What would the shortest, darkest day of the year be without a power outage? This morning began with pouring rain. (it never actually rains on Saltspring, remember)
Then, mid morning, well, you could tell it was after sunrise, as it did get lighter out, it began to snow. Heavy, wet flakes that piled up to about 10cm in a couple of hours. Then, at about 1 PM, the power went out.
Luckily, the motorhome is parked only 150 ft from the house, and is powered by leeching off the line that runs to the well out back. It has a bow mounted 10kw Onan Genset. I plugged the genset backwards into the 15 amp plug at the RV power outlet and 1/2 the house had power. Then I ran a 200' extension cord down to the house and a second backwards plugin and the whole house was powered. I turned off the HW tank and the Christmas lights, and we were good till the power came back on.
When my nearest neighbour showed lights, I called to see if it was of his own making or from the grid. That was after only 3 hours, so a good part of daylight gone.
Now the days will be getting longer and brighter.
