Recent Rain

dudemanspecial said:
There is nothing quite like hearing that first rumble of thunder you weren't expecting in the situation you describe.
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Years ago I was once bass fishing at a pond on lands in Washington county, old mine reclamation lands - middle of the summer - bluebird skies, and I was deep into the woods on a pond. I bushwacked for a few hours though miserable thickets and muck to get back into there.

The bass fishing was great, and then the thunder came out of nowhere. The storm was pretty quick, but I was equally terrified about the lightning as well as the trees falling on me with nowhere to really hunker down.

Earlier this spring @dryflyguy and I were stuck on Spring in the storm that took out all those trees, and a tree crushed the bench he was sitting on earlier in the day. Pretty epic storm.
 
tomgamber said:
Wait until you fond yourself i the middle of a lake with just trees, no horizon to see oncoming WX and one of those storms rolls over your circle of view.
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Been there once when my daughter was younger, in our 10’ porta-bote with only a usually fast enough but then much too slow electric trolling motor. After the fear of getting back to shore, I also remember the joy of folding up the bote and loading it onto my car roof in the downpour.

Reminds me that I still have a pair of porta-botes to sell.
 
Bamboozle said:
We live on a hilltop above a stream, have a drain field and our soil is extremely rocky and perks like nobody's business. We've never had standing water anywhere on our property (except down by the creek which is far from the house) and I don't even have or need a sump pump because my basement stays bone dry no matter what.

I have to say with empathy for those that suffer under these conditions, it sure is nice to not worry about heavy rainfall, just about drought conditions and whether our well is OK.

If it makes folks with public water & sewer feel any better, when it storms and we lose power (like it did on Monday night) our well pump is off which means no water or toilet flushing until power is restored. 😳
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Well when your pump goes out let’s hope that shirt don’t happen!😜
 
salmo said:
Well when your pump goes out let’s hope that shirt don’t happen!😜
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As an ex-city kid, I learned that lesson the hard way when I first moved into this house and we lost power for almost a week. Now I have reserves...

These days there are three 5 gallon buckets of water sitting in the basement and compliments of all the recent rain...

Close to 150 gallons of rainwater in the rain barrels behind my shed. 😉
 
The rain gauge that I check is in Valley Forge Park. 6.5 inches of rain more or less in the last 30 days. About 3 inches more than last year at the same time. Last night generated .86 inches in about an hour in my town in Jersey. Poor folks in Texas.
Most of South Jersey is particularly flat. Sandy soil that used to be part of the Atlantic Ocean millions of years ago. My house elevation is 169 which is about 75 feet above most of Voorhees. Being on top of a hill we’ve never seen flooding in our neighborhood. Even the Delaware River has stayed in its banks in our area. Just north of me in Burlington County has lower and flatter elevations with lots of small creeks and very high water tables. They have had some pretty bad flooding cased by aging earth dams initially built for either recreational lakes or agricultural purposes like cranberry farms.
 
Bamboozle said:
As an ex-city kid, I learned that lesson the hard way when I first moved into this house and we lost power for almost a week. Now I have reserves...

These days there are three 5 gallon buckets of water sitting in the basement and compliments of all the recent rain...

Close to 150 gallons of rainwater in the rain barrels behind my shed. 😉
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Smart
 
salmo said:
The rain gauge that I check is in Valley Forge Park. 6.5 inches of rain more or less in the last 30 days. About 3 inches more than last year at the same time. Last night generated .86 inches in about an hour in my town in Jersey. Poor folks in Texas.
Most of South Jersey is particularly flat. Sandy soil that used to be part of the Atlantic Ocean millions of years ago. My house elevation is 169 which is about 75 feet above most of Voorhees. Being on top of a hill we’ve never seen flooding in our neighborhood. Even the Delaware River has stayed in its banks in our area. Just north of me in Burlington County has lower and flatter elevations with lots of small creeks and very high water tables. They have had some pretty bad flooding cased by aging earth dams initially built for either recreational lakes or agricultural purposes like cranberry farms.
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We've been extremely lucky this month...

On July 1st we lost a few tree limbs and power for about 10 hours, but the last few storms which clobbered the surrounding communities & counties barely ruffled the leaves on the trees on my property. Last night, .28" and no "drama" as the wife likes to say...

Regardless, I'm still cautious and vigilant when traveling about, IF I have to travel about...

FWIW - My personal weather station has recorded 3.31" of rain so far this month, 4.42" in June and 8.29" in May so over 16" since May 1.

However, with no lack of empathy for folks suffering from flooding; it is a relief to not have to worry about my home...
 
Bamboozle said:
As an ex-city kid, I learned that lesson the hard way when I first moved into this house and we lost power for almost a week. Now I have reserves...

These days there are three 5 gallon buckets of water sitting in the basement and compliments of all the recent rain...

Close to 150 gallons of rainwater in the rain barrels behind my shed. 😉
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They make these things called generators.....
 
dudemanspecial said:
They make these things called generators.....
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Southern MD had a big ice storm in the early 90s that dropped power for the whole tri-county area. Anyone who had a well was melting ice in buckets to flush toilets, since the well-pumps drew too much power for the average portable generator. Thankfully, we had just moved into a house on municipal water. We still had to heat water on the propane grill since the water heater was electric.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
since the well-pumps drew too much power for the average portable generator.
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You need about a 3kw for a, MAYBE 5kw if you have a high hp pump, generator to run a well pump on its own.

I have an 8500w portable generator that runs my well pump plus everything in my house at the same time except my hot water heater and furnace.

With 5 people in our house, including 2 women, not having water for more than an hour is not acceptable 🤣.
 
dudemanspecial said:
You need about a 3kw for a, MAYBE 5kw if you have a high hp pump, generator to run a well pump on its own.

I have an 8500w portable generator that runs my well pump plus everything in my house at the same time except my hot water heater and furnace.

With 5 people in our house, including 2 women, not having water for more than an hour is not acceptable 🤣.
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Thankfully for you, even without or with a generator , having water isn't the problem this year 😂
Wait a day, you'll have "running water".
 
I have two Honda 2000 generators that I link together. Long story as to how I ended up with two...but that's another story for another day.

With both hooked together they provide 30amps\120V which equals 3600 watts. I have a generator hooked up to switch my breaker box from power company to the generators. I use it maybe twice a year....but it makes a big difference.

I can run my internet, TV (streaming), gas hot water tank (blower type....won't run without electricity) and furnace (gas) with no issues at all.

Of course, it's just a 120V. So...anything that needs 240V.....(which in my case is only the central air) I'm outta luck.
 
tomgamber said:
Wait until you fond yourself i the middle of a lake with just trees, no horizon to see oncoming WX and one of those storms rolls over your circle of view.
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Dear tomgamber,

Add in some hail and it makes for a float tubing adventure for sure. I was 400 yards out in Spinney Mountain Reservoir in CO one time. One time was all it took to learn to pay more attention!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
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Kms said:
Built-ins cost a fortune, but a portable with a transfer switch isn’t so bad. Much less than a new Helios, lol.
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Dear Kms,

My neighbor built a new house a couple of years ago in what were woods across from my house. When the house was going up his wife asked if I thought a generator, was a worthwhile addition. While I don't have one, and never will, I said yes, based on how often we lose power in the woods where I live.

Nothing makes me feel more uncomfortable when I am sitting here during a raging thunderstorm to hear his automatic built-in 15KW generator kick in before my power even goes out! I sweat things then! 😉

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
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Kms said:
Built-ins cost a fortune, but a portable with a transfer switch isn’t so bad. Much less than a new Helios, lol.
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IF I ever got a generator it would be a whole house or nothing, The ideal location for that generator is by my electrical service and the propane feed to the house.

The problem with that scenario is that is more or less directly under our bedroom window and the window of another bedroom on that side of the house. We always have a window open a crack in our bedroom so between the noise of the generator running and/or exhaust fumes, real or perceived by my wife, that location ain't gonna fly with a woman who jabs me all night if I snore or smell from a cigar...

That leaves me two alternative locations, one that would require a pad on the other side of my paved driveway or another that would requiring a pad at least 30 or more feet away from the house with both requiring trenching propane & electrical lines a considerable distance.

Needless to say I never even entertained an estimate...

A portable is also out of the question. If I was too lazy last week to go down to the basement to grab a 5 gallon bucket of water to flush toilets when we lost power for about 10 hours...

There ain't no chance in hell I'm going out to the shed to grab gas & a generator. 😉

In addition, if there is a local power outage which is usually the case, when I lose power I also lose my CATV service which means no landline phone, computers, Internet or TV & very bad cell service. So a generator basically only gets me water, heat & AC if I need it.

The longest power outage I ever lived through was around 4 days. That was a learning experience so I am MUCH, MUCH better prepared for what I've experienced since that is anything from a few hours to around 24.

Fortunately I live in a well insulated newer home and I don't need or have a sump pump. I have propane for cooking and a propane fireplace for emergency heat. My home is also surrounded by woods and nowhere near my neighbors so even not having water for flushing toilets isn't a TOTAL crises... 😎

What I learned living through the power outages is...

When we don't have TV or Internet we play cards either by natural light of using one of my gazillion LED lanterns. Other than the 4 day event, the stuff in the fridge or freezer will be fine. My basement (which is unheated) never gets any colder than about 50 degrees, If I keep the windows & doors closed when it is hot, the inside of the house stays bearable. If it is cold, my propane fireplace solves that problem and I can cook or make coffee.

I also have a couple of inverters that I can plug into the cars to I can use my coffee grinder. 😉

So other than the water inconvenience which has only been a major inconvenience one time, I can't be bothered with a generator which knowing me, wouldn't be fired up unless that power was off for more than an hour or two. If the outage restoration outlook is a really long time...

I'm going to a hotel or one of my brother's houses 50 miles away. 🙂
 
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There's zero natural gas lines in my Borough. People do have propane deliveries though.
Solar is discouraged by ordinance limitations designed in the 1800's (sarcasm).
So, whole house 15KW will have to be diesel. But not allowed underground tanks, and externals are also size limited, not enough to keep a genset that size running 24/7 for 2-3 days.

Gotta love living in towns.
 
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