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reikimaster · 10-18-2006, 03:06 PM

Things have been quite busy here. We had a "surprise" snowfall last week Thursday. The leaves were still on the trees and the snow was super heavy. More than half of the trees in the affected area have been destroyed. This is in Buffalo, NY and stretches northeast in a band about 25 to 30 miles wide. When the trees go down they take... you guessed it... power lines. Today is Wednesday, almost a week later and there are still literally over a hundred thousand households without power. There WERE almost 300 thousand in the dark. The National Guard is here helping to clear the downed trees and branches. They send them to one of the parks to go through a giant chipper. The pile of wood chips is now 3 stories tall. There are utility crews here from all over the northeast helping to restore power, but the downed trees make it a bit difficult. There are 3 HUNDRED forestry crews out there in addition to the national guard troops. Some of the suburbs looked like Armageddon.

Anyone need mulch?

Right now I have C5 Galaxies flying over the house. I live near Niagara Falls Airbase. Probably bringing in more equipment and personnel. I have power (obviously) and in fact I was one of the lucky ones that never lost power. I didn't lose any trees either. Long story... has to do with the geography of the area and how the Great Lakes are laid out and the prevailing wind patterns. My chainsaw is on Grand Island visiting my sister-in-law and helping her clear the trees that fell in their yard from the woods behind their house. My 4400 watt generator is powering the furnace, sump pump, and refrigerator of a teacher from the school where my wife teaches. They don't have power at their house yet and they have a baby.

I have a roof leak that is leaking into the upstairs bathroom that I just spent $7,000 remodeling and did all the work myself. Turns out it's not the roof leaking. It's the water being driven right through the masonry of the chimney. So I've just come down from the roof where I was mixing concrete and sealing masonry. See....you can't GET a contractor right now to save your life as they are all busy repairing storm damage and my little roof leak isn't WORTH enough for them to help me. And everything I'm doing is TEMPORARY repairs to keep us dry until I can get the chimney torn down to the roof line and rebuilt...probably not until spring. Yeah, it needs it. Appears to me as though it was improperly constructed in the 50s when the house was built.

I took a day off from work today as it's the only day this week that we weren't forecast to have rain and I needed to do something about the roof. They aren't real happy with me at work right now. I work at a University.

Does it sound like I'm having fun yet?

I have to go back up on the roof in about an hour to put another coat of sealer on the chimney. I was up at 5:30am with the dog (we have a Dalmatian) as she was messing with her ear. The one she had surgery on right before the storm hit. She got blood on my new bed linens.

When I write this all out, it probably sounds really terrible, but believe me when I tell you there are people around here that haven't had electriciy for almost a week, are cold, and are boiling water on outdoor grills to make sure it's safe to drink... so all-in-all I feel pretty darn lucky.

**bobj3** · 10-18-2006, 03:59 PM

Glad to hear you're OK, sorry about your mates, we also got the 1st snow fall this week about 16" to 24" in the back yard, they got about 2" in Denver and a bit more in the foot hills just west of Denver.
We don't have the lakes but we have the high mountains that do the same thing.
Load up and dump this time of the year,it looks like it's going to be a hard cold wet winter this year in Colorado.
The trees tell all and this year they dropped the leaves quick this year and my leg was in pain about 2 weeks ago, hahahahahaha LOL it tells me when it's going to be cold and wet.

Enjoy your day off but take care on the roof.

Bj

Hamlin · 10-18-2006, 07:42 PM

It's been several yrs now but, I do know what you're going through. Here in KS, either we get snow, rain or ice storms, if we're lucky enough to get anything at all in the winter time. One truly doesn't realize what exactly they use til there's no electricity.
You could try to use some silicone caulk, provided you can use a heat gun an the caulk gun at the same time. This should help seal up the leak til spring time.
Stay safe.

nzgeordie · 10-22-2006, 07:47 PM

Snow? What's that? We're just coming into late spring and have had almost constant rain for three months. Land slips, road washouts, power outages etc. You can bet your boots that three weeks after the last rains we'll be on water restrictions. But, the workshop roof doesn't leak so who really cares?

Dr.Zook · 10-22-2006, 11:24 PM

Geordie, you mean to tell me it rains NZ. I was under the impression you always had beautiful weather. No tornado's, hurricanes, or blizzards. Maybe a sandstorm once in awhile.

**Mike** · 10-23-2006, 04:05 AM

Living in Michigan is an interesting experience. If it's bad weather we get it. Tornado's, severe thunderstorms, and snow of course. The storm Reikimaster spoke of dropped 2 feet of snow on the northern sections of the lower peninsula and more in the UP. At the same time it was light jacket weather here in the Detroit area. Chain saws, generators, snow mobiles and 4 wheel drive's are a part of life here. The nice thing is when we get hit people pitch in and help their neighbors big time. Private citizens were out on their snow machines delivering food and coffee to stranded motorists and shut in's. These people fill the gap that the state police and national guard could never handle. It makes me proud to live here.

reikimaster · 10-23-2006, 10:45 AM

OK I found something interesting having to do with generators that I think is probably worth sharing. During an extended power outage, one of the things that's hard to get is gasoline to run your generator. (It's also EXPENSIVE lately). Also your generator may not have been used in a while and any gas left in it is old and has maybe gummed up the carburetor some. So if you HAVE gasoline, now you're struggling to start the darned generator.

Did you know you can convert your generator to run on propane and/or natural gas? Probably.
Did you know you can convert it in such a way that you can still use gasoline, but ALSO use either propane or natural gas? You might.
But did you know that you can do this conversion with a bolt-on kit that costs under $200?
No carb drilling. Basically remove air cleaner, install stud extenders included in kit, install adapter, reinstall air cleaner. Done.

Information is at www.propane-generators.com and I am in no way affiliated with them.
However I watched THREE generators running on these conversions during the latest power disaster here. Believe it or not there are STILL some folks without power... down to a few hundred this morning.

The people that converted these generators (themselves...easy) all said that while they can still run them on gasoline, none of them ever does that. They only run them on propane and/or natural gas. Instead of storing gasoline (which has a VERY short shelf life) they just store propane which doesn't really age. Most have an extra 20 pound tank for the gas grill and they just use that. They've all installed a natural gas line to a location where they can position teh generator, plug it into natural gas, and fire it up. One has no natural gas in his location so he's hooked up to a propane line that's supplying the rest of his house.

The generators run cleaner and cooler and they never gum up. I'll be converting mine in the near future.

**bobj3** · 10-23-2006, 04:05 PM

Hi reikimaster

Just my 2 cents

I repaired small eng. for many ,many years and made a good living off people that just would not do as I recommend..

1st. the gas will not go flat or sour if you add a item called " sta-bil " nor will it turn into gum in the carb.
The real key is to run it now and then and NEVER store it without a full tank of gas.
Some will tell you to drain the gas from small eng. equipment (like a lawn mower) that's a NO NO, because the gas will evaporate from carb,and in a short time it will turn into varnish and plug the jet(s).
Most generators don't get used for many years, the best way to keep a generator in tip top shape is 1st. don't put gas in it,oil yes but not gas

, until you need to use it for the 1st time,then when you need to power it down top off the fuel tank and add the sta-bil and run now and then, after 5 years or so then change the oil and the gas.

If you think it's hard to get gas try and find propane, the people that sale it can't get to work and open the doors.

Now natural gas is great for BIG generators but for the small one, WELL most don't have a way to run it outside, that's to say they don't have a hook up outside and you should not run a generator inside the house or a garage.
Many of the BIG ones run on propane/or diesel oil because the 1st. thing they turn is the natural GAS...
---------------
Sta-Bil

Sta-Bil Gas Stabilizer.
Keeps Stored Fuel Fresh Indefinitely Even After Prolonged Storage of a Year or Longer.

http://www.sjmparts.com/stabilizer-s...63-p-3734.html
http://www.sjmparts.com/stabil-displ...10004-p-4.html

http://www.sjmparts.com/prig-gasolin...668-p-667.html
---------------
Gasoline in Storage:

Gasoline contains lighter and heavier components. The lighter components will evaporate, leaving the heavier ones behind. Eventually, all that will be left is "varnish." The question about how long it takes before gas is "bad" can not be answered specifically. What is the temperature and relative humidity of the air in which the vehicle is parked? What was the mix of the gasoline at the beginning? Gasohol and MTBE contain much lighter (and faster evaporating) components than "regular" gasoline. Each gas company has their own additives.
*

Stabil (in the Gas Tank) has been used by many with good results. Your best bet for storage is to use a fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil, but either draining the carbs, or running the bike with the fuel tap off until the bike dies and the carbs are dry, then restarting on full choke, until they are really dry. That way there is nothing left to evaporate and leave a gummy residue.
*

Nobody disagrees that Stabil is good for storage. Assuming the carb doesn't leak over the winter (you don't park near a water heater or garage freezer do you?), you won't do any damage either way.
*

I only have problems with storing drained carbs when there is water residue. IMO leaving gasoline in the carbs means eventually leaving a residue, the more gas left in to evaporate, the more thick residue. While it might not be too bad over one winter, eventually all the gas will evaporate. For very long term storage, there is no debate - the carbs must be empty. Running the already hot engine dry with the choke will remove almost all the gasoline. I have repeatedly stored outboard motors and generators for many years, where they may only be used 1 month every 2-3 years, with this method, quite successfully.

http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/WinterizingFAQ.htm

Bj

nzgeordie · 10-23-2006, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr.Zook

Geordie, you mean to tell me it rains NZ. I was under the impression you always had beautiful weather. No tornado's, hurricanes, or blizzards. Maybe a sandstorm once in awhile.

Doc, you wouldn't believe it. We get four seasons in one day EVERY day! Even our sheep have webbed feet and the winds in Wellington are so strong the seagulls fly backwards.

Dr.Zook · 10-23-2006, 11:53 PM

Sorry Geordie, I must have confused you with Australia. I see now, you live on the South end of the North Island. Couple hundred miles from Mt. Ruapehu. Elevation about 9,175 ft.(2797m). I always thought of NZ as flat and not mountainous. I stand corrected. I wish you would post a pic of your sheep and those seagulls.LOL

10-18-2006, 03:06 PM	#1
reikimaster Registered User Forum Geek Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 233 View reikimaster's Gallery	Report This Post! Weather? What weather? Things have been quite busy here. We had a "surprise" snowfall last week Thursday. The leaves were still on the trees and the snow was super heavy. More than half of the trees in the affected area have been destroyed. This is in Buffalo, NY and stretches northeast in a band about 25 to 30 miles wide. When the trees go down they take... you guessed it... power lines. Today is Wednesday, almost a week later and there are still literally over a hundred thousand households without power. There WERE almost 300 thousand in the dark. The National Guard is here helping to clear the downed trees and branches. They send them to one of the parks to go through a giant chipper. The pile of wood chips is now 3 stories tall. There are utility crews here from all over the northeast helping to restore power, but the downed trees make it a bit difficult. There are 3 HUNDRED forestry crews out there in addition to the national guard troops. Some of the suburbs looked like Armageddon. Anyone need mulch? Right now I have C5 Galaxies flying over the house. I live near Niagara Falls Airbase. Probably bringing in more equipment and personnel. I have power (obviously) and in fact I was one of the lucky ones that never lost power. I didn't lose any trees either. Long story... has to do with the geography of the area and how the Great Lakes are laid out and the prevailing wind patterns. My chainsaw is on Grand Island visiting my sister-in-law and helping her clear the trees that fell in their yard from the woods behind their house. My 4400 watt generator is powering the furnace, sump pump, and refrigerator of a teacher from the school where my wife teaches. They don't have power at their house yet and they have a baby. I have a roof leak that is leaking into the upstairs bathroom that I just spent $7,000 remodeling and did all the work myself. Turns out it's not the roof leaking. It's the water being driven right through the masonry of the chimney. So I've just come down from the roof where I was mixing concrete and sealing masonry. See....you can't GET a contractor right now to save your life as they are all busy repairing storm damage and my little roof leak isn't WORTH enough for them to help me. And everything I'm doing is TEMPORARY repairs to keep us dry until I can get the chimney torn down to the roof line and rebuilt...probably not until spring. Yeah, it needs it. Appears to me as though it was improperly constructed in the 50s when the house was built. I took a day off from work today as it's the only day this week that we weren't forecast to have rain and I needed to do something about the roof. They aren't real happy with me at work right now. I work at a University. Does it sound like I'm having fun yet? I have to go back up on the roof in about an hour to put another coat of sealer on the chimney. I was up at 5:30am with the dog (we have a Dalmatian) as she was messing with her ear. The one she had surgery on right before the storm hit. She got blood on my new bed linens. When I write this all out, it probably sounds really terrible, but believe me when I tell you there are people around here that haven't had electriciy for almost a week, are cold, and are boiling water on outdoor grills to make sure it's safe to drink... so all-in-all I feel pretty darn lucky.
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10-18-2006, 03:59 PM	#2
bobj3 Forum Contributer Supreme Forum King Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Littleton,Colorado U.S.A. Posts: 8,300 View bobj3's Gallery	Report This Post! Glad to hear you're OK, sorry about your mates, we also got the 1st snow fall this week about 16" to 24" in the back yard, they got about 2" in Denver and a bit more in the foot hills just west of Denver. We don't have the lakes but we have the high mountains that do the same thing. Load up and dump this time of the year,it looks like it's going to be a hard cold wet winter this year in Colorado. The trees tell all and this year they dropped the leaves quick this year and my leg was in pain about 2 weeks ago, hahahahahaha LOL it tells me when it's going to be cold and wet. Enjoy your day off but take care on the roof. Bj __________________ PodCast videos RWS on YouTube http://www.routerforums.com/86898-post1.html Besure and click on the Up Arrow key ▲ on the Youtube video, you can select other youtube videos on router tables http://www.woodworkingonline.com/?s=dovetail Machine Cut ▼ http://www.woodworkingonline.com/200...cut-dovetails/ http://www.woodworkingonline.com/woo...podcast-store/ http://www.woodshopdemos.com/menu2.htm Bob J.
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10-18-2006, 07:42 PM	#3
Hamlin Registered User Supreme Forum King Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Baldwin City, KS First Name: Ken Posts: 1,576 View Hamlin's Gallery	Report This Post! It's been several yrs now but, I do know what you're going through. Here in KS, either we get snow, rain or ice storms, if we're lucky enough to get anything at all in the winter time. One truly doesn't realize what exactly they use til there's no electricity. You could try to use some silicone caulk, provided you can use a heat gun an the caulk gun at the same time. This should help seal up the leak til spring time. Stay safe. __________________ Ken "A VETERAN" "Whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life". That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it." -Author Unknown
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10-22-2006, 07:47 PM	#4
nzgeordie Registered User Forum King Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Upper Hutt, New Zealand Posts: 698 View nzgeordie's Gallery	Report This Post! Snow? What's that? We're just coming into late spring and have had almost constant rain for three months. Land slips, road washouts, power outages etc. You can bet your boots that three weeks after the last rains we'll be on water restrictions. But, the workshop roof doesn't leak so who really cares? __________________ Pete I've cut it twice and it's still too short! But only at one end.
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10-22-2006, 11:24 PM	#5
Dr.Zook Official Greeter Supreme Forum King Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: New Lebanon, Ohio "USA" First Name: Dave or "Doc" Posts: 4,712 View Dr.Zook's Gallery	Report This Post! Geordie, you mean to tell me it rains NZ. I was under the impression you always had beautiful weather. No tornado's, hurricanes, or blizzards. Maybe a sandstorm once in awhile. __________________ Dave the "Doctor" In woodworking there is no scrap, only firewood. Please edit your profile with a name and location so we can better assist you and make for a friendlier forum.
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10-23-2006, 04:05 AM	#6
Mike Senior Moderator Supreme Forum King Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Detroit, Michigan USA Posts: 3,380 View Mike's Gallery	Report This Post! Living in Michigan is an interesting experience. If it's bad weather we get it. Tornado's, severe thunderstorms, and snow of course. The storm Reikimaster spoke of dropped 2 feet of snow on the northern sections of the lower peninsula and more in the UP. At the same time it was light jacket weather here in the Detroit area. Chain saws, generators, snow mobiles and 4 wheel drive's are a part of life here. The nice thing is when we get hit people pitch in and help their neighbors big time. Private citizens were out on their snow machines delivering food and coffee to stranded motorists and shut in's. These people fill the gap that the state police and national guard could never handle. It makes me proud to live here. __________________ Mike Please edit your profile with a name and location so we can better assist you.
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10-23-2006, 10:45 AM	#7
reikimaster Registered User Forum Geek Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 233 View reikimaster's Gallery	Report This Post! OK I found something interesting having to do with generators that I think is probably worth sharing. During an extended power outage, one of the things that's hard to get is gasoline to run your generator. (It's also EXPENSIVE lately). Also your generator may not have been used in a while and any gas left in it is old and has maybe gummed up the carburetor some. So if you HAVE gasoline, now you're struggling to start the darned generator. Did you know you can convert your generator to run on propane and/or natural gas? Probably. Did you know you can convert it in such a way that you can still use gasoline, but ALSO use either propane or natural gas? You might. But did you know that you can do this conversion with a bolt-on kit that costs under $200? No carb drilling. Basically remove air cleaner, install stud extenders included in kit, install adapter, reinstall air cleaner. Done. Information is at www.propane-generators.com and I am in no way affiliated with them. However I watched THREE generators running on these conversions during the latest power disaster here. Believe it or not there are STILL some folks without power... down to a few hundred this morning. The people that converted these generators (themselves...easy) all said that while they can still run them on gasoline, none of them ever does that. They only run them on propane and/or natural gas. Instead of storing gasoline (which has a VERY short shelf life) they just store propane which doesn't really age. Most have an extra 20 pound tank for the gas grill and they just use that. They've all installed a natural gas line to a location where they can position teh generator, plug it into natural gas, and fire it up. One has no natural gas in his location so he's hooked up to a propane line that's supplying the rest of his house. The generators run cleaner and cooler and they never gum up. I'll be converting mine in the near future.
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10-23-2006, 04:05 PM	#8
bobj3 Forum Contributer Supreme Forum King Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Littleton,Colorado U.S.A. Posts: 8,300 View bobj3's Gallery	Report This Post! Hi reikimaster Just my 2 cents I repaired small eng. for many ,many years and made a good living off people that just would not do as I recommend.. 1st. the gas will not go flat or sour if you add a item called " sta-bil " nor will it turn into gum in the carb. The real key is to run it now and then and NEVER store it without a full tank of gas. Some will tell you to drain the gas from small eng. equipment (like a lawn mower) that's a NO NO, because the gas will evaporate from carb,and in a short time it will turn into varnish and plug the jet(s). Most generators don't get used for many years, the best way to keep a generator in tip top shape is 1st. don't put gas in it,oil yes but not gas , until you need to use it for the 1st time,then when you need to power it down top off the fuel tank and add the sta-bil and run now and then, after 5 years or so then change the oil and the gas. If you think it's hard to get gas try and find propane, the people that sale it can't get to work and open the doors. Now natural gas is great for BIG generators but for the small one, WELL most don't have a way to run it outside, that's to say they don't have a hook up outside and you should not run a generator inside the house or a garage. Many of the BIG ones run on propane/or diesel oil because the 1st. thing they turn is the natural GAS... --------------- Sta-Bil Sta-Bil Gas Stabilizer. Keeps Stored Fuel Fresh Indefinitely Even After Prolonged Storage of a Year or Longer. http://www.sjmparts.com/stabilizer-s...63-p-3734.html http://www.sjmparts.com/stabil-displ...10004-p-4.html http://www.sjmparts.com/prig-gasolin...668-p-667.html --------------- Gasoline in Storage: Gasoline contains lighter and heavier components. The lighter components will evaporate, leaving the heavier ones behind. Eventually, all that will be left is "varnish." The question about how long it takes before gas is "bad" can not be answered specifically. What is the temperature and relative humidity of the air in which the vehicle is parked? What was the mix of the gasoline at the beginning? Gasohol and MTBE contain much lighter (and faster evaporating) components than "regular" gasoline. Each gas company has their own additives. * Stabil (in the Gas Tank) has been used by many with good results. Your best bet for storage is to use a fuel stabilizer like Sta-Bil, but either draining the carbs, or running the bike with the fuel tap off until the bike dies and the carbs are dry, then restarting on full choke, until they are really dry. That way there is nothing left to evaporate and leave a gummy residue. * Nobody disagrees that Stabil is good for storage. Assuming the carb doesn't leak over the winter (you don't park near a water heater or garage freezer do you?), you won't do any damage either way. * I only have problems with storing drained carbs when there is water residue. IMO leaving gasoline in the carbs means eventually leaving a residue, the more gas left in to evaporate, the more thick residue. While it might not be too bad over one winter, eventually all the gas will evaporate. For very long term storage, there is no debate - the carbs must be empty. Running the already hot engine dry with the choke will remove almost all the gasoline. I have repeatedly stored outboard motors and generators for many years, where they may only be used 1 month every 2-3 years, with this method, quite successfully. http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/WinterizingFAQ.htm Bj __________________ PodCast videos RWS on YouTube http://www.routerforums.com/86898-post1.html Besure and click on the Up Arrow key ▲ on the Youtube video, you can select other youtube videos on router tables http://www.woodworkingonline.com/?s=dovetail Machine Cut ▼ http://www.woodworkingonline.com/200...cut-dovetails/ http://www.woodworkingonline.com/woo...podcast-store/ http://www.woodshopdemos.com/menu2.htm Bob J. Last edited by bobj3; 10-23-2006 at 10:25 PM.
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10-23-2006, 11:53 PM	#10
Dr.Zook Official Greeter Supreme Forum King Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: New Lebanon, Ohio "USA" First Name: Dave or "Doc" Posts: 4,712 View Dr.Zook's Gallery	Report This Post! Sorry Geordie, I must have confused you with Australia. I see now, you live on the South end of the North Island. Couple hundred miles from Mt. Ruapehu. Elevation about 9,175 ft.(2797m). I always thought of NZ as flat and not mountainous. I stand corrected. I wish you would post a pic of your sheep and those seagulls.LOL __________________ Dave the "Doctor" In woodworking there is no scrap, only firewood. Please edit your profile with a name and location so we can better assist you and make for a friendlier forum.
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