The workers who service these utility lines shouldn't be put in peril because of improperly installed generators.

One of the reasons that it takes longer than anyone would like to restore power is that the lineman doing that work have to constantly be on guard against stray power that can maim or kill. I realize that some know-it-all will say that they are supposed to take the steps to isolate each line segment they are working on and that is true. But when the lines are down in the street like plates of spilled spaghetti and poles have been turned into tooth picks it gets a little challenging to find places to ground those lines on both sides of the work. Add to that the twelve hour shifts worked for days on end and you have the makings of a young person’s funeral.

After one of our more serious summer storms I was doing damage assessment to check the accessibility of buildings in the Takoma Park Fire Station’s service area. I was flagged down by a utility crew that told me that there was power coming back out to their lines from an improperly connected generator. They explained that they were not allowed to talk to the home’s occupants themselves because the conversation might get ugly given that such depraved indifference to the safety of others for the sake of ones own convenience has killed dozens of lineman over the years. I donned my helmet and safety vest over my work uniform and started up the front walk just as a utility manager arrived in his sedan. Since the supervisors, who come in pickup trucks, were being so thinly spread managers were also getting into the effort. I turned back to let him handle it and got quite a surprise.

This gentleman was around the age when most in his industry would retire. I expected that he would have the meter pulled and then explain to the occupants that they were endangering the lineman and that their service would remain disconnected until the counties electrical inspector could verify that the makeshift generator connection had been cleared. Instead he opened the trunk of his car and pulled out a lovingly cared for set of all leather climbing gear. (Climbing gear of any recent manufacture would be predominantly synthetic materials.) He put his suit coat in the car and donned a pair of leather lineman’s boots that although in beautiful condition were obviously older than some of the linemen he was managing. He had a member of the crew that had been waiting for him pull the meter and install a blank with a locking meter ring to prevent the blanks removal. He walked up to one of the trucks and took out a large insulated wire cutter. He then donned his climbing gear and pole gaffs, climbed the pole, donned his insulated gloves, and cut all three of the wires that served that home so that the service drop wires fell into their front yard. He then ordered the other end of the drop removed from the home. (The wires between the pole and the strain relief bracket on the house belong to the utility. The wires from the eve down to the meter belong to the buildings owner.) He then went up to the door and talked to the occupants to inform them that their service would not be restored without an order from the county and why. I asked the foreman of the crew why the manager would cut the drop personally and the foreman said that it was the managers way of taking complete responsibility for the removal of the service drop from the home.

Let me assure you that a service drop that is removed to render lines safe from a generator back feed is the very last thing that gets replaced after a wide spread power outage. With the threat of sudden death removed, work to restore power to hundreds of homes could then resume. When I got home to my own darkened house after my shift with the Volunteer Fire Department had ended I read in the paper that a lineman had been killed the previous day by a generator back feed only two counties away.

Something else that you may want to be aware of is that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is committed to seeking reckless maiming or manslaughter charges against anyone who injures or kills a lineman by connecting a generator to a building’s wiring without the proper safeguards in place. If someone were being so callous with your life you would get a little testy too.

The Moral is that if you didn’t have a generator connection installed and inspected in advance you must not try to connect one to your home’s wiring with improvised methods! Just run cords from the generator to the loads that you need to power. If the load is not cord and plug connected and thus cannot be supplied by a cord from the generator then be prepared to do without it.

Tom Horne is a Master Firefighter / Rescuer of the Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Department which is an assisting agency of the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service, Maryland by vocation.  He is also a practicing Electrician by craft with over forty years experience in the installation, maintenance, and operation of emergency and standby power systems.

Copyright 2001 by Tom Horne. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Other advances

Multispeed indoor AND outdoor units are much quieter and save more money by matching the compressor and fan speeds to actual need. Additionally they also control humidity much better than single speed units.

There are also better filters (We like the 4” pleated) that work better but do not need to be changed every month and don’t generate Ozone like some of the Electrostatic unit.  UV Lamps in duct work serve to sterilize mold spores and pollen, further reducing potential allergens.

Modern thermostats are now typically programmable for setbacks during off periods and can even cope with larger setbacks without invoking the dreaded Heat-Pump Auxiliary Heat.

Compare the SEER ratings to calculate your energy savings.

How much you will actually save will depend on how you live, your thermostat settings,  the age of your equipment and more, but from the chart at left, you can see that the potential savings can be substantial.

As little as 8 years ago, SEER 8 units were still being sold and installed because they were cheap. It was only in 2006 that a minimum allowable SEER was mandated, and that was only 13.

Want to get an idea of what you might save? Take your HIGHEST electric bill and subtract your LOWEST. What is left typically represents your highest cooling cost. Then multiply by the appropriate factor from the table. You may not get that savings every month, but it gets the point across.

Last year, we had our furnace and heat pump units replaced, even though they were just ten years old. Since then, we’ve seen between 30%-50% drops in our electric bills. At this rate, the new system will have paid for itself within five years. Not a bad return on our investment!

Coming Up Next

There have been big changes in Refrigerator and Freezer efficiencies. You may want to unplug that old freezer in the basement after reading what we have learned! Look for that article soon!