Surviving my 1st scheduled Brown Out

[davewe]

51 minutes ago, scott h said:

Solution for short period brownouts?   Generator. Cheep, small, easy to set up and use.

I am sure we will get to that - certainly when we get to the point where we buy or build a house. But for now with a new rental and 1 year lease I haven't done it. I'll have plenty of time to research what to get in the future.

I guess I felt and still feel that I should experience the brown out thing a few times, convince myself I can survive it and then develop a long term strategy. And what I found out is that I was productive and had fun. No need to run to Citi Hardware or Lazada just yet. But someday it'll happen.

[JDDavao II]

The power is pretty stable here in Davao. Electrical storms usually knock the power out but only occasionally for unbearably long periods. Most of the scheduled shutdowns are for moving lines along recently improved roads and such and aren't normally more than a few hours.

We really should have a genset for emergencies though. Something to power a couple of fans and keep the electronics charged and the beer cold. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

Solution for short period brownouts?   Generator. Cheep, small, easy to set up and use.

I used to think that way until I actually had one and actually needed and used it during Yolanda.

Like any motor it needs constant maintenance which ain't always cheap.  Generator maintenance and repairs over the life of the generator cost me as much as I originally paid for the thing. (Note that I owned and used it for 2 1/2 years and we had a brownout about once a month at that time.) It was heavy to move around when I had to take it in for maintenance.  It was heavy to move around when I wanted to set it up during a brown out (because I stored it in a locked shed when not in use and had to move it outside and set it up during every brown out - I did not want it walking away).  The gas was not cheap as the 6.5 KW gen set burned 1000 pesos in gas over a 10 hour brownout.  It was noisy to the point of a headache after many hours of running it.  When Yolanda hit the thing was useless because the 10 gallons of gas I had stockpiled got burned up in the first 2 days and then there was no more gas to be had.

But on the bright side, it was pleasant to have all the power I needed during the normal brownouts so other than the mentioned problems it was a great solution.

Edited October 2, 2017 by Dave Hounddriver

[Jollygoodfellow]

3 hours ago, Castaway said:

Brownouts are definitely survivable and yes, they can be made to be enjoyable… but why won’t DU30 focus on resolving this problem?

The difference is the topic is about Scheduled Brownouts In Dumaguete where the residents were informed.  Not all work can be done on live lines. If they do not do maintenance then people would complain the power is off for no reason when things fail.

Now, maybe should do a survey of any members who did not survive a brownout, bless their souls. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

37 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Now, maybe should do a survey of any members who did not survive a brownout, bless their souls

Funny how people survive brownouts just fine in Philippines and yet in the US, people actually die because its too hot and their air conditioners are not working

https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heat-related-deaths

[Castaway]

48 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Funny how people survive brownouts just fine in Philippines and yet in the US, people actually die because its too hot and their air conditioners are not working

In the US, most people call them blackouts (or power outages) and they're not scheduled events.

Besides not having working air conditioners, there are other things that could cause death, such as not having working Dialysis Machines.

https://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/safety/emergencysituations/ucm055976.htm#2

[Jack Peterson]

7 minutes ago, Castaway said:

Besides not having working air conditioners, there are other things that could cause death, such as not having working Dialysis Machines.

 I quite agree BUT this where we should ensure that a secondary Power supply is available if only UPS or just batteries. People with the Dire need of Power must  think Forward but we Don't as a general rule 

[Jollygoodfellow]

5 minutes ago, Castaway said:

In the US, most people call them blackouts (or power outages) and they're not scheduled events.

Besides not having working air conditioners, there are other things that could cause death, such as not having working Dialysis Machines.

https://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/safety/emergencysituations/ucm055976.htm#2

If you had a dialysis machine at home I would think you would have precautions but I doubt if many would have one at home. Of course unscheduled power outages are common everywhere but this was scheduled and expected. Even Kevin posted the notice. I worked with an energy provider in Australia for years so know when its scheduled or not such as lighting strikes, cars crashing into poles etc. 

[hk blues]

4 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

If you look at the number of kilowatt hours the average Filipino or even the average low budget foreigner uses in a month you will soon realize that those numbers you quoted are WAY over the top.  But of course each person's needs will vary.

For my needs, I could set up a system for 1 tenth the number you quoted, but that's just me, or is it?  A filipino family I know also did it for 1 tenth of the number you quoted and they have been using it for about 3 years now (Off grid system with switch to change over to the grid when their batteries run low).  A foreigner friend set up a grid tie-in system (not my favorite choice) for about 1 tenth of the number you quote.  Are you getting the impression that i am suggesting your numbers are for someone living in a first world country, not in Philippines 

EDIT:  My choice would be an off grid system with a throw switch to convert to mains power when my batteries get low.  I like the fact that the filipino family have been doing it since before it was popular and it still works great.  I like the fact that you only need the very minimal number of batteries and I like the fact that brownouts would not affect me.  I also like it that it is cheap enough that i would get my money back in just a couple of years by savings on the power bill.  I was just looking at it yesterday and I figure I could  get the necessary items for about US$ 2,500 . . . which ain't bad if you have it 

I was quoted about 220,000 php for a 4kw (180,000 for 2kw) system month or so back - as per your message above Dave. I didn't go for it because it was a tied-in system - defeating the point for me as the payback would be around 10 years and I'd still suffer brownouts.

[hk blues]

To be honest, I can get by for a few hours without power. I'm not convinced that a generator is a viable option (cost/maintenance/fuel/hassle/NOISE) for short brownouts and for longer, if it's frequent enough to make me concerned, I'd bite the bullet and invest in an off-grid solar system.