Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Rural Power Outages

Rural Power Outages

I am happy to report that after weeks of struggle my speedometer is installed and functioning. If you remember I started with a suspect power source, used an incorrect hook-up procedure and finally, hardest to admit, I tried to hook to the wrong sending unit on the transmission. It was a great and humbling experience that demonstrated in real terms my lack of mechanical aptitude and talent. What it did show is that even for a dullard, persistence will illuminate the road to success. Now I must hook up the other gages which include a clock, a tachometer and an hour meter.

Today the Greenbay Packers will play the Chicago Bears. This is a traditional football rivalry and promises to be a good game. Often when I watch I pretend that I am coach and take no small amount of pride in sagely predicting the plays that would have worked after the one of choice didn’t. I believe they call this Monday Morning Quarterbacking. This is one of the reasons I think that people have such a love of the sport. This is Sunday and I need to lighten up and think about things other than politics, economics and that darn truck of mine.

Maybe I’ll talk about cutting wood and my outdoor wood burning experiences…Maybe about future plans that explore wind and solar power.. That’s it I’ll discuss that.

My wife and I talked about a generator after the last storm, when we lost power for thirty-six hours and all the frozen foods defrosted in the refrigerator and basement freezer. We had to get rid of everything. To prepare for the future we considered the following options. To begin with we defined the problem in these terms.

To Determine the best way to cope with a long term power failure.

Facts Bearing on the Problem.

In the last five years we have experienced 3 power outages. The last one was thrity-six hours.

If the outage lasts more than twenty-four hours the freezers begin defrosting and we lose the contents to spoilage. The value of the frozen goods averages $500.

In addition to the freezers, in the wintertime, we lose the capability of our primary and back up heating sources. The outdoor wood stove uses electric pumps to circulate water through the heat exchangers as well as the blowers that force warm air through the conduits,

The secondary system is a gas furnace that also requires electricity to operate.

Final back-up is a fireplace and old fashioned wood stove in the basement. Using this system is not viable when the inside temperature falls below thrity-two degrees F on a winter night that is colder than twenty degrees below zero. We won’t perish but the house does get a bit chilly.

Assumptions:

In a given year we will experience a power failure.

That the roads are passable and there is a vacancy in a motel withing one hundred miles. Plus that the motel has power.

Courses of Action:

1. Do nothing. If the power goes out go check into a motel. The advantage is that we don’t have to spend any money on a supplemental power source and will be out only the expense of a night’s lodging and replacing the spoiled items in the freezer. Disadvantages: We are forced to leave our home for the period of the outage and the roads could be a problem to negotiate.

2. Put in a solar system that will provide back-up for the freeaers, pumps and blowers and operate them for 24 hours. Advantages: This will solve the refrigeration and heating problem. The disadvantage is that it will cost $4000 dollars.

3. Install a wind powered system. This system will provide backup for forty-eight hours and cost $6000.

4. Buy a gasoline powered electrical generator. This system will solve the problem at a cost of $2000.

Discussion: We can reduce the amount of perishables we keep on hand. A night’ s lodging and the replacement of several days worth of foodstuffs will cost $150.

Conclusion: The scope of the problem does not justify the cost of an external back-up electrical power generating system.

Recommendation: If a power outage happens in the Winter, check into a motel.

Are you impressed, shaking your head or convinced we have entirely too much time on our hands? Now most people do this sort of thing mentally if they do it at all. It is a variation of the problem solving process. Sometimes it is best to get the basic components of the process down on paper to enhance your decision making.