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The high winds and rain continue. According to the last weather report the rain and wind will continue through today, Sunday and perhaps even go into Monday. Lost my standby generation due to a cycle problem as it will not phase correctly and with this the system is designed to shut down and did. Had an old generator in the garage that was last used in the great December ice storm back in 2002. Got lucky, it cranked on the second try so we are now back up and running on a much smaller scale though. I've got the kitchen powered to the fridge, microwave and a hot plate plus some lighting. And, you guessed it a charging center for the tablet and cell phones that created the hot spot that I am now operating off of.
No word form Duke Energy when our power might be back on.
Take care; and, many thanks to all that are remembering those in the path of this deadly storm and also for our first responders. I have heard many a fire, police and ems sirens this morning responding to calls as station eight is close to my home.
@Old_Skeet- Be real careful with that hot plate. Might be best to temporarily unplug the refrigerator when using the hot plate, as reefers require a much higher starting current than running current. If the reefer tries to start while also running the hot plate and lighting you might overload the whole setup and get into trouble. Also suggest replacing incandescent lighting loads with LED bulbs if possible, to minimize loading on the old gen.
@MFO Members: This members is having another Walter Mitty moment, thinks he's a meteorologist and a electrician. Old_Skeet is a mature adult that doesn't advice from someone who contributes little to the discussion board except repeated weather reports that everyone in America already knows, and one liners that he think are funny. Check the last time he posted a message dealing with fund investing. You would be hard pressed to find one. Regards, Ted
Thanks for taking the time to comment and for the caution. It would be very easy to overload the gas powered generator as it is a 3500 watt generator. Agreed, running all three at once could put this generator at capacity as the feed cabel is designed for a camper plug in and has an extender cabel with three 110 volt pulg ins. And, I forgot to mention the coffee pot was also on the circuit I established. I have not been running all at once. In addition, I converted my home to LED bulbs a couple years ago. In talking with my generator service company today that could be part of the problem with my stand by gererator as there is now not enough load on this unit. The power draw was just not great enough to entergize the engine governor to correctly speed the engine to where it would cycle correctly therefore it shut itself off. I have not (yet) reset the governor as my repair/serviceman suggested due to storm conditions. It's real rough weather outside to be working on electrical equipment. Duke Power has since gotten the power back on in my neighborhood a little before noon. I am now back on the power grid and hopefully there will not be another outage on my grid. After the storm passes I'll see if I can reset the governor on the stanby unit. If not, then I'll leave it to my service man. I was the first one he put a generator in for (years back) and he used mine as a demo to sell other generators. It is actually oversized and more than I need as I could run a smaller unit. Since first installed a good bit of my high load stuff was switched to the main panel (washer dryer combo, and one of my central ac units) while the other one feeds from the sub panel. My cycle problem came last night because after the ac unit shut off and the fridg also cycled off thus there was little load left to speed the generator. I'm thinking this is why it shut down. If the governor reset does not work I might have to down size to a smaller generator unit because of the LED lighting draws much less current which has reduced the load to a point it might cause the cycle problem due to a light load.
Nothing is simple today like it was years back.
Thanks again for your concern and comments.
Note: Those weather related graphics you posted show just how big this storm really is; and, it is a storm that should not be taken lightly. Anytime I'm given the chance to get out of harms way I taking it.
@Old_Skeet- Thanks for the feedback, and I'm very glad that you're safe and snug. It's true that I'm not an electrician, but I do have many years as an electronics tech under my belt, including being responsible for emergency generator installations both in the Coast Guard and for 911/Public Safety in San Francisco.
I'm inclined to agree that the problem with your main generator setup may very well be due to insufficient load, particularly as you mention a phasing issue. Phasing/cyclical stability is directly tied to engine speed, which in turn is controlled by various electronic/mechanical governing inputs. Good info on the LEDs and their effect on the loading... I'll remember that.
@Old_Joe, Lost power again last night at about midnight. A break in the weather came and I was able to reset the engine governor on my standby generator so I am now back on standby generation and off of the smaller gas generator. Sure is nice to have the whole house back up with electricity. Still lots of rain falling and the strong winds with a lot flooding and falling trees. Spoke with Duke Power and there is no eta on the power restoration but they said crews are in the neighborhood working but due to a good number of trees down the alley ways will have to be cleared before the crews can begin line repair. Living in an old historical neighborhood my power lines are strung on power poles which are in the alley ways. Could be days.
Thanks again for making comment about the cycle and phasing issue I was having with the standby generator. After resetting the governor it, thus far, has been now running for a couple of hours with no issues. I have a volt meter plugged into a circuit and I am monitoring the voltage and an old style light bulb to make sure I have good cycling. So far ... so good.
If you could do another one of your weather updates that would be great.
@Old_Skeet- Thanks much for the info. Super that your generator is back on line... sounds like you have the situation well under control. Will check out the weather graphics and update if there's a significant change.
Thanks @Old_Joe: I appreciate your comments and caution plus the weather images were just great and provided good information. The rains and wind are now gone in Charlotte and clean up begins. There is still concern for about another week due to high water conditions. The rain fall was heavy in the mountains and the water has to work its way out of the mountains to the coast. The rivers, creeks and streams are overflowing so all is not good for some. In Charlotte we escaped with no damage at this home; however, there are 100 year old trees that fell and many city streets, as I write, are closed due to tree & limb fall and some high water over some of them. Some roads got washed away. Today will be a yard clean up day for me. Hopefully, I can work my way to the coast by weekend to check on my coastal home. Many roads I travel to the coast remain closed due to high water and storm debris.
Sometimes a picture is better than a thousand words.
Your comments on the standby generator cycling issue along with talking with my generator service company helped me to get it back in operation. With the changing out my old light bulbs to LEDs reduced the load to where the governor would not correctly speed the motor to match the lesser load. Due to a built in safety feature it would come off line. After adjusting the governor to match the lesser load everything has been running smoothly.
By the way I am now back on the power grid.
Many thanks again Old_Joe for sticking with me.
Old_Skeet
Additional comment (09/17/18): Received word from two neighbors (after their return) that my coastal home located in Murrells Inlet, SC (thus far) has no damage. However, there are high water issues within the neighborhood with some streets and some parts of the golf course and its irrigation ponds flooded. While I lost power in Charlotte (twice from the storm) there has been no loss of power there. Many of the roads in the area are closed due to flooding with some major highways to the beach shut down including parts of I-95. Hopefully, my travel to the coast will be safe within a few days.
@Old_Skeet- You are very welcome, sir, and I deeply appreciate the positive comments. Great that you got through this with minimum damage. Having spent some 25 years on the technical side of Public Safety I really appreciate seeing someone properly prepared for disaster events, as you obviously are. You should be congratulating yourself on your preparation.
Here comes Round Two ... Extreme flooding in coastal South Carolina. Not sure, my coastal home may get flooded. Thus far it has not according to neighbors. With road closures due to flooding traveling to the coast to check on proeprty is nearly impossible. Some say another week to ten days before travel will be safe, if then. Some locals are trapped because of high water and can't leave the area now if they wanted. My son and daughter in law left her family's home on Sunday in Murrells Inlet and had to travel south (hwy 17) through Georgetown on to Charleston before they could continue on to Charlotte (via I-26 & I-77). Said they were leaving while they could and were not sure they could get out through Conway (via hwy 501) and highway #9 out of North Myrtle Beach was closed. And, parts of hwy 22 and 32 that run north & south along the Grand Strand were closed. In addition, parts of hwy 521 that runs between Georgetown, SC & Charlotte, NC (the old trading route) were also closed.
There was an old proberb ... Build your home on high ground. Many thought they were on high ground until Florence came through.
Here are a couple of news links that might be of interest.
@Old_Skeet- Was looking at the map, and wondering about the source of the flooding at Murrells Inlet. Is it the three creeks- Main, Oks, and Allston? I can see the potential for lots of water in the area, but there also appears to be quite a large outlet to the ocean on Main Creek, which you would think would allow pretty fast drainage into the ocean, barring a high tide and/or storm-driven ocean surge.
Also, a bit more inland, appears Bull Creed and Prince Creek. If they were to seriously overflow, it looks like the lower lands to the east could be impacted.
Anyway, keeping my fingers crossed for you. Our family lived with regular floods at our Russian River home for almost fifty years, until 1997. That one was so bad that we had to knock the old house down and completely rebuild- up on nine 20 ft high cement piers. Floods ain't no fun.
@Old_Joe: When my family bought back in the mid 80's we purchased in a golf course community located in Murrells Inlet over continuning to pay high membership fees and assesments at a local country club in Charlotte. Since then there has been a lot more development in the area. Storm water run off from development flows to the Intercoastal Waterway. A good number of rivers that flow from the highlands, midlands and low country also flow into the waterway before moving on to the Atlantic. Some of these are the Great Pee Dee, the Pee Dee, Waccamaw, Lynches and the Black River plus a few others. With the water flowing from the rivers has raised the Intercoastal Waterway levels well above flood stage. With this, the storm water from local development along the waterway now has no place to flow as the waterway is overflowing its banks. This has created massive flooding in the Waccamaw Neck area. The community where my coastal home is located was one of the early builds in the Neck and is located on higher grown than those that surround me. However, there is a golf course irrigation pond not far from my home and its overflow goes to the waterway. With the waterway being above flood stage and at the highest level seen in modern day time water is starting to back up into the neighborhoods that surround mine. From what I am told the next couple of days will be the tell for flood waters for me as they peak and more rain in the area is expected. I'am in the Wachesaw Area which is only a short distance from the inlet along with the beach and with the waterway behind me.
Most all this water that has flowed into the waterway now has to exit at Winyah Bay at Georgetown SC into the Atlantic. So, Georgetown is expected to catch the worst of it. Even more so than Conway which is located upstream on the Waccamaw. Many of the major highways and roads leading into, and from, the Grand Strand Area are closed (or expected to close) due to flooding all the way from Little River to Georgetown which covers a distance of fifty to sixty miles. I guess it fair to say that much of the low country of South Carolina is flooded.
Comments
The high winds and rain continue. According to the last weather report the rain and wind will continue through today, Sunday and perhaps even go into Monday. Lost my standby generation due to a cycle problem as it will not phase correctly and with this the system is designed to shut down and did. Had an old generator in the garage that was last used in the great December ice storm back in 2002. Got lucky, it cranked on the second try so we are now back up and running on a much smaller scale though. I've got the kitchen powered to the fridge, microwave and a hot plate plus some lighting. And, you guessed it a charging center for the tablet and cell phones that created the hot spot that I am now operating off of.
No word form Duke Energy when our power might be back on.
Take care; and, many thanks to all that are remembering those in the path of this deadly storm and also for our first responders. I have heard many a fire, police and ems sirens this morning responding to calls as station eight is close to my home.
Best of luck-
OJ
Regards,
Ted
Thanks for taking the time to comment and for the caution. It would be very easy to overload the gas powered generator as it is a 3500 watt generator. Agreed, running all three at once could put this generator at capacity as the feed cabel is designed for a camper plug in and has an extender cabel with three 110 volt pulg ins. And, I forgot to mention the coffee pot was also on the circuit I established. I have not been running all at once. In addition, I converted my home to LED bulbs a couple years ago. In talking with my generator service company today that could be part of the problem with my stand by gererator as there is now not enough load on this unit. The power draw was just not great enough to entergize the engine governor to correctly speed the engine to where it would cycle correctly therefore it shut itself off. I have not (yet) reset the governor as my repair/serviceman suggested due to storm conditions. It's real rough weather outside to be working on electrical equipment. Duke Power has since gotten the power back on in my neighborhood a little before noon. I am now back on the power grid and hopefully there will not be another outage on my grid. After the storm passes I'll see if I can reset the governor on the stanby unit. If not, then I'll leave it to my service man. I was the first one he put a generator in for (years back) and he used mine as a demo to sell other generators. It is actually oversized and more than I need as I could run a smaller unit. Since first installed a good bit of my high load stuff was switched to the main panel (washer dryer combo, and one of my central ac units) while the other one feeds from the sub panel. My cycle problem came last night because after the ac unit shut off and the fridg also cycled off thus there was little load left to speed the generator. I'm thinking this is why it shut down. If the governor reset does not work I might have to down size to a smaller generator unit because of the LED lighting draws much less current which has reduced the load to a point it might cause the cycle problem due to a light load.
Nothing is simple today like it was years back.
Thanks again for your concern and comments.
Note: Those weather related graphics you posted show just how big this storm really is; and, it is a storm that should not be taken lightly. Anytime I'm given the chance to get out of harms way I taking it.
I'm inclined to agree that the problem with your main generator setup may very well be due to insufficient load, particularly as you mention a phasing issue. Phasing/cyclical stability is directly tied to engine speed, which in turn is controlled by various electronic/mechanical governing inputs. Good info on the LEDs and their effect on the loading... I'll remember that.
Thanks again and hang in there.
Take care-
OJ
Thanks again for making comment about the cycle and phasing issue I was having with the standby generator. After resetting the governor it, thus far, has been now running for a couple of hours with no issues. I have a volt meter plugged into a circuit and I am monitoring the voltage and an old style light bulb to make sure I have good cycling. So far ... so good.
If you could do another one of your weather updates that would be great.
Hang in there!
OJ
This is update info [12:50 PDST 9/16/18] on the present status of Hurricane Florence.
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3
4
5
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All Data acquired 12:50 PDST 9/16/18
Sometimes a picture is better than a thousand words.
http://amp.timeinc.net/time/5397598/weather-channel-reporter-viral-video
Your comments on the standby generator cycling issue along with talking with my generator service company helped me to get it back in operation. With the changing out my old light bulbs to LEDs reduced the load to where the governor would not correctly speed the motor to match the lesser load. Due to a built in safety feature it would come off line. After adjusting the governor to match the lesser load everything has been running smoothly.
By the way I am now back on the power grid.
Many thanks again Old_Joe for sticking with me.
Old_Skeet
Additional comment (09/17/18): Received word from two neighbors (after their return) that my coastal home located in Murrells Inlet, SC (thus far) has no damage. However, there are high water issues within the neighborhood with some streets and some parts of the golf course and its irrigation ponds flooded. While I lost power in Charlotte (twice from the storm) there has been no loss of power there. Many of the roads in the area are closed due to flooding with some major highways to the beach shut down including parts of I-95. Hopefully, my travel to the coast will be safe within a few days.
Take Care-
OJ
There was an old proberb ... Build your home on high ground. Many thought they were on high ground until Florence came through.
Here are a couple of news links that might be of interest.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna913036
https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article218927745.html
https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article218981910.html
Also, a bit more inland, appears Bull Creed and Prince Creek. If they were to seriously overflow, it looks like the lower lands to the east could be impacted.
Anyway, keeping my fingers crossed for you. Our family lived with regular floods at our Russian River home for almost fifty years, until 1997. That one was so bad that we had to knock the old house down and completely rebuild- up on nine 20 ft high cement piers. Floods ain't no fun.
Most all this water that has flowed into the waterway now has to exit at Winyah Bay at Georgetown SC into the Atlantic. So, Georgetown is expected to catch the worst of it. Even more so than Conway which is located upstream on the Waccamaw. Many of the major highways and roads leading into, and from, the Grand Strand Area are closed (or expected to close) due to flooding all the way from Little River to Georgetown which covers a distance of fifty to sixty miles. I guess it fair to say that much of the low country of South Carolina is flooded.