On Mon, 28 Oct 2019 12:43:50 -0400, Ralph Mowery wrote:

As Trump would put it, you are living in a **** hole state.

Hi Ralph Mowery,

I don't disagree with you that a LOT of things in California are nothing
like they were back east, where, for example, they don't even have those
yellow school buses for free for all kids in the public school system here,
like they did back east where I grew up. And yet the property taxes are as
high as any high-tax state (maybe higher, given housing prices out here).

The power situation is atrocious, where they think it's normal for the
power to go out once a month for a day, where I remind them that the prices
we pay for electricity are about 45 cents a KWH (for the last couple weeks
of the month, as they use a tiered system).

The good news is that many people purchase a generator because the power is
so bad (sort of like how folks back east purchase a snow blower), where I
feel sorry for those who haven't sprung for that purchase.

The bad news is that PG&E has blown holes in the washing machine and
disabled the compressor in the refrigerator, by these power fluctuations,
and, strangely, the oven keeps locking up due to the fluctuations.

Right now, I'm worried about the well pumps and pool pumps, because they
have winding coils and starting caps, where I don't know if the spikes
caused when the power flips back on (usually it bounces for a few minutes)
will damage them.

After the big fire a while back the state blamed the fire on the power
company not cutting the trees and stuff off the powe lines.

PG&E is playing a game, much like Christy played a game with the bridge
where the game is to make the people feel the maximum pain to punish them
for their decisions.

In the case of the fires, I don't think California is the only place in the
country that has power lines that go through trees. Here, they don't use
"tree wire" for example, which is insulated wire specifically made to
vastly reduce the fire danger.

Why not?

It's clear why not, as tree wire is not only heavier, but it costs more.
o And yet, they CHARGE some of the highest prices in the nation.

That's the classic indicator of mismanagement.
o High prices
o Low service

The power company is now going bankrupt. I lost some money in the stock
market a few years back as I had some in a California power company that
went bankrupt. Hard to believe that a power company could go bankrupt.
None of the lines and poles were sold off as scrap. The power was never
cut off and te company renamed. Just a way of screwing the stock
holders.

The bankruptcy is complex, so I can't really delve into it as I don't fully
understand it myself, but, yes, it's a game.

They are now cutting off the power due to high winds that may blow the
power lines arround and cause a spark that will set off the fires.

PG&E just gave us notice that the power will be off at least until
Thursday, so it will have been off since Saturday, where, at least where I
am, the wind is nothing (nor was it much since Saturday when they killed
the power).

Of course, I'm aware that the wind where the power lines come from is what
matters, but the weather is so calm out here, if you dropped a feather, it
would fall, oh, maybe a couple of feet away from your feet.

So it's hard for me, where I sit, to believe that PG&E isn't playing a
game.

Given our power goes off for about a day, on average, about once a month,
on average (more in the winter than in the summer of course), it behooves
me to UNDERSTAND the mechanics of what happens to the windings and
capacitors on my large motors, where these motors are deep in every well
where I have enough water in the tanks to last a month.

I can't turn off the pressure booster, but the well pumps and pool pumps
can be turned off. I hit the circuit breaker for each of them, but I was
just asking for advice from the folks here.

Mostly I'm asking:
a. Does disconnecting those large (1-1/2 HP) motors protect them?
b. What else should be disconnected from the mains?

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