Unfortunately power outages are not uncommon in the mountains. Power outages can be triggered by winter and spring rain/snow storms or lightning during the summer and fall. Pacific, Gas and Electric (PG & E) also notified us that as of 2019, they will shut power down during hot, windy conditions that could cause wild fires.

In 2023 we installed solar panels and battery back-up. This comes on automatically and will provide enough power to run appliances, fans and lights for several days if you are judicious in your use of energy. The battery does not provide enough power to run our central AC and you will run through energy very quickly if you do that. Instead, we recommend using the ceiling and room fans. We have one large room AC unit in the room over the garage that requires less electricity than the central HVAC system.

In the case of a power outage that uses up our battery, we have provided candles, which are stored in the far right cabinet above the dryer in the laundry room. We have also provided flashlights in every room, though to be honest they seem to disappear often, so we cannot guarantee that they are always where they are supposed to be!

We did recently install a whole house surge protector to protect our appliances and your devices during occasional power surges. We hope you do not have the inconvenience of being without power while staying in our house, but we ask for your patience if this occurs.

Below are some tips for coping with a power outage:

Keep your cell phones charged

Use your cell phone as a flashlight

Keep the freezer and refrigerator doors shut as much as possible to keep the interior cold as long as possible.

Use the propane grill for cooking