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Thread: Are you ready for Danny?

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Niskayuna, NY
    Posts
    607

    Default

    I fixed a lot of roofs people chopped up with hatchets after the ice storm, can you imagine people up there chipping the ice of their solar cells???
    You don't have to chop the ice off. They come with a switch that reverses the battery connection which causes them to to give off sunlight and melt the ice and snow. Very neat,




    A house is not a home without a cat.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Richmond
    Posts
    410

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    Quote Originally Posted by pjpreb View Post
    Talk to some folks that own one of these before you invest. I know of some folks that aren't seeing anywhere near the promised power generation despite having an excellent location for one.
    I have a buddy that built a gorgeous Log Cabin off-grid. He and his partner installed a generator for cloudy days...a Huge array of solar panels that he doubled in size...and eventually added a wind generator.

    He made the same mistake many make w/wind generators. He bought too small and didn't do any anenometer tests before buying/placing it.

    In the end....he'd spent more on "green energy" that didn't work.. instead of installing CMP to begin, and adding alternatives for back-up.

    He too planned to sell extra back to the power company. My question to him was, what do you do during a power outage when there are men unpredictably working on the lines? And are you sure you'll have any extra to make the effort worthwhile.
    I'm just nuts about geocaching!!

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Augusta, Maine
    Posts
    499

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    I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    So. China Maine
    Posts
    1,597

    Default Stand-by Home generators

    A quick note about Standby Generators.

    First, having one of these will take away the anxiety attacks that come when Kevin Mannix starts talking about ice storms or wide-spread power outages. They come equipped with an automatic transfer switch so if the power goes out in less then 30 seconds everything in your home will come back on. It all happens automatically. You don't have to do a things other then listen for it to come on. We have 500 gallons of propane, enough to run the thing for a month and a half.

    There is one big issue that I didn't learn about until after the first prolonged outage and that's oil consumption. These motors run rather hot and burn oil. Most will need to add a quart every two or three days. So if you're a snowbird you'll still want to have somebody check the oil level if we have a long outage. First time this happened, I was sick with a cold and it shut off in the middle of the night in February. I wasn't a happy camper but I did have a quart of the synthetic motor oil they use and that did the trick.

    Last thought and that is who you choose buy from. I bought from a company that advertizes state wide and have been less then impressed with service. If you'd like the details let me know. The Attorney General's office has a public site where you can see the experience ratings of Maine businesses and the number of unresolved complaints. Worth looking at for any major purchase. My unit cost about 7K installed.
    Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.

  5. #25

    Talking Whats a gigawatt?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mapachi View Post
    I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!
    If these were available, we'd see alot more research going into flux capacitors and Delorean sales would go through the roof....
    There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and ‘mental illness'. ---Dave Barry

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Bangor, ME
    Posts
    6,343

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mapachi View Post
    I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!
    I wish Maine had about 4 big ones, that'd make me happy.
    DNFTT! DNFTT! DNFTT!

    "The funniest thing about this particular signature is that by the time you realize it doesn't say anything it's to late to stop reading it..."

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    America
    Posts
    2,578

    Default Now don't get scared...

    Quote Originally Posted by Mapachi View Post
    I wish they had small portable nuclear reactors. If I could buy one, I'd tell CMP where to go!
    I can build you one. I built one as an experiment a while ago.

    You'll have to come up with the fuel on your own. You'll also have to come up with the waste containers.
    I have no enemies, but I'm intensely disliked by my friends.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Solon, Maine
    Posts
    5,965

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    Quote Originally Posted by brdad View Post
    I fixed a lot of roofs people chopped up with hatchets after the ice storm, can you imagine people up there chipping the ice of their solar cells???
    Sheesh! You should see my (off-road) F-150 plow truck. I bought it from an old farmer a few years ago. During the 1998 ice storm he tried to gently clear the ice off the front windshield - with a hammer. The entire windshield is covered with "stars"! LOL!

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Brewer, Maine
    Posts
    1,832

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    I once had a customer in the shop that tried to clean the snow off her car with a METAL RAKE!!! There was still some paint on the hood/roof, but the rust was pushing it off.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Augusta, Maine
    Posts
    499

    Default

    Yep, I scratched my car window, scraping ice with a beer can!

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