced a few months before the ice storm, so being able to use it for backup power was a nice bonus.
I bought a small 15 amp transfer switch for four circuits and had it installed. I verified the installation using a multimeter to make sure I wouldn't be electrocuting anyone and to make sure everything operated the way I expected. It took half an hour or so but now I KNOW there are no problems.
The generator can produce 2500 watts, but I went with a 15-amp transfer switch because that's all I needed for the circuits I wanted to power. Since my generator isn't that large (20 amps max), a 15-amp switch was fine and I knew I wouldn't be able to power more than one, possibly two, circuits at once. No problem.
The four circuits I chose were:
1. Furnace fan (I have natural gas heat)
2. Kitchen lighting/outlets
3. Master bedroom and bathroom lighting/outlets
4. Refrigerator
The main point was to be able to keep food, keep the house from freezing, be able to use the bathrooms, and be able to sleep in the master bedroom (possibly using an electric space heater if necessary). I actually got more than I really needed, but only because my house has relatively few circuits wired and a lot of things are on the same circuits (the house was built in 1964).
Why not just stay in the camper? Because, during the winter, I have it winterized, so I can't use the water system, and it sits at an odd angle in the driveway, making it uncomfortable to sleep in. I did make some spaghetti one night during the outage (propane stove in the camper), but with everything so far off level, you really have to be careful what you cook and what pan you use.
If you want something permanently in place, you need an electrician, and no less. Because you need a huge On-Off-On lever switch to ensure you never attempt to power the house from both the generator and grid simultaneously.
This point is extremely important. Things like furnaces are usually hardwired into the house electrical system - so you can't just "unplug" it and plug it in to an extension to your generator. As a result, many people build themselves a "male to male" extension cord - a power line null modem, if you will - and plug one end into the generator, the other end into any house outlet. That reverse-powers the entire house.
However, it also provides entertainment when the AC power comes back on line.
If you're going to do this, then (a) turn off the house from the AC at the main breaker FIRST; (b) plug the male-male extension into the house first, then into the generator last (otherwise you're walking around with a power cord with a LIVE male end). But, it is still not recommended.
Also note that if you do this... you have no way of knowing when the power comes back.
Things like furnaces are usually hardwired into the house electrical system - so you can't just "unplug" it and plug it in to an extension to your generator.
So wire up your furnace so it plugs into an outlet. Mine is exactly like this (already done by a previous owner). It's easy enough to do yourself, and will save you a lot of effort if the power ever goes out when it's cold.
As a result, many people build themselves a "male to male" extension cord
Sounds inherently dangerous. I'd rather not someone trip on an extension cord and pull out a live wire with live ends ends sticking out.
1. Always have everything turned off when working with a cord with two male plug ends. Otherwise, when one end is plugged and the other isn't, you have a nice arc welder. A few extra minutes of running up and down your stairs may save your life.
2. Let the generator warm up first (see #4), then shut down and g to #1. Otherwise, when the furnace blower surges and your generator dies, you
Indeed. A 200 amp manual transfer switch can be found for $400 online. This gives you the ability to have a male plug coming out of the transfer switch that can never be powered by the utility - if it's connected, the mains are disconnected.
They usually come in the form of a breaker box. Installation isn't trivial, but it's not exceptionally difficult. First, identify what circuits are "must have" during a blackout. This would be:
Next, wire in your transfer switch to your main breaker box. Some go on their own 200amp breaker, others may be wired directly to the rails. TURN OFF YOUR MAIN BREAKER BEFORE WORKING ON YOUR SYSTEM. Read the manual to your transfer switch carefully, incorrect installation can be extremely dangerous.
Once the new subpanel is installed, you can move your protected circuits to it one-by-one. With mains power off, remove the breaker from your main panel, put it in the subpanel, and move the associated wires. Don't forget to replace the hole in your main panel with a blank, or you'll have a safety hazard. Once all the circuits are transferred, make a male plug for the AC input to the transfer switch that uses a heavy gauge connector (200a for a 200a switch). You may be able to skimp there as long as your extension cord is rated above the BREAKER on your generator. Not the rated power, but what it actually trips at.
With all that, a startup tip would be to power up the generator, turn OFF all the circuits in the subpanel, switch the input to the generator, and power them up one by one.
And please PLEASE check local code before trying this yourself. I have left things out that vary from state to state, and some other details that you have to know before trying something like this (what gauge wire to use between the main panel and your transfer switch, for instance). If you have a friend who is a LICENSED electrician you should definitely ask them to look over your plan, and inspect your final work before you use it.
Finally, not every locale allows owner-improvements to electrical systems, and you may have to use a licensed contractor.
After you turn off the main breaker, put a padlock on it. This prevents anyone who "wants to be helpful" or "knows what they're doing" from turning your main breaker back on.
Also note that your house probably has two phases. With this approach, you probably need to wire them together. If you do this in the house breaker box, do it before you connect your alternate power. Note well: Anything that depends on 220 V power is unusable with this approach. That may well include the high settings on an electric range.
We did this for three days in a winter storm when I was a kid (neighbors were on the corner and had power up a different street; they ran us an extension cord). These tips I learned from watching what my dad did.
I just ran heavy (15amp rated) extension cords this year when our power went out. I'm wiring up my shed this spring, so I'll already have a back ho out digging the ditch to run the underground wire, so I'm going to run a spare three pole 10-gauge direct burial (will cost some bucks) along with the main run out to the shed. I'll wire up a few outlets around my house that connect specifically to the generator (which is an el-cheapo Walmart 3500 watt gas unit), because a) the generator ain't big enough to power my panel and b) to do so in my neck of the woods requires a cut off so you're not rendering your incoming power line hot.
A bit of advice I got when I bought the generator was that you don't need to run your fridge and freezer all the time, providing you open them infrequently. Every few hours just plug them in, let the compressors bring the temperature down, and then unplug them. At the very least, don't keep the fridge door open while you ponder whether to use hot mustard or not. As you say, many electrical devices that don't draw a lot of power while in use can draw a lot of power at startup (cranking is I think the technical name). Even TVs can draw considerable juice when you first turn them on, so you probably will not want to put all your devices and appliances on a power bar and then flip the switch, but rather turn on each device one at a time.
Another thing my manual makes very clear is that the generator should be properly grounded. I didn't do that this year, but as I said, when I wire up my shed, I'm going to have to use a grounding rod anyways (since I'm putting in a subpanel) so I'll just bond the generator to that. 20 amps and 120 volts is enough to cook you good in the right circumstances.
You might want to check to see if #6 aluminum wire is cheaper than #10 copper. Since you're going to run it between panels, it should be no problem - they all seem to have Cu/Al lugs and a little NoAlOx goes a long way. That'll give you some spare capacity, too. (#10 copper UF = 30A, #6 Al UF = 40A).
I've gone through enough power outages to do what you're wanting. This is a good list but I can simplify it a bit.
1. You'll need a transfer switch to connect your generator into your home's wiring. It is possible (but probably illegal) to back-feed your generator into your home. Improper backfeeding will send power back up the line, creating a danger to the line workers.
A transfer switch essentially allows your generator to become the power source to your home while cutting off your city power. You can do this yourself or hire an electrician, it's not real expensive. Here's a simple diagram [electrical-online.com].
2. Next figure out what size generator to get. There are many calculators out there to guide you. Essentially you add up the wattage of each appliance and buy a generator with about 20% extra.
An example, I have a 3000w generator, it runs 2 fridges, the gas furnace fan, most of the lights, maybe some music. It's very quiet and luggable. We turn off lights when not in use and leave the TV off, but could probably run it.
Depending on how close your neighbors are you might want to check the decibel level of your gen-set. The cheapo ones work great but are very loud.
Its not only "probably illegal", in most places in the US its very illegal. The cord used to back-feed a house that way is referred to as a "dead man cord". The reason for that is because besides back-feeding your house, if you don't throw a transfer switch you are also back-feeding part of your neighborhood's wiring. This will make the linemen who are repairing that wiring at the least very unhappy, and in all likelihood it will make them very dead.
"I know nothing about this sort of thing.."
I strongly advise having someone who does do the installation.
You *must* have a switch that disconnects your house from your service drop. This is not a small switch--typical would be a 100A disconnect. If you don't, your generator will feed the service and present a huge danger to the people trying to restore your power. Ours allows the house to be powered off of either the generator or the utility, with no way for the utility and generator to be connected.
We bought an 8kW generator when we moved to Maine five years ago. My first thought was to buy a larger unit, but there's a problem with this idea. Compare fuel consumption fully loaded and at half load. IIRC, half load still consumes about 3/4 of the full load fuel. Generators become much less efficient at low loads--this means that you want to size it right, not oversize it. Running a generator isn't cheap.
I added up what we would typically have running and I think I came up with 4 or 5 kW. Bumping it up to 8kW seemed reasonable. Everything runs fine except the microwave (which acts browned out), and I don't use my plasma cutter or arc welder when we're on generator.
I'd like to know what it would take to get a little more power... like a fridge
This coming from the can't-feel-my-toes department? Put it outside!
router, laptop and a lightbulb.
Laptop first. It is marginally useful without the router. The router is useless without the laptop or some other computer. It also provides all the light you should need (though maybe not all your wife needs)
I suggest you go and get a small generator immediately. Murphy's Law (or something like it) demands that power be back on before you get home or immediately after you get it hooked up.
This coming from the can't-feel-my-toes department? Put it outside!
This coming from the order-of-importance dept: cold beer, internet, all other stuff.
This is CmdrTaco -- he's saving electricity by turning off the spellchecker to conserve power, while running off of battery backup. Obviously.
Might be best to turn off the water entirely and drain the pipes rather than risk a burst.
Actually this is much worse as your risk having the pipes connecting the house to the aqueduc burst.
The best way is to have a small thread of water running from a faucet, for both the hot and cold water taps. Depending on the layout of the plumbing there might be a need for 2 or 3 faucets to be running.
... I object to your insistent and endless efforts to drive my home value down and to give hypothermia to my cat.
A lot of people in cold climates have backup (or even primary) wood stoves for heat. The main problem is that these have electric fans to blow super-hot air from around the stove's inner box into the room. Now, given that it's cold outside when you're building fires and very hot inside the stove itself, is there some way to directly convert the heat difference into enough electricity to drive the stove's fan?
Seriously, these things can potentially put out tremendous amounts of heat, probably enough to keep the pipes from freezing in a medium-sized house and certainly enough to cook simple foods. I'd think that a self-powered version would be extremely appreciated.
A lot of people in cold climates have backup (or even primary) wood stoves for heat.
In Colorado, the only kind of wood stoves that I have seen that use electricity are pellet stoves [wikipedia.org], whereas wood stoves don't need any power at all. You just put logs in, get them burning, and that is it. Are you talking about a wood burning whole house furnace with forced air? That isn't exactly a "wood stove".
My family primarily uses wood to heat the house, with trees we cut down from the neighbors property. The forest here
My brother in law retro-fit a wood burning furnace on to his 100 year old house's existing hot-water radiator heat.
Are you talking about a wood burning whole house furnace with forced air?
Nope. I'm talking about a wood stove [buckstove.com], either free-standing or set into a fireplace. You start the fire then adjust the damper and air vents to control how quickly the wood burns, and the blowers remove what would otherwise be a dangerous amount of heat into the surrounding room. My parents have two of these in different living rooms and one in the basement. When you have it tweaked right and the fans running on full blast, you can't stand to be within several feet of it for more than a minute or two. T
is there some way to directly convert the heat difference into enough electricity to drive the stove's fan
Thermally driven fans are available for wood stoves. The ones I have seen mount inline with the exhaust pipe and use the thermal temperature difference to operated the fan but stove mounted ones for just circulating air around the stove are available also.
This company has several options, and there are others. This is as close to professional grade as you can get cheaply. There are cheaper options that utilize a mandraulic process, but that doesn't help if you are on the west coast for holidays when the power drops. Don't forget to figure maintenance costs as it's not a one time charge for such a system. Most people ignore maintenance costs for heaters and A/C units and just repair when it breaks, but this is something you want to make sure works regularly.
Bottom line: Permanent home backup generators can be purchased for $3000 - $6000 + installation labor.
If you have natural gas available then I highly recommend using it for your backup generator, since outages are very rare and you won't ever need to worry about storing fuel.
If you house is like most, then your incoming service is 100 amp/220 split-phase. This means that a ~22 KW generator would give you 100% backup, but really most people don't use more than 80% of their service, so this setup [mainpowerconnect.com] should provide full capacity backup for almost anyone. If that's not enough, then move up to the 30 KW model. Kohler makes generators big enough to power your entire neighborhood if you are willing to buy it.
Wiring is not difficult, but depending on your experience level and your desire to obey the local electrical code, you should consider hiring a licensed electrician.
Just a comment - we've had a Kohler 15kW Natural Gas powered generator that automatically comes on if power is interrupted for more than 10 seconds for the past year. We've needed it a couple of times now for multi-hour interruptions and it's worked well with the following comments:
1. Get an electrician that knows what he's doing and has experience with automated generators. I spelled out how everything was supposed to be wired and the bozo our contractor hired didn't trust my work beforehand and refused to wire up things like our refrigerator because he thought it drew too much current and then didn't believe my calculations
2. When you look at different generators, you will see that going to a water cooled unit (which is generally what you get when you are in the 22kW range) doubles the price. The 15kW units don't power the whole house, but more than enough to be liveable - you should get your Furnace, Air Conditioning (power goes out in the summer too), kitchen, basic computers & internet service, a couple of bedrooms and a TV/etc. working comfortably
3. The generators need maintenance. Plan on $500 or more a year - you can't do this yourself unless you are licensed for working around natural gas.
4. The units will test themselves once a week. Make sure they come on when nobody's going to be bothered
5. Don't try to do it yourself, the installation is somewhat expensive ($1,500-$2,000) and then you have to do the interior wiring (hooking up the Automated Transfer Switch (ATS) and deciding which circuits should be used).
6. The pricing of the units change during the year and what's going on. Right now would probably be the worst possible time to buy one - I wouldn't be surprised that their prices haven't doubled in your area. You should be looking in the late spring before hurricane season is the best.
The 15kW units don't power the whole house, but more than enough to be liveable - you should get your Furnace, Air Conditioning (power goes out in the summer too), kitchen, basic computers & internet service, a couple of bedrooms and a TV/etc. working comfortably
That would depend on exactly how your house is configured. Heating, water heater, clothes dryer and stove could be gas or electric. If all of those were gas, then 15 KW should be more than enough for all your other loads.
If you take your electri
Make sure that your natural gas generator is running a genuine copy of Microsoft Windows Vista. You will find that your generator is much more reliable with Windows Vista as long as you keep your system up to date and have anti-virus, spyware protection, and firewall utilities installed.
Home improvement stores, meijer, wal-mart, et-al are still open right now.
Go there, get one, get gas, bingo.
Why "next year"?
Insightful and PRACTICAL +1
Honda makes some great generators... 3-4kW should be sufficient for your purposes.
However, you should also look at where you're losing your heat. If you insulate your home well, you'll have to heat it a lot less in the winter, which is very relevant, if you're going to be doing it with a generator.
Why "next year"?
Because he wants a permanent solution. (which likely will take more than a day to get installed)
My dad lives in rural Michigan. He's got a natural gas generator. It powers the important circuits. It has worked wonderfully (over several years) when the electricity has failed. Sorry, I don't know much about hookup mechanics.
hypothermic babies and cats
mmmmmm, frozen tacos - yum
There's a dirty, and illegal way to do it.
First, if you follow these instructions, remember this KEY STEP
TURN OFF THE MAIN SWITCH. Also, NEVER turn that main switch on if the generator is running.
Finally, the main switch MUST be double throw.
Forget to follow these instructions, and you can very easily kill a lineman or blow up your generator.
Anyways, you just need a three pronged dryer plug, 2 of them, and sufficient length of heavy gauge wire. You create an illegal male - male 3 pronged plug, and connect your generator socket into the 3 pronged plug in your house used for the clothes dryer.
The reason it is illegal is because this form of installation does not prevent you from connecting your generator to the wiring outside your house. If you left the main switch on, you can energize the dead lines outside with 12,000 volts and kill a lineman.
The advantage? As long as the main switch is double throw, and you don't turn it on when the generator is connected, it is pretty safe. And cheap : a double throw switch and circuit box is $200-$500, while this method can be done for $10.
Forget to follow these instructions, and you can very easily kill a lineman or blow up your generator.
1) Far more likely you'll vaporize your generator. Hook up a 3 KW generator to an entire neighborhood drawing maybe 300 kW and your generator goes poof. The only way you'll kill a lineman if the broken line feeds only your house and the break is an open circuit as opposed to short. Worst case is in between, turning a torn line tangled in a tree into a multi-KW space heater... Kind of like one of those electric charcoal starters but on a much larger scale.
2) The "real" reason it's illegal is, as you'll quickly discover, a male to male cable will probably fall out of the dryer plug at some point and then you've got a couple KW at 220 volts on large bare copper connectors less than an inch apart in a pitch dark room on the floor, or perhaps it'll hit something somewhat conductive on its way to the ground and start a huge fire, or perhaps the kids will play with it and get vaporized. The most likely failure mode of this experiment is electrocution of yourself and/or your family rather than a lineman. After all, the linemen are already working with live power on the "other" side of the broken line... they know what to do, and you don't.
3) You'll also quickly discover that you can't start up your furnace, water heater, sump pump, TV, and microwave all at the same instant although they may all run steady state. Expect alot of fun when the fridge and sump pump simultaneously start up, especially at 2am. You'll get lots of practice reseting breakers and restarting the generator.
4) Built in "permanent" generators are generally built to run and refuel 24x7. "Portables" generally are built to run a tankful and get put away till tomorrow. Portables will have some inherent design engineering "issues" such as gas caps next to red hot mufflers. So be really careful whem refilling. Hurry up and you'll turn into a torch. Also your 4 cycle will inevitably run out of oil at some point, hope you're checking the oil and/or the low oil shutoff works before the engine is trashed.
5) Since this is probably one of the most dangerous things you can possibly do, try not to do anything without thinking about each step very pessimistically. Also no booze, no waking up at 2am to refuel while half asleep. The greatest danger is doing something stupid, and being lucky, so you do it again until you croak.
Other than that, no problem.
First, I believe you mean double POLE, not double throw. If you're making a fundamental error like that, then you REALLY mustn't use a setup where a simple human error can kill people.
Second, it's illegal and irresponsible because it is way too easy for a simple human error to get people killed. If you're going to spend a few thousand on a generator that is even vaguely capable of handling a whole house (as opposed to a smaller emergency generator and a few heavy duty drop cords), $200-$500 isn't a lot to assure human safety.
Keep in mind too, that if your setup is discovered, you can be permanently disconnected from the grid. If a lineman hears a generator running and sees a power cord running in to your house, he will check it out. The fact that you did it right THAT time will not dissuade him from reporting you (it's HIS life on the line)! If your setup actually does injure or kill someone you will be charged.
This is one of those things that is technically possible but should NEVER be done in practice.
The first thing you want is a natural gas powered generator, not gasoline. Nothing like having to take a trip to the local gas station (presuming THEY have power) to fill up the generator every 8 hours or so. This, by definition, will make the generator a stationary unit (not on wheels, designed to be bolted down to a concrete pad).
Next, you want a generator with auto-start, auto-transfer with manual return. You want the thing to automatically kick in if the power dies, but YOU should be in control of when it decides to return to the grid. Nothing like finding out that the power died 10 minutes after you and the family left the house for a couple of days and coming back to a cold house with no power and potentially burst pipes.
Wattage - you will want at least a 5000 watt unit for whole-house use. Forget this idea of running power cords everywhere - unless you like the idea of tripping over power cords everywhere. With the transfer switch mentioned above, the generator takes the place of the grid so your internal house wiring will continue to serve it's duty.
There are several manufacturers of house generator systems. You can find low-end units at places like Home Depot or Lowes. Better units are best obtained from an electrical wholesale house.
Do yourself a huge favor here and hire a licensed electrician to do the work. It'll get done right the first time, the electrical inspector won't get excited (in a negative way) when he sees the work, and the odds of "something going wrong" go way down.
From another guy in Michigan (Westland)...
Nothing like having to take a trip to the local gas station (presuming THEY have power) to fill up the generator every 8 hours or so.
When you have a massive area-wide power outage, three things happen with regards to gas stations.
First, many of them lose power. Gas pumps do not run without power. Until the station itself gets generators set up, it's useless.
Second, everybody else with generators is going to be crowding into the gas stations to try to buy fuel.
Third, odds are whatever caused the widespread power outage is also screwing up the fuel distribution system. The gas stations may not have any fuel to sell.
Do yourself a huge favor here and hire a licensed electrician to do the work. It'll get done right the first time, the electrical inspector won't get excited (in a negative way) when he sees the work, and the odds of "something going wrong" go way down.
While I don't disagree with ANY of your post, this statement is by far the absolute most important/best comment that will be posted to this thread.
Really, if you're asking slashdot about what you need, thats fine, get input so you can avoid the possiblity of
... but I'd look at surplus "permanent" diesel generators, and a dedicated genny shed. These will often be much, much cheaper than a new, smaller generator. Also, older kit tends to have been built well to begin with, and with repair and maintenance in mind - something that a lot of el-cheapo Chinese 80-quid-out-of-Lidl generators aren't.
If you buy a seriously large genny you may be able to split the costs with your neighbours - 30kW ought to do at least a couple of houses if you're careful. Ten years ago we used to have very frequent power cuts up north, and one enterprising chap bought a 10kW genny on a trailer which he towed round to people's houses every day to freeze their freezers for a small fee
I wouldn't bother with petrol-engined gennies - they're far more trouble than they're worth and will just plain not start when you need them. They also need constant servicing even when they're not used, and you need to keep fresh fuel in them - so that means either buying fuel and keeping the tank and carb dry (just what you need to sort out on a cold dark night), or running them pretty much every month enough to use a few gallons of petrol. Stick with diesels, they're simpler, easier to work on, and more reliable anyway.
It goes without saying that if you live in an area prone to power cuts, you should avoid electric heating and electric cookers. Don't run an electric cooker off the genny, it will guzzle fuel. If you have an electric cooker, get a petrol camping stove like one of the Coleman dual-burner ones, or a gas camping stove. A caravan/RV stove would be good, but will take up more space. I used to use a single-burner gas stove which took disposable gas bottles like large spray cans, but it was uneconomic to run. My petrol stove was quite expensive to buy, but much, *much* cheaper to run - plus if I run out of fuel I can just pump some from my car
You may be able to run your furnace blower from a large inverter, but they are typically not rated to run inductive loads for long. In the UK, we use small efficient blower motors in most boilers, which will run off a couple of hundred watts at most. The big old blowers with a squirrel-cage motor the size of a beer keg are long gone, something to be glad of
If you get the chance to move out, consider getting a Passive House, where it has super-thick insulation and is hermetically sealed. You wouldn't have to worry about frozen pipes in that kind of setup.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/europe/27house.html [nytimes.com]
If you get the chance to move out, consider getting a Passive House, where it has super-thick insulation and is hermetically sealed. You wouldn't have to worry about frozen pipes in that kind of setup.
Not for long, anyway.
Every state and town has different rules about how it all needs to be set up.
In some places, like Massachusetts, you can't do any of the install yourself. You have to have a licensed electrician do it.
As a tip, get a generator that uses an inverter. They run quieter and are less likely to damage electronics if you run out of fuel with them.
You also, pretty much everywhere, have to have a proper transfer switch to disconnect the grid power any time there is any electricity being sent into your house by the generator -- otherwise you will energize the power lines around your house and could kill a line worker.
But generally, you really need to talk to someone who knows the answer locally for you.
As with most things. Basically you can buy a generator of any capacity you like. For small things, like a few lights and a heater and such, pretty much any one will do. Turns out that engines generate a rather lot of power in comparison to what most household items use. As a reference 1 horsepower = 745 watts. Gives you a little perspective on the amazing amount of power in a 200hp car engine.
Now this kind of thing would cost you somewhere in the range of $200-700 probably depending on size. It'll be a portable unit, gas powered. You'd wheel it outside, fire it up, and run an extension cord to your devices. Something to note though is the power is rather dirty. These small ones aren't so stable with the output. I don't know that you'd want to hook anything like a computer to it. Do so, and you might burn it out. For that you'd probably have to get a high quality DC inverter and hook it to the DC output (most small generators have a DC output). You'll also need to deal with the fuel. Gas isn't stable, you can't just keep a tank around for years. You'll have to periodically use the fuel and get more. You'll also want to keep extra fuel, past what it's tank can hold, since they usually aren't that large (5-20 hours worth or so normally). Finally, they are really noisy, like 90dB close up. Might bother some people.
Another option is a full home backup generator. These are modified car engines hooked to generators. They produce enough power to do an entire home. You wire them in to your breaker box, usually with an automatic transfer switch (though you can do manual transfer if you like). When the power dies, the generator fires up and transfers over. You then use your outlets as normal.
These generally run off of propane or natural gas (really large ones use diesel but you won't need that). If you have gas to your house, that makes fueling real simple. You simply take it from that. You never worry about refueling. If not, you install a propane tank, which you likely already have, and use that. Run time is really only limited by available fuel, and they come in sizes as large as you like. They also produce power stable enough that it is fine to run electronics on it. Hell, they have better power than some parts of the grid.
Downsides are size and cost. They are big, immobile things. You are going to have to have it installed and it is the a permanent part of the house. The cost is also high. Probably $2000 minimum, more realistically around $5000 and as much as $10,000-12,000. However, if you spend some cash you can get one that is rather quiet (around what a 4 cylinder car would be at 3,000rpm or so) and will easily do your whole house.
If you live in an area with major power problems, the whole house solution is the thing to check out. Expensive, but works great. Generac, or their consumer brand Guardian would be a good choice. They also test themselves (once a week normally) so you'll know if there are problems.
If you go for a cheap solution, just be mindful of all the gotchas. Make sure to test it, make sure to keep fresh fuel around, and if you need to use sensitive devices, make sure there is something cleaning up the power for them unless you are ok if they get burnt up. It might not be a problem, the generator might produce nice clean power and/or the device might have a power supply that doesn't care at all, but then it might end up killing something.
Generac (http://www.generac.com/Default.aspx) sells complete packages ready to install as well as discrete units and transfer switches. I have one of their 15KW air cooled LNG/Propane generators (only in my case it is for power outages caused by Hurricanes). Very easy to install, mount their transfer panel next to your main breaker panel and transfer some of the loads from the main panel to the generator panel. The unit WON'T run your entire house, but you can put the most important circuits under backup.
If you have piped in LNG this is the way to go. Otherwise you need to bury a 250 to 1000 gal propane tank in the backyard.
The choice of fuel for generator use would be LNG, Propane, Diesel, and Gasoline (in that order).
Gasoline has the shortest 'shelf life' and is the most difficult to store (ask your fire department!).
Diesel fuel can last for years with the right additives and can power your car (if you have a diesel car). Diesel engines will also run on JetA (live near an airport?), home heating oil (filter it first!), bio-diesel (rob your nearby McDonalds of their used french fri oil!), even Kerosene. If you buy diesel fuel for generator use make sure you fill out the required paperwork so you don't have to pay the road taxes on the fuel. You can store diesel in the same kind of tanks that home heating oil is stored in.
Car Generator [nytimes.com]
There's two ways: the "emergency only" way and the fancy everything automatic way.
#1: Any gas generator with a 240/120v twist lock outlet plus one of those 6 to 10 circuit generator transfer switches. The transfer switch has rocker switches on it and you pick your favorite circuits that you want to run on the generator during an outage. It wires in next to your breaker box - no need to run new wire anywhere. They usually have watt meters on them, too. When the power goes out, plug the generator into the transfer switch, fire it up, and switch the circuits to emergency. Get a generator in the 5 to 10 kW range. Cheap and effective, but the downside is you have to start it manually, and most portable units you can find run on unleaded gas. Make sure you run the generator at least once a month or you'll be in a world of hurt when you need it the most and it doesn't want to start.
#2: The fancy automated way. Get one of those Generac whole-house units. They have automatic transfer switches that completely bypass the utility feed and run the whole panel. When the power goes out it auto-starts and auto-transfers. They automatically start to exercise every week, too. These will probably be special order and definitely more expensive, but well worth it if you frequently have extended power outages with crappy weather and you don't want to go outside to fire up the generator. They can run on natural gas or propane. Get at leat a 10kW unit.
Either way you go use a transfer switch that wires into your breaker panel. It's much easier than running new wire or extension cords everywhere, especially when the power is out and you just want to get the damn thing running.
Disclaimer: Electricity is dangerous, and can kill you. I am not an electrician. I am a slashdot poster.
The short answer for going-off grid: Buy lots of solar panels, which don't work as well here in SE Michigan (WTF is with you calling Michigan the "Northeast"?) in the winter time, but may be enough to get you by in conjunction with a good sized battery bank, and be prepared to significantly change the way you use electricity.
As for the short / halfass way most of us deal with generator usage: Backfeeding (which isn't always regarded as the safest / smartest thing to do, since there are always idiots out there that will screw it up)
-Go to your breaker box, shut off the main breaker or breakers (the ones at the top of your box that say "Main".)
Congratulations, your house is now just a giant circuit of wires, not connected to the grid.
-Shutoff any and all non-essential breakers, especially those connected to heavy draws (You're not going to run your electric stove unless you've got a beefy generator). You may just want to kill everything, then try individual breakers on over time.
-Fire up your generator. If your 401k is where mine is now, you may want to do this indoors, in a confined space....If breathing is a priority for you (pussy), do this outside, a reasonable distance from your house.
-Using a heavy gauge extension cord (Not a "move a lamp" cord, think "run a heavy appliance / machine" cord), plug in to a nearby outlet.
Congratulations, you are now "backfeeding" your house off the generator. Instead of coming from the power lines, your electricity is coming in through an outlet. *DO NOT TURN YOUR MAIN BREAKERS ON!!!* One, Your poor generator will now try to power the entire grid, something that no dinky little 2500watt Honda can do and two, you will send power down a line that the poor DTE linesmen will / may assume is dead. Improper backfeeds can kill (and usually do a few times a year).
Now you try and figure out what "side" of your box is being feed (if you have a typical, grey box with switch type fuses in two columns. If you have glass fuses in a quaint old house....call an electrician and move out. Oi). The breakers on the same side as the circuit your generator is plugged in to will now have power. If it's on the same side as your furnace, you can turn the furnace breaker on and, hopefully, the furnace should kick on and begin heating the house. If your furnace is on the other side as your power source, you can move the power line to an outlet that is on the same side, or plug in another extension cord from your generator to an outlet on the same side.
Once power returns to your area simply shut down your generator, unplug your cords, then turn your main breaker back on.
You have to prioritize what's important to you for power. Furnace and sump pump are your musts, and a sump pump can put out a very heavy load for a very short time, causing a brownout. Ditto a Refrigerator. After that, its your call based on what the generator will power. You can try to power your whole house on a 2000 watt generator, and the generator will run. You'll also kill the generator and probably damage your major appliances. Bigger the generator, the more you can power, and the greater the cost. Honda is the Sony of the Generator market. Generally quality stuff, but you'll pay for it.
You'd also do well to investigate your electrical box and spend a day labeling every breaker and determining what you have running on each circuit. (lest you find out that a cheap alarm clock shorted out while you were on vacation, causing a breaker to pop, and that breaker was the same circuit your sump pump is on, which explains why your basement is now a swimming pool.) When I moved it, my box had two labels "Furnace" and "stove", now all 22 circuits are labeled, and I've been putting together a diagram that covers every outlet in the house.
1 Wood stove will do you just fine for keeping things warm from a survivability stand point. Several exotic solutions are also radiant heat setups with the woodstove as part of the fluid line (in short rather then using electricity to heat the radiant heat the wood stove does.) I've seen that setup in several garages in the floors (some very nice crude ones too in the middle of nowhere for storage sheds.) Usually there is a sterling engine style pump that is integrated to help move the fluid.
In a long term emergency go into the garage and get your camping tent. Set up the tent in basement of the house (use soup cans or other weights instead of spikes. I use bungie cords to some unfinished studs.(most homes freeze top-down fyi) Place 3-4 blankets and towels down as a floor in the tent. Grab some scrap 2x4s and nail up a pair of V shaped legs with a beam connecting them and build a small mini-tent inside the tent. Place blankets on top of that so you have a mini-tent inside for sleeping. Place any pets inside the main tent. This should keep the air temperature comfortable (sometimes even hot) in weather up to -20 degrees (your house is a big wind barrier.) turn off the water to the house and drain pipes. Wait for help.
Pipes freezing you should shut em off and bleed em empty if possible. A single wood stove in most homes will keep the ambient temp above freezing with little problem.
And on a side note, thanks to DTE Energy for telling us we had power when we didn't, for losing the ticket for our neighborhood, for telling us it would be back every single day when it wasn't, and for the helpful DTE representative who warned us that our pipes might burst. Thanks
Many folks here are wary of anything government, saying that the private sector can always do the job better and cheaper than government, but Springfield IL's city government puts the lie to that. Our power plant, CWLP [cwlp.com] (third picture down is General Manager Mr. Burns... er, sorry, Todd Renfrow. He just looks like Mr. Burns) is owned by the city.
When two F-2 tornados destroyed most of the city's south end infrastructure in 2006 we didn't have any of the problems the submitter experienced with his private utility. Power was out for a week at the longest in the hardest hit areas; poles and lines and transformers and everything else had to be replaced. It was three weeks before the privately owned telcos got landlines working, and a month before Insight (since bought out) got my cable and internet back online.
A few months later and a hundred miles south a single F1 went through the St. Louis area, doing far less damage. The private company Ameren took over a month to get power restored to all its customers.
See, it's not government, but government's bureaucracy. The bureaucracy doesn't come from the fact that it's government, it comes from the fact that the bigger an organization, any orginazation, the more bureaucracy, the less customer service, the more the cost, and the shoddier the workmanship.
If I'm unhappy with my electric service I can vote for the Mayor's opponent the next election. If you're unhappy with your private electric company you're shit out of luck. You can't just go down the street and use a different power company, they have you by the balls and there's nothing whatever you can do about it (save getting a humungous generator).
I have a 6500 watt portable generator that runs diesel. An electrician charged about $1000 to put in a transfer switch - legally - to the power box. (I know that's expensive, but I also know it's done correctly to code as it was permitted inspected by the State.) The generator runs hot water, plus all lights, microwave, electronics, etc. It will NOT run the heat pump or the oven/range or the drier, but everything else works, literally. The generator burns about half a gallon an hour. I have a 240 gallon tank full (usually) of biodiesel along with a Duramax truck which holds another 34 gallons. Of course, you take your chances with either of those being 100% full during an outage, but I figure with frugal use I can get by about six weeks at the minimum and twice that at the maximum.
1) Better have surge suppressors -- good ones -- on all electronics. Only the more expensive generators have compensators on them which regulate the voltage within tolerances expected by stuff like computers.
2) I would NOT put an auto start on a generator, myself, for fear it would start up when I was not at home. In my opinion, home generators need personalized attendance to regulate what is on and off. You don't want to waste fuel.
3) depending on how you're set up, the furnace fan idea might work if the furnace heat source is not electric, but I've chosen a wood stove which is capable of heating most of the downstairs rather than waste heat upstairs where it isn't really needed. I keep a cord of wood back and I can always steal wood from my neighbors.
Just my opinion FYI. My system works pretty well for me. No real complaints.
John DeArmond has a good article on his site about the $100 1KW Chinese-made generators sold at Northern Tool.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/ [johndearmond.com]
You can use a Toyota Prius [wikihow.com] to generate power enough to keep essentials operable.
I think that the first thing I would do is figure out what circuit breakers go to essential services (that you need in a cold weather power outage) and carefully label those fuses. Then run the power to your box with only those circuits hot.
This is not something you can just throw together, this is something you should get a licensed electrician to put together for you. The link to the article should tell any electrician what kind of power is coming off the Prius and that should give him ideas about how to set things up.
I highly recommend that your Prius have plenty of gasoline before you set it up as your generator. But this article [obsessable.com] suggests one person was able to supply his home with three days worth of power on five gallons of gasoline.
Of course you'll have to take the other car to work.
...in a case of total power loss? (and even that after some time, with the rate of loss at 1F per day)
Granted, it's not really in line with gas-guzzling culture, but...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house [wikipedia.org]
"If it's not loud, it doesn't work!" -- Blank Reg, from "Max Headroom"


text:
"I said, 'Why don't you shoot? Shoot!'... But they just said, 'Get away from them.' And we all ran together."Not ready? It sounds like those police were not willing.
Six hours later, at least 21 people were dead, including the nine suicide bombers who managed to penetrate several rings of security on Tuesday night to carry out the attack. The assault has shaken public confidence in the ability of Afghan forces, especially the police, to assume responsibility for security, even here in the capital...
"We talk about the transition to Afghan security, but the Afghan forces are not ready to take over their security and their country," said Maulavi Mohammadullah Rusgi, chairman of the Takhar provincial council in northern Afghanistan, who was having dinner at the hotel with friends when the attack commenced. Three of his friends were killed.
"The security forces cannot even protect a few people inside the hotel," he said. "How can they protect the whole country?"
[F]or the hotel guests, many of whom jumped over the perimeter walls, plunged into irrigation ditches or cowered in closets to escape the attackers, the police response was not only slow, but also cowardly. Several witnesses said police officers ran away or refused to shoot.Cowardly? Or on the other side?


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The Buff Bloggers bust a common stereotype that thin is healthy.
In our last blog we talked about people being "unhealthy." With this word come certain stereotypes that I'm planning on squashing in this blog. Oftentimes, "unhealthy" is used synonymously with "fat". This is untrue. Just because someone is a larger person doesn't mean they aren't fit or healthy. Genetics is a HUGE factor in body type. In fact, there are plenty of cases where skinny people are much less healthy than bigger people. This has become such a common occurrence that there is now a term to describe it. "Metabolically Obese Normal Weight" or MONW refers to "skinny fat" people. This condition makes it very clear that being bigger and fit is better than being thinner and out of shape.
Metabolically obese; what is this crazy term? Metabolically obese refers to the combination of certain risk factors. A few prevalent factors being high levels of insulin resistance, high triglycerides, hypertension, and/or cardiovascular disease. High levels of insulin resistance can lead to pre-diabetes, which could then turn into diabetes itself. A skinny fat person is small, yet untoned. Meaning they have little muscle definition, and are in fact more fat than muscle. The truth is, 1 in 4 people have pre-diabetes and are "metabolically obese" according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The main idea here is that these factors are blind to whether a person is fat or thin. Studies done by the Cooper Institute prove that being fat and fit is better, health wise, than being thin and unfit. According to a recent study done by the University of Sydney, this could be due to the fact that when fat is stored around the liver it does the most metabolic damage. They go on to state that regular aerobic exercise reduces fat in the liver while it may not result it weight loss.
The remedy for this condition? It's easy, exercise! Any kind of exercise is great! Whether it be an aerobic or weight bearing workout. Yoga or specific conditioning. Anything is better than nothing. Remember to switch it up so you don't get bored. This will also help you get in the best shape. What I'm trying to say here is that no matter your shape, size, skin-color, fitness level, or history... EXERCISE. Do it to get and stay healthy, and you'll find those clothes you've been working to get in will soon fit. Don't think that just because someone is thin they are healthy or that those that are large are unhealthy.
Two articles that really helped me to write this blog are : "In "Obesity Paradox," Thinner May Mean Sicker" by Harriet Brown, 9/17/2012, nytimes.com and "Are You a Skinny Fat Person? 10 Steps to Cure the Skinny Fat Syndrome" by Mark Hyman, MD, 8/26/2012, huffingtonpost.com.


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03-12-2011 01:14 PM - edited 11-25-2011 10:03 AM
03-12-2011 01:14 PM - edited 11-25-2011 10:03 AM
I want to tell all the people in this community who also have freeze-ups with the great C300 Crucial SSD and Windows 7, for me i have found a solution that works!
Two month of waiting for an new Rapid Storage from Intel or a new Firmware from Crucial, i found the solution by myself. At first i want to say, please forgive me Crucial, it is a shame for Crucial, that it comes no solution from the SSD Maker himself in the other big thread called "C300 Disk Freeze-ups in Windows 7""since six month! It is a shame!
So, my problem was, since I use the P67 Chipset, the hole System hangs from time to time very long when I use the Rapid Storage from Intel, the entry in the Event Viewer is: Event ID:9 - The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period.
The solution is easy! The problem is, that the C300 SSD cannot handle the LPM-Feature from the Rapid Storage from Intel. Crucial, please check the firmware from the C300 about LPM and test it in your labs! Since Version 10 of the Rapid Storage LPM is enabled by default, when you make a clean new installation from the RST and that was the problem on my system. I deactivate LPM on all ports by modify the Registry and the problem was solved directly, the freeze-ups are gone – so easy is it! Also the speed from the SSD goes dramatically up!
The needed Reg-File to disable LPM on all Intel Ports it is easy to create. Create a new Text-File, copy and paste the following text and then name it for example "LPM.reg". When you have save the file double click on the file, restart your System and that's it. On the next boot up LPM is disabled. You can also disable only one or two ports and so on. Then you must delete the line from that port, who you don't want to disable LPM.
Copy start at the next line:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
Copy end up over this line:
Also you can do it by hand, thanks to Ady:
If there are no "Ports" under the iaStorV/iaStor Parameters, you will need to Manually Creating the Registry Location and Keys:
1. Go to Start-> Run..
2. Type in RegEdit and hit the Enter Key..
3. Go to the following Key location to insert or configure the registry keys for LPM:
4a. Right click "Parameters" select "New" then name it "Port0".
4b. Left click "Port0" to open and in the pane with Name/Type/Data, Right click select "New" then "DWORD" and name the new value "LPM".
4c. Repeat 4a/4b "LPMDSTATE" and "DIPM".
5. When you want to ad the other Ports also to registry, then repeat the steps from 4a to 4c and name it Port1, Port2, Port3, Port4 and Port5.
So, give it a try, i hope it works also at your side, not only just for me! I am disable LPM from now directly on any new installation!
Kind Regards
At the end - here are the text what Intel says about LMP in the Rapid Storage since Version 10:
Link Power Management with Intel® Rapid Storage Technology
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology implements the Link power management (LPM) feature described by the Serial ATA specification to overcome the power demand of a high-speed serial interface, SATA and providing the capability of SATA at the minimum power cost. LPM, when used in conjunction with a SATA hard drive that supports this feature, enables lower power consumption. LPM was initially enabled by default on mobile platforms starting with ICH6M with Intel® Matrix Storage Manager. Starting with ICH9R this feature has also been supported on desktop platforms with Intel® Matrix Storage Manager 7.5 release but not enabled by default. Beginning with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 10.0 release, LPM support is enabled by default on both mobile and desktop platforms. OEM's who wish to modify the default settings for LPM on their platforms can follow the instructions in the following section(s).
Instructions to disable/enable LPM
After system is setup with OS and Intel® Rapid Storage Technology installed, follow the below instructions to modify the default LPM support.
NOTE: Beginning with the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 10.0 release, the registry keys are no longer populated in the Windows registry by default. The RST driver does not require the registry keys to be present to support the default settings.
1. Go to Start->Run
2. Type in RegEdit and hit the Enter Key.
3. Go to the below mentioned location to insert or configure the registry keys for LPM
NOTE: OEM's need to configure the LPM settings by port. Ports are numbered starting with zero (please refer the desired platform EDS for the number of ports supported on that platform)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parame
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parame
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parame
4. Now add the following registry keys under the registry location mentioned in step3, if they are not available (These registry keys are not available by default, they can be added by using utomated scripts, .reg files, executable utilities, etc). If you find the below registry keys already available, you can modify the values for desired support. Values are modified on a port by port basis so modify all ports that you wish the changes to be supported on. **
"LPM"=dword: 00000001 {dword: 00000000->Disable; dword: 00000001->Enable} [default = Enabled]
"LPMSTATE"=dword: 00000000 {dword: 00000000->Partial; dword: 00000001->Slumber} [default = Disabled] (Note: the driver ignores this key when the LPM key'svalue is not set to 1. So when LPM value is 0, this value is N/A.)
"LPMDSTATE"=dword: 00000001 {dword: 00000000->Partial; dword: 00000001->Slumber} [default = Enabled]
"DIPM"=dword: 00000001 {dword: 00000000->Disable; dword: 00000001->Enable} [default = Enabled]
**Warning: If you edit the registry incorrectly, you can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Intel does not guarantee that problems that are caused by editing the Registry incorrectly can be resolved.
Thanks for posting your findings and fixes for others!
I'll copy a link to this fix into the main problem thread.
I still wonder why this does not affect everyone though? I do not have this issue on X58 or P67 with any of the three C300's I have?
03-12-2011 09:53 PM - edited 03-12-2011 10:06 PM
03-12-2011 09:53 PM - edited 03-12-2011 10:06 PM
One addition to the first post: if you have a notebook then LPM is enabled in any case, even when using older Intel drivers. So the reg entries will exist either way. (Zoork mentioned this on a german forum, thanks).
To go back to the original state of your registry then the way is not to delete the reg entries, but to change them to the former state, which means 00000001 for LPM, LPMDSTATE and DIPM. It shouldn't make a difference as it is the default state, but just to be sure.
On my system, a Dell notebook with ICH9, LPM seems to work (or at least causes no problem), as my AS SSD reading of 530 stayed unchanged when disabling LPM.
03-12-2011 11:19 PM - edited 03-13-2011 03:15 AM
03-12-2011 11:19 PM - edited 03-13-2011 03:15 AM
Thanks! I have forgot to say, that this issue with the freeze-ups only happened when i connected the C300 to the SATA 6G-Port on Intel P67. When i connect it to 3G-Ports or use the Marvel 6G or use the ICH10R on my second X58 i dont have problems with this kind of freeze-up and i dont need the fix to disable LPM. So i think the C300 have problems with LPM running on the 6G-Mode on the new 6G Intel-Ports. Perhaps it depends also on the rest of the system, that this freeze-ups comes.
Edit: With LPM disabled i have benchresults like never before, see the picture! For this bench i set LPM in the registry to disabeld, i use Asus P8P67 Evo and the Intel Rapid-Storage driver Version 10.1.0.1008, Win 7 64 Bit.
Thanks for that but,
I have a Gigabyte x58a-ud7, my drive c300 256GB 0006 is connected to Marvell 6G-Port, all firmware and driver up to date but a lot a freeze with Win 7 x64.
What do you about this issue ?
What i have to do ?
Sincerely yours
03-13-2011 03:04 AM - last edited on 03-13-2011 12:18 PM by pamelaz
03-13-2011 03:04 AM - last edited on 03-13-2011 12:18 PM by pamelaz
Thanks for trying, [Edited per Guidelines: Be relevant.]
I have a ASUS RAMPAGE II EXTREME and the SSD C300 is on a 6Gb/s Port from the Asus AU3S6.
I have the freezer to!
regards from germany
Hm, i dont have a solution with the Marvel 6G, because i dont use this controller. The Marvel chip is bad in 4K reading and writing, so i never use this **bleep** Marvel. On my second system i use a Asus P6x58-E, in this system i also have 64GB C300, but i connected it to the ICH10R, the performanz is better than the marvel one.
I have this freezer when i use the internal board port too!
Im not the only one, also whats wrong with the C300?
To all, I agree with the above, please don't use the Marvell 6Gb/s on X58 or P55 boards as it is very unstable and the Intel will give better results anyway.


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Fixing the World – Tikkun Olam
I often feel like I'm just spinning my wheels in the daily grind: Get up, shower, eat, go to work, come home, eat, go to sleep. And then do it all over again. Isn't there more to life? How do I find it?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
The Talmud asks: Why was Adam created alone? (As opposed to Adam and Eve being created simultaneously.) To teach you that every person is obligated to say, "For my sake alone the world was created." That doesn't mean the world is mine to consume everything indiscriminately (although God does want us to enjoy the pleasures of this world).
What it does mean is that we must take responsibility for any problem in the world. If you recognize a problem – whether it be a piece of litter on the street or a major social issue that needs adjusting – you shouldn't just say "someone else will deal with it." There is nobody else. In God's eyes, the rule is: You saw it, you fix it.
Consider the following true story:
In the 1980s when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan there was a doctor named Robert Simon who was the head of the trauma medical center at UCLA. Simon said to himself, "I wonder who's providing medical care to the refugees inside Afghanistan?" It turned out that all of the regular medical organizations like Doctors Without Borders were staying away because the Russians were killing any doctors they found. Simon said to himself, "If nobody else is doing anything, then it's my responsibility."
He sold his house in Los Angeles and moved to Pakistan. He trained illiterate Afghan refugees how to be medics – how to extract bullets, splint broken bones, treat the dozen most common diseases, etc. Then he sent them back across the border into Afghanistan. That was the only medical care available in Afghanistan during the entire time the Russians were there.
Imagine the pleasure of being able to look back at that achievement as your own.
We all yearn for immortality – yet how do we achieve that? To set the world record for the 100-meter dash? To build the tallest skyscraper in Manhattan?
Of course not. Immortality is achieved by connecting ourselves to the global body of humanity. To treat the planet as a sacred trust, to preserve for future generations. As the Torah says: God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden – "to work it and to protect it" (Genesis 2:15).
To get started, imagine this: Someone has nominated you for the Nobel Peace Prize for services to mankind. The award carries a prize of 10 million dollars. You are to present yourself to the awards committee and report what you plan to do with the money if you win. What will you tell them?


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Posted 03 October 2012 - 10:52 PM
Anybody else can feel free to add their "spots" as well.
A coupe I saw out behind B&E Meats in Burien.
An early gen2 wagon that was in the parking lot at work.
Cool sedan up at the Lynwood PnP.
Posted 07 October 2012 - 10:38 AM
Posted 09 October 2012 - 11:10 PM
Had some lumber sticking out of the bed and looked like it had chrome calmaster wheels.
Anybody on here?
Posted 12 October 2012 - 01:46 PM
Posted 12 October 2012 - 05:10 PM
Saw this guy in Reno, NV.
Posted 17 October 2012 - 04:13 PM
and this be the new gen and misc stuff..
all these belong to D.C.subaru wasilla Alaska.
needless to say i can get any part imaginable.. even if they sometimes cost an arm or leg..
ill get some better pics of the place when i go out there again.
Posted 18 October 2012 - 11:29 AM
The black lifted leg is a guy from Dirtyimpreza.com, I've run into him 2 or three times randomly, cool dude.
I saw a lifted 90-91 keg wagon drive over a curb and do a u-turn the other day at the south end of the viaduct where is turns into East Marginal.
Posted 05 January 2013 - 05:28 PM
Dark blue with a black canopy, just like mine.
Left a note for them to check out the forum.
Posted 05 January 2013 - 07:33 PM
Was driving towards gresham today and look what I found! #subarubrat #subaru #soobielove by Kevin Talley, on Flickr
And sometimes at work its like we have mini subaru meets.
Scoobs at work by Kevin Talley, on Flickr
Posted 14 January 2013 - 06:52 PM
Posted 15 January 2013 - 11:59 PM
It might have been lowered a little bit, and it had some wide crome wheels on it.
Maybe you/they saw me? I was the red '86 wagon with the ski racks and RX lip.
Posted 16 January 2013 - 11:26 PM
Posted 11 February 2013 - 08:21 PM
Posted 11 February 2013 - 09:56 PM
i saw a silver 2nd gen brat yesterday that had arizona plates in boring oregon and i saw a 1st gen brat in the parking lot at pick'n pull in portland on foster. also saw a coulpe ea82 wagons driving around and i talked to a guy with a red loyale at the pick'n pull that he said he got last month that he works on at clackmas high school.
Posted 23 February 2013 - 10:07 PM
Posted 24 February 2013 - 01:16 AM
by Kevin Talley, on FlickrSaw this in East Portland right off Burnside.
I might know the owner of that one. I will have to check if his lacks Brat decals on the side. Did you happen to notice if it had a racing stripe on the hood?
Posted 24 February 2013 - 03:36 AM
Posted 24 February 2013 - 02:42 PM
Yea it had one on the drivers side.
That's the one. He's not on here. His buddy restored it, then he bought it from him. It's very nice as I am sure you noticed and pretty close to stock other than the Weber and paint job.
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- 10 Books You Must Read In High School"Slaughterhouse-Five"By Kurt Vonnegut A satirical look at World War II through the eyes of a soldier, Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five is often cited as his most influential work. The themes of fate versus free-will are explored in this classic novel, which has also been the subject of criticism and banned-book lists. Banned in some schools as recently as 2011, Slaughterhouse-Five is continually respected as one of the best English novels of the 20th century. High-schoolers will love the unique take on such a well-known time in history, while the quick pace and intelligent writing will make this a very fast read.
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- 10 Books You Must Read In High School"The Catcher in the Rye"By J.D. Salinger This classic story of teenage angst and rebellion remains a popular novel amongst teenagers all over the world. As popular as it has always been, The Catcher in the Rye was also the most censored book in high schools and libraries from 1961 to 1962, and it is one of the most frequently challenged books to date. However, the novel has also been called one of the best novels of all time and it has been an inspiration to many, including former President George H. W. Bush.
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- 10 Books You Must Read In High School"1984"By George Orwell Few authors have worked their way into the English language like George Orwell. His novel 1984, which was originally published in 1949, continues to be one of the most influential novels of all time. Common terms like big brother is watching and the thought police originate from Orwell's tale of a totalitarian society. The issues of censorship, freedom and surveillance are just as relevant today as they were when the novel was originally published.
- 10 Books You Must Read In High School"Lord of the Flies"By William Golding William Golding received the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Booker Prize for Literature and he was even knighted in 1988. He is best known for his novel, Lord of the Flies, which continues to be one of the most challenged and controversial books of all time, despite the fact that it reaches the top of almost all best-loved and must-read literature lists. Lord of the Flies, which comments on the human tendency towards group thinking and the lines between peace and war, is challenging because it does so through the eyes of children. One of the most powerful and thought-provoking books of all time, Lord of the Flies is another absolute must, though not for the faint of heart.
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SCIENTISTS have found a way to design and manufacture vaccines in weeks rather than months, potentially cutting the time it would take to respond to a global influenza epidemic.
Currently, influenza vaccines are produced by growing the live virus in chicken eggs or cultured cells - a cumbersome and time-consuming process.
But researchers from Germany's Friedrich Loeffler Institute have found a way to make a vaccine artificially by copying the influenza virus' RNA code - a template viruses use to build proteins and evolve.
Their findings, outlined in the journal Nature Biotechnology this week, mean the time and resources needed to manufacture influenza vaccines is cut dramatically. It could also allow scientists to respond more rapidly to make next generation vaccines as the influenza virus evolves and changes.
''We have a significant need for improved technologies that could be rapidly adapted to match circulating strains and allow efficient, large-scale production if necessary,'' said the paper's lead author Lothar Stitz.
The new synthetic vaccine was tested in mice, ferrets and pigs. The results showed that the vaccine could not only protect the animal from influenza infection but that it also had the potential to provide protection from new strains as they emerged. While not yet tested in humans the immune response observed in pigs is promising as, like humans, they contract influenza - a virus not all animals are susceptible to.


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My first night in Perth, Western Australia, was pretty mellow. I landed around 6:30 and Gary, our adviser, picked me up from the airport. I accidentally sat down in the driver's seat … this whole driving on the other side of the road/car thing is going to take a while to get used to.
I checked into my housing and met my new roommates right away. They are all Australian, 3 guys and 2 girls. They have all lived here for a semester and are all close friends but they are welcoming me right in. The woman in the housing office told me they have been so excited and have been waiting all day for me to arrive. They even blew up balloons and wrote me notes all over a whiteboard we have in the kitchen. I kind of assumed everyone would have roommates as nice as mine, but after talking to the other Americans, they have barely met their roommates.
I woke up early yesterday morning and unpacked for a while. I met up with the rest of the SMU group and the other Americans at 10:30 to be picked up and go to the mall. It was so comforting seeing my friends from SMU. They had arrived earlier the day before and had already gone to the grocery store and went out the night before where they met some of the other Americans. I guess Gary is responsible for about 30 American students, so we all had the chance to meet each other.
We were picked up and taken to a mall about 15 minutes away. In the next week they're going to set us up with bus passes so we can go over there on our own. The mall wasn't too different from American malls except that the big stores were Kmart and Target instead of something like Macy's. Most everyone went straight to the phone store, but August and I grabbed some food, then went to Target. Food here is surprisingly expensive. I ate a quesadilla from the food court and my meal was about $13, which is even more in US dollars. I guess I'm going to have to learn how to cook at some point.
I was hoping to find everything I needed at Target but it was so different. The majority of the store was clothes and they didn't even have a pump hand soap. We only had 2 hours so we grabbed a few things and hurried to the phone store. I now have a $20 Australian phone. It's hard to adjust to after having the iPhone.
After the mall we were taken to campus to the building Gary works in. We each went over the classes we're taking and we got out student IDs and walked around the student center. We then went to the aboriginal study building where a man gave us a brief presentation and introduction and after we had a bbq. They seem to eat a lot of sausage at their BBQs, and I have yet to see shrimp on the barbie. I was able to get my boxes from Gary after the bbq, then August and I and another girl went to the grocery store for some essentials. I'm disappointed they don't have Jiff peanut butter but they have plenty of Vegemite – ick.
I did a bit more unpacking last night and was happy to have my old bedding (even though I forgot sheets). I have a few hours till we meet with the group again. I think today we set up bank accounts and figure out the bus system. Another long day I'm sure.