 | Home > Off Topic > Anyone else been Storm Arwened? |
 
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 4218   
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Ah yes, but the electric car zealots would tell you I could have been powering my house from the car all this time. As.long as I don't want to drive anywhere that is. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS |
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30th Nov 2021 8:29am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018 
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30th Nov 2021 10:12am |
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| nicam Member Since: 14 Dec 2007 Location: deepest Lancashire Posts: 157 
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Just over the hill from you, near the end of the M65 and our power went off around midnight on Friday. Not ideal as a load of the family were visiting from "down Souf" for the Football at Turf Moor on Sunday. Fortunately I have a generator (only 2KVA) and the house is wired with an extra "emergency" ring main. So a quick swap over of the fridge, freezer, lamps and central heating boiler to the powered sockets and we were cooking with gas - Yes, literally that as well. Also have a log burner in one room, a battery ignited gas fire in another and a gas cooker in the kitchen, so it was all quite manageable. The funniest thing was watching the kids trying to cope with no TV (deliberately didn`t switch that over) or internet (no router power). It was like their arms had been cut off all of Saturday - then by Sunday they all realised that you can actually talk to each other and one grandparent was heard to comment that they had never had such a long and interesting conversation with a 13 year old grandson and they learnt allsorts about them that was a previous black hole! Football was abandoned when we were 0.5 miles from the stadium! The amount of snow and the way it covered the ground was amazing - you may have seen the pitch clearing pictures at Burnley Football Club. Defender did great though, and we just turned around and went home. Power finally came back on at 9pm on Sunday night - to cheers, and a little bit of sadness that a "special" family time had ended. Was subsequently told that another teenager cried when he got home because he had had a great time and when could they go again. Brilliant!!! Being prepared is the key - losing water or gas would have been much worse for us - don`t fancy drinking out of the horses trough!!!! The picture is a few years ago when a BMW tried to come down our drive in similar snow "I pressed the traction button" was all he could say!!!! The car was written off and so was my wall - but the wall got rebuilt Click image to enlarge Don`t drive faster than your angel can fly! |
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30th Nov 2021 1:42pm |
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| nicam Member Since: 14 Dec 2007 Location: deepest Lancashire Posts: 157
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Whilst we were off for the 45 hours detailed above I must admit looking out at my fully charged car thinking " with a 64KwHr battery, it could have replaced running my generator for the whole period of the power outage" The trouble is - its not one that has the 230 volt feed out facility!!! Don`t drive faster than your angel can fly! |
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30th Nov 2021 1:48pm |
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| Zed Member Since: 07 Oct 2017 Location: In the woods Posts: 3319 
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I can’t believe it’s taken so long to restore power, and it’s barely a news story. If this had happened down south it would’ve been resolved in a few hours. WARNING.
This post may contain sarcasm. |
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30th Nov 2021 2:07pm |
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| Rashers Member Since: 21 Jun 2015 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3518 
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It was all over You and Yours on Radio 4.
I got really angry at the presenter. For some unknown reason, she couldn't get her head around the fact that when the power goes off, the cells which provide mobile phone signals will fall over and the water supply shuts down because most water is pumped to the end user, She kept asking the question' Why is the water off? As Zed says, I expect London doesn't know what a power cut is........ Another frustration was the fact that the utility companies tell you to look at their app or website which is really difficult when there is no mobile phone signal and no supply for your router 
As for powering your home from your car, this is a real thing and is in the plans for keeping the power on. Multiple cars can be charged off peak, and if they are plugged in still, will back feed the grid at times of peak load. One car isn't going to make much of a difference but many million could be a solution. It's complicated and the technology isn't really there yet, but it is likely to become reality in the near future. |
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30th Nov 2021 2:26pm |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 4218
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Day 5 of no power.
Was a bit milder last night so slept back in our own beds with the aid of an extra duvet or two. Forecast is to go cold again later so may be back in the lounge in front of the fire tonight. Still no update from Electricity North West. I noticed in social media they have informed at least one customer they won't be back on until the 8th! Hopefully we aren't that far down the list. The novelty has worn off now and I'm not amused. It's affecting both our ability to work as well as home life. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS |
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1st Dec 2021 7:58am |
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| Doc P Member Since: 03 Apr 2016 Location: Midlands Posts: 565 
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On the bus to work because of ice/snow on Monday (my Puma’s still off the road).
Not bad for the planet, I suppose. |
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1st Dec 2021 8:14am |
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| Rashers Member Since: 21 Jun 2015 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3518
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Apparently UK Power Networks who look after our supplies in the south east have sent 232 staff up to you Guys to help get the power back on.
I feel for you Bluest. It must be miserable. |
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1st Dec 2021 9:12am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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With my current average consumption this year, your battery would last me over 12 days; if I look at average consumption for this month just gone - November it would drop to 9.7 days. So it's a really attractive proposition... |
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1st Dec 2021 9:22am |
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| Balvaig Member Since: 19 Feb 2016 Location: Fife Posts: 732  
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Massive infrastructure damage up here in parts of Scotland, particularly rural areas.
Remember that in the rural areas most power supplies to properties are above ground on poles and pylons, unlike the cities where the infrastructure is mainly underground. Falling trees have taken a lot out, and these take a significant effort to repair. Locations are inaccessible and high winds and snow hamper repairs. Every admiration for all the men working on the repairs. |
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1st Dec 2021 9:29am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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I have a pole in the garden feeding my supply. It was checked last year by someone contracted in by Northern Powergrid.
He was telling me mine was one of the good poles made from very slow growing Scandinavian trees; many UK power companies had stopped using them 10-15 years ago, in favour of much cheaper, faster growing Scottish poles. The Scottish poles weren't lasting nearly as long and now they were started to see problems arising. I wonder if the scale of the issue of lines down currently has been magnified by this issue? |
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1st Dec 2021 9:38am |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 4218
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I was wondering why the damage seems so bad this time. It was a big storm, but not unprecedented. It's a worry as we are being told that severe weather is to be more common. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS
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1st Dec 2021 9:46am |
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| Rashers Member Since: 21 Jun 2015 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3518
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That would make a lot of sense, Supacat as to why there was so much carnage. A Guy on Today on Radio 4 yesterday said he had seen a row of poles, all snapped off.
It’s not just electrical suppliers, I see this kind of ‘Value Engineering’ throughout my career and it really upsets me. People make daft decisions to reduce quality, reduce cost and at that time they are the darlings of the accountants or the Quantity Surveyors. The management who possibly made the decision to go for cheaper poles more than likely retired years ago or moved up the ladder to another company to another better paid job as they could show how they had reduced costs in their last position and that of course impresses the Directors and of course the Shareholders. A lot of these decisions to cut costs leaves those who are left playing pass the parcel. You just need to hope that you are not holding the parcel when the music stops  |
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1st Dec 2021 9:58am |
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