EDENorte North Coast: Electricity Outages & Restoration Announcements

[william webster]

If car accidents were the only reason you lose power, Windy - you'd be right

But we all know that's not the case.... you're just having a bad day

I know you can't move..... I get it.... others can

 

[windeguy]

If car accidents were the only reason you lose power, Windy - you'd be right

But we all know that's not the case.... you're just having a bad day

I know you can't move..... I get it.... others can

It is the lack of water pressure that is worse than a lack of electricity. Many places in Sosua and Cabarete have that even worse than we do.
The well project is under review by Medio Ambiente for approval, but that is just to keep the cistern full. I will still need electricity to get it out of the ground.

Now, if Edenorte would only stop with this "maintenance" nonsense. Things are way better with regards to electricity in general and horrible compared to water than when I moved here. If I need to, I will get a "whole property" generator.

 

[JD Jones]

I don't see you wouldn't get a tinaco and throw it on the roof and be done with it.

I've got one and I barely use the pump other than filling the tinaco.

 

[windeguy]

I don't see you wouldn't get a tinaco and throw it on the roof and be done with it.

I've got one and I barely use the pump other than filling the tinaco.

I have a 5,000 gallon cistern. I have 4 apartments in total and live in one of them. And a swimming pool that needs water from time to time. A Tinaco does not cut it.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

The carnage on the roads continues. Yesterday morning power pole near Sosua taken out by a driver who couldn't keep their car between the lines. Later that morning, Edenorte announced another car/pole collision in Constanza. Today it's a pole taken out by another careful driver in Gaspar Hernandez. Parts or all of curcuit SABY101 affected.

 

[JD Jones]

I have a 5,000 gallon cistern. I have 4 apartments in total and live in one of them. And a swimming pool that needs water from time to time. A Tinaco does not cut it.

Dude.. I'm not saying use the tinaco as your primary water source. Use it as a secondary source.

Where I live we have 11 apartments with a huge cistern (20K+).

We have 4 large interconnected tinacos on the roof.

When the electricity goes off, the tinacos supply water to all 11 apartments. When the electricity comes back, the pump fills them again.

That's why we always have water.

 

[malko]

Dude.. I'm not saying use the tinaco as your primary water source. Use it as a secondary source.

Where I live we have 11 apartments with a huge cistern (20K+).

We have 4 large interconnected tinacos on the roof.

When the electricity goes off, the tinacos supply water to all 11 apartments. When the electricity comes back, the pump fills them again.

That's why we always have water.

And that's with a bunch of apartments.

I hardly need to fill the tinaco with the help of the pump+cistern : when water mains are turned on ( like every other day or so, for a couple of hours ), it pushes the water up, to fill the tinaco.
Stand alone house here, and always have water ( unless something drastic happens, like me digging and hitting a pipe 😁😁 ).

I use the pump, perhaps 15 min per day for a nice hot shower with loads of pressure, in the evening. But could make do with just the pressure from the tinaco if I had to.

 

[JD Jones]

And that's with a bunch of apartments.

I hardly need to fill the tinaco with the help of the pump+cistern : when water mains are turned on ( like every other day or so, for a couple of hours ), it pushes the water up, to fill the tinaco.
Stand alone house here, and always have water ( unless something drastic happens, like me digging and hitting a pipe 😁😁 ).

I use the pump, perhaps 15 min per day for a nice hot shower with loads of pressure, in the evening. But could make do with just the pressure from the tinaco if I had to.

Exactly.

With a one-story house who needs a pump if you're connected to a main?

Ours is a three-story building so the pump is needed, and we do not have a pressure connection to the main.. so the main just fills the cistern.
Our cistern is so large it never completely fills; back when it was built water shortages were more prevalent.
There is also a well with a submersible pump next to the cistern, but we've only used it once in the 4 years I've been here.

 

[malko]

Exactly.

With a one-story house who needs a pump if you're connected to a main?

Ours is a three-story building so the pump is needed, and we do not have a pressure connection to the main.. so the main just fills the cistern.
Our cistern is so large it never completely fills; back when it was built water shortages were more prevalent.
There is also a well with a submersible pump next to the cistern, but we've only used it once in the 4 years I've been here.

Yeah, I have a large underground cistern, needed in the summer time.

The setup which is now how I like it.

Water mains from the road, on : fills tinaco. Once full it goes to the cistern.

Water mains, off ( majority of the time sadly ). Tinaco on a water tower ( not comfy with it on a roof ) feeds the house with water.

The water pump allows me to refill tinaco, if needed, and gives " western world" type pressure to the house.

That said, I am still thinking of putting in a well, as there is lots of water underground, and in the next decade or 2, I can see water becoming an even more valuable commodity.
Obviously I will not apply for a permit.....lol.

 

[chico bill]

The carnage on the roads continues. Yesterday morning power pole near Sosua taken out by a driver who couldn't keep their car between the lines. Later that morning, Edenorte announced another car/pole collision in Constanza. Today it's a pole taken out by another careful driver in Gaspar Hernandez. Parts or all of curcuit SABY101 affected.

The Indians are getting their hands on the firewater. 2022 starting off rough and it has nothing to do with Covid

 

[windeguy]

Dude.. I'm not saying use the tinaco as your primary water source. Use it as a secondary source.

Where I live we have 11 apartments with a huge cistern (20K+).

We have 4 large interconnected tinacos on the roof.

When the electricity goes off, the tinacos supply water to all 11 apartments. When the electricity comes back, the pump fills them again.

That's why we always have water.

I don't have room on my roof for such tinacos because of how my house is built and the roof slopes.
So I won't be going that route after looking into it already. Yes , I could build platforms on the roof, plumb network of tinacos into my existing water lines in some way, etc if I really wanted to.

The rules in our housing project included a cistern and pump as a requirement for all houses. Mine currently is full. But of course that depends upon CORAAPLATA and their current 5 lbs of water pressure remaining on enough time. Soon, I will have a well as an alternate to fill the cistern.

So, my secondary source of water is my cistern. If I need to, I will reinstall a separate inverter system for the cistern pump which was
how my house was originally set up (30 plus years ago) and still had the inverter when I purchased it. But then we had 40 pounds of water pressure many years regardless of Edenada being off or on back then and I never needed to use the inverter so I removed it.. Now Edenorte is off mainly for maintenance which doesn't seem to ever make any difference, or accidents when cars snap poles off. Those accidents seem to be increasing exponentially in recent days, not sure I can do anything about that.. Let me think... nope...

Today the big problem is CORRAAPLATA and their extreme incompetence and corruption. I mentioned the comments on FB about requesting people to throw bags of fecal matter into their offices. In a month or two, I should have a new way to fill my cistern.

 

[malko]

The first thing I did ( years ago ) was unhook the water pump from the inverter.
The pump would drain the batteries very fast, so they needed charging more, so higher bills.

I also installed a switch inside the house for the pump inside the house, so as not to leave it on automatic. In those days the electricity was so bad, that even if the lights were on, sometimes it wasn't reliable enough to power the pump, so it would switch to the inverter power w/o me knowing.

Thankfully, edenorte has upped it's game around my parts---- tremendously. We have gone from a few hours a day of electricity to 24h power. Blackouts used to be day long, now a couple of hours at most.
When my last set of batteries died, I did not replace them, and all is well--- fingers crossed.
My edenorte bill also more than halved compared to the early days.

 

[windeguy]

Stole this from FB:

 

[AlterEgo]

The first thing I did ( years ago ) was unhook the water pump from the inverter.
The pump would drain the batteries very fast, so they needed charging more, so higher bills.

I also installed a switch inside the house for the pump inside the house, so as not to leave it on automatic. In those days the electricity was so bad, that even if the lights were on, sometimes it wasn't reliable enough to power the pump, so it would switch to the inverter power w/o me knowing.

Us too. We have 2 pumps, the big submersible well pump and the pump that moves the water from the cistern into the tinaco and the house. Both only run on street power, not the inverters. The one from the cistern to house we sometimes run with a generator when it’s chilly for showers, because the on demand propane hot water heater usually won’t kick on with the tinaco, not enough pressure.

 

[DR Solar]

Us too. We have 2 pumps, the big submersible well pump and the pump that moves the water from the cistern into the tinaco and the house. Both only run on street power, not the inverters. The one from the cistern to house we sometimes run with a generator when it’s chilly for showers, because the on demand propane hot water heater usually won’t kick on with the tinaco, not enough pressure.

Learning from others how to solve problems is helpful. Hearing about 20 years of resistance and doing nothing is ...mortifying.

 

[windeguy]

Exactly.

With a one-story house who needs a pump if you're connected to a main?

I would need a pump. The water pressure is about 5 pounds and falls by gravity into my cistern. With that pressure, the water can hardly go 1 foot above the level it enters my property. Forget about it ever getting to a faucet or shower inside the first floor of my house let alone our second floor apartments. A pump to fill the pressure tank is now a permanent requirement. (until the aqueduct is built in the far distant future, LOL)

Ours is a three-story building so the pump is needed, and we do not have a pressure connection to the main.. so the main just fills the cistern.
Our cistern is so large it never completely fills; back when it was built water shortages were more prevalent.
There is also a well with a submersible pump next to the cistern, but we've only used it once in the 4 years I've been here.

Water shortages are far more prevalent now than when I moved here and had 40 pounds of pressure for many years even when Edenada was off for 12 hours at a time. We have to wait several weeks more for pozo tubular approval...

 

[JD Jones]

I would need a pump. The water pressure is about 5 pounds and falls by gravity into my cistern. With that pressure, the water can hardly go 1 foot above the level it enters my property. Forget about it ever getting to a faucet or shower inside the first floor of my house let alone our second floor apartments. A pump to fill the pressure tank is now a permanent requirement. (until the aqueduct is built in the far distant future, LOL)

Water shortages are far more prevalent now than when I moved here and had 40 pounds of pressure for many years even when Edenada was off for 12 hours at a time. We have to wait several weeks more for pozo tubular approval...

It sounds like you've done as much as you can if you can't/won't go the tinaco route. It sounds like your only other option would be a 120v pump like a "ladrona" and connect it to your inverter and buy more batteries.

 

[windeguy]

It sounds like you've done as much as you can if you can't/won't go the tinaco route. It sounds like your only other option would be a 120v pump like a "ladrona" and connect it to your inverter and buy more batteries.

You are correct . What I mentioned in getting a pozo tubular to fill the cistern is all I plan to do.

 

[JD Jones]

You are correct . What I mentioned in getting a pozo tubular to fill the cistern is all I plan to do.

If you haven't done it already, think about getting a large diaphragm pressure tank so you go more time between pump cycles.

 

[windeguy]

If you haven't done it already, think about getting a large diaphragm pressure tank so you go more time between pump cycles.

I have a large tank which simply uses an air pocket. Never found on in the north coast with a diaphragm, but I did ask around.
Maybe JDL in POP would have them.