Power Outage

[RichT]

Well, I know we've all either talked or at least thought about, and/or possibly planned for the dreaded Power Outage. But, I experienced it tonight.

Fortunatley, it was only for about 3 1/2 hrs. But, let me tell ya', that first 30min was scary. I had thought of what to do, and had the things to take care of it, but none of it was actually IN the house. I had a 300watt continuous (500watt surge) DC to AC converter in my truck. So, I removed the battery and converter from my truck, made a "Jerry-Rigged" wire pig tail and got my air pump and 1/2 of my filter system on. After wrapping both tanks in blankets, I sat and prayed IL. Power Co. would get the power back on quickly. WOW, does time ever move s-l-o-w-l-y when power is out. I felt like Charles Engle on Little House on the Praire. Anyway, 3 1/2hrs. later, power was restored and everything's OK. :p

During those 3 1/2 hrs., I made sooo many plans to: get a generator, make a back-up power supply, get solar panels...anything and everything. I guess what I'm getting at is, if nothing else, go to your local harware store and get a DC to AC converter. $50.00 will save you thousands. You have everything else around the house to get you through short power outages. That'll save alot of worry if and when it happens.

[Zack]

well my power goes out My return that is in main tank draws back water but fixed that, so my biigest problem is usually the heating since my tank is downstaris

[MJC]

Wow, good to hear that it came out well. This past winter, we had a number of power outages in the SF Bay Area. As such, I purchased a few battery powered air pumps for my clients and dropped it into their tanks when the power went out.

Fortunately, the temps didn't go down too badly and everything survived. One had a few fireplaces that warmed their homes in the evening and during the days, the tank was located in a spot with indirect sunlight, but still relatively warm. Another had theirs in a restaurant and I dropped in three pumps (large tank) and it was kept warm due to how the place was constructed and where the tank was placed (built in between walls).

Not everyone is fortunate as Rich with a generator. Therefore an option is to purchase a Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) and run your equipment through that. Calculate the amount of power you absolutely need (e.g., pumps and heaters) and the length of time you want you want it running and purchase one or more appropriately sized units (lighting tends to be a major draw on electrcity).