Tropical Storm Erika

http://www.iwnsvg.com/2015/08/28/storm-leaves-14-dead-25-missing-in-dominica/

this is the latest

I'm on feeder 10 someone said it was back but we aren't.

Curfew lifted on STX

"What's the cost for a basic not whole home but TV and wifi style generator? Worth it? Lots of work and upkeep? Might get one."

It's great to have a small gas generator with a 5 gallon tank which allowed 8 hrs. of usage on a tank. I've had a small 5000kw one since right after Hugo in 89 which still actually runs (and amazes my mechanic) tho the house I have now has a large diesel one that runs everything on the property.

The 5000kw ran the lights, fridge, water pump, TV for watching dvds (no television as all TV stations, cable were non existent after Marilyn)
Obviously you couldn't have every light and electrical gadget plugged in at the same time.

I could run the water pump and washing machine if I unplugged fridge and turned everything else off but could not use the dryer as it drew too much power for that size generator.

Obviously things that drew a lot of power like microwaves and blow dryers were non essential.

Get a quiet one if possible. Just remember, you'll be listening to it as will your neighbors.

Not sure of prices but I'd imagine around $400- $500?

I'd have a generator mechanic friend come to service it, change oil, etc., prior to hurricane season which I still do for it and the larger diesel generator.

Make sure it has an auto shutoff for the oil. It'll just stop when it runs out of gas.

Well worth any work and upkeep when faced with outages of a lengthy duration.

Lugging 5 gallon containers to refuel it was a pain I have to admit.
Easier to handle 2 -3 gallon containers.

After Hugo and Marilyn, we connected the generator directly to the meter and eliminated the need for snaking power cords all over the house as we knew it would be months before power restored. I had an electrician friend do this. It was great just to start up the generator, head inside house and flick a switch.

Still had to freeze water or buy ice for food stuff as didn't run 24/7.

Good luck.
Hope all power restored quickly.

I'm on feeder 10. Wife said it came back up earlier. I'm at work.

Is WAPA putting out public notices on STX radio stations about what's restored and what's not?

Didn't hear anything on STT stations.

I looked at their website and the only thing they had was from a outage due to a lightning strike on 8/25.

Go figure!

http://www.viwapa.vi/Home.aspx

Hi everyone!
I hope all are well. It seems feeder 2 on St Croix is back on.

Come on feeder 3!

VITEMA
Affected Jurisdictions: St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Water Island Counties

Headline: All Airports and the St. Thomas and St. John Seaports are Open as of Noon Today

The US Coast Guard Captain of the Port has reopened the St. Thomas and St. John ports allowing ferry operations to begin.

St. Croix seaports remain closed until further assessments are completed. A small craft advisory remains in effect.

The VI Port Authority reopened its airport on St. Thomas and St. Croix earlier this morning.

Travelers are reminded to contact their airline, ferry or barge service providers directly for schedules.

Headline: All St. Croix Seaports Open

The US Coast Guard Captain of the Port has reopened St. Croix seaports. All airports and seaports in the territory are currently open for business.

The VI Port Authority reminds travelers to call their airline for accurate flight schedules. Spirit Airlines has cancelled all flights today.

Power Restoration Ongoing on the Island of St. Croix
VITEMA (VITEMA@vialert.gov)
12:59 PM
[Keep this message at the top of your inbox]
Newsletters

VITEMA@vialert.gov

Alert / Warning
Infrastructure - Electrical Utility Disruption

...This is an ACTUAL ELECTRICAL UTILITY DISRUPTION ALERT...

Issued By: VITEMA
Affected Jurisdictions: St. Croix County

Headline: Power Restoration Ongoing on the Island of St. Croix

The VI Water and Power Authority has provided the following update on the status of all feeders on St. Croix as of 11:00 a.m.:

Feeder 1A – Restored 100% (Christiansted town to Gallows Bay)

Feeder 2A – Energized up to Chenay Bay (Gallows Bay to Chenay Bay)

Feeder 3A – Not energized (Beeston Hill to Work & Rest)

Feeder 4A – Energized up to Rattan (Anna's Hope to Rattan)

Feeder 5A – Restored 100% (Diamond to Estate Bethlehem)

Feeder 6A – Energized up to Schjang Ball Park (Bethlehem Village to Tool Box)

Feeder 6B – Not energized (Country Day School to Estate St. John)

Feeder 8B – Energized up to airport (Brookshill to Rohlsen Airport)

Feeder 9B – Not Energized (Adventure to Yellow Cedar)

Feeder 10B – Energized, no load. (Calquohoun to Upper Love)

Feeder 3A back up at 2:02pm. Heading straight for the shower!

"What's the cost for a basic not whole home but TV and wifi style generator? Worth it? Lots of work and upkeep? Might get one."

It's great to have a small gas generator with a 5 gallon tank which allowed 8 hrs. of usage on a tank. I've had a small 5000kw one since right after Hugo in 89 which still actually runs (and amazes my mechanic) tho the house I have now has a large diesel one that runs everything on the property.

The 5000kw ran the lights, fridge, water pump, TV for watching dvds (no television as all TV stations, cable were non existent after Marilyn)
Obviously you couldn't have every light and electrical gadget plugged in at the same time.

I could run the water pump and washing machine if I unplugged fridge and turned everything else off but could not use the dryer as it drew too much power for that size generator.

Obviously things that drew a lot of power like microwaves and blow dryers were non essential.

Get a quiet one if possible. Just remember, you'll be listening to it as will your neighbors.

Not sure of prices but I'd imagine around $400- $500?

I'd have a generator mechanic friend come to service it, change oil, etc., prior to hurricane season which I still do for it and the larger diesel generator.

Make sure it has an auto shutoff for the oil. It'll just stop when it runs out of gas.

Well worth any work and upkeep when faced with outages of a lengthy duration.

Lugging 5 gallon containers to refuel it was a pain I have to admit.
Easier to handle 2 -3 gallon containers.

After Hugo and Marilyn, we connected the generator directly to the meter and eliminated the need for snaking power cords all over the house as we knew it would be months before power restored. I had an electrician friend do this. It was great just to start up the generator, head inside house and flick a switch.

Still had to freeze water or buy ice for food stuff as didn't run 24/7.

Good luck.
Hope all power restored quickly.

Alana, We just bought a 10,000 kw from Home Depot, with an electric start. It was about $900, plus tax and shipping. We paid a lot to have it wired, but that's because we dug a trench and ran the wires from our back patio to the meters for our 4 apartments. Then we had designated outlets put into our 2 pump rooms, so each tenant has an outlet that is theirs. They still have to run extension cords to their units, but not across the yard, and not far. We had the generator, also, hard wired into our breaker box, in our house. As someone mentioned....turn on the gas, fire it up and flip the switch. Our entire house is on!!

You may not need that much kw, but the pro desk at Home Depot may be able to help you figure it out. Personally, I did better on line and talking to our own electrician. Some of those "pros" aren't....

Should have done this years ago, but when we had 12 apartments, and 4 buildings, it was just too expensive. At $3.39 for gas, it's costing about $3.00 an hour to run.

I'll PM you the installation cost. I don't want to quote something publicly because every electrician will be different. You may get a much better deal. Our guy isn't cheap, but he does great work.

Just re-read your first sentence and realized you aren't looking for anything near like what we got. Definitely $350-$500 would take care of your needs, maybe even less for a little hand carried portable. SO worth it!! We have a little Honda we have had for years something like a 1200 kw. Honda's are pricier, but it still starts up and runs like a champ.

The electric starts are really nice tho I've never had one until I purchased this house. It's a big diesel that runs everything on property including the apt. The lines are underground from the meter to generator to house and it has an auto transfer switch.

My niece's husband purchased 2 generators in FL right after Hugo with just the cord start when it became apparent that we'd be without power for months and shipped them to my sister and myself.
Built up my bicep with that one!
But beggars can't be choosers.
That one cost $400 back then.

There was price gouging going on for generators here on island, at the time (and other things). I remember a guy wanting to sell me one similar to what Nick sent us. He wanted $1200 for it. Told him for that price I could fly to FL, stay in an hotel with lights, running water, hot showers and flushing toilets, buy and fly back with a generator. Ha!
What a Mercenary MF!
('scuse my language!)

PS my original post was actually in response to AandA2VI's query about having a small back up generator.

"The forecasters are almost to the point of the "boy who cried wolf" for me after last year's Gonzalvo and this year's David and Erika. These guys are below the Mendoza line. (Baseball reference)"

Spartygrad: I am sorry. The forecasters were spot on for both storms within the margins of error. It is NOT a guess. For Danny, they predicted that it would increase and then decrease in strength. They predicted the cone with perfection. With Erika, the same thing. We were in the cone the entire time. You cannot say a storm is going right over X spot, because a storm is NOT a point. The people in Dominica say they had no government warnings. If they had been alerted, do you think maybe some people would be alive today?

You cannot compare the Marilyn forecast with modern day forecasts. There are so many more tools available. The people at the National Hurricane Center and NOAA are not a bunch of medieval prescientific yahoos casting bones to tell the future.

I am off my soap box now...

Alana and Juanita: You're overstating the generator wattages (or you're powering an entire feeder).

Incorrect => Correct
5000kw => 5 kW or 5000 Watt
10,000 kw => 10 kW or 10,000 Watt
1200 kw => 1.2 kW or 1200 Watt

You're absolutely right!
Thanks for the correction!
5000 watt
10,000 watt
Obviously I don't know my watts from my kilowatts!;)

Alana and Juanita: You're overstating the generator wattages (or you're powering an entire feeder).

Incorrect => Correct
5000kw => 5 kW or 5000 Watt
10,000 kw => 10 kW or 10,000 Watt
1200 kw => 1.2 kW or 1200 Watt

HAHA, my bad. WATTS, not KW. Sorry!

Yea we need one. Thanks Alana and Juanita. We want portable as we're renters. Looking at a ryobi 2200 watt one for $550.

All I want to power is my fridge and the water pump for flushing. I can totally do no lights - love candle light - and I can always charge our cells in my car which charges without being on.... A prerequisite for any vehicle I buy. We have a dive light that's soon bright that we hang over the stove to cook. Works perfect.

Can do without TV but might be nice to have wifi if it's an extended outage. We use a Mac mini and stream everything.

Really the fridge and toilets are priority. Super glad I filled the tub so we could do dishes and flush lol. Still no power... Although they say 10 is no load... No clue what that means. No hope for it tonight now - hopefully by morning although there's still two poles that were taken out by trees still down.

Reading threads in here about having your generator wired in---we just moved here. My husband is an electrician, 20+ years solid experience with commercial and residential generators. Needing to establish a reputation on island--PM us if you would like a quote for some electrical work. He has outstanding references.

Reading threads in here about having your generator wired in---we just moved here. My husband is an electrician, 20+ years solid experience with commercial and residential generators. Needing to establish a reputation on island--PM us if you would like a quote for some electrical work. He has outstanding references.

Which island? 🙂 You will get used to including that, but we all still forget occasionally.

Is he licensed here in VI?

Here's an interesting article from DN:
(Not related to my question above)

http://virginislandsdailynews.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/iphone/homepage.aspx#_article67ed8af8-d8b3-4b89-a435-5b29da16baa3/waarticle67ed8af8-d8b3-4b89-a435-5b29da16baa3/67ed8af8-d8b3-4b89-a435-5b29da16baa3/0/true

Yea we need one. Thanks Alana and Juanita. We want portable as we're renters. Looking at a ryobi 2200 watt one for $550.

All I want to power is my fridge and the water pump for flushing. I can totally do no lights - love candle light - and I can always charge our cells in my car which charges without being on.... A prerequisite for any vehicle I buy. We have a dive light that's soon bright that we hang over the stove to cook. Works perfect.

Can do without TV but might be nice to have wifi if it's an extended outage. We use a Mac mini and stream everything.

Really the fridge and toilets are priority. Super glad I filled the tub so we could do dishes and flush lol. Still no power... Although they say 10 is no load... No clue what that means. No hope for it tonight now - hopefully by morning although there's still two poles that were taken out by trees still down.

2200 Watts isn't much, may not be enough for fridge and water pump. Is the pump 120V or 240V? Better check specs on both of those. Starting current is what gets you on those loads. Is your stove gas?

Power is BACK on tonight! Anout 2 hours ago! Wahoo! Showered, vacuumed, did the dishes and laundry. Isn't is crazy how you realize how much power you use on the daily? We've never had wapa over $150 in STT... Interested in what it will be in the new place which is bigger... we're very conservative.

Scubadoo; Stove is gas so don't need that powered. Literally all I need is water pump and fridge. I don't even need lights. If it came down to it I wouldn't even need water pump. We filled the tub and used that for the toilets and a quick cool sitz bath. Worked fine but if I had the option - water would be nice... Especially for a longer period. My main priority would be the fridge and freezer. Everything else I can deal with.

It gets real old, real fast when you're doing without power for months on end.