Well that was fun.

[gipsy]

Not

We just had a 2 hour power outage. This is very unusual because the plant is about 2 miles from here and runs on methane. It is built on a landfill.

Nothing about a cause on the webpage.

[papaof2]

You just need to be able to hear the conversation in the control room:

"Dammit Joe, I told you not to switch more than one generator on or off each minute! The surges because the gens are old and slow to spin back up means power will be off for a while. Now I don't know how long it will take to get enough good power going to put all those people back online. You call the supervisor and let him know what happened so they can put something on the outage page and send out notices to everyone with the app on their phone. And they'll need a couple crews on standby to take care of resetting circuit breakers along the lines."
"Sorry, Bill. I'll make the call."

[feralferret]

Mice chewing the wiring!  

Hey, I've had broadcast transmitters shorted out by mice and snakes and have lost power due to squirrels in the past. Even lost power due to an owl once.

[gipsy]

All those are possible I suppose, but the lines are buried. I was thinking a water problem with the switching box or something like that. Not a word on the outage page. We are too small to worry about. They did lose the beacon on the water tower and I am thinking the FAA might have been upset.

[papaof2]

Write the FAA and tell them about it. Of course, that could lead to the FAA requiring the water system to install a backup generator with two weeks of fuel and a 10% increase in the cost of water...

[gipsy]

As we are already getting it from the middle of Lake Michigan, I doubt it will cost much more. It is much better then the well water around the landfill, which they already paid us $2,500 for living so close too. Methane leaks into the basement you know. Other then that it has been a good place to live.

PS. If I ever meet the developer/designer of these houses I will just shoot him. Who in their right mind would cut a hole in the basement wall to let water in, thus requiring a sump pump to pump it back out.

[papaof2]

Someone who owns a company that makes sump pumps?

[papaof2]

If you could capture and store the methane, would there be enough for cooking or heating?


In "We Interrupt this Program", they built "digesters" to process and collect the methane from human and animal waste. Possibly an option in SHTF if there are enough contributors?

[gipsy]

That is what the electrical plant is doing. When I first moved here they were just burning it, like a oil well does.

[feralferret]

I know that if they failed to notify the FAA in a timely manner when the beacon went out, they could get a pretty good slap on the hand if the FAA found out. They are serious about issuing a NOTAM for beacon outages on any sort of tower. Safety first, at least pre-DEI.

[papaof2]

In one of my stories, someone was concerned about the water tower not having lights and the response was "Have you seen ANY airplanes around here?" Circumstances do alter cases ;-) Until then, the FAA would likely take a dim look at any lighting outage - something to be concerned about if you're flying low or the 767 you're in is looking for a "We're out of fuel" landing strip...

[feralferret]

Having been a broadcast engineer responsible for reporting tower light outages, I know for a fact that they take any lighting outage seriously. I also knew a couple of retired Air Traffic Controllers who told me about several incidents. There were also several incidents and related fines posted in the trade magazines. And then there are the potential law suits if someone in an aircraft does hit a tower, water or broadcast. If the pilot disregards a NOTAM, the responsibility is on them. If you failed to report it, you are liable.