[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012

I am curious: are power outages fairly common in a lot of areas in Connecticut? Do most people in such areas have generators? I will likely move to Maine for retirement and from what I've read a LOT of people have generators due to frequent outages. I would hate that.

Depends on where you live. I'm outside of Hartford and lost power during Irene for 1.5 days, and Sandy for 6 days. Other than that it's rare, and if it does happen it's a few hours if that.

I do not lose heat, hot water or my stove when I lose power. Just lights.

I have a friend in Hartford who didn't lose power either time.

[ryanthegoldengod]

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

Depends on where you live. I'm outside of Hartford and lost power during Irene for 1.5 days, and Sandy for 6 days. Other than that it's rare, and if it does happen it's a few hours if that.

I do not lose heat, hot water or my stove when I lose power. Just lights.

I have a friend in Hartford who didn't lose power either time.

I lived in Hartford for seven years and never lost power! West Hartford....different story.

[Poseidon3290]

My parents and my house were out for 10 days during sandy and that october snow storm.. had to rewire the furnace to run off the generator so the pipes didn't freeze!

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by SeaDoo342

Nah not really. Some big outages during hurricanes Sandy and Irene, but other than that, not very common.. I haven't lost power yet in the 2 years I've lived in my house... hope I didn't jinx myself for tomorrow..

No jinx for you, I hope!

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

Depends on where you live. I'm outside of Hartford and lost power during Irene for 1.5 days, and Sandy for 6 days. Other than that it's rare, and if it does happen it's a few hours if that.

I do not lose heat, hot water or my stove when I lose power. Just lights.

I have a friend in Hartford who didn't lose power either time.

I can understand losing power in a hurricane! Alas, there's no natural gas where I live and most of us use oil for heat. I use oil or wood pellets, but both require electricity. I am actually thinking of getting a couple of (propane) gas heaters (the kind you install on an exterior wall) before next winter, just in case ... their blowers wouldn't work in a power outage, but at least I'd have SOME heat. I have a lot of battery-operated lanterns and flashlights so I'm not too worried about light.

My ovens and stove are, alas, electric too, until I remodel my kitchen (a couple of years away). My water heater runs on propane so I guess that would continue ... haven't had to test it!

[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by JMagliola

My parents and my house were out for 10 days during sandy and that october snow storm.. had to rewire the furnace to run off the generator so the pipes didn't freeze!

Boy I love my millivolt natural gas furnace!!

Plus it was so sunny the week after and my bathroom has a southern window, so I had no problem getting ready for work every day. And my job provided lunch for us daily since they knew so many of us didn't have power (work ran on a generator).

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Cambium

My cousin plans on OT with this one. He's DOT in Pelham, NY. Good call on Travel ban. I just hope people don't get stuck somewhere. Some folks might travel to work 3-6am then get stuck after 9am there

I'll be working a 12 hour (8a-midnight) shift due to the storm. Hope I can get home at midnight.

[Lalalally]

Power outages are Rare for prolonged periods of time. I've lived in western CT for 22 years and aside from a less than 1 hour outage no more than 5 times a year at MOST, there were only 2 times we were without electricity for an extended period of time. First was hurricane Irene for about 2 days. I honesty don't have any recollection of Details other than feeding our neighbors hotdogs that night!, and I do remember having to run our then brand new generator that night. Second time was a year later when we had a freak October storm. It happened too early in the year, with too many leaves still on the trees. So when the 18 inches fell on the already heavy limbs, things crashed smashed snapped and fell the whole night. We were running on a generator that storm from a Saturday to the following Saturday. But that was such a freak and weird occurrence. We actually had road crews all the way from Canada show up in our town that week. Outlier memories though. Usually no more than an hour and no more than a handful of times a year. No worries.

[hvexpatinct]

Short term power outages are not uncommon in Litchfield county. They seem to be fairly regular in towns like New Milford, Litchfield, and Woodbury where the tree cover is fairly extensive but less so in more populated areas like Watertown and Torrington. The longer term power outages in recent memory were for Irene, Sandy, and that freak October storm back in 2011-12. All of those lasted 3-7 days in many towns.

[mels]

After TS Irene, superstorm Sandy, and the October snowstorm, a lot of us are a bit paranoid about power outages. I had no power for almost a week with 2 out of 3 of those storms. Now people like me assume the worst and hope for the best!

Back to the current storm, I can't blame the state for the travel ban. Unprepared idiots who get stranded just hinder snow removal. It's the age old story of a few bad apples ruining it for the bunch.

[Csiko]

Originally Posted by Lalalally

Power outages are Rare for prolonged periods of time. I've lived in western CT for 22 years and aside from a less than 1 hour outage no more than 5 times a year at MOST, there were only 2 times we were without electricity for an extended period of time. First was hurricane Irene for about 2 days.

My boyfriend at the time camped out with me, his family's house in North Haven (near Sleeping Giant) was without power for 7-8 days with Irene, and another few days with the snowstorm after it or Sandy (can't remember which).

I've lived in Wallingford for the last 10 years. Cheaper electric and it never goes out.