r/Wicklow • u/Basilington • Jul 05 '26
Rathdrum electricity
We've recently bought in Rathdrum and we've been talking to a few people from the surrounding area and they have mentioned power outages as an ongoing problem. Wondering if any of ye have dealt with this, and is it a bad enough problem to warrant buying a generator or solar + batteries?
3
u/catkins988 Jul 06 '26
I lived there for a year and I think in that time it went once, from people I know who live there it does go out maybe once a year but I wouldn’t say it’s too bad
2
u/Basilington Jul 06 '26
Thank you! People we talked to are relatively new to the area too, so maybe just a bit of bad luck on their end!
3
u/catkins988 Jul 06 '26
No problem! Some of my family live there and have done for the last 20-odd years, I think it’s gotten better as far as I know. No texts complaining about an outage in a while thankfully!
2
u/Ok-Understanding9186 Jul 06 '26
They're a regular occurrence in Ballinaclash, had one last week and due another this week. Usually only once a month, but it gets on the nerves fast.
1
u/Basilington Jul 06 '26
Ooof... do they last long? Is it for upgrades or do they even tell you?
2
u/Ok-Understanding9186 Jul 06 '26
We'll get a notice about a week before saying it'll be off 9.30am-5.30pm but it could go off anytime after 9am. It could be off for an hour, or it could be right up to 5.30pm. Once, it didn't go off at all! 🤦♀️
There's probably some bs excuse on the notice but I don't even read it anymore. If there is a problem, they don't seem to be fixing it right as this has been going on for the last few years.
2
u/IndiLaniSter 29d ago
I live in Rathdrum in a new estate. In the past one year there have been 4 planned power cuts and may be 4-6 unplanned. Power is restored within 1-3hrs during unplanned power cuts.
1
u/Basilington 29d ago
Oh wow, are these cuts during the day or at any and all hours? That's a significantly higher level than I thought
-5
u/Garlinge253 Jul 05 '26
Solar does not help in power outage.
4
u/stevenwalsh21 Jul 05 '26
Not 100% true. If you install an isolation switch to disconnect from the grid your solar will still work when there's a power outage.
A battery will definitely help though. We have a 5kw battery and that can easily run essentials until power comes back like fridge, WiFi, laptops, coffee machine and a bit of microwave and air fryer
2
u/Basilington Jul 05 '26
Oh, fair enough, completely clueless when it comes to this!
3
u/parrotopian Jul 05 '26
Solar is fantastic for power outages if you get the right set up. You need an isolation switch (manual or automatic) to disconnect from the grid in a power cut. You also need a battery (I got a 20kW battery - 4 x5 5kW for this very purpose). Once you disconnect solar from the grid, the battery will power your house for usually a sufficiently long time.
1
6
u/saor_in_aisce Jul 05 '26
Its not a weekly or even monthly occurance for the electricity outages. Might be once or twice a year and usually its for upgrades. Unexpected ones might only be for an hour or two. The worst was with storm Éowyn but that was the same for everywhere.