bigugli Posted December 24, 2013 Report Posted December 24, 2013 Only lost power for 3 hours. Still have no phone or internet. Borrowing the neighbour,s laptop, on wifi soI can contact folks. TOUCHY BOARD TO GET USED TO.
John Bacon Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 I've got a bro in Scarboro, haven't heard from him yet, phone rings busy along with all his neighbours. Maybe have to do a mercy run down there with the Honda tomorrow. That is what my parent's phone does. They are on Rogers. I think a Bell phone will still work if it is not cordless.
Fisherman Posted December 25, 2013 Author Report Posted December 25, 2013 That is what my parent's phone does. They are on Rogers. I think a Bell phone will still work if it is not cordless. I think you're right,he's on Robbers too, got hold of one of his neighbours who said all was back to normal except some of the phone lines.
Joey Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 When I switched from Bell to Rogers, I asked about having a phone when the power is out. The guy said if you have Bell and a phone that is not cordless, it will work. If you have Rogers and a phone that is not cordless, it will work for approx 4 hours on the battery back up. Once that battery dies, you are S.O.L.
woodenboater Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 still got no power but we have a gas stove and water heater (non power vent thankfully) so we can have shot showers and cook up a storm lol. the honda genny is doing fine but we should have wired a transfer switch to power the furnace. the space heaters can keep us above freezing but like others said, it's like camping. good thing we camp in the winter and late fall almost tempted to set up the wall tent for serious heatage ha ha. we've seen crews all over the place but so far nada. workers say much depends on which feeder we're on etc.. we're fortunate that friends who have power have offered us places to couch surf. good luck to all who are still waiting for the power. it sucks bags but 3 days or so without power pales to the problems others are going through today. merry Christmas and happy new year to everyone at OFC !'
Entropy Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Do you know how to wire an extension cord up to the on/off switch for the furnace? Then you'd be heating. That's what I'd be doing, but have thought it through and know how to do it. Entropy
irishfield Posted December 25, 2013 Report Posted December 25, 2013 Like Entropy says... I don't know how big your house/furnace is.. but if you can run a space heater you probably have enough power to run your furnace blower. Pull the wire to the furnace out of the breaker and neutral bar.... use a couple of marrets to attach the two wires to a 14/3 (or better yet 12/3) power cord from the genny and let your furnace to it's thing. If you need to shut down the generator and restart, just unplug or switch off the load before doing so.
Fisherman Posted December 25, 2013 Author Report Posted December 25, 2013 X2 what Wayne said, here's also a vid to show those that it can be done. Now some of the newer high efficiency furnaces will not work on generators, it's not because it's dirty power, wrong frequency, wrong polarity. At your main fuse panel the white(neutral) and green(ground) are bonded(connected together). In most of the generators the neutral and ground are not bonded, why I don't know, just the way it is. If you want to google it, the genny neutral and ground can be bonded with no ill effect and then connected as described above.
Tim Mills Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 We did not lose power but had no tv or Internet until last night. Some friends left they re homes in the city and went to stay with relatives or hotels. Was at Princess Auto In Brampton yesterday and they had a number of people lined up for 80 generators they had coming in. They said they had 150 people on a waiting list as well.
woodenboater Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 (edited) thanks for the info all. we've got a switch between the furnace and breaker box. nm from the switch to furnace which I could have pulled out and added a 15 or 20 amp plug if we had to. two neighbours (one's a contractor, other is contractor and apprentice electrician) mcguyvered their own temp solutions but one had a dirty generator which toasted his furnace's board I think. fortunately power is back but if we were going to be out longer, yeah, woulda done that as a short term solution. still want to add a transfer switch so I can run nm from the outside to the transfer switch and just flip it if it if the need arises. these are things one learns along the way. other interesting tidbit was re: the 1998 ice storm. talking to a Toronto Hydro guy, I mentioned that at least this one wasn't as bad as The Ice Storm of 98. His reply was that actually the one we just had was pretty close. Edited December 26, 2013 by woodenboater
irishfield Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 Biggest thing I see with my two generators... you can't use them for the house set on auto idle/throttle unless you have nothing but lights or heaters on them . If you are going to run your fridge, freezer, furnace or well pump you need to set the generator to run full out continuous so there is no voltage or frequency lags that are bound to let the magic smoke out of motors and controllers.
davey buoy Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 Wayne I'm thinking cutting the wire just before the furnace switch.Adding a male plug on the switch side.Female towards the panel.Running a cord up stairs to the power bar that will be powered by the generator. Simply I would unplug the feed from the panel to the switch,plug in the female side of the extension cord and than the male into the power bar.into the power bar. Now when I see the power come back on,just simply reverse the plug in's. It's only a fan motor as you say.Thanks.
SirCranksalot Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 If the furnace is a no-go you could get a couple of those ceramic portable heaters to heat the living area daytime and the bedrooms nightime. Just a suggestion.
Ralph Field Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 When I switched from Bell to Rogers, I asked about having a phone when the power is out. The guy said if you have Bell and a phone that is not cordless, it will work. If you have Rogers and a phone that is not cordless, it will work for approx 4 hours on the battery back up. Once that battery dies, you are S.O.L. I have a major Roger's box outside my fence at the back of the lot and during major power failures they show up with a generator to keep the phones working.
Fisherman Posted December 26, 2013 Author Report Posted December 26, 2013 Well send them over to Scarberia. Bro has the power back on, no damage, so lucky. Managed to get hold of his neighbour with a hardwired landline, all is well on their street. However some of the areas with the big trees are still snaping and cracking. Wife noticed something here this morning she hadn't seen in a long time(no not the morning woodie) our cable/phonelines were galloping.
mbac31 Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 We still have no power on our street. Probally by Sunday or Monday maybe. I have a generator hardwired and have been running everything off the generator. Ive been cutting neighbours trees for days but bad situation for most. Been cooking stuff for my neighbours and it has brought all people closer. Everyone is helping everyone. If anyone needs any assistance or some help with anything call or email. Be glad to help, im in the east side of scarborough.
tb4me Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 We still have no power on our street. Probally by Sunday or Monday maybe. I have a generator hardwired and have been running everything off the generator. Ive been cutting neighbours trees for days but bad situation for most. Been cooking stuff for my neighbours and it has brought all people closer. Everyone is helping everyone. If anyone needs any assistance or some help with anything call or email. Be glad to help, im in the east side of scarborough. This is awesome..Merry Christmas to you sir! Its folks like this that maintain my faith in humanity! Good Karma is going to be your friend!
lew Posted December 26, 2013 Report Posted December 26, 2013 Good stuff Marvin, the world needs more folks like you !!
bigugli Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 We are finally reconnected to the real world.
ketchenany Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 We are finally reconnected to the real world. Our power was out for 12 hours, cable/phone/Internet six days. No biggie, only disappointment my Coleman stove hada broken o ring and could not make espresso. Coleman heater for ice fishing worked well but didn't use it. I may tap CT for a gen when one come up.
NANUK Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 Our power came back on early this morning...........after 8 days,
Joey Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 Our power came back on early this morning...........after 8 days, Brutal
davey buoy Posted December 29, 2013 Report Posted December 29, 2013 Our power came back on early this morning...........after 8 days, I'm sure your happy?.Must of been terrible?.
Shloim Posted December 30, 2013 Report Posted December 30, 2013 Been a busy boy lately! Haven't logged on. Anyone in the Toronto Area still need electrical help? Master electrician 19 years in biz. Relatively new fisherman. 416 638 3914
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