mark james
IAP Collection, Curator
I will be doing my own research to understand what I expect will be very good advice from IAP, but any hints to jumpstart me would be appreciated.
Here is my situation:
My wife and I have lived at our current house for 22 years. For 20 years we never had any power outages due to trees/limbs on our (utility company responsible) driveway. In the past 2 years, we have had 4 power outages.
The driveway is about 120 yards long, winds through a section of very tall trees; we suspect downed power lines will be more frequent in the future.
Our house is way too large for only my wife and I, so there is a high likelihood we will not be here within 5-10 years. My wife does not actually share that opinion as she loves the house. She also is being forced to resign/retire from work and will sign papers on Monday - so we both will be retired. That is actually a good thing as her parents are both 93 and rely on our assistance to keep them in their house.
We have a fuel oil boiler for baseboard water heat, when the power goes out we lose heat, lighting, water. There is no gas line on the property.
We have ruled out clear-cutting the front property of all potential trees. And running underground electricity lines through the woods. I am pretty sure even a high-end generator system would be much less expensive than those options, and would keep the property more attractive.
So, how to keep the fuel oil boiler working, hot water tank, some lighting, a few outlets for refrigerator, freezer. (I won't suggest a separate power plant for my shop ).
In my opinion, a good system while more expensive would be a benefit for a future house sale, but maybe a basic unit would suffice.
I am not an electrician - so this is a true Newbie on this end.
Thanks Family!
Here is my situation:
My wife and I have lived at our current house for 22 years. For 20 years we never had any power outages due to trees/limbs on our (utility company responsible) driveway. In the past 2 years, we have had 4 power outages.
The driveway is about 120 yards long, winds through a section of very tall trees; we suspect downed power lines will be more frequent in the future.
Our house is way too large for only my wife and I, so there is a high likelihood we will not be here within 5-10 years. My wife does not actually share that opinion as she loves the house. She also is being forced to resign/retire from work and will sign papers on Monday - so we both will be retired. That is actually a good thing as her parents are both 93 and rely on our assistance to keep them in their house.
We have a fuel oil boiler for baseboard water heat, when the power goes out we lose heat, lighting, water. There is no gas line on the property.
We have ruled out clear-cutting the front property of all potential trees. And running underground electricity lines through the woods. I am pretty sure even a high-end generator system would be much less expensive than those options, and would keep the property more attractive.
So, how to keep the fuel oil boiler working, hot water tank, some lighting, a few outlets for refrigerator, freezer. (I won't suggest a separate power plant for my shop ).
In my opinion, a good system while more expensive would be a benefit for a future house sale, but maybe a basic unit would suffice.
I am not an electrician - so this is a true Newbie on this end.
Thanks Family!
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