| |
- If your power goes off, check the lights and appliances in other rooms. If you still have power in some areas, most likely a fuse has blown or a circuit breaker has opened - a warning of overloaded wiring or a defective appliance.
- If all your power is off, check to see if your neighbors have power. This will help Heartland Power determine how widespread the outage may be. It could be a large outage, it could just be your transformer causing the problems, or a main breaker (serving just you and several of your neighbors) has tripped.
- If you have a security light, check to see if that light is out. If so, chances are the power has been interrupted at a point away from your home.
- If you have determined that the outage is not due to a problem at your residence or business, call Heartland Power Cooperative at either the Thompson Office 641-584-2200 / 1-888-584-9732 or the St. Ansgar Office 641-713-4646 / 1-800-349-2832. You can also call the System-Wide Outage phone line at 1-888-417-3007. A dispatcher is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When there is a widespread power outage, the Cooperative's telephone lines will be swamped with calls and you may get a busy signal. We answer the calls as fast as possible - one after the other. We can only ask that you keep trying and remain patient.
- When reporting the power outage, please provide your name, address, telephone number and service location number.
- Turn off all electric appliances and disconnect electronic equipment.
- Leave a single lamp or radio turned on so you'll know when electric service is restored.
- Do not open refrigerators or freezers unless absolutely necessary. An unopened, fully loaded freezer can keep foods frozen up to 48 hours without electricity.
- Stay away from downed power lines.
Heartland Power Cooperative maintains a priority list of those members who are on life-saving equipment such as respirators, kidney machines, etc. If at all possible, these people will have their power restored first. However, we recommend to these people to invest in a back-up generator to use in emergencies.
How do I change a fuse or reset a breaker?
- First, disconnect lamps and appliances in use when circuit went out.
- Make sure your hands are dry and stand on a dry board or rubber pad, if possible. Open main switch or pull out section of panel labeled "main" in the service entrance, to cut off current while working at the branch circuit box.
- Identify the blown fuse. When a fuse blows, the transparent section becomes cloudy or blackened.
- Replace the blown fuse with a new one of proper size. The smaller sizes screw in and out just like light bulbs. If the blown fuse is a cartridge type, located in the pull-out section, it can be removed with hand pressure.
- Close the main switch or replace pull-out section to restore service. Throw away the blown fuse.
NEVER put a penny behind a fuse. There is extreme danger that your house or business will burn down.
To reset a circuit breaker: Move handle to "OFF" position.
Push handle past "OFF" position. Return handle to "ON" position.
|
|
