10-05-2012, 01:50 AM
(09-05-2012, 08:10 PM)diabls Wrote: The issue I use to have here, was whenever the house was built, the people who put in the sidewalk here... They evidently hammered some steel bars or wood into the ground to hold the frame for the sidewalk in place while pouring concrete... When they did such, they nicked the main cable running from the pole into the home, which over the years when it would rain, it would corrode the cable slowly. Finally one day, the cable split and sepearted so much that all of the power in the house went out. I found this probably after digging up the main cable from the pole all the way to the house, which then I found both sides of the cable under the sidewlak on each side had been nicked.
In short, don't be stupid, and also always call to find where cables and lines run in the ground before you dig or even hammer anything into the ground! (I've been through 2 fridges, an AC/heat system, and I can't even remember some of the other things in the 8 years I've lived here)
mount solar panels on your roof and start to produce your own electricity. In Germany ppl do so, they also have to ability to sell the possible excess power to their electric company. I heard that the complete system costs including the mounting expenses can pay of after a year or two. And after that you are only making a profit. Todays technology solar panels life span including inverter is about 20 years.