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Post by Seven on Aug 5, 2020 11:32:45 GMT -6
Yesterday, tropical storm Isaias rolled through the area and dumped about 6" of rain in a few hours, along with some damaging winds to the area. We lost power a total of 3x, the last one for about 12 hours. After the first couple, my wife and I decided to turn the A/C off since it was cycling as the power fluctuated between the utility and our standby generator. The house was cool enough to not need it anyway. The house started to warm up last night after the storm blew through so I put the A/C back on but the house never really cooled down...breakers looked ok so I figured I'd address it this morning. Went outside and noticed that the power line running to the outside unit was "exploded" for lack of a better word. It was severed in 2 and there was noticeable singeing on the wire, the foundation wall and a bit of the siding. The junction box off to the side was also singed/blackened.
At around 12:30am, our alarm system went off while we were sleeping, alerting us to a high carbon monoxide level. The alarm company is required to call in the fire department so the wife and I had to stand outside while the township police, an emergency ambulance and the volunteer fire department showed up...it was quite the light show at 1am. I figured the utility coming back or a power surge lead to CO alarm going off but sure-as-sh1t we had a real CO issue in the house. Fire company had to air the house out before letting us back in.
So now it's Wednesday and I have no A/C and a faulty generator install issue or hopefully a simple air leak somewhere. HVAC company is coming this afternoon to assess the damage and hopefully determine the cause...I'm thinking it was a power surge that hopefully only damaged the wiring and not the unit. In hindsight, my wife and I heard a loud bang outside when we got home from the gym so this must have happened at that time...I was about 5 feet away from it and didn't notice anything at the time.
The good news is that we had a functioning carbon monoxide alarm and we were actually able to wake up...it's better than the alternative!
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Post by Ken on Aug 5, 2020 12:15:18 GMT -6
Wow, that is some shit. Where are you located again? I know the storm went up the Florida east coast and up the Carolinas, etc. Glad to hear the CO detector did its job. That's some scary stuff.
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Post by Seven on Aug 5, 2020 13:22:12 GMT -6
I'm in Chester County, PA, about 50 miles west of Philadelphia. Seems this general area was hit pretty hard based on the amount of people without power still.
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Post by Ken on Aug 5, 2020 13:25:36 GMT -6
So do we know what happened with the power line? When weather does its thing, power is often one of the first things to go. The house I'm in was built in 1990/1991. Our subdivision has the power underground but right behind me is an older subdivision and I can see their power lines. Clearly the lines leading to me are also above ground so the fact that mine are "out of the way" is pretty irrelevant. Wind, ice, etc. always screws with infrastructure. Glad you and your wife are okay.
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Post by shaggaroo on Aug 5, 2020 14:31:59 GMT -6
glad you and the missus are ok seven!
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Post by Seven on Aug 5, 2020 16:36:48 GMT -6
So do we know what happened with the power line? When weather does its thing, power is often one of the first things to go. The house I'm in was built in 1990/1991. Our subdivision has the power underground but right behind me is an older subdivision and I can see their power lines. Clearly the lines leading to me are also above ground so the fact that mine are "out of the way" is pretty irrelevant. Wind, ice, etc. always screws with infrastructure. Glad you and your wife are okay. Thanks! Everyone who's looked at it so far thinks it was a power surge but they've never seen so much damage from one before. I have pics of the damage but need to upload them. Literally, the line that runs from the junction box to the outdoor unit is severed and there are burn marks on the concrete foundation wall. Wire coverings are gone, as is some of the copper. This is outdoor, weather-proof casing that is obliterated. I'm no electrician and I've never played one on TV but this happened when the utility was out and we were running 100% on generator power. I wonder if the utility tried to come back and the bypass switch wasn't working? But the A/C was turned off at time? Very confusing to me.
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Post by Seven on Aug 5, 2020 16:39:02 GMT -6
glad you and the missus are ok seven! Thanks! If I was a cat and started with 9 lives, I'm probably down to only a couple at this point. I began getting some quotes to replace either the A/C or the whole unit...not cheap! I also have a guy coming out tomorrow who thinks he can repair it but I have my doubts.
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deerslyr
Full Member
Cheesehead
Posts: 158
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Post by deerslyr on Aug 5, 2020 20:40:14 GMT -6
First... glad you are safe.
Second... is there any sort of insurance claim to be had?
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Post by Seven on Aug 6, 2020 6:28:30 GMT -6
First... glad you are safe. Second... is there any sort of insurance claim to be had? Thanks! I spoke to my agent and he said that this wouldn't be covered under the homeowner policy but suggested pursuing with the utility. The HVAC repair guy was doubtful that the utility would cover anything unless we can prove that they caused the surge. They can always claim that it was an "act of God" which pretty much prevents them from being responsible. I do plan on submitting a form to the utility though...worst they can do is deny it.
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Post by bklmt2000 on Aug 6, 2020 6:46:03 GMT -6
My 2 cents: first things's first - you and yours are safe.
I'd be prepared to have everything replaced; the damage that happened, and just what you could see out in the open, makes me think the damage is quite likely extensive.
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Post by Seven on Aug 6, 2020 8:35:27 GMT -6
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Post by bklmt2000 on Aug 6, 2020 8:42:29 GMT -6
Damn. That's some scary shit.
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Post by Ken on Aug 6, 2020 8:45:22 GMT -6
Whoo boy. Toasty. The insurance companies have it down. There is no road to a claim unless: The damage was done by Sasquatch, a unicorn or the Loch Ness Monster or "a swarm of Bolivian locust that is 30,000 in number or greater". I remember tussling with my insurance when there was a badass hail storm. Every other house around here had their roof replaced. Eventually I did too but it took 3-4 trips out to my house by State Farm to do it. Again, you're okay and that's what's important. "Stuff" can be replaced. I know it's a headache and I'm sure standing outside at 1am in your tighty whities is an unparalleled experience but still... you're okay.
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Post by drez on Aug 6, 2020 8:53:36 GMT -6
Have not been on because of the storm. Lost power around 630 Tuesday night along with cable. Looks like we may get it back Saturday. Lots of trees damage as well, at least that let me play with the tractor and chainsaws. We have a generator to keep the fridges going and both sets of parents have power so we can go there if needed. Guy I work with in CT is saying they have a restoration date of next week.
I worked for a utility company and did many storm restorations... They seem to do them differently now, not better imo.
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Post by Ken on Aug 6, 2020 9:13:21 GMT -6
Hang in there Drez. We take utilities for granted, I know. When you have no lights, no web, etc. it's like living in a cave. I can't imagine being someone who works to restore utilities over a wide area of storm damage, flooding, ice, snow, etc. It must be slow and deliberate work and meanwhile everyone is standing around tapping their foot like COME ON!!!!!
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