Summer And Power Outages,how Well Prepared Are We?

[Page8383]

It doesn't look great.

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/147720/record-power-consumption-reported-efficient-use-advised

Like people have said on here the infrastructure is not keeping up with demand. The fact that you can see the upgrade of transmission infrastructure in the street (i.e. new cables and conduits under the pavement) means that they haven't "future proofed" the initial installation. Therefore they need to upgrade the substations (power generation) as well as the cables in the street (transmission and distribution) to meet the growing demand of the city.

Like D-2-BA said, the over reliance on packaged unit air conditioners absolutely slaughters the grid. Central A/C systems are far more efficient, but I haven't seen many plant rooms in inner BA, whereas bolted on split systems are everywhere to see on the sides of building. I don't know if there are national building codes or local authority regulations to stop or regulate this sort of installation in the future? If not, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

I don't think we will be loading up the freezer / fridge with too much food during the summer. Maybe 3/4 days worth max.

 

[French jurist]

Expats should set up a plan:
- Buying like 2 medium sized generators per 100 expats living in CABA + close GBA.

A medium sized generator costs like 2.000 pesos so that would be 40 pesos per expat + a small maintenance fee per year (either for the ones housing the generators or for service/oil change, etc.).

 

[Rich One]

Expats should set up a plan:
- Buying like 2 medium sized generators per 100 expats living in CABA + close GBA.

A medium sized generator costs like 2.000 pesos so that would be 40 pesos per expat + a small maintenance fee per year (either for the ones housing the generators or for service/oil change, etc.).

A pickup track to transport the generator plus if 2 expats are w.out power in the same barrio. Not more juice for several days. uhmmmm

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I set up an emergency plan in my house. I wired my daughter's stationary bike to our electrical box. When my Walking Dead streaming video begins to freeze I pop her with the cattle prod.

 

[jpw]

cant say for big houses but for smaller apartments I have seen they use UPS in Dominican Republic its very convenient specially for houses with kids ... I haven't seen those here or am I missing something?

 

[John.St]

Kind of a problem when you have 35 horses at home who need to have constant access to water. Not to mention us ... We have enough food on hand to eat for probably several weeks.

Can you eat 35 horses in a few weeks? Must be a very large household!

 

[EricLovesBA]

cant say for big houses but for smaller apartments I have seen they use UPS in Dominican Republic its very convenient specially for houses with kids ... I haven't seen those here or am I missing something?

Generally when I hear UPS I think of a small battery-powered uninterruptible power supply that is typically the size of a shoe box and is used to keep your computer going during a brownout, or for a half hour or so giving you time to shut down the cpu and save your work. Sounds like you're referring to something substantially bigger. What is it and how does it work? It maintains an entire apartment? Is that just the lights, or also the fridge? For how much time?

 

[Davidglen77]

Yesterday here on Avenida de Mayo & 9 de Julio I lost power for about 5 hours. I live on the 10th floor so I am blessed to be in very good physical condition and don't have a problem walking up 10 flights. There are many many elderly people in this building who several of them I saw trying to get up to their apartments walking up one step per minute. It was very sad. I also had a fresh supply of batteries for my flashlight and buckets to fill up with water (which always runs out when the pumps don't work) many people who live in apartment buildings here are taken by surprise when their power goes out for the first time then they learn that also means shortly they will have no water either. Luckily this wasn't a long term blackout and it actually worked out for me because when I opened the fridge and freezer all of that year long ice that I have been meaning to defrost had fallen off by itself and I just scooped it out and threw it in the sink! Saved me from having to do my yearly defrost!

 

[Gringoboy]

Generators are a great idea, but also throw up problems.
Neighbours complain about the noise and fumes.
This happened where my shop is and the local council inspectors arrived in minutes saying it is illegal to use a generator.
One also has to be very very careful with the fumes.
A couple of days ago, a father and daughter died from carbon monoxide poisoning as they had a generator in their flat with all doors and windows closed so that the aircon could work properly.
That's extreme, I know.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Hmmm...I hardly want to say it out loud, but we seem to live in a lucky street. Last year we had only a few outages when other streets around us suffered more. This year, in Belgrano, nothing yet. I walked down Cabildo on Monday fearing the worst as many of the restaurants and shops where shut or had generators ticking over out front. Our street was fine, portero confirmed no power loss. We did have major works by Edenor upgrading cables all September, can't imagine that helps only our street though? Perhaps we have a Campora cell active on the block somewhere, or one of Lazaro Baez's money shuffling operations.

As I type this I realise I am condemning myself to a powerless few days....my solution is a litre of beer, half a mg of a generic brand tranquilizer and a bottle of water at bedside.