Major Power Outage Mep-002 Getting Workout

[Chainbreaker]

Here in Eugene, OR we just had a ice storm that deposited about 1/2" of ice on power lines & trees. The power pole on the corner of our property snapped off at the base and landed on the roadway and put on quite the light show as it grounded out. The other power pole on our property is leaning 30 deg and may go over before morning. Oak trees in the woods behind us sound like shotguns going off as huge branches snap off and trees falling. The good news is the Mep-002 is humming along quite nicely and life is normal here while the rest of neighborhood is in complete darkness. I'll have to take some pictures in morning. We will probably be without power for days. The late news tonight said thousands are without power in area. My wife says "Did I ever tell you how much I love...the generators!"

 

[Light in the Dark]

I can't wait for the storm where I can just look at my wife and kids, and smile... and say nothing else. My trusty Honda EB5000 has taken me through 20 years of weather snafus (still runs great, mind you)... but my new toys should make it possible to have no concerns, with the increased ability to just stay in my house when nature tries to collapse everything around us.

 

[Haoleb]

My sister and parents are in Eugene/Veneta area hope they still have power. Got to use my 803 last Sunday for the first time for an actual outage for a little over an hour. Heard a few other people fire up some little portables but I rolled that beast out and got it hooked up. Cranked over that diesel and had the whole house going like I was still on the grid. I was in the middle of some bathroom remodeling so I carried on with what I was doing running the table saw, compressor. Anything.... Quite nice to have a reliable backup that can run anything I would ever need.

 

[DieselAddict]

We got mostly snow in Hillsboro OR. The drivers here are crazy. Amazed how how poorly they seemed to do with some frozen stuff on the ground.

 

[jimbo913]

Looking forward to photos. What do the fuel reserves look like? I have been running "rotating" some of my fuel storage in my tractor and need to replenish before fuel prices jump. I have about 140 gal which should get me around 14 days at 5k average in my 803A

 

[Chainbreaker]

Still without power. Both Mep-002a's in play and running strong! It sure is nice to have aux fuel tanks onboard the trailers and have the generators manage the refueling of themselves.

I did have one glitch with Gen #3 down at horse barn/shop service entrance. I only managed to break into the NF-2 trailer enclosure using a plastic mallet popping ice off the ice encrusted doors. Then when I got it started (it really complained even with 60 sec of pre-heat) it sounded like it started on 1 cylinder but finally got enough RPM and heat going that the 2nd cylinder finally came to life and all was good...or so I thought. I had 60 Hz on the panel but no power out to breaker box. I plugged in my Kill-A-Watt meter into the convenience outlet and got nothing. I cycled the generator breaker a few times and still nothing. I then remembered a SS member here who had a similar problem and exercised the reconnection switch a few times (generator off) and I tried that and when I restarted I had power output! All was good and wife happy that she could take care of horses with functioning well pump and lights in stalls.

Here are some pics of the storm aftermath:

 

[Chainbreaker]

I can't wait for the storm where I can just look at my wife and kids, and smile... and say nothing else. My trusty Honda EB5000 has taken me through 20 years of weather snafus (still runs great, mind you)... but my new toys should make it possible to have no concerns, with the increased ability to just stay in my house when nature tries to collapse everything around us.

Just make sure you have your "power out drill" well documented and you are fully prepared for a sudden outage in darkness. I forgot where my closest flashlight was and really needed it to shut off breakers and interlock switch in a very dark garage. Finally found it after about 5 minutes of fumbling around in the dark. Since I had a detailed checklist next to breaker box and on generator it was easy to quickly bring power to the house.

The first day is fun on generator pwr and I always feel like I have cheated death by bringing light, etc. to our little compound. However those feelings quickly taper off as you go through the cold frigid weather start, shutdown (at night) and restart in morning procedures a few more times. It seems that on 2nd day the little worries begin to pop up, do I really have enough fuel for a potential extended outage with roads closed due to downed trees and power lines? Fortunately I have 100 hours operation fuel on each trailer. However, my day tank on my #1 generator at house dropped below the 1/2 full mark and I expected the aux switch to activate the transfer of fuel and it didn't. It was on 1/3 and still no transfer of fuel, I'm now getting a bit anxious and this is going to turn into a nail-biter if I get close to empty. So I have all this fuel in the aux tank that I can't seem to access (not easily). I pulled out the TM to see what might be causing the no fuel transfer and as I was reading the switch test procedure, the aux switch energized the transfer relay for aux pump at 1/4 fuel mark and promptly filled the tank up to full. Woo-hoo!

Yes, it is comforting to have all the familiar amenities of home in play on a cold icy night but when hours turn into days and possibly a week that's when it starts to get serious.

This message sent using MEP power!

 

[Chainbreaker]

My sister and parents are in Eugene/Veneta area hope they still have power. Got to use my 803 last Sunday for the first time for an actual outage for a little over an hour. Heard a few other people fire up some little portables but I rolled that beast out and got it hooked up. Cranked over that diesel and had the whole house going like I was still on the grid. I was in the middle of some bathroom remodeling so I carried on with what I was doing running the table saw, compressor. Anything.... Quite nice to have a reliable backup that can run anything I would ever need.

I live out that way between Eugene & Veneta and we got hit pretty hard. Today was good with no precipitation but stayed right around 33 F without much ice melting off trees. Still hearing ice laden trees breaking/falling during day.

Yes, being on MEP power is like being on the grid compared to others who didn't prepare to deal with mother nature.

 

[Chainbreaker]

We got mostly snow in Hillsboro OR. The drivers here are crazy. Amazed how how poorly they seemed to do with some frozen stuff on the ground.

Yes, after moving to West Coast from Colorado I noticed drivers that seem surprised that 4 wheel drive does not mean 4 wheel braking works just as well on snow/ice.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Looking forward to photos. What do the fuel reserves look like? I have been running "rotating" some of my fuel storage in my tractor and need to replenish before fuel prices jump. I have about 140 gal which should get me around 14 days at 5k average in my 803A

I have 100 hrs fuel for each generator in service. Usually I have a lot more. I can hold 60 gallons in my pickup with its aux tank and normally have another 50 gallons in jerry cans that I rotate through tractor & mower. However when storm hit, the truck only had 1/4 fuel and jerry cans were empty as I had been waiting for a price drop. I use GasBuddy to monitor local prices and they were just about where I was ready to refuel everything when the ice storm hit. Tomorrow is fill up day regardless of fuel price!

 

[Guyfang]

You guys are all over it! Glad to hear you are all up and running. All your hard work is paying off. Take care all, and hope you get some relief and warmer weather soon!

 

[rustystud]

Just make sure you have your "power out drill" well documented and you are fully prepared for a sudden outage in darkness. I forgot where my closest flashlight was and really needed it to shut off breakers and interlock switch in a very dark garage. Finally found it after about 5 minutes of fumbling around in the dark. Since I had a detailed checklist next to breaker box and on generator it was easy to quickly bring power to the house.

The first day is fun on generator pwr and I always feel like I have cheated death by bringing light, etc. to our little compound. However those feelings quickly taper off as you go through the cold frigid weather start, shutdown (at night) and restart in morning procedures a few more times. It seems that on 2nd day the little worries begin to pop up, do I really have enough fuel for a potential extended outage with roads closed due to downed trees and power lines? Fortunately I have 100 hours operation fuel on each trailer. However, my day tank on my #1 generator at house dropped below the 1/2 full mark and I expected the aux switch to activate the transfer of fuel and it didn't. It was on 1/3 and still no transfer of fuel, I'm now getting a bit anxious and this is going to turn into a nail-biter if I get close to empty. So I have all this fuel in the aux tank that I can't seem to access (not easily). I pulled out the TM to see what might be causing the no fuel transfer and as I was reading the switch test procedure, the aux switch energized the transfer relay for aux pump at 1/4 fuel mark and promptly filled the tank up to full. Woo-hoo!

Yes, it is comforting to have all the familiar amenities of home in play on a cold icy night but when hours turn into days and possibly a week that's when it starts to get serious.

This message sent using MEP power!

Once the power goes out here the generator stays on until power is restored. Once that took 11 days. I have 250 gallons of fuel at all times just for this kind of situation. Thankfully my immediate neighbor is a driver for the local fuel delivery service ! He brings home the tanker truck so he can start his deliveries in the morning. So I also have access to 800 gallons if needed !
I've been watching the crappy weather you guys have down south and hoping it stays down there ! Of course it is freezing here and the roads are getting a little sketchy ! Just yesterday a woman hit a patch of "black ice" and slammed into a tree killing her two babies (six months and 3 years old). She is still in critical condition. If that was me I would have rather died with my babies.

 

[Trailboss]

Don't wait to refill your stocks. Diesel prices here just jumped 8 cents after being stable for months.

 

[Chainbreaker]

Once the power goes out here the generator stays on until power is restored.

I guess I'm just a worry wart. I could not sleep with generator running overnight thinking about possible "what if" scenarios. My biggest concern is a fuel leak springing up in the middle of the night and starting a fire. Then when some load kicks in (freezer, refrigerator, etc.) and I hear the pitch change in the exhaust note I would probably wonder what was that? lol When so dependent on genset power my mind tends to fixate on - How long will my 30 year old generator keep running before some sort of failure crops up? I guess that is why I have a spare backup unit (plus a few spare parts) in case one of the 2 that are needed to run our property fails.

I'm envious, it sounds like you have the perfect fuel set up!

This message sent while on MEP Power (day 3)

 

[Light in the Dark]

Yeah Ive got (3) 55 gal drums of diesel put up... so I probably wouldn't take the genset offline unless I needed to. We do have wood stove heat, but I've lost too many full freezers over the years to justify saving 6 gallons of fuel.

 

[Korgoth1]

That is heartbreaking, sometimes it is better to just hunker down if the roads are nasty...

 

[jimbo913]

Don't want to hijack the thread but makes me curious how the 80x series compare to the 00x series in regards to operation in foul weather. With the 80x series being water-cooled do they experience issues with ice or snow buildup at the radiator or do they run warm enough to melt it off?

 

[Chainbreaker]

Don't want to hijack the thread but makes me curious how the 80x series compare to the 00x series in regards to operation in foul weather. With the 80x series being water-cooled do they experience issues with ice or snow buildup at the radiator or do they run warm enough to melt it off?

I would think to meet the DOD military spec. they would have to meet even artic conditions. The 00x air-cooled series definitely meet artic conditions to something like 25 F below if memory serves me right.

 

[jimbo913]

No expert on the specs but I figured it would simply be based on humidty, altitude and temperature. Hard to calculate and test "blizzard". Hopefully someone will come along with first hand experience and/or more facts on military testing

 

[rustystud]

I guess I'm just a worry wart. I could not sleep with generator running overnight thinking about possible "what if" scenarios. My biggest concern is a fuel leak springing up in the middle of the night and starting a fire. Then when some load kicks in (freezer, refrigerator, etc.) and I hear the pitch change in the exhaust note I would probably wonder what was that? lol When so dependent on genset power my mind tends to fixate on - How long will my 30 year old generator keep running before some sort of failure crops up? I guess that is why I have a spare backup unit (plus a few spare parts) in case one of the 2 that are needed to run our property fails.

I'm envious, it sounds like you have the perfect fuel set up!

This message sent while on MEP Power (day 3)

I have to have my generator on at night to run my "CPAP" machine. I figured if it breaks it breaks. As far as a fuel line bursting I have changed out all my fuel lines with either DOT Poly or "PTFE" stainless steel ones. If those break then I'm really screwed anyway !
I have my "new" MEP-016F up and running now so when it is time to go to bed I switch from the MEP-002A to the MEP-016F unit. That way I save on fuel and don't risk "wet stacking" the MEP-002A .
I know there is no MEP-016F. I just call it that because it is my second attempt to get this unit up and running. Also I replaced the generator head with a "modern" 3KW unit and totally rerouted the fuel lines and added a spin-on filter. So it is in "no" way an original MEP-016D anymore !