Snowtober 2: No Electric Boogaloo?

I see an 80 percent chance of snow Thursday morning. Looking out the window, most of the trees still have their leaves. What are the chances of a repeat of the disastrous 2011 October snow storm that left half a million people in Norther New Jersey without power, some of them here in South Orange for weeks?

Friends in Vermont had an early snow storm a few days ago and got up to 5". They lost a lot of branches from trees laden with leaves.

Where are you seeing a chance of snow on Thursday?

Not gonna snow

I'm trying to beat the odds. Today they are pouring the concrete pad for my new generator. For those considering the standbys it took over 2 months and I still don't have it. First you need approval from PS&G, they misplaced the fax so I waited 2 months. During that process I waited 4 weeks for a permit from the town. Now the work begins with the pad, then the delivery of the unit, the electrical work, the gas line, the town inspection and finally when PSE&G gets its extra $966 for a larger meter, they come and hook it up to the gas line. I ordered this on August 17th. After 16 days out during Sandy and 14 days out from the previous storm, I'm hoping to keep the power on.

Morganna said:

I'm trying to beat the odds. Today they are pouring the concrete pad for my new generator. For those considering the standbys it took over 2 months and I still don't have it. First you need approval from PS&G, they misplaced the fax so I waited 2 months. During that process I waited 4 weeks for a permit from the town. Now the work begins with the pad, then the delivery of the unit, the electrical work, the gas line, the town inspection and finally when PSE&G gets its extra $966 for a larger meter, they come and hook it up to the gas line. I ordered this on August 17th. After 16 days out during Sandy and 14 days out from the previous storm, I'm hoping to keep the power on.

What is a "fax"?

Woot said:

Morganna said:

I'm trying to beat the odds. Today they are pouring the concrete pad for my new generator. For those considering the standbys it took over 2 months and I still don't have it. First you need approval from PS&G, they misplaced the fax so I waited 2 months. During that process I waited 4 weeks for a permit from the town. Now the work begins with the pad, then the delivery of the unit, the electrical work, the gas line, the town inspection and finally when PSE&G gets its extra $966 for a larger meter, they come and hook it up to the gas line. I ordered this on August 17th. After 16 days out during Sandy and 14 days out from the previous storm, I'm hoping to keep the power on.

What is a "fax"?

PSE&G was faxed paperwork and claimed they didn't receive it.

Anyway yesterday they poured the concrete pad and today they are working on gas lines and electrical wiring. The concrete won't be ready for the unit until Monday so hopefully the delivery and town inspection will be soon so that PSE& G can do the hook-up. I've lost count of the extended outages that I've had since I've moved here.

Good luck, @Morganna! When you finally get it up and running, you will feel so much more secure. I ordered mine in the middle of September. They told me it would take 6 weeks ,from ordering to installation. When the contractor submitted the permit, the town (not SOMa) called him the next day. I had already spoken to PSE&G, they gave the approval, and the new meter was an upgrade, so it was free. When the generator was delivered, the gas guy was there the next day. When he was finished, the electricians were here for 2 days. Yesterday, the contractor was here, the test was run, it went seamlessly. The final inspection is scheduled for November 1, but it is fully operational now.

I think it is probably the difference in the town governments , and the contractor. But, anyway, the reason I wrote this, was not to gloat, but to assure you that now my generator is in place, we will have no power outages! And likely there will be a record lack of snow this year!

calliope said:

Good luck, @Morganna! When you finally get it up and running, you will feel so much more secure. I ordered mine in the middle of September. They told me it would take 6 weeks ,from ordering to installation. When the contractor submitted the permit, the town (not SOMa) called him the next day. I had already spoken to PSE&G, they gave the approval, and the new meter was an upgrade, so it was free. When the generator was delivered, the gas guy was there the next day. When he was finished, the electricians were here for 2 days. Yesterday, the contractor was here, the test was run, it went seamlessly. The final inspection is scheduled for November 1, but it is fully operational now.

I think it is probably the difference in the town governments , and the contractor. But, anyway, the reason I wrote this, was not to gloat, but to assure you that now my generator is in place, we will have no power outages! And likely there will be a record lack of snow this year!

Well, @calliope, we will both be very popular if we can take credit for ending all future power outages and crippling snow storms! As someone who won't drive in the snow, it will be an added bonus.

Today some work was done, to be completed on Monday. Then the town inspections and finally the PSE&G hook-up!

South Orange above Wyoming has an issue with gas pressure and some of our lines are small. On my street one house did not qualify but the house next to it was OK. It may also depend on how much you are going to run.

In the meanwhile I've scheduled tree pruning.

I was just joking Facsimiles feels like something from the 90s

Woot said:

I was just joking Facsimiles feels like something from the 90s

Like beepers...

Woot said:

I was just joking Facsimiles feels like something from the 90s

I kind of thought so, but never assume! I'm surprised at how many things are not allowed to be emailed. I actually had to send something by snail mail recently that could have easily been scanned in and emailed.

Morganna said:

Woot said:

I was just joking Facsimiles feels like something from the 90s

I kind of thought so, but never assume! I'm surprised at how many things are not allowed to be emailed. I actually had to send something by snail mail recently that could have easily been scanned in and emailed.

There are a lot of businesses that will take faxes but not scanned/emailed documents. Is there really a difference in the security of those types of transmissions?

Woot said:

I was just joking Facsimiles feels like something from the 90s

Customer: "I can't send you a fax because of where I live"

Business: "Where do you live?"

Customer: "In the 21st Century."

There is a difference. From a technical perspective a fax is much less secure as a standard phone line is required for faxes and they're very easy to tap. From an operational perspective a fax is much less secure because they are almost always implemented in a shared way (less secure, not auditable) and cannot be targeted to a single person, an email is designed to be sent to a single person (more secure, auditable).

The only reason to require faxes is because you are an outdated organization that doesn't care about keeping information secure.

sac said:

Morganna said:

Woot said:

I was just joking Facsimiles feels like something from the 90s

I kind of thought so, but never assume! I'm surprised at how many things are not allowed to be emailed. I actually had to send something by snail mail recently that could have easily been scanned in and emailed.

There are a lot of businesses that will take faxes but not scanned/emailed documents. Is there really a difference in the security of those types of transmissions?

Email isn't very secure, either.

My department at work forbids the use of fax. I appreciate this.

Hmmm - from snow to faxes ... interesting thread drift. (I think I'd rather talk about snow, especially when it isn't bearing down on us.)

sac said:

Hmmm - from snow to faxes ... interesting thread drift. (I think I'd rather talk about snow, especially when it isn't bearing down on us.)

"Drift." Nicely played.

Well, the generator is installed so just waiting for the town inspection, the PSE&G installation of the larger meter and the final hook up. So

Morganna - we had our generator installed the year after Sandy and paid the 966 to upgrade the meter. PSEG said something about rebating the money but my contractor said it was unlikely. Well, earlier this year they sent the 966 back. Not sure how it works though.

hauscat said:

Morganna - we had our generator installed the year after Sandy and paid the 966 to upgrade the meter. PSEG said something about rebating the money but my contractor said it was unlikely. Well, earlier this year they sent the 966 back. Not sure how it works though.

Thanks @hauscat. That is encouraging. I'm all set up but the inspection is in 2 parts. Plumbing next week (at 7-9 and AJ Perri was told if they were not there the inspector would leave.) And then Perri has to schedule again for the electrical. And after that they have to schedule for PSE&G to come to install the new meter and start her up. I will feel much more secure. When my house temperature dropped to 50 I lost it. It was 16 days until my street got power and the storm before it was 14 days. Now if I could get the town to give us street lights as we are one of the few streets whose taxes went up, I'll be a happy resident.