05·RB
Runbooks & Troubleshooting
Scenario-driven, plain-language: symptom → check → fix → when to call a pro (and who).
Something is wrong and you want it fixed. Every page in this part is a short decision path you can follow while standing in the dark holding a phone — no prior knowledge of this house required.
Before anything else
How to use a runbook
Each runbook is written the same way, on purpose, so that once you have used one you know how to use all of them:
- The opening line tells you what is probably happening — and, usually, that it is less serious than it feels. Read it before you touch anything.
- “First, check” is a numbered list in order. The order is deliberate: cheapest and most likely first, most expensive and least likely last. Do them in order and stop when the problem goes away. Roughly four out of five household faults are solved before step three.
- The tables are the branch points. Once you know which version of the problem you have, find your symptom in the left column and read across.
- The red box is the stop sign. Every runbook ends with “stop and call a pro when…”, and it names who — the utility, an electrician, a plumber, or the vendor. Knowing which of those to call is most of the battle.
- The last section links to the system pages. The runbook gets you through the incident; the system page explains the equipment.
Two rules that hold in every runbook
Triage — start here if you do not know which runbook you need
Find the thing that is wrong. The middle column is what to do in the next sixty seconds; the right column is the full runbook.
| What is happening | Do this now | Runbook |
|---|---|---|
| The power is out in the neighborhood | Probably nothing — the Powerwalls should already be carrying the house. Open the Tesla app to confirm, and ease off the big loads. | Power outage |
| The whole house is dark | Different problem: the backup did not carry, or the main is off. Check the Tesla app, then the main panel. | Power outage |
| One room or a few outlets are dead | Look for a tripped breaker in the panel and a tripped GFCI button on a nearby outlet. | Breaker trips |
| Water is coming out of something | Turn off the nearest shutoff — under the sink, behind the toilet, or the main. Stop the water first, diagnose second. | Water leak |
| No internet | Look at the fiber box (ONT) and the gateway lights before touching anything else. | Internet down |
| The house is cold | Start at the Ecobee: is the screen on, is it in Heat, is the target above the room temperature? | No heat |
| The garage door goes down then reverses | Clear whatever is in front of the two safety sensors near the floor and wipe their lenses. | Garage door |
| Solar production looks wrong | Compare it to the same week last year, not to last month. Season explains most of it. | Solar looks low |
| You are leaving town | Nothing is wrong — this is the pre-flight checklist so nothing goes wrong while you are gone. | Going on vacation |
| You just bought the house | Work through the account-transfer runbook. It is the one job that has a deadline. | Smart-home account transfer |
The numbers worth having in your phone
These are the four calls that actually get made from this address. All verified against the providers’ own sites — sources are listed on the individual runbooks.
| Who | Number | When |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency | 911 | Fire, gas smell you can smell outdoors, downed line, injury, sparking. Always first. |
| Clark Public Utilities — PowerLine | 360-992-8000 | Report a power outage. Do it even if your lights are on: the Powerwalls hide the outage from you, not from the neighborhood. |
| NW Natural — 24-hour gas emergency | 800-882-3377 | Any smell of gas. Leave the house first, then call from outside (or call 911). |
| City of Ridgefield — after-hours water | 360-887-6002 | A water emergency on the city’s side — the meter, the street, no water at all. |
Also worth knowing
The runbooks
Eight incident runbooks plus the account-transfer runbook. Each one stands alone — you never need to have read the others. Locks, guest access, and re-keying are covered inside the account-transfer runbook rather than as a separate page.
Where the shutoffs are