Keeping A Sewing Shop Going During Grid Outages

[cdthayer]

Have any machine users had to deal with rolling blackouts like they were having in Venezuela recently and in some states back a few years ago, where they shut your electricity off for a period of time each day?  Are there any members of this site in Venezuela, or does anyone have contact with someone who is there, or in another country where the problem exists? I would like to hear how they’re coping with trying to get some production done with the power going off so often.

If the shop is equipped with manual-operated sewing machines, the sewing might continue but lighting and possibly heating/cooling or ventilation would still have to be provided.  But is there even that much business in most sewing shops during the times when electricity is intermittent, especially during economic hardship like in Venezuela?

Do you think that regular rolling blackouts could ever effect your shop location?  Have you thought about what you would do to keep your operation going?  Would you want to or need to?  If you have electric machines, could you sew during power on and do some other task during power off?  I’ve assembled a group of manual machines that can do the job of most of our electric machines in our little sewing shop (wife and I), but I don’t know if they will be of any need for that use.  I don’t know if people will still need much sewing done under those conditions or not.  I suspect that all of my treadles and hand cranks exist mainly just for my own amusement.  We’ve used our manual machines for one outage in 10 years, and only because we had a hint that the power would only be off for a short time, and it was.  Otherwise, we close up and stay closed for the longer outages like the 5-day ice storm last December.  Except for the kids in cars and pickups that were playing on the icy streets, most people stayed home like we did and waited for the ice to clear off and the power to come back on.  We did get five days worth of quiet sewing done on our manual machines at home, but it was sewing our own things.

CD in Oklahoma

 

[Northmount]

For USA and Canada, take a look at a Generac standby generator.  Runs off natural gas or propane.  My son lives out in the sticks and is subject to several outages a year.  During June and July, he has to keep up to 3 sump pumps running due to heavy rains and high water table.  Local power poles have fallen over due to the wet conditions, leaving them with no power for several hours.  Also needs power for water and septic tank systems.  He has a fire sprinkler system that is useless if there is no power as he would have no water.  He put in a 22 kW unit with automatic transfer switch.  http://www.homedepot.com/p/Generac-22-000-Watt-Air-Cooled-Automatic-Standby-Generator-with-200-Amp-SE-Rated-Transfer-Switch-6551/205398231

It is a very reliable unit, quiet, easy to install, just need to rewire the main feed to the main panel.  It has been a real lifesaver.

Tom

[cdthayer]

I just noticed that I missed getting this thread started in “Leatherwork Conversation” forum, so my apologies to the “Purses, Wallets, Belts and Miscellaneous Pocket Items” forum folks.  Maybe Administration can move it please?

A large standby generator would certainly keep a shop going, but unlike a home, would the expense be justifiable for just a workshop, especially if the workshop was not part of the home nor near the home?

I wonder if sewing shops in those places where planned blackouts have occurred used even small portable generators to supplement their power needs?

CD in Oklahoma

 

[Northmount]

Moved.  I hadn't noticed it being in the wrong area.

Tom

[CowboyBob]

Our neighbor had a big oak tree & it seemed like every winter after we fist moved in a branch would fall off ,hit the wires & we'd be out of power.We after the 3 or 4 time I got tired of it so I bought a 2000 watt Honda & when the power goes out I shut off the main breaker,plug it into an outside outlet & have enough to run the furnace & a few lights.It's handy to have because I've deal w/the Amish & take it with me to run machines.We had a storm 2-yrs ago in the summer & need it too.I guess what you get depends on how much power you need.I think the one I got set me back under $1,000.00.

[cdthayer]

Since wide-spread electrification has been around in most areas of the USA for over 75 years now, I would imagine that most folks running a sewing shop today (in most industrialized countries) would probably consider a generator first to keep their shop running if need be.  I doubt that many sewing shops keep manually-operated machines around in case of grid problems (other than me, maybe).  Except for the guys with old Singer 29s or a Tippmann Boss, I’d imagine that there are few manually-operated sewing machines in use (or even standing by for use) today.  What do you think?  Those that don’t have a shop, but make all or some of their living with a sewing machine are welcome to add their comments please.

Some of the Singer 29 users probably have motors on their machines, even if the manual equipment is still mounted on the machine.  One of mine came to me with a motor on it that I took off.  Everything was there to convert it back to manual operation, so I did.  I just wonder how many, if any, would scramble to convert their old motor-powered 29 back to manual operation during grid failure, and what the conditions would have to be for them to do so?  That’s why I was wondering if anyone had been through planned/scheduled blackouts before, or if they knew of anyone that had.

Here in rural Oklahoma, some of the gas stations and Quick Stops keep a portable generator handy for power outages that they know will happen.  They just don’t know when.  Nearly all of the emergency response agencies around me have generation for them to continue operation during an area-wide outage, but I don’t know about the other retail and service shops.  I’d say that most shops just close up and send everyone home to tend to their outage management issues at home.  I’m wondering if most leather sewing shops would do the same?

I probably should add that my wife and I have never owned a generator, and don’t plan on getting one.  In our 40+ years of marriage, living in several different rural areas in two states, have not ever suffered enough power failures that caused us to discard enough spoiled food to buy even the cheapest portable generator.  We’ve always had at least one freezer full of food (sometimes two), and a full refrigerator, so it’s not like we didn’t have anything to lose.  We’ve always cooked most of our meals at home, and always keep a generous supply of fresh and frozen foods on hand.  And for many of those years, I had a gas-powered generator on my work trucks for the 29 years that I worked power lines, but they never powered anything at my home.  They, nor I, were seldom home during a power outage most of those years anyway.

Anyone else have a “grid problem plan”?

CD in Oklahoma

 

Edited September 20, 2016 by cdthayer

[Northmount]

After a 2 or 3 hour power outage, most places send their staff home (if they even lasted that long). Many places can not operate without power.  Can't even use the till with no power!  It's no fun walking down 25 floors to vacate a building without adequate backup power either!

Heck, even a computer network or internet outage shuts down many businesses now a days.  I waited quite a while at one gas bar while they re-booted their computer several time to pay for the gas I had pumped.  Happened to be exactly 20 bucks so I told the manager I was leaving and here was his $20.  He was going to call the cops on me for leaving without paying!  Told him to go right ahead,  He had my 20.  Haven't been back there to fill up since and that was over 20 years ago.  Happens to be one of the closest to me, but no class or customer service says never again!

Tom

 

[cdthayer]

I had a gas station back in the 70s, and yea, when the power was out, I was pretty much out of business.  I had a manual cash register back then, but couldn’t pump gas to need it.  There were few portable generators in use back then, and I certainly didn’t have one.  Credit cards were recorded on “knuckle buster” manual carbon copy stamping machines, so I could take cards, but I seldom did because I couldn’t pump gas.

Today, with a fabric and sewing shop instead of a gas station, we have an electric cash register, but can open it manually to make sales.  During a power outage, we use a battery-powered calculator to add things up, and we write everything down on paper to ring up later, but there’s usually not much selling going on during those times.  The shop gets too dark to see good for shoppers, so they don’t usually hang around for long.  If the cell phone tower is still on, we can take credit cards with our smart phone, but usually there is no need.

But, we have continued sewing during power outages a time or two.  The machines that we normally use are mostly electric, but we have a couple of hand crank machines standing by to use if we want to wait the outage out.  One’s a straight stitch and the other is a zigzag (sewing clothing mostly, not leather).  We roll a small table with one of the portables on it over to the front windows to take advantage of the daylight to see.  I have my Singer 29K70 on wheels and it’s totally manual, but I’ve never been caught using it when the power went out.  Although, there have been times when I have wheeled it out onto the front sidewalk to sew things when I had something really big or really dirty to work on.  I’ve done the same thing with our electric Consew 225 on wheels (when there’s not an outage).  It is good advertising.  People going by really notice it, but then we’re in a small rural town and it may not work that well in other places.  

I have noticed several online tourist videos of small sewing shops in foreign countries that have their manually-operated machines out in front of their shops.  Like some of the video posters, I too wonder if it’s for better lighting, or to advertise their service, or both.  

A lot of the sewing that I do at home (both treadle and electric) is done out on the patio for several reasons; because I don’t have room inside, the natural lighting outside helps to see, or the object that I’m sewing is dirty enough that I don’t want to get dirt and debris inside of the house.  I don’t get much advertising here at the house if I’m out where I can be seen from the street.  Hardly anyone ever comes by while I’m out there.

CD in Oklahoma

 

[CaptQuirk]

We live off grid, meaning no city utilities. Depending on the size of your operations, power needs, solar panels and a good battery bank could take care of lighting and computers. When your power needs exceed the battery bank, a $500 generator takes care of the rest.

[Ken Nelson]

I think to be legal you have to have a disconnect on the mainline coming in on your electric service.  I know a lot of people up here in the Dakotas use small inexpensive generators to keep their furnance and fridge going if the power goes out in the winter.  Not very high from Harbor freight.  few hundred bucks.  Would run several sewing machines and a couple of light bulbs. Most up here, set them in the garage and run a couple of extension cords to whatever.