Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

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letank
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Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by letank »

Do you have power in Sonora... ? of course, a moot question as the internet is probably coming down after 12-18 hrs because the relays are not powered up.
A couple of friends are visiting and they may have to alter their plans. I know that Grass Valley and Nevada city are in a black out since 4am wednesday morning, gas stations and restaurants are closed in Grass valley area

here is the official map

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 316348&z=9
Michel
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MReese Wagoneer
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by MReese Wagoneer »

So is this part of the what are referred to here as “rolling”power outages to reduce the risk of fire ?
What are your opinions on this ?
I see the safety factor in theory, but with the age of the equipment going up so does the risk of failure when brought back on line. The failure also has a strong possibility of arcing


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Stuka
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by Stuka »

letank wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 8:36 pm Do you have power in Sonora... ? of course, a moot question as the internet is probably coming down after 12-18 hrs because the relays are not powered up.
A couple of friends are visiting and they may have to alter their plans. I know that Grass Valley and Nevada city are in a black out since 4am wednesday morning, gas stations and restaurants are closed in Grass valley area

here is the official map

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 316348&z=9
Almost every PG&E customer in California had their power turned off yesterday. I am here at work where we have a generator and such, so things are working.

So yes, Sonora (and all of Tuolumne county) is out of power until at least tomorrow.
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by Stuka »

MReese Wagoneer wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:37 am So is this part of the what are referred to here as “rolling”power outages to reduce the risk of fire ?
What are your opinions on this ?
I see the safety factor in theory, but with the age of the equipment going up so does the risk of failure when brought back on line. The failure also has a strong possibility of arcing


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The reason they have to do this is because PG&E (an investor owned company) chose to not do any/little tree maintenance for about 20 years. In the last year since their bankruptcy they have start to do a lot, but it will take quite some time to get things good enough so that we don't have to shut power off to 3/4 of the state.
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by MReese Wagoneer »

I’ve seen some older HV switch gear and even some newer that just hated to be switched on and off the arc and power surges can cause problem
But I fully understand about tree maint.

That seems like a massive outage


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bigun
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by bigun »

Stuka wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:55 am
MReese Wagoneer wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:37 am So is this part of the what are referred to here as “rolling”power outages to reduce the risk of fire ?
What are your opinions on this ?
I see the safety factor in theory, but with the age of the equipment going up so does the risk of failure when brought back on line. The failure also has a strong possibility of arcing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The reason they have to do this is because PG&E (an investor owned company) chose to not do any/little tree maintenance for about 20 years. In the last year since their bankruptcy they have start to do a lot, but it will take quite some time to get things good enough so that we don't have to shut power off to 3/4 of the state.
Is it because they choose not too or did the regulations imposed by the state keep them from trimming the right aways
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by Stuka »

bigun wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 9:10 am
Stuka wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:55 am
MReese Wagoneer wrote: Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:37 am So is this part of the what are referred to here as “rolling”power outages to reduce the risk of fire ?
What are your opinions on this ?
I see the safety factor in theory, but with the age of the equipment going up so does the risk of failure when brought back on line. The failure also has a strong possibility of arcing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The reason they have to do this is because PG&E (an investor owned company) chose to not do any/little tree maintenance for about 20 years. In the last year since their bankruptcy they have start to do a lot, but it will take quite some time to get things good enough so that we don't have to shut power off to 3/4 of the state.
Is it because they choose not too or did the regulations imposed by the state keep them from trimming the right aways
PG&E chose to pay investors instead of do tree maintenance. It all came out in their bankruptcy. Other electricity providers do not have these issues, only PG&E. PG&E just happens to be the largest in the state.

The state actually has VERY FEW regulations regarding cutting or trimming trees. The parts of our forest that are over grown for instance is all Federal land, the state has zero control over that. In the early 2000's the Department of Forestry elected to cut WAY back on logging. This in term resulted in forest areas becoming overgrown. But this is a separate issue to what PG&E has done. It just literally adds fuel to the fire.

The state having the hottest years on record for the last decade has just made these things worse.
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bigun
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by bigun »

Thanks
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by Stuka »

letank wrote: Wed Oct 09, 2019 8:36 pm Do you have power in Sonora... ? of course, a moot question as the internet is probably coming down after 12-18 hrs because the relays are not powered up.
A couple of friends are visiting and they may have to alter their plans. I know that Grass Valley and Nevada city are in a black out since 4am wednesday morning, gas stations and restaurants are closed in Grass valley area

here is the official map

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... 316348&z=9
Most areas have their power restored now. Hopefully the rest get it back on by tomorrow.
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Topic author
letank
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Generator choice for power outages?

Post by letank »

Back to October 9th status for the foothills and some of the wine country areas.
Next question what type/brand of generator do anyone use? -which one to avoid as well- My friend in the sierras has a 8KW air cool diesel, the price was right, this trailer size equipment would not fit in an urban area. I have a 2200w gas... but was thinking to upgrade to a 4.5KW/3.6KW with dual fuel gas/propane and was wondering if there is a way to change the "jet" to run natural gas from the PG&E line? Of course reading the fine print the propane is only a 4.1/3.3 KW unit... and thinking more what about 220V but I'll pass on the 220V
Be safe
Michel
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by Stuka »

I have a 2200W inverter style. Its super quiet, runs my fridge, and my heater blower (propane heat, but needs power for the blower). Will also power a few lights and some internet equipment).

There may be a setup to convert a propane to natural gas. We do it with our cook stoves by just changing the jet size.

Once you go over ~3000W, none of them are inverter based, but instead use a generator. The downside to this is a generator has to run at the same RPM all the time (3600rpm in most cases), as the RPM dictates the voltage and frequency of the AC.

Inverter style generators can move their RPM around, so they can be in "eco" mode to be quiet when the load isn't that heavy. This also helps then consume less fuel.
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by MReese Wagoneer »

Stuka hope things are ok in your area !


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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by bigun »

Makes you wish for the day when every community had their own plant and not worry about a getting it from a grid.

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letank
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by letank »

bigun wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 7:26 am Makes you wish for the day when every community had their own plant and not worry about a getting it from a grid.
You can do your own solar, it is pricey between the inverter(s) and the bank of batteries, then if you are in a lightning strike area, it can get more costly when the lightning bolt fries your inverter
Michel
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by bigun »

Actually as much as I think solar salesmen are modern snake oil sellers (22 years + as an electrician) I have been thinking about it. Too many people put a few panels up then set back and expect the money to roll in, they are not told or do not pay attention to the fact that they need to be regularly inspected, adjusted, cleaned... They have a certain amount of life and you have to plan for the day they have to be replaced, ground mount is easy roof mount you better figure on having the roof redone at the same time. In the words of R.A. Hienlien There Is No Such Thing As a Free Lunch.

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letank
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by letank »

RIght on,the solar panel are pretty good my friend's panel are about 18 years old, rarely cleaned, the big headache is battery maintenance , he is on his 3rd set of batteries, at least one set he messed up... and the grounding network against lightning strike damage with the overload safety... , but you nailed it for the roof installation, the neighbors had solar panel installed... and after the first rain... found out that the solar panel installers had missed the headers/studs/rafters... so the water dripped thru... at least they gained a new roof and me a $1200 check because the roofer bumped the Beep with his truck and took out a bit of fender, nerf bumper and... scratched the plastic wood
Michel
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85 Gwag (229 Kmiles... the running test lab)

bigun
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Re: Sonora, aka Sierra power outages?

Post by bigun »

If you are just going to do the grid tie it's not bad, but it doesn't do you any good if the electric company doesn't have any power to feed back to you. I have tried to keep up with the so called Tesla walls this guy does a lot of building his own power packs, he is a true believer and gets kind of redundant, but he puts out good information.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcMfCk ... 9DJFYltOTw
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