Huge increase in wholesale gas prices.

[J Pearce]

I live next door to a hospital electrician. They've run backup power drills this year and ensure they have sufficient fuel etc.

Their setup is quite interesting, they distribute around the site at 8kV, and they've got a mix of battery and generator backup.

[sandall]

16 hours ago, adam2 said:

consider a couple of self contained emergency lights.

Maybe this is an appropriate place to enquire about charging & care of small SLAs. A while ago I bought a 12AH one for 2-horns-&-a-mic-in-a park gigs, but am a bit nervous about using my car-battery charger with its 2A trickle-charge rate.

[Stuart91]

And here we are...

National Grid say 3hr power cuts in a "worst case" scenario. 

It's obviously a reasonable possibility if people are opting to take a PR hit now in order to alert people. 

As a long-time reader of Private Eye, it's interesting to see some of their warnings come to pass...

[themadhippy]

Quote

live next door to a hospital electrician. They've run backup power drills

nothing unusualt here,back when I breifly worked in the nhs in the 80's  each of the gennys would be run up with a full load once a year as part of the general maintenance routine .Of course now we cant be putting red diesel in the tanks those same gennys are going to be much more expensive to run .

Quote

National Grid say 3hr power cuts in a "worst case" scenario. 

cynical me reckons its all a con,let the fan and feces collide then at the last minute dont trust will announce shes made an agreement ,it will cost the tax payer £7 billion but the power will be staying on.Dont forget to vote for me for saving christmas

[Stuart91]

19 minutes ago, themadhippy said:

Of course now we cant be putting red diesel in the tanks those same gennys are going to be much more expensive to run

The world has gone truly mad if a funfair is allowed to use red diesel but a hospital isn't.

[adam2]

1 minute ago, Stuart91 said:

The world has gone truly mad if a funfair is allowed to use red diesel but a hospital isn't.

Hospitals CAN use red diesel in generators or for oil burning heating, provided that no electricity is exported into the grid.

[adam2]

2 hours ago, sandall said:

Maybe this is an appropriate place to enquire about charging & care of small SLAs. A while ago I bought a 12AH one for 2-horns-&-a-mic-in-a park gigs, but am a bit nervous about using my car-battery charger with its 2A trickle-charge rate.

A car battery charger will be fine PROVIDED THAT it has a fully regulated output that is stated to be suitable for sealed batteries. If your car battery charger is not suitable, then small chargers intended for sealed lead acid batteries are widely available on fleabay.

[adam2]

53 minutes ago, Stuart91 said:

And here we are...

National Grid say 3hr power cuts in a "worst case" scenario. 

It's obviously a reasonable possibility if people are opting to take a PR hit now in order to alert people. 

As a long-time reader of Private Eye, it's interesting to see some of their warnings come to pass...

Agree. Time to stock up on candles, batteries and perhaps oil lamps. 

Oil hurricane lamps are affordable to buy and cheap to run, give the light of a half a dozen candles. They are intended to burn paraffin, sometimes called kerosene. In an emergency diesel fuel may be used. NEVER USE PETROL AS A SERIOUS ACCIDENT IS LIKELY.

 

[themadhippy]

Quote

Hospitals CAN use red diesel in generators or for oil burning heating, provided that no electricity is exported into the grid.

Ah I'd misremembered the regs change in april and thought it covered all generators,however digging into the actual regs it says

Quote

for heating and electricity generation in non-commercial premises - this includes the heating of homes and buildings such as places of worship, hospitals and townhalls;

considering all most all hospitals have a shop or 2 and many treat private patients how can they not be classed as a commercial premises?

 

[adam2]

I think that "hospital" means exactly what it says, despite the fact that they are in some respects businesses. If the intention was to treat hospitals as any other business, then why include the specific exemption for hospitals.

[ImagineerTom]

You can also bet with the relatively high unit cost of diesel generated electricity (both to make but also to source the fuel in what would be a fuel crisis) the hospital management are going to be making sure things that don't /need/ to be switched on won't be so the paradox would largely resolve itself.

[david.elsbury]

On 9/16/2021 at 6:57 AM, david.elsbury said:

That’s great and all, but what’s the relevance to us here? Is anyone still using gas to light their venues? Or is this an off topic post more suited to the Crew Room? ☺️

Again, can someone tell me how this is relevant to the ‘Backstage’ purpose of the blue room?

[J Pearce]

It is relevant because, in the UK at least, gas price pretty much sets electricity price, and if your theatre electricity bill goes beyond your takings bad things happen. Also, many of us need to start considering what we do if our venue is knocked out by a rolling blackout. How do we send comms to staff and patrons with no internet or phones? What's our process if it happens mid performance?

[Stuart91]

2 minutes ago, J Pearce said:

Also, many of us need to start considering what we do if our venue is knocked out by a rolling blackout. 

Is there a point where it becomes prudent / justifiable to have a backup generator on hand?

A call centre near me has one sitting, I think it's been there since the building went up. Presumably someone did a risk assessment and figured that it was worth the spend, rather than lose the ability to service their customers. (As far as I'm aware there's nothing critical like a 999 switchboard in there)

Cost of generator + changeover circuitry + fuel, set against the losses of having to refund a full house? 

[adam2]

7 minutes ago, david.elsbury said:

Again, can someone tell me how this is relevant to the ‘Backstage’ purpose of the blue room?

Because a lot of venues use gas for space heating and hot water, and almost all use electricity for lighting and small appliances. About half of UK electricity is produced by burning gas. The electricity price is linked to the gas price.

Any severe shortage of gas will result in power cuts. It is most unlikely that gas to homes and businesses will be cut off as restoration is a slow and complex undertaking.

Electricity by contrast is easy to cut off for typically three hours at a time, after which a different area is cut off and the supply restored to the area first cut off.

The increasing cost of gas and electricity is of concern to entertainment venues, and chance of planned or rota power cuts is also of concern. So very relevant IMO.

Also a LITTLE talk of domestic matters is AFAIK permitted, hence my suggestions that basic precautions should be taken at home.

I again urge venues to reduce energy use, due to the rising price, and also to ensure that emergency lighting is in good working order.

Central battery emergency lighting in particular needs careful inspection so as to ensure that the correct lamps are fitted, clear or pearl lamps of the correct voltage and wattage, and lamps intended for illumination, not decorative lamps or pilot or indicator lamps. 

At one establishment that shall remain nameless, I found that a 110 volt central battery emergency lighting system was fitted with 240 volt lamps "because they last longer"