Today was an interesting day to say the least. We woke at 2am with another blackout. It was raining outside but not much wind. The hurricane was north East of us about 130 miles. We got about 3 inches of rain and continue to get showers from time to time tonight. Considering north of us got over 12 inches. You can understand the miracle in the storm missing Port au Prince and the tent cities there. Its amazing after all time there is still so many in tent cities. The storm is heading north towards virginia. While they need the rain due to the swamp wild fire, not sure they wanted as much as is coming.
With no electricity in the house, Dad went out to start the generator. That started to charge the batteries while I uploaded the pictures on the computer during our free upload window. Shortly there after the power started to go out again. Daddy had to investigate. He checked the inverter, the batteries, and the generator. After a while it looked like it was resolved and I went back to bed about 4am for a few hours. I feel kind of bad because while I can sleep though anything, it was not fixed and Dad did not get sleep. I woke back up about 7am
After a few hours one of the problems that came to light was 4 of the batteries were wired incorrectly and did not allow them to contribute power to the household. Another problem was the inverter was on the wrong setting and not interpreting the power from the generator correctly and would click off. We are still not sure how that one happened except there may have been some damage due to the lightening strike that took out the transmitter.
Daddy called a friend down the road who specializes in electricity to come help. He arrived about noon. He and Dad began to check the equipment while I made lunch. I got everyone fed and began studying for my Project Management Exam coming up in a few weeks and started a pot of homemade chili. Yes its almost 90 degrees but there is rain and that needs chili.
After some investigation work they found out that the generator had a kink in the fuel line where it passes through the wall, preventing it from being able to pull up fuel out of the tank properly. That got that fixed, the batteries rewired, and the inverter set correctly. So Praise the lord we got it all put back together and have electricity again. If the rains stay off for a while tomorrow we will be able to fix the panels on the roof and boost our power intake.
The generator fuel pump is going out and will have to be replaced in the near future. Dad, our friend and I worked to elevate the fuel tank to make the pump have to work less in drawing the fuel out. The friend could not stay for dinner so I packed him some chili to go.
Dad and I enjoy bowls of chili with jalapenos and cheese. I added Avocados to mine, because what can I say, they are just the most awesome food. LOL
I cleaned the kitchen and we both caught up on the correspondence we missed this morning due to no electricity (IE: no computer or Internet) and are ready to drop into bed.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers
Its has been a great day over all with lots accomplished.
Tomorrow is another day.
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