Bonnie Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 No power in Palo Alto since 2:30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Doug Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Someone reported it out also at the top of Jaramillo. It gets old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 Electricity back finally, after almost five hours. I'm with Doug: this gets really old. I find that it's impossible to plan anything because lights are required even to operate a gas stove. I've enjoyed Boquete almost as long as I can stand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcelyn Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Here it is 8:30pm and we just lost electricity for the second time today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Absolutely disgusting! Instead of once a day protracted outage, we now seem to be averaging two such occurrences on a daily basis. And no, not counting the short duration outages of less than a minute or two. We typically lose electricity for several hours at a time. Trying to be positive here, at least this outage is a total outage rather than the really hard ones from an appliance perspective of losing only one phase, or wildly fluctuating voltages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Hampton Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) Nearly 140 years after Edison started the first distribution company it amazes me that Panama (Fenosa) is still having difficulty delivering consistent, reliable power, with nothing more than wind (or rain) as a natural bogey man. Hard to remember a week without any interruptions. No one has ever explained to me why our power goes off regularly for a minute or two and then comes back on. Why is it happening so often in the first place? Switching within the grid? Really? No one is expecting a "1st World" electrical system - - - but what exactly do we have? 2nd? 3rd? Something in between? HOLLY COW. Just went off again! Now back on after a 10 minute delay. So lets hear from the electrical engineers as to why this is happening. Edited February 18, 2018 by John R Hampton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahren Grauer Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) What I can't comprehend is why the electrical main feed to Boquete wasn't ran under ground during the widening of the highway a few years back! Piss poor planning as usual here. Some idiot that can't drive runs off the highway and takes out a trunk line concrete power pole below los Molinos a while back and the whole area was without power for the day? WTF? Edited February 18, 2018 by Ahren Grauer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siempre Soluciones Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 8 hours ago, John R Hampton said: Nearly 140 years after Edison started the first distribution company it amazes me that Panama (Fenosa) is still having difficulty delivering consistent, reliable power, with nothing more than wind (or rain) as a natural bogey man. Hard to remember a week without any interruptions. No one has ever explained to me why our power goes off regularly for a minute or two and then comes back on. Why is it happening so often in the first place? Switching within the grid? Really? No one is expecting a "1st World" electrical system - - - but what exactly do we have? 2nd? 3rd? Something in between? HOLLY COW. Just went off again! Now back on after a 10 minute delay. So lets hear from the electrical engineers as to why this is happening. John, Retired EE here however my area of study was digital. Burning up chips and circuits boards in lab was cool, studying safety particularly electrocution in high capacity electrical environments wasn't. Designing and manufacturing a bad chip could earn you a bad grade, a miscalculation in a hicap lab could result in death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siempre Soluciones Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 2 hours ago, Ahren Grauer said: What I can't comprehend is why the electrical main feed to Boquete wasn't ran under ground during the widening of the highway a few years back! Piss poor planning as usual here. Some idiot that can't drive runs off the highway and takes out a trunk line concrete power pole below los Molinos a while back and the whole area was without power for the day? WTF? Ahren, It comes down to cost and time to repair. Underground utilities experience far less disruptions however are far more difficult to detect and resolve problems versus above ground lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 This tracking site with map can tell folks who are relocating to the U.S. where they're least likely to experience power outages. https://poweroutage.us/ There are still over 350,000 without electricity in Puerto Rico. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 Given the population of the U.S., this is very few people without power. Puerto Rico suffered a devastating hurricane. Nothing remotely similar has taken place here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoSailors Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 1 hour ago, Keith Woolford said: This tracking site with map can tell folks who are relocating to the U.S. where they're least likely to experience power outages. https://poweroutage.us/ There are still over 350,000 without electricity in Puerto Rico. That's a very interesting site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoSailors Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 This is the history link to Fenosa: http://www.gasnaturalfenosa.com.pa/pa/inicio/conocenos/quienes+somos/historia/1297110395133/la+buena+energia.html This statement from their website is interesting: We have reduced the time of interruptions for our own cause from 1998 to date by more than 87%, achieving the best quality of service results in the Central American region. Wonder where that is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 13 minutes ago, TwoSailors said: That's a very interesting site. Well, it's in real time so always subject to change. It would be informative to see the historical data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 13 hours ago, Bud said: Absolutely disgusting! Instead of once a day protracted outage, we now seem to be averaging two such occurrences on a daily basis. And no, not counting the short duration outages of less than a minute or two. We typically lose electricity for several hours at a time. Trying to be positive here, at least this outage is a total outage rather than the really hard ones from an appliance perspective of losing only one phase, or wildly fluctuating voltages. Those at the end of the line certainly seem be the most affected. We had a couple of 10 or 15 minute outages in Alto last night but the UPS provided power to the internet modems and TV, so Hockey Night in Canada continued uninterrupted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, TwoSailors said: This is the history link to Fenosa: http://www.gasnaturalfenosa.com.pa/pa/inicio/conocenos/quienes+somos/historia/1297110395133/la+buena+energia.html This statement from their website is interesting: We have reduced the time of interruptions for our own cause from 1998 to date by more than 87%, achieving the best quality of service results in the Central American region. Wonder where that is? Precisely. My electrical service has become worse since I moved here 11 years ago. Whatever happened to onward and upward? Edited February 18, 2018 by Bonnie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoSailors Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 21 hours ago, Keith Woolford said: We had a couple of 10 or 15 minute outages in Alto last night but the UPS provided power to the internet modems and TV, so Hockey Night in Canada continued uninterrupted. We also have a UPS that is good for 2 hours battery backup. We have internet modems, TV, Routers, Roku box, and security cameras and they have all stayed on for the stated 2 hours. One time when the power was out for 5 hours the UPS lasted 4 hours! Bought it at Price Smart 2 years ago. Worth every penny. The thing about the power going off and on for just a few minutes is concerning. We do have surge protectors for everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 23 minutes ago, TwoSailors said: The thing about the power going off and on for just a few minutes is concerning. We do have surge protectors for everything. Connecting critical loads to a UPS isolates the equipment from fluctuations and spikes and eliminates that problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 (edited) Elon Musk's TESLA Powerwall units have become an affordable solution for supplying backup power in homes, and they will get less expensive as battery technology continues to develop. Seamless backup power. With or without solar. Powerwall detects grid outages and automatically becomes your home's main energy source. Protect your home from the next power outage and keep your lights on, phones charged, and no puddles under the fridge. https://www.tesla.com/powerwall Edited February 19, 2018 by Keith Woolford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoSailors Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 Very cool! Tesla, cutting edge. That's $11,700 for a 1600 sq foot home today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ahren Grauer Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 On 2/18/2018 at 5:10 AM, Siempre Soluciones said: Ahren, It comes down to cost and time to repair. Underground utilities experience far less disruptions however are far more difficult to detect and resolve problems versus above ground lines. I see what you're saying. Underground here wouldn't be installed correctly and cause even more problems and longer outages. I get it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) Reasonable explanations and/or solutions to infrastructure issues seem to fall on a lot of deaf ears in this community. It's obvious some people simply prefer to whine, gripe and criticize than attempt to comprehend. Oh well. Edited February 20, 2018 by Keith Woolford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted February 20, 2018 Author Share Posted February 20, 2018 I would be delighted to hear some proposed solutions. But don’t these rest with the electric company? What part could any of us play in improving the infrastructure, for example? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 (edited) Personal preparedness, in my view. Panama is not the first world. It's a 'look after yourself a bit' place. If a person thinks it's going to rain, they should take an umbrella. If the water service is iffy, they might want to get a tank, or two. If electrical service is dodgy, they can obtain a generator or battery backups. Same applies to home security. and so on It's about making inconveniences more tolerable. Edited February 20, 2018 by Keith Woolford Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Woolford Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 How many people actually register complaints with ASEP about problems with their service? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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