Power. Is back on. Whoot Whoot I10/Scenic

The rumor mill on the ground is that, even with 1000s of good samaritan linemen here to work, many were sitting idle because of the lack of adequate coordination by FPL. If that is correct, I'm livid.

Given the longstanding complaints about electric rates and the public concerns following this storm, will our local governments commission an independent study of alternative electric service arrangements—including potential EREC expansion (which isn't perfect in this storm aftermath but at least upfront that their online data is inaccurate), municipal ownership, and regional utility cooperation? And will our state legislators fight to change Florida law to allow meaningful competition and give consumers a choice in their electricity provider?

In a region that values free markets, competition, and limited government interference, why are residents effectively locked into a single electric provider with no meaningful alternative? If competition is good for consumers in virtually every other industry, why shouldn't that principle apply to electricity?

It won't be an easy task, but can be done.

Thoughts?

Is it okay to be frustrated with FPL (and the powers that be) and be very thankful for every lineman at the same time? I hope so. FPL has, for days now, claimed 95% of power is restored. But that can not be true. And they keep changing the estimated date of restoration on my account. It says 11:45 pm tonight, but no one in my neighborhood believes them anymore. I've lived in Pcola my whole life and weathered plenty of storms and a few hurricanes. This particular hurricane and response to it is by far the worse. 6 days now in the dark and in the HOT, for a cat 2, and there's no end in sight. ALSO this is the first time there's no FEMA and no National Guard presence. I blame our Republican governor, DeSantis, along with our local Rep Jimmy Patronis. These folks and their party gutted FEMA, and this is the direct consequence of that decision. Also, FPL, the corporation, IS very friendly with this governor, and I think they are all in cahoots to keep fudging the numbers to make it appear as if 95% of electric service has been restored. It's all smoke and mirrors from a bunch of greedy asses who thought taking FEMA money and using it to build alligator alcatraz was brilliant. I hope everyone in the panhandle will remember this and VOTE accordingly. It's time for the Republicans to GO in Florida. And for people who are experiencing their first hurricane here on the Gulf Coast, TRUST that it's not always been this bad. But leadership matters and when the governor and the CEOs of our power company are besties, this is why no one is concerned with accuracy and transparency.

Sorry, I'm in a hurry, but I just wanted to say a few things. If you have power restored and you're doing well, I am happy for you. But if, like me, you are still in the dark (literally and figuratively), I wanted to shed light on how we got here. I hope everyone is okay.

With most all of us having lost power with the recent hurricane I thought it might be useful information to spread that you don't need to rely on gasoline generators to keep things going after a storm.

Many generators are built with dual (gasoline + propane) or tri (gasoline + propane + natural gas) fuel support these days.

So this year I had a plumber stub out the existing gas from under my house to the outside and install a quick-connect (picture 1). That way, I could run my generator directly off the natural gas feed to my house and never have to bother with refueling or running around trying to find gas stations that had fuel.

To run your entire house using a generator, all you need it a 50A plug wired through a breaker into your panel (pictures 2 and 4).

My home is approximately 2100sqft and my portable generator was able to simultaneously run my 3T and 1.5T air handlers/compressors, two refrigerators, tankless hot water heater, and miscellaneous other lights, fans, and small devices all at once. I didn't try to test it more than that, so I can't say if I could also run the clothes dryer with everything else running. But being selective with what's running at the same time lets you squeak by with less generator power.

The generator I used was a DuroMax 13KW (natural gas) peak, with 10.5KW "running" capacity. The gasoline conversion is a bit more efficient, at 15KW. But at 10.5KW I was able to run all the things mentioned above, so that was good enough for me. Costco had a sale on these at $2300 a few months ago. The bundle includes a few oil changes worth of oil, the gas line (gray line shown in photo), propane adapter, 50A plug (black cable in photo), and the generator plug (mounted to house shown in photo), and some other bits.

I also installed a soft-start on my AC units because otherwise the initial load of starting the rotors in the compressors would be too much for this setup.

Without a soft-start you need to be careful to select a generator that has sufficient peak power to start the compressor. The locked rotor amperage (LRA) requirements of my 3.5T unit is over 90A at a cold start. We're only working with a 50A total capacity, so clearly that would not work. The soft-start allows the compressor to come on more slowly and therefore lowers the LRA requirement. Check your compressor for your specific situation.

All-in, that is

1. Hire an electrician to install a 50A generator plug into your panel + interlock (picture 2, 4)
2. Stub your natural gas line out and install a quick connect on it (picture 1)
3. Install a soft-start on A/C compressor (not shown, but see here)
4. Purchase tri-fuel generator appropriately sized for your needs

Approximate cost
(1) $800
(2) $250
(3) $550
(4) $2300 (depends on size of generator purchased)

If you could do some of this work yourself, even better.

After putting 65 hours on my generator until my power was restored (yesterday evening, 5 total days and shutting it off overnight from around 10pm-7am) it looks like my final gas bill is going to be about $150ish? Just estimating by the fuel cost I'm seeing on older bills. But from what I read online, this generator drinks about 1gal of gasoline per hour. That's about $240 or so if I were running on gasoline. Plus the headache of locating the gasoline, potentially waiting in line for it, and constantly refueling the generator.

If you're interested in this setup but don't want a "whole house" setup, you can still do everything exactly the same way but just purchase a small generator. Then flip every breaker off in your interior sub panel, energize the house with the generator via the 50A plug, then selectively turn on only the circuit breakers you want to run and keep everything else off.

If you don't have natural gas, get an appropriately sized propane tank.

You don't need to spend $20k on a 20+KW Generac whole home setup. Small portables are absolutely capable of delivering the same capabilities at a fraction (like 20-25%) of the cost. This is my budget "whole home" generator setup and I thought I'd share.

Excuse the excessive dirt around the house. It's an active renovation project.

Really?

Got the first quote back from roofing company. They estimated $22,000 to replace the roof on a 2150 sq ft house. Is that in line with what everyone else is seeing?

How are the local comedians? Where is the best venue for it? I see odd colony come up, and Handlebar has something tomorrow. Is it worth it or are they not funny typically?

Man, I Love Food reviews Hurricane Isaias.

3 out of 5 stars. Very windy but was less wet than I expected. Tasted fun and exciting in the moment, but the aftermath left many bathrooms destroyed.

All kidding aside, we did just get through a natural disaster. Hell, the Waffle Houses were closed! Many of us are still without power (I only just got mine back last night). FPL is doing their best (not saying much, I know) and the tree guys and linemen are doing the work of saints in our streets.

The day after the storm passed I took a jaunt around my neighborhood to assess the damage. Except for the power loss and some minor damage to my motorcycles I came away relatively unscathed. Many of my neighbors were not so lucky. Downed powerlines, trees uprooted or snapped, fences and carports torn to pieces. Despite the disaster I saw my community coming together. Helping clear the roads and cut up downed trees with chainsaws or dragging large branches to clear paths.

Outside of my immediate neighborhood I saw the greater Pensacola community come together. Small businesses who either had power or generators offered up their space to provide power for those in need. Meals being given out for free. Heck, I’ve seen people here on this reddit offer themselves up to help those who need it (looking at you u/Kallenlorin). The big corporations did their part too. Walmart has been providing spaces for people to get some power in addition to offering free meals and shower spaces.

So yes, we went through a lot. Many of us have been through worse hurricanes, not that that makes any hurricane or disaster any better. But as Mr. Rogers’ mother used to say, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

I didn’t do as much as I could have. I helped a couple neighbors clear some trees, but have mostly been keeping to myself through this. I wish I could have been better and I hope I can be if/when something else happens.

If you know someone who has been helping please give them a shout out here. Especially our local businesses. I’d like to know who else I can support.

Get out there and help, my friends.

Now, hold your horses-- I'm not here to complain about my power being off or any other form of whinging (appropriate though it may be). I'm just curious for how much sentiment there is for stopping the vanity projects around town (that arch they almost built at the entrance to the beach, or the downtown Palafox remodeling for example) and use that money to bury all the power lines so that we're more storm-hardened as a community.

The recovery has been way more swift than expected, but it would be nice to not have to deal with it in the first place. To wit, we could've skipped all three derry-do about downed trees on power cables and such and just shoved everything out of the way to access the lines instead. Perhaps there's a reason we haven't buried more cables in unaware of, but it keeps nagging at me that it makes too much sense to ignore.

Spectrum posted something a few days ago (that now seems to have been deleted) saying that “80%” of their customers’ services have been restored.

There has only been ONE person on this subreddit that I have personally seen comment that they have their cox internet back up and running.

I have had power back since maybe Monday and I have had literally zero updates from spectrum about repairs despite signing up for text updates. You cannot glean any information from either the cox or spectrum websites.

I work from home and I’ll be out of PTO as of today. I work in telehealth and therefore have to be able to connect via a fast and private connection and I’m getting very worried about what my options are going to be after today.

Does anyone happen to have any information or know how to find information about service restoration?

These heroes showed up this morning and I have never been happier to see other men in my life lol……Let there be light !!!!!! Please ? 😐

I've been intentionally avoiding making any purchases for delivery under the theory of if I'm not willing to go out in this mess to get it, I'm not asking someone else to do it, either. But I know some rely on income from Dashing, Instacart, etc. and the storm hiatus may be painful in that regard. Are y'all ready for us to resume pre-storm delivery levels, or do you want us to hold off? If we do order, is there anything we can do to make your life easier (aside from tipping well, of course)? I'm legitimately interested in feedback from the drivers to make informed decisions.

Not complaining but wondering about the estimated time for restoration in the pine forest cantonment area, near the publix and orielys

Oh the irony. I’m at Cox-Spectrum in Bayou, waiting for my turn. Their guest WiFi has no internet connection. Just saying.

There was a thread last week and people said it wasn’t damaged or anything so hoping it’s just no power situation

Text reads:

“Pensacolians: It’s 4:30pm Wednesday, If you are WITHOUT power in the city (if you have a black garbage can) comment your street (don’t have to give an exact address) on this thread.

I want more transparency on where our city stands so if we’ve got to do it ourselves, we will. Comment here and I’m sending ‘em all in.

The only thing more frustrating than no power is missed expectations, I know that.

Fire them in:”

I’m beyond frustration right now. Linemen were in my neighborhood last night, and were in my yard to see the power line down, under the tree, and on the ground. They looked at it (I reported it as downed a few days ago,) and did nothing.

Then they later closed my ticket out and said I had power, when I most definitely did not. Now it says that estimated completion is Friday night?? How long am I supposed to sit with this safety hazard 5 feet away from my back door when I’m advised to stay at least 10 feet away? And even more maddening, the rest of my neighborhood has power now.

What was the point of them coming out, looking at the wire on the ground, and just decide “nah that’s fine” and go on about their night?

I’m tired of this “95%” restored bullshit. Who else is in the unlucky “5%?”

Hey guys hope everyone is safe from the storm! I heard we should expect some strong winds this weekend nothing super crazy but still some strong winds. I was wondering if I should be worried about my power going back out my powers been on since Sunday morning and has stayed on since knock on wood as far as I can see no weaken or stray branches near my power lines

Asking for some help, I've tried calling them but no one answers.

looking for a facility that accepts Medicaid for my grandmother with dementia and esrd that requires dialysis three times a week.

I gathered a list off her insurance website and would appreciate any insight/advice from anyone who has any experience or knowledge to help narrow down this list.

-Aspire at University Hills
-Arcadia
-Shelton Manor
-Solaris
-Olive Branch
-The Country Cottage
-Prisyco Manor
-Whispering Pines
-Consulate Healthcare of Pensacola
-Specialty Center of Pensacola
-Bayside
-Victorian Manor
-Noble Senior Living
-Arabella Health and Wellness
-Wesley Haven Villa
-Southern Oaks Center
-Berryhill Manor
-Sandy Ridge

We are forecasted to have 20 to 25 mph winds gusts to 30 mph or so Friday Night and Saturday.

Normally that is not a big deal but "days" after this it can become something more.

Also prepare for possible issues with power from trees, that are standing now, but might only need one more push.

And,

If you have any loose trees you can see and would damage something if they fell well.. Might want to consider calling someone to take care of it before Friday Night.

If you are new to this. Any type of low wind event like 20 mph to 30 mph or so can be extremely dangerous days after this. The roots of trees are already loose, so it doesn't take much.

Does anyone know how the UWF bike trails are looking after the storm?