I've been reading more and more posts from people who are going to disconnect themselves from the grid before the rollover for fear of surges or dirty power.

While this is something that sounds reasonable to do (if you have alternative power of course), if large numbers of people do this, wont it affect the stability of the local power company and/or grid?

-- lou (lanny1@ix.netcom.com), December 01, 1999

Answers

No.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), December 01, 1999.

Actually disconnecting from the grid is a fairly large step. I'll just be unplugging electrical items. Probably not my fridge or freezer, but I'll pull them for a while if the lights start flickering. Common sense.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 01, 1999.

-- Lou

The same thing was thought about people cashing out at the Banks,making runs on the supermarkets etc.... As for residences disconnecting from the grid even temporary (?) I seriously doubt it.

-- kevin (innxxs@yahoo.com), December 01, 1999.

Large numbers of people will never do this. No problem.

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), December 01, 1999.

Yup, I'll be off line. Can't afford to "have appliances toasted" new Years eve. It would be great for the appliance industry though.

-- thomas saul (thomas.saul@yale.edu), December 01, 1999.

Disconnect from the grid? - Never

I'm going to be watching Oprah for some more of her penetrating, in-depth Y2K reporting, like:

"It's not going to be a problem is it?"

and, "How many hours of fuel do we have left?"

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), December 01, 1999.

Lou,

The answer is no. There wont be enough people doing it to really effect the load in any one particular area. Though some of the people doing it may wind up causing more harm to their equipment then if they didnt. The frequency of the grid is monitored to three decimal places. With home generators you are lucky to be within one cycle. Hopefully there wont be any fires and the exhaust will be well ventilated.

-- The Engineer (The Engineer@tech.com), December 01, 1999.

Don't forget an EMP event, which by all accounts can arc across a typical breaker switch. If you go cold turkey from 'legtricity, throw the main switch. Not that any gadgets will still work, but it might save the house from burning down.

Spark Chaser Kook

-- Y2Kook (Y2Kook@usa.net), December 01, 1999.

Engineer, If I unplug my computer, doesn't mean I have a generator to turn on! In fact, that's all I'll unplug. Just don't want it fried.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 01, 1999.