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Posted

Generator arrives tomorrow afternoon after a 3 month wait...

Not that we get load shedding where we are. Its an odd one. I think we are forgotten about.

Supply comes direct from Eskom, and I know of one of the properties in the area who has never had an account from them. 3 phase supply and alles!

Needless to say I think that once winter grips it may change things so we took the gamble and bought a 6,8kva petrol machine. Fortunately we are on a plot with a 3ph db board far away from the house, so the change over switch goes there, a short run of cable back to the gennie, which will be housed in a small unused out house and we are A for away!

Posted

Generator arrives tomorrow afternoon after a 3 month wait.......!

When we had the first round of power failures a few years back, we put in a massive diesel generator that would start up automatically within seconds of the power getting cut. Thank goodness, we have (mostly) been able to work no matter what stupidity Eksdom got up to, but, we also had some hiccups that gave me some sympathy for them......

 

1. First time the power went off, nothing happened, just silence, turned out the battery went flat and couldn't turn it over to start.

2. No problem, will jump start it with cables from the Landy. Turns out it runs on 24 volt, so no go.

3. Install trickle charger to keep battery topped up, should be the end of our problems.

4. Next power cut, generator swings over trying to start but won't fire. Turns out you have to first prime the diesel pump by hand, stupid bloody machine. Install high pressure electric pump to prime diesel pump.

5. Next power cut EVERYTHING works 100%, we break out the champagne and laugh at the idiots that sit in the dark.

6. Next power cut, it tries to start but won't. Check, the diesel pipe from the tank to the generator is in tatters. Bloody rats chewed it up. Install metal grid to keep the little bastards out. What do they want with rubber and diesel anyway? Now nothing else can go wrong....

7.....or can it. Next black-out it still won't start, check. Diesel tank is empty. How the hell? Filled it up myself after the rat issue. Turns out the power went off over the weekend while nobody was at work, generator came on perfectly and just kept on running until it ran dry. Jissus, Eskom is looking smart compared to me. Install switch to prevent it running after hours.

8. It works perfectly, until staff forget to switch it off one afternoon and it drinks up all the fuel again overnight. Go fetch diesel from the petrol station on the corner. Sorry sir, we cannot help you, our pumps won't work when the power is off....****!

9. Keep a spare can with fuel under the reception desk....just for in case.

10. Everything is now running like clockwork.......and counting......

Posted

When we had the first round of power failures a few years back, we put in a massive diesel generator that would start up automatically within seconds of the power getting cut. Thank goodness, we have (mostly) been able to work no matter what stupidity Eksdom got up to, but, we also had some hiccups that gave me some sympathy for them......

 

1. First time the power went off, nothing happened, just silence, turned out the battery went flat and couldn't turn it over to start.

2. No problem, will jump start it with cables from the Landy. Turns out it runs on 24 volt, so no go.

3. Install trickle charger to keep battery topped up, should be the end of our problems.

4. Next power cut, generator swings over trying to start but won't fire. Turns out you have to first prime the diesel pump by hand, stupid bloody machine. Install high pressure electric pump to prime diesel pump.

5. Next power cut EVERYTHING works 100%, we break out the champagne and laugh at the idiots that sit in the dark.

6. Next power cut, it tries to start but won't. Check, the diesel pipe from the tank to the generator is in tatters. Bloody rats chewed it up. Install metal grid to keep the little bastards out. What do they want with rubber and diesel anyway? Now nothing else can go wrong....

7.....or can it. Next black-out it still won't start, check. Diesel tank is empty. How the hell? Filled it up myself after the rat issue. Turns out the power went off over the weekend while nobody was at work, generator came on perfectly and just kept on running until it ran dry. Jissus, Eskom is looking smart compared to me. Install switch to prevent it running after hours.

8. It works perfectly, until staff forget to switch it off one afternoon and it drinks up all the fuel again overnight. Go fetch diesel from the petrol station on the corner. Sorry sir, we cannot help you, our pumps won't work when the power is off....****!

9. Keep a spare can with fuel under the reception desk....just for in case.

10. Everything is now running like clockwork.......and counting......

 

shot for teh chuckles :P

Posted

We were not laughing last night.  We were busy riding track and then suddenly all the lights went out and we were left in the pitch dark.  Frikken scary ...I was going at 35km\h at that moment and could suddenly see NOTHING.  Unscheduled loadshedding.....yay. :thumbdown:

Posted

We were not laughing last night.  We were busy riding track and then suddenly all the lights went out and we were left in the pitch dark.  Frikken scary ...I was going at 35km\h at that moment and could suddenly see NOTHING.  Unscheduled loadshedding.....yay. :thumbdown:

Jinne, that is frikken scary......a crash would then look like this:

 

post-41755-0-43794300-1430891424_thumb.jpeg

 

Luckily no one will be able to see the new colour of my shorts.........

Posted

Well it seems to be pretty accurate, although I haven't compared it to anything else.

Why would you need to. The only measure is if it is correct or not. If it says off and it is off then it is correct? Or am I missing something?

 

All I want is good forewarning. I subscribe to Sharenet Load Shedding Service and that is 100% correct for Ctn. They have now just launched an app as well (Load Shedding Notifier)

Posted

Why would you need to. The only measure is if it is correct or not. If it says off and it is off then it is correct? Or am I missing something?

 

All I want is good forewarning. I subscribe to Sharenet Load Shedding Service and that is 100% correct for Ctn. They have now just launched an app as well (Load Shedding Notifier)

Like I say it's pretty accurate, every time there's a notification saying that the power's going out at such a time, then it goes off. And then it notifies you when Eskom has suspended load shedding for the day. I haven't tried any other apps but I think they all more or less work the same way with the same reliability.

Posted

Got to the kitchen this morning to make breakfast and have some coffee,but as I switched on the kettle :LOADSHEDDING!!!

Did not feel like dealing with this S...!!

Got on the bike and went for a ride.Got back and life was back to normal and I feel so much better.

Posted

Got to the kitchen this morning to make breakfast and have some coffee,but as I switched on the kettle :LOADSHEDDING!!!

Did not feel like dealing with this S...!!

Got on the bike and went for a ride.Got back and life was back to normal and I feel so much better.

That's the key part! :thumbup:

Posted

Don't want to open new thread for this little fact, not directly related to loadshedding, but:

 

ESKOM's R1.5bn budget for catering per year... If there are roughly 39 000 employees (per Wikipedia), and everyone works for 365 days per year (which they don't, but it will make the math easier).

 

That means that R105 is allocated to each employee per day on food. That is a lot. Say you work an eight hour shift, you get one meal - of R105. That's not bad to be employed there.

Ok how this actually works. Take a catering contract. Inflate the value by 200%. Allocate the contract to various catering companies that are owned by ANC fat cats' wives. Said catering company outsource the service to an established catering company at the original contract value.
Posted

Ok how this actually works. Take a catering contract. Inflate the value by 200%. Allocate the contract to various catering companies that are owned by ANC fat cats' wives. Said catering company outsource the service to an established catering company at the original contract value.

Afrikan Eureka; you have it. This is called BEE.  Bugger Everything Economic

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

SO the loadshedding schedules have been shuffled.

 

we are the happy winners now of the prime time 18:00 - 20:30 slot on weekdays

 

I am so happy...

Posted

SO the loadshedding schedules have been shuffled.

 

we are the happy winners now of the prime time 18:00 - 20:30 slot on weekdays

 

I am so happy...

I was wondering who got them, after ours changed, enjoy :thumbdown:

Posted

SO the loadshedding schedules have been shuffled.

 

we are the happy winners now of the prime time 18:00 - 20:30 slot on weekdays

 

I am so happy...

ours has been like that for a while!

 

fortunately the wife stays home with the boys, so there is a hot plate of food waiting in the oven for me when I get home from my commute......and the geyser has been on too, so a nice hot shower.

 

now if one tries the whole switching off of geysers when out or not needing hot water, and both partners work AND you have kids who are collected from day care, now you need to make food and get the rug rats cleaned...can't be a fun task.

 

it will be interesting to see the no. of gas hobs fitted as of late and also if there will be a "baby boom" over this load shedding period.

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