I wrote last week about the Home Depot workshop so after
that I thought that it be good for me to attend one. I called my local store which was 2 miles
away and I confirmed that the workshop was for this Saturday (Willow Grove PA). Now
that I knew for sure I registered for the workshop online which was a fairly
simple process.
Saturday morning came and it was a really nice weather day
with blue skies and large cotton ball like clouds and even better, a
temperature of about 80 degrees. The
good thing is that the humidity was not high enough to make it feel warmer than
it really was. This was an ideal day to
be outside and as I arrived at Home Depot I found that the workshop was held
right out front of the store under two tents. The workshop hosts were friendly and happy to share their thoughts and suggestions
as they had several tables with their products on display.
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| Willow Grove, PA |
I made a quick inventory of the items they displayed and
they consisted of the following:
LED Flashlights, Batteries,
a portable battery powered NOAA Weather Radio, Pole Saw, Chain Saw, work
gloves, gas can, generators (multiple sizes), generator power transfer kit, extension
cords, trash bags (the kind for lawn debris), coolers, and bottled water. The supplies and tools were good for preparation
and for storm clean up. I would have
liked to see more items such as road flares, first aid kits, a camping stove
and water tight containers for food, electronic gadgets, cash and
medication. To customers who were
curious or who were passing by, they received two handouts which where
checklists. One handout was a “prepare for a hurricane check list” for
supplies and links to different websites for news updates, and for more
preparedness information. The other guide or checklist was a portable
generator trouble shooting checklist that had tips and contacts to seek a
repair shop through various generator manufacturers.
There were four people behind the tables making a good
effort to reach out the customers walking by the front of the store. I was
there on time and unfortunately (and I could be wrong) I do not think many people actually registered
for the event. I did not see a public ad other than in their website
for this event which I think could have attracted more potential
customers. There were a few customers
that had really good questions about generators and their installation. I
listened to their questions intently and the discussion that went on. This is where my ears really perked up
because I know very little about generators.
Here are a few things I learned about Generators. They have a generator large enough to run
your entire homes electrical needs. They
have generators that automatically switch on (in about 20 seconds) when the
power goes out and this type of generator can
run from your natural gas line in your home.
It is recommended to purchase a power transfer kit that allows the
connection from the electric company to be disconnected from your homes wiring. This Power Transfer devices allows you to switch your electric supply powered directly by your generator. The power transfer
kit will help eliminate two issues. One
is that you won’t have to run a bunch of extension cords through your house via
windows and doors and second you can avoid an electrical overload if you try to
connect the generator yourself to your wiring of your home.
Along with the information that was provided I met Lieutenant
Robinson from the Upper Moreland Police Department. He was one of the four helpful individuals who
were behind the tables not sitting down, but on their feet the entire time
assisting customers with questions. He
heard me introduce myself and talk about storms that have affected this area. Since I have been doing research on severe
weather only recently, he corrected me when I stated that this area normally does
not see many severe storms. You see I am
sort of a messenger, I bridge the gap of the average person’s perception of bad
weather and the information I collect as I learn from experts. I watch the news media like everyone else
where we see stories of large Hurricanes and Tornadoes and the destruction that
they cause out west or down south (as in not here). The problem is we do have strong storms but
we are less likely to pay attention to warnings or to learn how to be
prepared. I have taken a few classes but
in terms of experience I had not taken much notice of storms until I met T.S
Irene. Lieutenant Robinson said that
this area does see its share of severe weather and proceeded to state a few
examples such as Irene, Floyd, Allison and that a tornado that went through the
area that caused significant damage to a roof of a building and to trees. He
described the damage like someone took a large knife and sliced the top of the
trees off and the roof was lifted completely off the building and carried it
away. The whole point here is that Lt. Robinson has
many years of experience helping people and that included in strong storms with
flooding and wind damage. Just because
we are not out by the shore or in Tornado Alley does not mean we do not see bad
weather. Maybe our news sources could help by educating the public with weather history. I learned quite a bit from asking
questions, and here is an example. Did
you know that your spare tire can be used a flotation device? Yes, it helps to have 32 lbs. per square inch
in a rubber spare waiting in your trunk in case you are surrounded by a lot of
water. The more pressure, the more air
and air is a lot lighter then water which means you will float and will do it
very well.
Would I recommend the workshop to others? Yes I absolutely do, they have people that
know their products and what is needed for installation and they also have
public safety experts there to help explain the reality of severe weather. – Thank you Home Depot.
Remember to check your local news for weather alerts daily
and that a weather alert radio can keep you and your family safe.
Some of the information for being prepared came from www.ready.gov www.redcross.org
and www.weather.gov
Join my facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The_Weather_Vane/307385055956349?ref=hl
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