Hurricane Irene had her way in the Caribbean Ocean, slamming into the island of Hispaniola, you know, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and the Bahama's causing widespread devastation.
Irene then proceeded like a buzz saw up the east coast of the United States, bypassing Florida and heading straight for North Carolina. Irene raked the mid-Atlantic States, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and the New England States causing all kinds of mayhem.
SWMBO and I kept a weathered eye (pun intended) on the projected path of the storm. It was not looking good for New Hampshire. So SWMBO and I began making preparations to get ready for the storm and it's anticipated effects. The weather talking-heads were predicting that Irene would be a Category 1 hurricane, that is, torrential rain and 75 mph + winds when it rolled over New Hampshire. That meant wide spread power outages and flooding.
I checked the gas and oil on the chainsaw. I started the chainsaw and let it run for a few minutes. I next refueled and checked the oil on the emergency power generator. It started as designed and so I let it run for a few minutes too. Next was making sure we had a sufficient number of flashlights, spare batteries, candles, oil lamps and lamp oil, and liquid propane for the barbecue grill.
On Saturday SWMBO & I made sure that we had enough water for drinking and sanitation purposes and food to last us and Becke the wonder dog for a few days.
Getting back to the generator, the instructions say that the generator must not be operated inside the house and must be at least ten feet from any door or window. The instructions also say that the generator cannot be exposed to the elements such as rain or snow. Well it seems to me that the times you might need a generator the elements are gonna be the proximate cause of the power outage. The generator people want to have it both ways. How did I solve this little dilemma? Observe...
...I bought some PVC Piping and joints and constructed a frame. I also obtained a tarp that goes over the frame. The generator sits on a wood pallet with eye bolts at the four corners. The tent goes over the generator and pallet. The tarp is secured to eye bolts in the end caps on the feet of the frame. The tarp is secured to the frame and the frame is secured to the pallet. The tent protects the generator from the elements but should allow sufficient air flow for cooling and dissipating the exhaust gasses.
How did we make out this past weekend? We survived with no power outage or damage to our home. We did get a lot of rain and moderate wind but we fared well. Others were not so lucky.
Throughout the eastern seaboard Hurricane Irene caused billions of dollars worth of damage and took eighteen lives. It caused widespread power outages, about 150,000 customers throughout NH alone and serious flooding in parts of northern NH and Vermont.
God was gracious once again to SWMBO and me and answered our prayers. I'm here to tell you that the God who answered prayers so long ago still answers prayers today!
So how was your weekend?
I loved how you solved the problem of keeping the generator dry! And I really loved having someone to share the storm with.
ReplyDeleteGo for a patent. Gather the parts , box em up and sell it. There certainly should be a market, do you know how many people use a generator unsafely? During the winter outages we had ours just outside the garage under a makeshift plyboard tent.
ReplyDelete