St-Michel residents in dark all weekend
Some residents of St‑Michel have been in the dark all weekend after a Hydro‑Quebec equipment failure, and probably won’t have power till midday Monday.
…Almost 7 pm Monday and the same areas by Pie‑IX in St‑Michel are still shown as out on the Infopannes map.
…9 am Tuesday, ditto. Generators have been brought in (and the milder weather has to be a plus).
Ian 09:40 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
This right here is why I’m still salty about the fireplace ban in my borough. When our power goes out, I can smell the woodsmoke from the next boroiugh over while we shiver in the dark.
Kate 10:07 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
Do you have a fireplace, Ian?
Looking on the Hydro outages map, the dwellings in the St‑Michel locations – streets off Pie‑IX, just east of the Francon quarry – aren’t from an era of constructions with fireplaces.
Also, isn’t the fireplace ban citywide, except that Outremont dwellers know they can get away with it?
Joey 12:20 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
You can also get gas fireplaces…
Kate 13:10 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
True, but Ian mentioned woodsmoke…
Bert 14:26 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
“However, you are allowed to use your stove or fireplace, whether or not it is certified, if there is a power outage in your building lasting more than three hours.”
From https://montreal.ca/en/topics/solid-fuel-burning-stoves-and-fireplaces
Joey 14:27 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
Yes, but the idea was to have a redundant heat source that isn’t reliant on hydroelectricity. The ban of wood fireplaces is a lot less consequential given that you can install a gas fireplace. You don’t need a big chimney or anything – the chimney can vent outside directly through the brick.
Kate 14:57 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
Do gas fireplaces not rely on an electric starter or some kind of electrically powered fuel distributor?
Mark 16:01 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
Gas fireplaces have an electric starter but most have the ability to be lit using batteries (2 D batteries in my case), which allows us to light it during an outage.
Ian 16:06 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
We do have a fireplace but my landlord sealed the chimney when the law came into effect. As a renter, I am also not at liberty to install a gas fireplace – although we do have a gas waater heater “just in case”.
Joey 18:01 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
Yeah, it’s common for them to function on a thermostat (so clicking on and off like any other kind of heater, e.g., baseboards) that has a couple of small batteries in it to send the ignite signal.
Out of curiosity, where does the steam from the gas water heater go, if not out a chimney?
Ian 18:14 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
It has its own vent, since the chimney used to be functional. I guess once the non-renewable sources ban comes into effect we’ll be switched entirely to hydro.
Bert 20:11 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
A gas fireplace can either be started by a sparker, which will probably also require electricity to open a gas valve. They can also be run off a pilot light. The pilot light heats a thin supply tube that shrinks closed if the pilot goes out. In other words if the pilot goes out the gas supply to the pilot eventually is cut. My old water heater had such a pilot system and it would run just fine through power outages. Gas stoves and ovens also used to run with a pilot system.
With a gas water heater there are two basic setups, a direct vent or a forced vent. Much as the name implies the gas fumes are directly vented, no forced air is required, no forced air venting system is required. On the other side is the forced air setup, there is an electric vent motor required and without a functioning vent motor the sparker doesn’t spark. Both used a double-walled chimney setup, with (I can only guess) the hot exhaust gas running in the center cavity and the fresh air in the outer cavity, thus acting as both a heat exchanger and insulation layer. The difference between a direct vent and a forced vent all comes down to how long and how many bends the chimney has.
The decision to condemn a fireplace chimney could also come down to an insurance issue, i.e. getting it off a policy.
CE 20:35 on 2024-12-16 Permalink
I closed off the old chimney in my building because it was causing draughts in the apartments in the winter.
Ian 11:59 on 2024-12-17 Permalink
Yeah, fair enough. Ours just capped the outdoor chimney and put in insulated panels in each of the fireplaces. Seems effective in terms of heat retention. You don’t want raccoons, squirrels & birds (and maybe opossums now) nesting in there either.
Joey 14:36 on 2024-12-17 Permalink
Also if you don’t cap an unused chimney, you will inevitably have brick problems as humidity accumulates and causes bulges, etc.
Ian 21:29 on 2024-12-17 Permalink
All good points. Still, it sucks that we lost fireplaces & Christmas bonfires because there were some air monitoring devices too close to pizza ovens.