Anyone's having power blips

ollielaroo

Hi im in the west and the power gone off for a minute twice in an hour gettin a bit worried if its goin to go altogether anyone know anything?:eek:

spurscormac

where in Galway are you, city or county?

Currently in the office, but heading home later - hope I have electricity, otherwise I better stock up on wood & briquettes.

ollielaroo

Hi im in the county monivea area havent had any power shortages since just want to be prepared for the worst and to warn people in case electricity goes completley

spurscormac

Cheers - I'm in Knocknacarra area, so hopefully will be ok, but just a reminder that I'm so unprepared for a lack of electricity.
I think I need a trip to the shop this evening to stock up on the essentials.

traco

Random power outages in Naas, Kidare and surrounds also Portmarnock, Dublin last night.

Long term cold could be an issue for power if it persists, no idea where I heard or read that so don't quote me. Not sure of the reason why but it could be increased load on network, ice build up on lines and maybe teh cold effects substations, oil step down trafos but I could be talking complete waffle.

Sod it - where's google?

ayumi

soo there is a chance of a cut in electercity today is it said in news?

traco

Google update - supply and balancing the network seems to be the biggest issue in cold weather due to increased demand. So perhaps thats the issue with the return tto work and school the loading on the network has increased and we are seeing the odd drop out.

Wind generated power seems to suffer more in terms of out, seems to be because of hyigher pressue and less wind.

Nothing came up on hardware issues but living in NY I remeber ice storms playing havoc with power lines causing them to come down or break under increased weight but don't think thats an issue here.

Fuel supply could be a potential issue in terms of feeding the power plants to keep up with demand as everyone turns everything on to keep warm

traco

ayumi wrote: »

soo there is a chance of a cut in electercity today is it said in news?

Missed that but I did hear a warning about water shortages due to people leaving taps on to keep water flowing and prevent freezing. Looks like our infrastructue isn't set up for this cold spell. Wonder if there is anything on the esb site - Nope so don't bother checking

ayumi

traco wrote: »

Missed that but I did hear a warning about water shortages due to people leaving taps on to keep water flowing and prevent freezing. Looks like our infrastructue isn't set up for this cold spell. Wonder if there is anything on the esb site - Nope so don't bother checking

so there will be no electercity cuts in dublin today?no need to get anything ready

traco

ayumi wrote: »

so there will be no electercity cuts in dublin today?no need to get anything ready

Well there last update was dec 8 about the flooding in cork so nothing about nay recent outages anywhere from what I could see. Fingers crossed it'll be all OK but I was consideirng bringing the generator home from the warehouse. Heating is gas so would only need a small amount of power to run the central heating pump and power the gas boiler. All female in my house except for me so there'll be some complaining if the heating isn't working

ollielaroo

Two more blips today before 12 noon.
(blip = complete power outage for about 1 or 2 seconds)

This also happens to some of our neighbours. I have called ESB a few times but I was told when the outage last no longer than a second or two it is not deemed as being significant or important.

I will just have to keep calling.....

Pa ElGrande

ollielaroo wrote: »

Two more blips today before 12 noon.
(blip = complete power outage for about 1 or 2 seconds)

This also happens to some of our neighbours. I have called ESB a few times but I was told when the outage last no longer than a second or two it is not deemed as being significant or important.

I will just have to keep calling.....

If your neighbours are being affected by these brownouts then there is possibly something interfering with transmission lines, such as a tree branch or line blowing in the wind or more likely a local transformer may be failing.

ollielaroo

Hi Pa ElGrande,
Some very good points there, I have the mobile number of the local ESB guy who does the callouts etc. in this area. I'll give him a call. :-)

I have a PC and external hard-drive plugged into a Belkin surge protector but I'm concerned that the surge protector might not always be enough for these sort pf power surges, I don't know. I'm starting to look out for a UPS.

Would the Belkin surge protector work fine against these brief outages or brown outs?