I have one of those, about 70watts load (switch, 2x routers, and a SFF PC). It lasted around 30-40 minutes.

Yeah UPS is good for an orderly shutdown, or to keep you running in a short outage or while you get a generator etc hooked up. No good when the mains has been out for days….

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

How long have you been out?

We’ve been out since 13:45 on Friday. Estimated to be back on by 3pm Sunday.

Looking at UK Power Networks outage map, it’s a sea of red. Reckon we’ll be lucky to get it back by then.

Not unexpectedly, the power isn’t back. All the estimated restoration times for the outages reported nearest to us on the UKPN map have now reverted to “to be confirmed” from the previous 15:30-16:30 today. Not a good sign at all.

I’ve just listened to the news where they reckon it could be Tuesday before it’s restored. With the sea of red on the UKPN map, not much changed over the past few days, I reckon even that estimate could be wildly hopeful.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Not unexpectedly, the power isn’t back. All the estimated restoration times for the outages reported nearest to us on the UKPN map have now reverted to “to be confirmed” from the previous 15:30-16:30 today. Not a good sign at all.

I’ve just listened to the news where they reckon it could be Tuesday before it’s restored. With the sea of red on the UKPN map, not much changed over the past few days, I reckon even that estimate could be wildly hopeful.

My power surge and cuts caused the Anglian water plumping station to stop working, last night I got a call from next door going, there's sewage coming in via the toilet, he was right I looked and was like yeah its going up.

Not the first time admittedly its about the 5 time in 6 months.

Just logged a complaint as its not really acceptable for the team sorting the issue not to check downstream after they finished fixing the pumping station and leave it for 6 hours for another crew to come and deal with the aftermath. This has happened monthly for the last 6 months, and having to call and get a second team to check.

Power cuts in my area literally means no drains, no water (since its pumped) and obviously no electric.

Our Anglian Water pumping station had several employee houses on the same plot, some years back the pumping station became automatic and remotely monitored, the houses then becoming rented to general public. Some years back the pumps stopped and nobody knew until the water tower ran dry.
When the sewer pumps stop working, which at one time they did quite often, a row of houses would get their back gardens flooded!

In reply to a post by burble:

Our Anglian Water pumping station had several employee houses on the same plot, some years back the pumping station became automatic and remotely monitored, the houses then becoming rented to general public. Some years back the pumps stopped and nobody knew until the water tower ran dry.
When the sewer pumps stop working, which at one time they did quite often, a row of houses would get their back gardens flooded!

The thing done my road is, I'm at the end of the chain and i have 5 manholes in the back garden 2 in the front, when things go wrong, I know about it, its like we mobilise the street group chat and get them all to ring and log faults otherwise we are in trouble. One house often gets the sewage coming in the shower tray, that's how they know there's a problem.

The thing is our pumping station is monitored as the guy that turned up this evening to me showed me on his anglian water phone and said look, everything operational now, he said no status this morning.

He said they should send teams stright away to deal with the problem but they don't, I live at the bottom of a hill, the sewer treatment works are at the top of the hill.

My bigger concern is the fact that most the area's sewage comes via my street's drainage to the pumps we have 2. the rest goes via a different pipe Infront of my estate.

When i logged the complaint i said the advice of the engineer this morning, he said ask them to fit an alarm, generator, backup battery to prevent it tripping off while the generator kicks in.

Management is ringing me tomorrow to advise.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

How long have you been out?

We’ve been out since 13:45 on Friday. Estimated to be back on by 3pm Sunday.

Looking at UK Power Networks outage map, it’s a sea of red. Reckon we’ll be lucky to get it back by then.

Not unexpectedly, the power isn’t back. All the estimated restoration times for the outages reported nearest to us on the UKPN map have now reverted to “to be confirmed” from the previous 15:30-16:30 today. Not a good sign at all.

I’ve just listened to the news where they reckon it could be Tuesday before it’s restored. With the sea of red on the UKPN map, not much changed over the past few days, I reckon even that estimate could be wildly hopeful.

I clicked on what I thought was the correct red icon on the UKPN map. It said that power would be restored by about 11pm but it actually came on at 6.30pm. The icon is now green.

I am elsewhere where the power has stayed on so far but yesterday I opened the kitchen back door and some wind came in and blew out one of the Everest double glazed sitting room windows. We have a much bigger window in the sitting room which came loose last year so I secured it with some screws and pop rivets. Fortunately it has stayed in place.

Power thankfully was restored at 2pm. Let’s hope it lasts. 😬

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Power thankfully was restored at 2pm. Let’s hope it lasts. 😬

I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of us

I'll keep my fingers crossed for all of us

Is there an official topic yet for pointing out the stupidity of the current plans for BT Digital Voice (and similar shortsightedness) in a time of increasingly frequent wide area power outages ?

Back in December 2015, Storm Desmond took out a major electricity substation in Lancaster, promptly cutting off over 60,000 properties, with cascade effects over a much wider area. Normal electricity supplies did not resume for a week or so.

The consequences were later documented in a report from the Royal Academy of Engineering, Lancaster University, and others, accessible via e.g.the news release at
https://www.raeng.org.uk/news/news-releases/2016/may... (extract below).

Someone should post a copy of that, and the full report, to Ofcon.

Full report at e.g.

https://www.raeng.org.uk/news/news-releases/2016/may...

Extract from news release:

The loss of power quickly affected many other services that we all take for granted. Most mobile phone coverage and text messaging was lost within an hour; this meant that Lancaster University had no way of communicating with its 7,000 students about what to do. Internet, television, and DAB radio were all knocked out. Electronic tills and most ATM machines stopped working, which along with non-functioning freezers, meant that many shops could not do business. Gas-fired central heating did not work because control systems and pumps need electricity. Homes with all-electric cooking were unable to heat food. High-rise buildings lost power for their lifts and upper floors lost water supplies.

No traffic lights were working and garages could not sell fuel as pumps are driven by electricity. The railway line was working as it is powered from outside the affected area but the station was closed at 4pm for safety reasons as there was no platform lighting.

The local hospital, which has back-up diesel generators, was able to function as normal but vulnerable people in their homes and homeless people on the street were more seriously affected.

Some gaps in local emergency leadership emerged as the crisis unfolded: the Gold Command was communicating with the local emergency services but not with the general public; the only functioning supermarket had to close its doors to queues of customers because of Sunday trading laws that no-one apparently had the authority to overturn.

Extract from summary in full report:

Because electricity is always there, we have come to rely on it without question
and have allowed it to infiltrate all aspects of our lives. The gas central heating
in our houses relies on electrical controls and circulating pumps; our cordless
phones, computers, Wi-Fi routers and some door locks all need a mains supply.
And increasingly we have migrated the way we live from paper to electronic
systems – we pay for a coffee with a contactless card, read our bank statement
online, keep our address book in ‘the cloud’ and send emails rather than letters.
In December 2015, life for more than 100,000 people in Lancaster reverted to a
pre-electronics era. A flood at an electricity substation resulted in a blackout over
the entire city that lasted for more than 24 hours. Suddenly people realised that,
without electricity, there is no internet, no mobile phones, no contactless payment,
no lifts and no petrol pumps. Although these dependencies were not difficult to see,
few had thought through the implications of losing so many aspects of modern life
at once.