Electric blackouts

[Yellow Fang]

There are some blackouts from the storms recently, but in general there are not as many as there used to be. Gas obviously still works in a blackout. I seem to remember that phones still used to work when there was a blackout, back in the days when most phones were on land lines. What kept the phones working? Water still works in a power cut too. There must be some energy used in pumping water up to someone's bathroom. It is not a lot of energy, but it must come from somewhere. I cannot remember ever seeing a water pump. What powers the water pumps?

If you have an array of solar PV panels, it is still no use to you in a power cut because they are grid connected. In fact, I believe these things complicate the engineers job in re-connecting the grid. Still, thinking about it, there is no reason you cannot keep charged up your own back up batteries if you wanted to. It would be expensive, you couldn't run any a.c. devices, not even your freezer, but you could do it.

 

[MontyVeda]

i think tap water is gravity fed between the reservoir and your tap. Depends where you live i guess. Anyhow, all the important utilities rely on diesel powered back up generators in the event of a black out.

 

[mark st1]

Off topic but my internet connection and phone line have been just pure shite since Christmas Eve. Internet is the slowest it's ever been pictures are loading like dial up, you tube is a complete no no and the phone line although working is crackly with what sounds like someone blowing down the line.

 

[screenman]

There are some blackouts from the storms recently, but in general there are not as many as there used to be. Gas obviously still works in a blackout. I seem to remember that phones still used to work when there was a blackout, back in the days when most phones were on land lines. What kept the phones working? Water still works in a power cut too. There must be some energy used in pumping water up to someone's bathroom. It is not a lot of energy, but it must come from somewhere. I cannot remember ever seeing a water pump. What powers the water pumps?

If you have an array of solar PV panels, it is still no use to you in a power cut because they are grid connected. In fact, I believe these things complicate the engineers job in re-connecting the grid. Still, thinking about it, there is no reason you cannot keep charged up your own back up batteries if you wanted to. It would be expensive, you couldn't run any a.c. devices, not even your freezer, but you could do it.

Plenty of houses around here still on batteries, they also have all the electric items you use, insome cases many more.

Shows there is still very much a north south divide.

 

[cyberknight]

There are some blackouts from the storms recently, but in general there are not as many as there used to be. Gas obviously still works in a blackout. I seem to remember that phones still used to work when there was a blackout, back in the days when most phones were on land lines. What kept the phones working? Water still works in a power cut too. There must be some energy used in pumping water up to someone's bathroom. It is not a lot of energy, but it must come from somewhere. I cannot remember ever seeing a water pump. What powers the water pumps?

If you have an array of solar PV panels, it is still no use to you in a power cut because they are grid connected. In fact, I believe these things complicate the engineers job in re-connecting the grid. Still, thinking about it, there is no reason you cannot keep charged up your own back up batteries if you wanted to. It would be expensive, you couldn't run any a.c. devices, not even your freezer, but you could do it.

Phones used to pull power from their own circuits, nowadays they all need to need to be plugged into the mains it seems.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Plenty of houses around here still on batteries, they also have all the electric items you use, insome cases many more.

Shows there is still very much a north south divide.

Really, where's that? Are those houses out on the moors, or mobile homes or something? Are those electric items 12V dc appliances?

 

[Yellow Fang]

i think tap water is gravity fed between the reservoir and your tap. Depends where you live i guess. Anyhow, all the important utilities rely on diesel powered back up generators in the event of a black out.

That's interesting. That might explain why those old water tanks used to be built on hills and were relatively tall. When I was a boy in Bury St Edmunds, the water tower used to be the first thing I'd see of Bury on cycling back towards town. I had the impression that most of those water towers weren't in use any more.

 

[snorri]

. I seem to remember that phones still used to work when there was a blackout, back in the days when most phones were on land lines. What kept the phones working?.

Batteries in the exchange ensured service was not interupted and a diesel powered generator started up after a few seconds to keep things going.

 

[subaqua]

Batteries in the exchange ensured service was not interupted and a diesel powered generator started up after a few seconds to keep things going.

The telephone system uses it's own power as snorri says.

The gas network also has back up gen sets, as does the water network. Some places in the south have lost all 3 utilities as the back up gen sets couldn't run or the pumps were submerged.

 

[swansonj]

As others have said, the telephone system was designed so that all telephones are powered centrally from the exchange, at 50 V DC. Old-fashioned phones had entirely passive components - the microphone was a variable resistor (originally a capsule packed with carbon granules where the diaphragm compressed them and therefore varied the surface area in contact with each other) that modulated the current being driven from the exchange. It is perfectly possible to power a modern telephone from that 50 V power supply and many phones, even when stuffed with electronics, do not need an external power supply. But there is a limit to the power a phone can draw, particularly when a call is not in progress (because it is drawing a current that tells the exchange that a call is starting), so phones that need significant power need a separate power supply. It's a good idea to keep at least one phone that doesn't need an external power supply for emergency use - I have a dial phone in the garage, but that's at least in part so I can relish the dial mechanism, arguably the most reliable mechanical device ever mass produced - those of you who remember when that was the only sort, do you ever remember a dial going wrong?

 

[machew]

Many years ago I made a battery charger that drew the power from the telephone system and charged up my AA

 

[screenman]

Really, where's that? Are those houses out on the moors, or mobile homes or something? Are those electric items 12V dc appliances?

Quite a few are off grid, we have a new build near us belonging to friends which is just so. They charge batteries via a windmill and solar, there is also a back up genny seldom used. All of the electrical items are 240v running through an inverter, so I am told. Massive great house, snooker room etc. so it seems to work.

 

[The Jogger]

Our electric went off xmas eve for about eight hours although lots of other people nearby had no electricity over xmas. We had no rail service on xmas eve and still haven't. The river 150m from our house burst it's banks, luckily for us it flowed away from us but others had to use sand bags. The roads were not gritted which led to a number of accidents on the A3 on boxing day, there was no buses put on xmas eve to replace trains, leaving people stranded trying to get home for xmas and the response from the environment department was minimal concerning the floods. Obviously the cuts are having an effect, a detrimental one.