From Friday night till Monday morning I was without power of the electical variety. A storm tore through the area where I live, and knocked down a great many power lines leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. Even today I still know people that haven't gotten their power back on. It has generally been a real nuisance. Every time I swear to not be caught cold footed again, and everytime that bravado checks out when I check the prices of generators to keep the lights on when this happens. This time however was particularly harsh. I can endure the heat, or the cold. I can even do without electronics for a period of time. I am a avid reader, and I have more then enough books to while away the time. What really got to me is that I have a sick person living with me that didn't do at all well with the heat. 

So I decided to not let the money deter me, and I went online today to go buy that generator. I always promised myself that I would buy. No I didn't go buy some monstrosity. It was a four thousand watt unit for under three hundred dollars. Not enough to power everything, but more then enough to do things like keep the refrigerator running, or a AC unit running. While allowing me to charge entertainment devices. Anyway I am wondering how many people are like I was before today. How many of you have emergency generators, and how many of you don't have generators. What are your stories.

With great power comes great responsibility.

*ahem*

It must have been at least three years since the last time our power went out for longer than a couple of hours. I remember how we had to bring an old gas stove to make our dinner, and how we ate our massive ice cream storage before it melted. Luckily, all of our DS lites and my DSi were fully recharged so we could play lots of hours of Mario Kart DS and Diddy Kong Racing until the full two days had passed.

That's right, boredom was our greatest threat.

Live in the DC area, eh?

I just got hit by a storm too. Luckily I was only with power for a day, though. We don't really bother with generators...

Interestingly enough, the storm is considered a natural disaster. Nearly half a million without power and about 13 dead. It's actually really bad, in some places.

Back in 1998 we had an ice storm in Montreal. At first we thought little of it, but from one day to the next we were being told to go back home and that school was closing. For the next two weeks came about what was the longest power outage we've ever had since electricity.

What had happened was that the freezing rain had left thick layers of ice around every surface in the city, and the power lines could not withstand the pressure. So we all had to go home.

Thing is, home was not a place where we had electricity. Luckily enough for us, we were able to relocate temporarily to my grandmother's condo where the complex was powered. However, many other people had to gather in community shelters and schools in order to have somewhere to survive the winter.

In the end, the ice storm gave us a reason to disconnect from the machines of life, and open up to each other and show one another the solidarity and charity we shared for each other (family, friends and citizens).

It is a memory I consider good in my existence. Go figure, it was a disaster that brought us together.

The power has probably only been out for about 10 hours total in my 23 years of living here (3-4 power cuts lasting an hour or two, then a number of shorter ones)

Unless you live in the countryside, any power cuts here in the UK are very short lasting, or are very rare events (I believe last year there was a village relatively near me that was without power for almost a week)

I actually quite like the change of pace that occurs when there is a proper power cut in the evening... Everyone gets up and finds the nearest torch, then setting candles around and relaxing together instead of all staring at the TV (or more frequently each at separate TVs). As such in the last few years I have generally been disappointed that power cuts don't last longer. I think it's probably been over 10 years since a cut lasted more than 30 minutes.

Well that sucks, when power goes out for me I just go to sleep for like ever lol

I live in northern West Virginia and we have been without power since Friday evening. When I bought this house in the country I purchased an Aurora 6500 watt silent diesel (5kw continuous) and we've really been putting the hours on it. Had to do the 25 hour break-in maintenance and put in synthetic oil, adjust the valves, and check the torque on the cylinder head nut bolts. It's going great now with over 50 hours on it. Our power should be back on sometime between Friday and Sunday.

We get as they advertise about 12 hours for 4 gallons of fuel. It's been a little expensive keeping diesel in it but it works great. It's air cooled, so we run it for 5 hours then let it stay off for the few hotter hours mid-day and then turn it back on in the evening. Does a nice job for us.

Spend money on a device that you'll need once every 10 years at most..... why?

When was the last time you had a major storm knock out your power for more than an hour or two?

I'd rather spend that money on a new Nexus 7 tablet.

I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast so we have hurricanes to worry about. When George hit we were without power for about 4 days and after Katrina it was close to 2 weeks. It's necessary to have one here. If the power goes out for a few hours we never use it but if it's going to be out for days we crank it up.

The only bad thing is that you have to get gas ahead of time or you'll have difficulty buying it. You either wait for 3 hours when a station gets gas or travel a hundred miles to find someplace that has it. Then you buy like 6 cans worth. We use the generator during the day only and power the fridge, freezer, and any small appliances needed. The deep freeze will stay cool overnight so there is no point in keeping it running.

I think this thread is underscoring the differences between country living and city living. In the country we don't get the level of service that folks in the city are accustomed to. Power companies give preferential treatment to cities, and even road maintenance lags far behind urban centers. Hell the infrastructure is far more rudimentary. Where I live most people still use water pumps, and all power, cable, and phone lines are above ground. We don't have two hour power outages. Our minimum is six to eight, and typically at least a day. Hell if the weather is bad enough it can close down the roads for substantial periods of time.

Look I am not complaining about it, because every place you live has pluses and minuses. Sure my power is much less reliable, but I can rely much more on other things. I live somewhere that offers, beauty, tranquility, privacy, and safety. I can walk a hundred yards out my back door, and be in the middle of virgin forest. I don't have to put up with noise, violence, or fear that I am going to be robbed.

My point being that I expect to use this generator more then once in ten years. I would love for that to be what actually happens, but I realistically expect I will need it at least once per year, and yeah it is going to be real cool to be able to tell people we have one. It is real nice being able to do things for other people. To me that feels a whole lot better then just another new toy. I don't know maybe it is a country state of mind.