where to buy a generator in Astoria?

glugglug

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Jun 9, 2002
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With what my UPS is telling me (continuous brownouts in the 90-102V range even at night, half dozen dips below 80V on monday), and the visible flicker on lights all over the city, including those on the DC powered subways, I'm fairly certain we are headed for more northeastern blackouts this summer.

I've been looking online for a generator, preferably one I can power off of stove gas, so that I can have air conditioning during the upcoming blackouts. But I see that because these things are so heavy & bulky, shipping is fairly consistently over $100. Plus, I won't be home during the day for pickup.

I'm thinking of picking one up at the Home Depot, 4 crosstown blocks away. Don't have a car. Anyone have a better idea where to get one?
 

PowerMacG5

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Apr 14, 2002
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I was gonna suggest Home Depot, but you already thought of it. Seriously though, don't expect blackouts. Sure, it's good to plan ahead, but don't expect it to happen.
 

glugglug

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Jun 9, 2002
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Originally posted by: Pablo
Youre having blackouts in Astoria, queens?

Not yet, just severe brownouts all this week. Enough that the UPS switches to battery, and my phone got fried on the charger. I expect blackouts will begin as the summer warms up.

 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
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Originally posted by: glugglug
Originally posted by: Pablo
Youre having blackouts in Astoria, queens?

Not yet, just severe brownouts all this week. Enough that the UPS switches to battery, and my phone got fried on the charger. I expect blackouts will begin as the summer warms up.

Isn't it more likely that the wiring in your apartment or house is faulty? I'd check that before buying a generator.
 

glugglug

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Jun 9, 2002
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Originally posted by: MrChad
Originally posted by: glugglug
Originally posted by: Pablo
Youre having blackouts in Astoria, queens?

Not yet, just severe brownouts all this week. Enough that the UPS switches to battery, and my phone got fried on the charger. I expect blackouts will begin as the summer warms up.

Isn't it more likely that the wiring in your apartment or house is faulty? I'd check that before buying a generator.

And the wiring just happened to become faulty when the weather heated up?
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
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Originally posted by: glugglug
Originally posted by: MrChad
Isn't it more likely that the wiring in your apartment or house is faulty? I'd check that before buying a generator.

And the wiring just happened to become faulty when the weather heated up?

Do you have the A/C running? If it's an apartment, are other tenants running A/C?

I'm just saying it's a possibility.
 

glugglug

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Jun 9, 2002
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I've had the A/C running since March. (I like it cold). Wasn't a problem before... Not sure if/when other tenants are running it.
 

glugglug

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Jun 9, 2002
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Dunno, not more than 30 years because its new enough they don't need to give the lead paint notices to new tenants since its never had any lead paint used.

Also, as to the questions about A/C above, the brownouts are unaffected by my AC compressor & fan flipping off after it reaches the target temperature, and it's in the same pair of outlets as the UPS.
 

Tremulant

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Jul 2, 2004
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I was visiting family in Jersey a few years back when there was the big failure. :thumbsdown:
 

xospec1alk

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Mar 4, 2002
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Originally posted by: glugglug
I've had the A/C running since March. (I like it cold). Wasn't a problem before... Not sure if/when other tenants are running it.

dude, in march all you had to do was open your window it was like 30 degrees!!!
 

glugglug

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Jun 9, 2002
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Originally posted by: xospec1alk
Originally posted by: glugglug
I've had the A/C running since March. (I like it cold). Wasn't a problem before... Not sure if/when other tenants are running it.

dude, in march all you had to do was open your window it was like 30 degrees!!!

I REALLY like it cold. The windows were open then.
 

Juice Box

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Nov 7, 2003
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Home depot has a delivery service, or you can rent one of their trucks for like $30 an hour or something
 

Conky

Lifer
May 9, 2001
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Home Depot will rent you a truck by the hour. If you are throwing down for a generator what's another $20?
 

glugglug

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Jun 9, 2002
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bumping this, and pointing out, if I knew this was coming, how the hell would CON ed not?

Wating for internet service to be restored at home, scheduled for August 5 -- RCN is super busy now because the power lines melted onto the cable TV lines and set them on fire. The fire department came to everyone's house and cut the cables. And my blinds. The 100,000 # of people affected that keeps getting repeated is a blatant lie. The real number has got to be closer to 500,000. Most apartments in the area were severely undervolted (I measured 32V from my electric outlets) - you can't run the refrigerator or the A/C or almost anything else on this, but con-ed doesn't count that as an outage. And they are also lying when they say all of western queens has power "restored". There are places a few blocks from me that still don't have power, and a few restaurants still are closed with signs in the window saying "still no power, CON ED?".

Voltage dipped into the upper 90s for about 10 minutes last night less than 2 days after the power was "fixed". Should be an interesting weekend with another heat wave.