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“The tree-filled, outage-prone village of Garrett Park.”

UD‘s stomping grounds are described in this way in today’s Washington Post, and it seems about right (though Mr UD claims “We are not a village.”). It’s an article about all the generators people are buying, given the constant power outages.

Because I’m feeling a little better (I’ve got bronchitis), and because today was warm and sunny, I went out to our back acre and began removing the many limbs that fell during what people are calling the thundersnow. I broke smaller branches off of big fallen trees and tossed them into the woods next to our property. Then I dragged the stripped trees into the same woods.

Margaret Soltan, February 6, 2011 10:02PM
Posted in: snapshots from home, Sport

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9 Responses to ““The tree-filled, outage-prone village of Garrett Park.””

  1. david foster Says:

    “Generator consortiums”…wow!

    Some Japanese company…maybe Honda…is selling very quiet generators intended not for backup, but for regular power generation. They run off natural gas and also provide capture of waste heat that can be used for house heating and/or water heating. I don’t think they’re big enough to run air conditioning, electric stoves, etc for a house of any size, but enough to keep the lights on and to power the fans and controls for the heating system.

  2. david foster Says:

    Yeah, here it is…very quiet Honda generator with heat recovery, packaged in a variety of ways for home use. Might be worth checking it out–or maybe getting the master distributorship for Garrett Park!

  3. Dave Stone Says:

    My neighborhood was leveled by a Category 4 tornado, and we had power back in 12 hours. Praise the lord for underground power lines!

  4. Margaret Soltan Says:

    Dave: Yes. Everything’s above-ground in old villages like Garrett Park.

  5. theprofessor Says:

    Mediocrevilleburgton is full of 60-100+ year old trees chewed to bits by carpenter ants and termites. The aftermath of wind storms and ice storms is not pretty. They should probably bundle a chain saw and wood chipper with every house sold.

  6. Margaret Soltan Says:

    tp: I’ve taken out my hatchet and am about to enter Stage Two of the limb-removal process (the town is doing our front yard; we have to do side and back): Breaking up the biggest limbs and carting stuff away.

  7. Erin O'Connor Says:

    Where I live, everybody has a backup generator. You can get them large enough to power your whole house, and if you have natural gas in your area, they can indeed be powered that way. They can also run off diesel and gasoline. “Quiet” is a relative term — they are loud, but some have mufflers and are not as loud as others. But when your power goes, you don’t really mind the noise if, in exchange, you can hunker down with lights, fridge, well pump, microwave, and even water heater. If your home is heated by a heat pump, that puts a kink in things. But if you heat with oil or gas, you will be in great shape. My house is 1750 square feet. I found a gasoline generator that will power my whole home for under $1000, with free delivery. It costs a bit more to get the electrician to hook the thing up to your power panel, but not much.

  8. theprofessor Says:

    Get yourself down to the big box hardware store and treat yourself to a chainsaw, UD. You won’t believe how much easier it is.

    I am tempted by the backup generator, Erin, especially since I have a gas line within ten feet of where the generator would go. Gilligan’s bad experience with its super-duper mega-million campus backup generator has made me gun-shy, though. This technological marvel has never worked as advertised. In fact, they don’t even bother to try to use it any more when our power goes out.

  9. Erin O'Connor Says:

    tp: Can’t speak for Gilligan… but I do know my folks have had a 10kw diesel Honda generator for the past ten years, and it has seen them through many a multi-day power outage. For home back-up, you’re looking at around 10kw, and an outlay of somewhere between $1000 – $5000, depending on brand and fuel type. They pay for themselves and then some if you have to use them — but of course, you hope never to have to use it.

    Agreed about the chainsaw! Added benefit, for ladies, of being a great upper body workout.

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