Power outages in the winter are quite rare in DC, so we had no backup plan - no generator or even firewood for our fireplace. The power went out at 6:45 AM Saturday during the onslaught of heavy, wet snow, when the house temp. was approx. 62 degrees. Throughout the day, the outside temp. dropped during the snowstorm. By 8 pm the inside temp was down to 54 while it was 19 F. outside. We debated checking into a hotel, because the power company (Pepco) was warning of a "multiple day event", meaning there was no assurance we would get our electricity back anytime soon. We finally decided to bundle up and stay put, which turned out to be a brilliant decision because the power came back on at 10:10 pm. Howls of joy ensued.
Today there is another likelihood of more widespread outages due to high winds, coupled with the additional 10" (25 cm) of snow. Unfortunately, all the stores are closed so I can't go out and buy firewood. This time, however, my Winnipeg BIL told us to ratchet up the thermostat to 68 so there will be more residual house heat should the lines go down again... We are considering getting a gas powered generator, or converting our fireplace to natural gas, as a result of this experience. Donna is forever - and rightfully - complaining that if our power lines were BURIED (like in Winnipeg) we wouldn't have to worry about freezing in the dark. Andrew On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 12:27 PM, R A Bennell <b...@mts.net> wrote: > We have had little bits of snow on and off but no huge accumulations here > yet. That is ok with me. I hope we don't > get a whole lot more. > > I am willing to bet that your big snow piles will be long gone before ours > are. We will likely have at least some > snow around until sometime in late March or even into April. > > How did you make out without power for a day? Do you have a fireplace or > some other source of heat? > > I bought a generator a few years ago just in case but I really should haul > it out and make sure it will still run. > I bought a gas powered unit but it probably would have been better to go > with either diesel or propane. It is only > 7500W so not big enough to do a whole lot but could run the blower on our > gas furnace and the microwave etc if we > swap stuff back and forth. > > Randy > > -----Original Message----- > From: mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com > [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com]on Behalf Of andrew strasfogel > Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 9:53 AM > To: Mercedes Discussion List > Subject: Re: [MBZ] Hey Andrew > > > Hi Randy, > > Thanks for asking - I thought nobody cared. > > Last Saturday's storm was a record breaker - we had 26" in the back yard > and lost power for a day. Work was canceled Monday and Tuesday. :) > > We are now in the grip of the blizzard of '10 part deux that started last > night. Temperatures are in the low 20s, howling winds, and another foot to > accumulate before it's all over. Whistler BC should be so lucky! I've > lived in DC since 1975 and this is by far the snowiest AND coldest winter > of > all time. We normally get a warming trend after a snowstorm like this, but > temperatures are not going to rise much above freezing over the next 5 > days. > > > We've had FOUR consecutive snow storms with accumulation: > > Saturday, Jan. 30: 6" > Tuesday, Feb. 2: 4" > Friday/Saturday, Feb 5-6: 25" > Tuesday/Wednesday, Feb. 9- 10: 10" (still snowing) > > This is a very big deal for D.C. > > Benz content: I drove the 83 300TD in the snow last night and it handled > great! > > No mas! > > Andrew > snow covered 1985 300TD > > On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 3:20 PM, R A Bennell <b...@mts.net> wrote: > > > How was the storm in your area on the weekend? > > > > Randy > > > > _______________________________________ > > http://www.okiebenz.com > > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
