In article ,
writes:
On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:36:43 +0100, Michael Kilpatrick
wrote:

Yes, some idiot phoned someone up to say that they could see some power
cables arcing into the trees across the road from us.

So, a contractor was sent to hack the trees.

At ten to five in the evening.

For three hours. No power to the whole street.

As if the trees are going to grow more than another centimetre
overnight, or as if they had suddenly done so the night before?

I had to feed the boys by candlelight, and luckily we only need the gas hob.

Michael

Good practice for the future if the predicted power shortages occur,
most youngsters would enjoy the novelty.
A whole 3 hours ,you do sound a bit precious.

That's how long each of the rolling blackouts were in the 1970's
(miner's strike). As a child at the time, I found them quite fascinating.
Rigged up battery lights using torch bulbs, and many meals by candlelight.

Depending on the type of cables an arc down through a tree may not be
a good idea to be left occurring,stray currents can damage things
nearby that are not immediately obvious such as other cables or cause
voltage gradients in the ground nearby that can be dangerous
especially to 4 legged animals or two persons holding each other such
as a couple or as you have introduced suffering children, a mother and
child.

G.Harman

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:02:56 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

I had to feed the boys by candlelight, and luckily we only need the
gas hob.

Good practice for the future if the predicted power shortages occur,
most youngsters would enjoy the novelty. A whole 3 hours ...

Of course these days many people don't know how to make their own
entertainment without some electronic gismo. I bet there is many a
household without any board games, books, packs of cards etc.

That's how long each of the rolling blackouts were in the 1970's
(miner's strike). As a child at the time, I found them quite
fascinating.

Aye, taught me that a power cut is no great problem provided you have
thought about it and have some back up. Lights go out here and there is
no great panic just an resigned "lets get the lanterns out". The kids
don't panic because we have never paniced, just get on with what needs to
be done. The biggest issue is getting to torches that are kept in known
locations in the absolute pitch black (or slight glow from LEDs on UPS
backed up kit).

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 18/10/2012 22:02, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
writes:
.....
Good practice for the future if the predicted power shortages occur,
most youngsters would enjoy the novelty.
A whole 3 hours ,you do sound a bit precious.

That's how long each of the rolling blackouts were in the 1970's
(miner's strike)....

I was working for an Electricity Board at the time. Three hours was
chosen because emergency lights should be capable of working for four
hours on batteries and they should have had enough time between cuts to
recharge.

Colin Bignell

On 19/10/2012 09:15, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:02:56 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

I had to feed the boys by candlelight, and luckily we only need the
gas hob.

Good practice for the future if the predicted power shortages occur,
most youngsters would enjoy the novelty. A whole 3 hours ...

Of course these days many people don't know how to make their own
entertainment without some electronic gismo. I bet there is many a
household without any board games, books, packs of cards etc.

It's more a question of whether the households with said board games,
books, etc have also got some candles to see them by!

Talking of candles, I've got this stupid rechargeable lantern,
supposedly 1 million candles, or something. I rarely use it, but I
charged it up last week or so. It's rubbish, and it's the second one
I've had - the first one developed a fault, a broken wire inside, and
had to be returned.

This one doesn't keep a decent charge in the battery at all. We put four
candles on the table to eat dinner by, and I rested the lantern on its
base so that it could shine up and reflect off the ceiling to give some
distributed light. After about five minutes the lantern was not
contributing at all. It made no difference in the presence of four real
candles.

Absolute piece of junk. If you can't leave it in a cupboard, supposedly
fully charged, and make good use it in a power cut, what's the point?

Michael

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:18:51 +0100, Michael Kilpatrick wrote:

It's more a question of whether the households with said board games,
books, etc have also got some candles to see them by!

Nasty dangerous things candles unless you are talking tea lights and even
then you need to be careful.

As for anything battery forget it if you want it to actually work when
needed or provide a decent amount of light for more than a few minutes.
We do have a small lantern with two 6" or so flourescent tubes that isn't
bad as far as light level and runtime is concerned, not sure it's still
on the market though.

Best is a gas lantern, they will run for many hours chucking out as much
light as a 80W tungsten bulb. Lasts even longer if you turn it down. Gas
cannisters don't go flat in storeage. Some lanterns come with piezo
ignition so you don't even need matches.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:57:30 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:18:51 +0100, Michael Kilpatrick wrote:

It's more a question of whether the households with said board games,
books, etc have also got some candles to see them by!

Nasty dangerous things candles unless you are talking tea lights and even
then you need to be careful.
But with lakeland for example knocking em out at 2.99 for 50 a cheap
way of getting some light if used sensibly.

Best is a gas lantern, they will run for many hours chucking out as much
light as a 80W tungsten bulb. Lasts even longer if you turn it down. Gas
cannisters don't go flat in storeage.

Not everybody has suitable storage for paraffin but we still have the
oil lamps the family used on the farm before they got a dynamo 75
years ago*,a 240 ac set 55 years ago and mains 48 years ago.
They have justified there retention several times despite the
successive types of electric power. The light from an oil lamp with a
proper mantle is actually quite pleasant and bright.

*did the final clear out of deceased dads shed/workshop the other
day,found a roll of lead covered 2 core cable left from that first
installation done by grandfather. It was 50Volt DC I was once told.

G.Harman

On 19/10/2012 09:15, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:02:56 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

I had to feed the boys by candlelight, and luckily we only need the
gas hob.

Good practice for the future if the predicted power shortages occur,
most youngsters would enjoy the novelty. A whole 3 hours ...

Of course these days many people don't know how to make their own
entertainment without some electronic gismo. I bet there is many a
household without any board games, books, packs of cards etc.

That's how long each of the rolling blackouts were in the 1970's
(miner's strike). As a child at the time, I found them quite
fascinating.

Aye, taught me that a power cut is no great problem provided you have
thought about it and have some back up. Lights go out here and there is
no great panic just an resigned "lets get the lanterns out". The kids
don't panic because we have never paniced, just get on with what needs to
be done. The biggest issue is getting to torches that are kept in known
locations in the absolute pitch black (or slight glow from LEDs on UPS
backed up kit).

Very simple solution is get a cheap LED based torch and bridge the
switch with a 1M resistor. The battery still lasts out it's nominal
shelf life, but the torch can then be found in pitch darkness. You may
have to wait a few minutes to be able to see obstacles though.

We have powercuts fairly often during big winter storms. I have a great
picture of the last tree to fall across our powerlines which amazingly
thanks to the new aluminium 3 phase cable with a steel hawser inside did
not actually fail. It did bend all the poles like bananas though.

We have a pair of emergency lights on permanent standby kitchen and
dining room and one portable (ex Woolworths closing down sale). All of
them will easily last a couple of hours. The woodburning stove can run
and provide light heat and boiling water if needed.

We do have candles and know where and how to use them. Much safer than
oil lamps which I also have as antiques. I really would not want to risk
lighting them - that would be asking for *big* trouble.

My first reaction when the mains drops out is to look across to see if
the village hall emergency lights are on. If they are then I know it is
a real powercut on all 3 phases and not a local trip on my fuse box.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 19/10/2012 11:57, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:18:51 +0100, Michael Kilpatrick wrote:

It's more a question of whether the households with said board games,
books, etc have also got some candles to see them by!

Nasty dangerous things candles unless you are talking tea lights and even
then you need to be careful.

As for anything battery forget it if you want it to actually work when
needed or provide a decent amount of light for more than a few minutes.

I have fixed emergency lights over my stairs and near the distribution
board. They will provide light for the four hours they are supposed to
and are very useful for making the house look occupied during a power
cut. The batteries do need to be replaced every few years though.

Colin Bignell

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:18:51 +0100, Michael Kilpatrick
wrote:

Talking of candles, I've got this stupid rechargeable lantern,
supposedly 1 million candles, or something. I rarely use it, but I
charged it up last week or so. It's rubbish,

They're all rubbish. The only way to make them any good is attach a
decent lithium battery pack and remember to do a maintenance charge on
that every so often.