Tropical Storm Isaias

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

If you live on one of the islands and you like your electricity, a generator is a must! I would never be without one...

Dan

Do you use a propane fired one for continuous power or a portable one?

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[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

Do you use a propane fired one for continuous power or a portable one?

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I have 6000 watt Honda portable on the island. It’s very quiet and very reliable. It has run for 5 days non stop. It goes through 5 gallons of gas every 12 hours.

At my mainland home I do have a propane 20K on demand generator.

Dan

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

Do you use a propane fired one for continuous power or a portable one?

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If you get a portable one - there are conversion kits to have them run on propane.

There are also more and more dual fuel portable generators you can get that can do both gas and propane out of the box. I may look into one myself for on the island as I need a little more capacity than what I have now and having the flexibility to burn gas or propane is a nice feature.

[Garcia]

Just curious - for those who have portable generators on an island, how often do you need them? I’ve never had one and never really felt the need, but being here more and more, am leaning toward getting one. I know it’s peace of mind, but how often do they get used for power outages?

I’ll add that I have a gas stove so cooking is not an issue.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by Garcia

Just curious - for those who have portable generators on an island, how often do you need them? I’ve never had one and never really felt the need, but being here more and more, am leaning toward getting one. I know it’s peace of mind, but how often do they get used for power outages?

I’ll add that I have a gas stove so cooking is not an issue.

I would estimate twice during a season... the problem is when electricity does go down, it’s usually down for a while. It’s never fixed in a couple hours as they have to get a crew out in their boat, etc,etc.

Dan

[MAXUM]

From what I have seen - unless there is a wide spread event power is restored next day worst case.

Off season, they can be a little more sluggish in responding, and in the winter, they will not come out unless they can get out here safely either hitching a ride with the island service guys or waiting till there is at least a foot of ice on the lake. I've spent a few winter weekends on generator power.

This is the longest "in season" outage I've seen in the past 9 years.

Again considering the logistics of where we are, the NHEC does a pretty good job in my opinion.

[steve-on-mark]

Originally Posted by MAXUM

From what I have seen - unless there is a wide spread event power is restored next day worst case.

Off season, they can be a little more sluggish in responding, and in the winter, they will not come out unless they can get out here safely either hitching a ride with the island service guys or waiting till there is at least a foot of ice on the lake. I've spent a few winter weekends on generator power.

This is the longest "in season" outage I've seen in the past 9 years.

Again considering the logistics of where we are, the NHEC does a pretty good job in my opinion.

We had a bad windstorm around Halloween maybe 3 or 4 years ago and were without power for a week. Without the generator, we wouldn't have stayed out here. They do suck up a lot of propane..for those of you who are up to the task, I discovered that Osbourne's Agway near the Winnesquam bridge fills 100 pound tanks for under 50 bucks...a bargain considering what you pay to get propane trucked out here!

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[rick35]

I remember the Halloween storm of 2011 all too well. The dock came out that day just as snow started to fall. We met friends at the Lyons Den for dinner after and almost couldn't leave Gilford because of the icy hill on the Rte 11 bypass. We finally made it home after 2-1/2 hours only to have no power. Had to go out to get gas at midnight for the portable generator and was in bed for only a few minutes and kaboom. A big oak limb fell on the house. After that we had a standby generator installed. And it was about 12 months after that when we actually used the new generator. It's good insurance so you have it when you need it.

[Barney Bear]

We went home early Monday morning so no boat was at our place on East Bear Island when Isaias passed by. The similar storm that hit us in late October, 2015 visited after we had closed for the season. Our seasonal dock was cast upside down against our permanent dock, damaging it and destroying the seasonal one. ISC made repairs in May 2016. We were spared a similar fate this year. This week, we lost power for 36 hours, regaining it Friday morning, I believe. We arrived on the island at dusk last evening. We do not use our portable gasoline emergency generator unless we have been down about a day. Sometimes we are down for a short period of time due to an event on the mainland that affects the power to Bear Island. 🐻

[MAXUM]

Originally Posted by steve-on-mark

We had a bad windstorm around Halloween maybe 3 or 4 years ago and were without power for a week. Without the generator, we wouldn't have stayed out here. They do suck up a lot of propane..for those of you who are up to the task, I discovered that Osbourne's Agway near the Winnesquam bridge fills 100 pound tanks for under 50 bucks...a bargain considering what you pay to get propane trucked out here!

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Remember that one and there was a lot of damage to the infrastructure which is why it took so long. Lines were down everywhere and may poles needed replacement. That was the same storm that made parts of rt 109 look like a tornado had come through.

Hardware store in Meredith will fill 100 pounders as well, they charge $80 but thier points card every other one is 10% off. Having somebody do it for you is crazy expensive. I have three bottles and try to refill in the winter by snowmobile :-)

[MDoug]

Originally Posted by Garcia

Just curious - for those who have portable generators on an island, how often do you need them? I’ve never had one and never really felt the need, but being here more and more, am leaning toward getting one. I know it’s peace of mind, but how often do they get used for power outages?

I’ll add that I have a gas stove so cooking is not an issue.

We use our generator backup several times each season. Well worth the money! It's a Generac with Honda motor, starts right up even after 15 years.