melev
Snow - my favorite topic; & a power outage to deal with
by
, 02-12-2010 at 04:45 AM (8856 Views)
I've lived in Fort Worth, Texas since I was 17. We get about one inch of snow one day a year, and the following day it is gone. People in our area usually have no idea how to drive on the stuff because it is so rare, and chaos ensues. I usually enjoy the view from the comfort of my home, sipping on hot cocoa. There's no reason to risk my life or my vehicle with so many clueless drivers out.
The snow came in last night and it was gorgeous. I was up late, enjoying the huge flakes dropping to the ground, seeing the blanket covering my dormant lawn grow thicker overnight. When I woke up, I was delighted to see the snow was still there. Around 12:00 p.m., the power went out. Within an hour, my neighbor stopped by to ask if I had power, and that he was told it wouldn't be fixed until 5 p.m.
Immediately, I put on my shoes and hooked up the generator. There was no reason to delay, and within a few minutes power was fed to the reef tank, the tv, and my computer. The generator was chained up at the garage door, pumping the exhaust toward the street. Cords were run from the generator through the doorway going into the fishroom on the garage side and then through the next door that leads into the kitchen. Because it was cold, the doors were shut, but were still ajar about 1" to accommodate the power cords.
I turned on the return pump, skimmer, calcium reactor, heaters, Aqua Controller III, the Dart pump (manifold), the Vortech pumps, but not the lighting. Over the course of the afternoon, the temperature of the tank continued to drop ever so slowly. Normally, my reef runs 79 to 81F so when I saw it hit 77F I grew apprehensive. Some of my corals are several years old and tend to react badly; they can be pretty finicky if the occasion warrants it. Even with three heaters, the tank was cooling down hour by hour, which was caused by the house being 67F and the doors being cracked open which let in cold air.
In addition, both my son and I both were suffering from headaches, and I'm guessing it was the fumes blowing back into the house. The best solution is to put the generator in the backyard and run permanent wiring through the walls / attic to keep those fumes outside.
When the power came back on, I restarted all the equipment again including the lights. Now that the home's HVAC was running, the house warmed up again and the tank's temperature reached 80F.
I went outside around 1 a.m. this morning to take some pictures of the snow, and as I type this, the power is out again. In a few minutes, I may be forced to start up the generator anew. Here are those pictures I took. It's bright outside because of the blanket of snow which is a neat effect.
My backyard
Fluffy white stuff.
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