Our DP served as a life boat for the 2nd time in 6 months

[thelazyl]

Hi All,
When we bought our Class A 4 years ago I knew it might come in handy in case we lost power at home. I just didn't realize how handy. For the second time in 6 months we are living out of it - this time because of an ice storm in Oregon and we are not sure when our landline power will return. The crews are so backed up they can't even provide an estimate and we are on day 5. Thankfully I topped off diesel and propane when I winterized it - but the only freshwater we have is from a well reservoir (bucket by bucket). In September we evacuated for 6 days because of wildfires. I'm also glad that I setup a portable satellite so I have access to TV and the news. Hopefully the weather will turn better in coming weeks so we can hit the road for a real trip.

 

[John From Detroit]

One of the thigns I did early on was add a pair of 30 amp outlets to my RV and a 30 amp inlet to my house (along with a proper transfer panel) ONLY 120 volt circuits were on the transfer panel (E-Panel) and not all of them but that included the Furnace, Most of the lights (one hall light we never used except during power fail was not) TV, Fridge Freezer, Computers and internet. Microwave and so on.

I had a long cord to hook RV to House or rather house to RV

Came home. Frosty the air-blown Snowman was sleeping on the job.. Went to basement and got cord, Pluged outlet on cord into inlet on house. Uncoiled it as I walked to the RV and plugged in. Got the Gen-Turi and put it on the Generator exhaust pipe. Back insite and button button pushed the buttons Waited for teh CLUNK (Auto Transfer Switch) back to teh basement and CLICK lights, CLick Freezer kicked in Click furnace fired up (Gas heat) a few more clicks then up and turn on the hall light. I parked for the season with a full tank on the RV.

When the hall light finally came on back down and restore everything to MAINS and out to the RV and kill the genny.

 

[Isaac-1]

I know the feeling this year, we used our coach as a lifeboat twice thanks to hurricanes Laura (130+ mph wings at our house) and Delta (90+ mph winds at our house) four weeks later.

 

[HappyWanderer]

Our motorhome served as a lifeboat during Irene and Sandy, and to a lesser extent during the tropical storm last August. I think that RVers are more self-sufficient than the general population anyways, as a matter of habit.

 

[Tom]

Great story. Our coach was in the side yard when we experienced the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. We evacuated to the coach until things settled down.

 

[Ray-IN]

We've never had to be in such a situation, luckily. However unless winterized our RV is always full of fresh water, and always parked with full LP, and engine fuel and stocked with emergency food.

 

[cerd]

Shortly after I put my MH in storage at my brothers house, my father wanted to isolate since there were a few cased of COVID at his apartment building, then my SIL was exposed to someone that tested positive, so she used it for a few weeks. It has come in handy even off season.

 

[malexander]

I have a 22KW Generac on my house for power outages. BUT, my motor home stays at my house, plugged in, full of fresh water, and a full tank of diesel. We'd have to get a few groceries but we have clothes in there already. I think I could be out of the driveway in 20 minutes or so.

 

[Tom]

I have a 22KW Generac on my house for power outages. BUT, my motor home stays at my house, plugged in, full of fresh water, and a full tank of diesel. We'd have to get a few groceries but we have clothes in there already. I think I could be out of the driveway in 20 minutes or so.

Great planning!

 

[NY_Dutch]

We're fulltimers, but twice we've been caught by windstorms in the past few years that shut down power and cable in the area for 3 days on one occasion and 5 days the next time. Both times we were fine with our generator running, our satellite TV service, and cell hotspots for Internet. For both outages, we were parked at our family cottage in upstate NY, so we ran an extension cord over there to keep the freezer and refrigerator running. It wasn't cold enough to need heat in the cottage, but we could have easily run the LP furnace as well if needed. We thought about moving someplace that still had power, but that would have left the cottage with no power, so we stayed...