Katrina

George Patterson wrote:
Darrel Toepfer wrote:

I replaced my 5.5kw gasoline, with a 30kw NG/LPG one.

What did that set you back to install? Around here, it costs more for
the permits and installation than for the generator.

$300 to truck it from California, $3k for a '60's exrailroad 3 phase
with Ford inline 6 powering it. I'd been squabbling over the price with
the guy for 3 months over a 40kw. It got sold 3 days before I called to
make whatever deal I could...

The city gas department got in a tizzy for a bit saying it would stress
the meter, I told them we'd cross that bridge when it came to it. Never
got there yet, instantaneous consumption hardly registers...

I black plastic'd the ground, dug holes for the concrete pads and
backfilled with sand to level everything (leftover sand bags I didn't
really need as it turned out) and then poured a couple loads of
limestone over everything. Local crane company owed the family a favor,
they lifted it off the trailer and set it into place. Install cost was
just over nothing (in aviation dollars), and yet its priceless when the
need arises...

http://www.whodat.net/lili

I've run on it over 1/2 dozen times since it was installed in late 2002.
The price of NG/LPG sucks, but you don't have to worry about it going
bad like diesel and gasoline...

The city raised more cane about my steel roof, than the generator. When
I pointed to a 25 year old house down the street that was built with
one, they backed down and issued my permit. Nobody had ever noticed it
before... 'cept me of course...

The airport has no backup power (there is an abandoned tailered power
unit behind one hanger), the city hall is replacing theirs now that
they've discovered that its inadequate on multiple occasions...

I've got a friend that is getting self contained 15kw Chinese diesels
for just over $3k shipped. I helped him put it in place Saturday. 2 more
are sitting in New Orleans now, hopefully high and dry to the shippers
insurance company...

I bought that 5.5kw new back in '85 for under $400. Its paid for itself
tens of times over...

Any wagers on whether the National Business Aviation Association
convention is still be a "GO" for November 3-5 in New Orleans?

Don't plan on it. I saw one blurb saying it would be a month before they
will let residents back into town. The pumps can handle about 1" of rain
an hour. So they have to close the holes in the dikes, get power back to
the pumps, start pumping, and then start cleaning.

"john smith" wrote in message
.. .
Any wagers on whether the National Business Aviation Association
convention is still be a "GO" for November 3-5 in New Orleans?

sfb wrote:
I saw one blurb saying it would be a month before they
will let residents back into town.

Bet they'll have even more trouble getting people to leave the next time they
want to evacuate someplace. AP is saying less than a week.

The pumps can handle about 1" of rain
an hour. So they have to close the holes in the dikes, get power back to
the pumps, start pumping, and then start cleaning.

While they're closing holes in the dikes, they'll be bringing in additional
pumps, some of which will have their own power supplies. Any major port will
have many of these.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

"George Patterson" wrote:

While they're closing holes in the dikes, they'll be bringing in
additional pumps, some of which will have their own power supplies.
Any major port will have many of these.

On Interstate-10 in Mobile this morning, I saw at least a dozen Corps of
Engineers disaster response 18-wheelers headed west.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

George Patterson wrote:
sfb wrote:
I saw one blurb saying it would be a month before they
will let residents back into town.

Bet they'll have even more trouble getting people to leave the next time they
want to evacuate someplace. AP is saying less than a week.


Normally I'd agree but this one was a real doozy- if you didn't get out
when you could, you'd be damn lucky to make it. If anything I think it
makes people take the orders more seriously. The real risk is
scrambling everybody and then having the thing go "poof" and just knock
over a few trees. Imagine if there were another 1m people in New
Orleans- we'd be looking at tsunami-scale casualties.

-cwk.

Bet they'll have even more trouble getting people to leave the next time they
want to evacuate someplace. AP is saying less than a week.

I don't think so.
The people in Florida learned some hard lessons last year.

I doubt that there are very many portable pumps with 6' piping. That's what
they have at the levees into Pontchatrain, lots of them.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:OL3Re.7755$wE1.6377@trndny01...
sfb wrote:
I saw one blurb saying it would be a month before they will let residents
back into town.

Bet they'll have even more trouble getting people to leave the next time
they want to evacuate someplace. AP is saying less than a week.

The pumps can handle about 1" of rain
an hour. So they have to close the holes in the dikes, get power back to
the pumps, start pumping, and then start cleaning.

While they're closing holes in the dikes, they'll be bringing in
additional pumps, some of which will have their own power supplies. Any
major port will have many of these.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Bob Chilcoat wrote:
I doubt that there are very many portable pumps with 6' piping.

I doubt that too; the ones with which I'm familiar tended to be 14" or smaller.
The larger ones with which I've dealt are not designed to be portable (they're
self-contained gasoline or diesel fire protection system pumps), but a small
crane can place one on a flatbed in jig time. They don't have to hook up to the
existing plumbing. Drop your inlet in on one side and drop your discharge line
on the lake side. Again, the pieces for this (including inlet screens) are
readily available in the fire protection world. One of the larger units can pump
water ten stories up through a 12" main.

In any case, as I said, any major port will have large portable pumps. The
largest are used for salvage operations.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

john smith wrote:
Any wagers on whether the National Business Aviation Association
convention is still be a "GO" for November 3-5 in New Orleans?

Not even close (IMHO). It's going to take weeks to close the holes, not
sure how long to pump the water out, then clean up, remove bodies and
debris, fight off diseases, start getting food and water back in, and so on.
Don't forget, there's still a pretty good chance another hurricane will
affect them soon.

This cleanup effort will be in the order of months, and to return to any
sort of tourism/conventions will take 1-2 years minimum, not 1-2 months.
Just my 5c.

Hilton