GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Got home tonight and was puzzled that the garage door was opening slow - then it hit me - the power was off and it was operating on the backup battery. After a couple hours it finally came back - only about a one sq. block area affected. Don't know why, or why it took so long to get it back on. Fortunately the beer in the refrig was still ice cold and I have an extra 750 wt APC backup unit I got on sale at Staples that easily powers a 23 wt (100 wt equiv) CFL bulb for a long time so we were not sitting in the dark. Also have a bright Black & Decker LED shoplight. Several years ago a December ice storm left our entire neighbor hood without power for a week - except for the same one square block that went out tonight. So I am not complaining too much. [Still, I wish I had installed a whole house back up generator a few years ago when we remodeled.]

We were out for about 30 hours 3 days before last Christmas, blown underground equipment. We had both a refrigerator and freezer full of food for the big extended family Christmas gathering we were hosting, so I bought a generator at Home Depot that ran them and a few lights.

We were out for like 3-4 weeks IN town and it has their own electric co. It was in January, I've posted pics in the photo thread, http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=43336 and it was horrible. HORRIBLE. Finally got a generator to hook up to the heat and it was great. OH the simple things in life.

Been without power for about a week now, due to Hurricane Irene. Electric company very slow in making repairs to their system.What hurts me is the cost of running a generator. I have a 5500 watt gasoline portable generator, that uses 1 gallon every 2 hours. That comes to $42 operating costs a day ($3.50 per gallon X 12 gallons per day). $254 spent on gas so far ... that would haved fueled my Vibe for 2 months!!

Quote, originally posted by Baltovibe »Been without power for about a week now, due to Hurricane Irene. Electric company very slow in making repairs to their system.What hurts me is the cost of running a generator. I have a 5500 watt gasoline portable generator, that uses 1 gallon every 2 hours. That comes to $42 operating costs a day ($3.50 per gallon X 12 gallons per day). $254 spent on gas so far ... that would haved fueled my Vibe for 2 months!!After my post I thought about the many people affected by the lengthy power outages (and worse) due to Irene and how lucky we really were to only have to endure a minor short term inconvenience. I wonder what the cost is of operating a 5500 wt natural gas generator. At least there is no highway tax on natural gas.