Dennis G.

[jokers]

- C ? or - C- ? Hmmm.......

 

[jokers]

Where`s Fish, I need him to help me conjecture on this!

 

[Dennis]

Hey All

Hey everyone...I have some temporary internet access with my gen set running and phone lines sorta working.

the main fires have stopped moving towards Clearwater (45km away) but we still have another moving our way..about 30km from here...the fire gained 6000 hectares yesterday...1 hectare= 2.2? acres....we are still on alert as the bush is tinder dry, and a fire can start anywhere, anytime. We got a bit of rain finally (34 days without) last night, but with that came lightning strikes..136 I think the night before last..waiting on this mornings report.

We have been busy with the pumps and gen sets at the store...trying to keep the firefighters working...hwys are still shut down around us pretty much....I have my property lined with sprinklers and my pump running them out of the burling pond from the log show. I have several peoples stuff in my feild that have been evacuated.

My health is improving as I have been able to get a bit of rest as of late and stay out of the sun...the leg is healing up good...but when I get in the sun...that is when I feel it.

I should get going...I have alot to do while I am online for a couple minutes...talk to you all soon!

Dennis

 

[Fish]

I Drink,
Therefore "I AM"!

 

[Fish]

Not trying to stir up the pentecostals among us, but the last post
came to me suddenly,
an epiphany!

Be brave my children!

Never trust a Canadian!

 

[Dennis]

Woohoo...another block of power for us! Power is restored to the greater part of Clearwater, but only to "essential" services. Residential power is no problem, but businesses must get their own gen sets...I have a little 900watt, but I am ordering a new 5000 electric start today. The town here is like a ghost town...they figure there are about 30% of the residents left in town. The fire crews get home around 8-9 pm from the dayshift, so that is when all the gen sets and pumps get dropped off..then 8-9 am when nightshift ends...they are hammering the fire 24/7, but not making much for gains..

Here is some of the smoke in the valley...I only have a couple pics as my batteries died in my camera....and its next to impossible to find Lithium batteries in town...I usually order them...but that isn't possible right now...

 

[dbabcock]

Be careful about what kind of generator you get when you shell out big coin for a 5000 VA unit if you want to run sensitive electronics on it (computers, stereos, etc.). Most generators in this range that you see for about $1000 US are optimized for running motors and "contractor-type" tools. They are designed for optimum efficiency and portability and thus their outputs more closely resemble square waves than sine waves. Also, because the 60 Hz. line frequency is determined by the number of poles that the generator has and the RPM that the generator turns, the governor on the engine only regulates line frequency, not line voltage. As such, a 120 V rated generator, when under light electrical load, may produce upwards of 140 V which can be a significant problem for some electronic devices.

If you want to run electronic devices off of your generator, you should be looking at one with a "low distortion" output as well as an electronically voltage regulated secondary. This regulator effectively separates engine speed from output voltage level, giving you both a constant line frequency and output voltage at the same time. The bad news is that such a generator costs a little more than the non-regulated type. My liquid-cooled Honda 6500ES is flat rated at 6000 VA and has such freatures, but cost about $2700 US from Northern Tool.

Good luck, and glad you're OK.

 

[Harley]

Hey Den,

Good to hear you're still alive and getting better. Hope the fires subside soon. I wish there was some way I could give you some of the rain I've been getting here in the last week or so.

 

[joemarty]

dennis

glad to hear your felling better. Hope fires stop soon, because i have plenty of fires to put out here in Texas with my 088. Its been gone since october and fires building all around me.

joemarty

 

[Wade Huggins]

Has anybody heard anything from Dennis? I was going to call earlier today but wasn't sure if I should bug him or not. Let me know if you guys have heard anything or not.............Thanks Wade

 

[Marky Mark]

I spoke to Dennis the other day, the heat kicked his ass for a while. He also mentioned he was taking delivery of a generator
Tues or Wens. The power is on for a few hours a day and that's it, the lines were burned.He's busy working on the fire crews gear.
As far as shipping goes forget it for now.I am sure this whole fire is going to put a dent in his back pocket. Dennis made mention that
the town is hurting since there is no income coming in right now.

On the bright side he has that Awesome buffalo mount.

 

[wmthrower]

What kind of town is Clearwater? Is it a lumber mill town?
Best of luck to everyone there. My fiance is from Oregon and some of the fires there last summer had the same affects on the people.

 

[Dennis]

Well, things are mostly back to normal here now. Friday Afternoon they hooked us back up to main power as we have been on large gensets since the outage. Our highways are now open.

Fires are still rampant in BC, with the newest one being about 40km east of us in Avola...so far only one house has been lost there and I haven't heard status of the fire this morning.

Our pumper truck has been very busy hauling water with the fires, one of the reasons I haven't been on AS, and the other being computer problems....but I think they are fixed.

The heat has subsided for the most part, but still not much rain...I however am feeling better because of it.

For those of you that have saws here, we are catching up on the backlog and all should be shipped before the end of the week. I am not in the store for today but will be in tomorrow morning bright and early if you want to phone me.

Thanks for everyone's patience!!!