[aprssig] 3' snow emergency (generators)

[Herb Gerhardt]

That was the old way of doing things when fuses were used as the Main
Disconnect/Service Disconnect.  That black block had fuses inside and when
it was installed upside down, the fuses did not make electrical connection
to the source.

Now days, they either use one Main Disconnect Breaker for the Service
Disconnect or alternately when your house panel does not contain one Service
Disconnect main, it is allowed to have no more than SIX breakers to
disconnect your entire panel.  It is the cheaper way of doing things and
permitted by the NEC.  The unfortunate part of using six breakers to
disconnect your entire panel, is that there is a portion of the bus inside
your panel that you can not isolate unless you pull the power company meter
that services your distribution panel......

I think we have beaten this subject to death......  Auto or Manual transfer
switches are nice, but in reality very few homes go to that expense when
they install an emergency generator or other power source.  I guess, you
folks in the concentrated areas of this country really don't have to worry
too much about being out of electricity for too long, but out here in the
Pacific Northwest power outages are still somewhat common.  My worst in the
last 15 years, had our area out of power for 5 days and some folks even
approached 9 days till it was all restored again after a big ice storm.  It
is not a major tragedy if you plan for it properly......  I try to remain
self sufficient from any services for at least 7 days and that includes
having enough food, water and shelter for that time and a means to cook the
food.....

Time to move on to other ham radio topics,

Herb, KB7UVC
NW APRS Group, West Sound Coordinator
Our WEB Site:  http://www.nwaprs.info

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aprssig-bounces at tapr.org [mailto:aprssig-bounces at tapr.org]On
> Behalf Of Scott Miller
> Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 11:57 AM
> To: TAPR APRS Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [aprssig] 3' snow emergency (generators)
>
>
> The house I used to live in had a big block marked 'service disconnect'
> or something like that - had a handle and could be pulled out
> completely.  I think you were supposed to flip it over when it was
> disconnected, and I'm pretty sure it could be locked/tagged out.
>
> Haven't noticed that any other place I've lived, though.  Maybe they're
> not standard equipment.
>
> Scott
> N1VG