Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Day 3 of our power blackout:
We've been without power since Sunday morning. It has been really hot, over 110 degrees. It doesn't get much below 80 at night. Without electricity, no AC. No fans. No nuttin'. So Monday morning, we went looking for a generator. There was one left: actually it was a return. But they said it worked. We brought it home and fired it up. (It was interesting getting it home: It barely fit into Rita's hatchback). The engine ran smoothly, it was great. Except that it didn't generate electricity.
So we figured that there wouldn't be any more generators anywhere in San Jose, so we headed down to Lowe's in Gilroy. They had their floor models left. It was louder, but it generates electricity. When I brought the other one back to Home Depot, they said "Hey, that's just like the one that other guy is returning!" So I guess it was probably a good thing that we got the one at Lowe's. We're running the fridge, and a couple of other things: A fan (we got rid of most of our fans, because who needs them when you've got AC? Oops), and some lights and the internet. (Hey, priorities. And realistically, the net doesn't take hardly any power).
PG&E finally showed up on Monday night, at 2:30 in the morning. So really, it was Tuesday morning. They called me, and asked if I could meet their guy outside! So I did, and we found the transformer. He tried to get it going, but determined it was dead, Jim. Tuesday morning, another crew came out, and determined that we needed a bigger transformer. They ordered one, and left.
About 6, the crew showed up with the transformer. They installed it, which took a couple of hours, and fired it up. It didn't work. Apparently, the switch in it was bad: They said that was extremely rare. So they ordered up a new one, and left to eat and sleep. They'd been working 40+ hours, and hadn't eaten in 12 hours!
It is now a bit after 11 PM, and a new crew is just returning, with a new transformer. So we might still get power tonight, but for now, we are melting in the heat!
We've been without power since Sunday morning. It has been really hot, over 110 degrees. It doesn't get much below 80 at night. Without electricity, no AC. No fans. No nuttin'. So Monday morning, we went looking for a generator. There was one left: actually it was a return. But they said it worked. We brought it home and fired it up. (It was interesting getting it home: It barely fit into Rita's hatchback). The engine ran smoothly, it was great. Except that it didn't generate electricity.
So we figured that there wouldn't be any more generators anywhere in San Jose, so we headed down to Lowe's in Gilroy. They had their floor models left. It was louder, but it generates electricity. When I brought the other one back to Home Depot, they said "Hey, that's just like the one that other guy is returning!" So I guess it was probably a good thing that we got the one at Lowe's. We're running the fridge, and a couple of other things: A fan (we got rid of most of our fans, because who needs them when you've got AC? Oops), and some lights and the internet. (Hey, priorities. And realistically, the net doesn't take hardly any power).
PG&E finally showed up on Monday night, at 2:30 in the morning. So really, it was Tuesday morning. They called me, and asked if I could meet their guy outside! So I did, and we found the transformer. He tried to get it going, but determined it was dead, Jim. Tuesday morning, another crew came out, and determined that we needed a bigger transformer. They ordered one, and left.
About 6, the crew showed up with the transformer. They installed it, which took a couple of hours, and fired it up. It didn't work. Apparently, the switch in it was bad: They said that was extremely rare. So they ordered up a new one, and left to eat and sleep. They'd been working 40+ hours, and hadn't eaten in 12 hours!
It is now a bit after 11 PM, and a new crew is just returning, with a new transformer. So we might still get power tonight, but for now, we are melting in the heat!
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