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So glad to have power again...
The heavy snow on the trees still in full leaf brought down trees all over the area.
We have been without light, heat, and running water from 7:15 PM, Saturday of last week until 5:10 PM today.
I wonder if National Grid would mind if I paid their bill a week or so late whenever the mood strikes me?
I suppose that a generator has moved way up on my priority list.
A good generator is a must. But that's a long time to be on a generator. I wonder just how much fuel you'd need to have on hand (gas stations won't be up and running either) to last for a week. I imagine where you are that you'd need power for many more hours a day than I would out here where the climate is much more temperate.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
The fuel needed for that length of time depends on the generator. When hurricane Charlie hit the generators we used at work would run out of fuel roughly every third day. (It powered the travel trailer that was being used as the office. Computers, A/C, lights, ect) That was for both diesel and gas. The generators were run for 8 to 10 hours a day. One thing that is often forgotten is that you need to change the oil (standard 30 weight) every 24 working hours.
I would recommend having three 5 gallon jerry cans of fuel and 6 quarts of oil should be good to most circumstances. I also recommend pouring the fuel into your vehicle, if storing gas, every month and then refilling the cans. That way the ethinol won't separate during storage.
This is the first time that we have had a serious outage since we built the house in '87.
We have had outages of not more than 12 hours about three times since then.
Even just twelve hours is serious when the nighttime temps hit zero degrees though.
I have to provide power for the furnace, fridge, and well pump. The pump is the big deal as we have a 3/4 horse pump about 400 feet down. I'm guessing that 8-9000 watts will be needed. The generators that I have seen give ten hours of half-load power from 6-1/2 gallons of gas. Two five gallon cans of gas would probably keep the place habitable for a couple of days with careful rationing and temperatures of 20 degrees or more. If I get a small fuel pump, I could drain the gas from one of our two cars to stretch the supply by another ten gallons or so.
The roads here are frequently blocked by weather events as we live in a heavily treed area, so going for gas could very well not be an option.
There are natural gas generators that are hard wired into your home's service box that are available if you have natural gas at your location -- more expensive than a portable for sure -- but even a portable that will provide 9k watts is not going to be cheap
A nat gas line can also be used to power a gas heater --- that and a bunch of 0ne and 5 gallon containers of water can turn your living room into a campground for a little while
Glad you got your juice back. Being without power
for that long with our modern lifestyles is a PITA.
We were without power for 11 days during the ice
Storm of '98. NO fun. Temps below zero a coupla nights.
Two kerosene heaters on during the day, and we had a
two-year-old in the house. He thought mama cooking his potato
puffs and hotgdogs on the heater was cool. My wife was
a nervous wreck from watching him!
We have a 3500 Watt Honda that will run two fridges, a
well pump, a few lights, and the furnace, though I'm
careful not to start all of the motors at the same time.
It'll also handle the pellet stove in the winter, too.
Someday when I'm feelin' rich I'll get a 6500 Watt with
the electric start......
jhrosier wrote:This is the first time that we have had a serious outage since we built the house in '87.
We have had outages of not more than 12 hours about three times since then.
Even just twelve hours is serious when the nighttime temps hit zero degrees though.
I have to provide power for the furnace, fridge, and well pump. The pump is the big deal as we have a 3/4 horse pump about 400 feet down. I'm guessing that 8-9000 watts will be needed. The generators that I have seen give ten hours of half-load power from 6-1/2 gallons of gas. Two five gallon cans of gas would probably keep the place habitable for a couple of days with careful rationing and temperatures of 20 degrees or more. If I get a small fuel pump, I could drain the gas from one of our two cars to stretch the supply by another ten gallons or so.
The roads here are frequently blocked by weather events as we live in a heavily treed area, so going for gas could very well not be an option.
Jack
First I would get a wood burning stove, you know the ones that run on wood . This in turn can run the water system if you have snow on the ground, melt snow for all your water needs. If its below 30 degrees or so you have your fridge. But if you want to go the generator way get a fuel tank with a pump, the kind for the back of pickups and start filling it 5 gal at a time before winter hits and use Stabul in the fuel.
Harry
Trump 2024
All responses have been cleared by the law firm of "Elmer and Fudd."
Just last week we finished getting in the last of the Winter wood supply, about the time that big snowstorm hit New England. I was wondering if a lot of folks there use wood stoves. I'd guess about a third of this town heats with wood, at least partially. But might have some real friendly neighbors come visiting if we went a week without power here.
Water would probably be the first thing to get short for me: might have to start sending the wife to the creek with a bucket Hearing about your experience, Jack, sure makes the rest of us think about what we'd do if (when) it hits here.
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
You can get by with a 5000 watt generator with 220 volt capabilities, and probably 10 gallons or less of gas.
The trick is to learn to run what you need to when you need to.
Fill the pressure tank on the well, fill all the buckets, extra pots and pans you can find for drinking, cooking and toilet flushing. Then run the generator long enough to fill up again when needed. Got to teach the kids to drink an entire glass of water and don't be dumpin the leftovers after a sip or two from a full glass down the sink....
Run the fridge and freezer for a couple of hours every 4 hours or so, same with the furnace.
Run the tv when the news is on, everybody can learn to read and play games in the interim.
By doing it in shifts like that you won't need an excessive amount of gas,won't be in the lap of luxury, but can still get by.
Thanks! I spent a couple hours browsing the info and got some good ideas.
We got a cheap lesson this time as the temps were in the 50s in the day so the house stayed habitable even with 20-30 degree temps at night. Mid winter temps would have forced us to seek shelter elsewhere. Opening drapes to let in the sun warmed the place enough during the day to make up what we lost at night.
Cash is king. Credit cards won't buy squat with no power.
Lamp oil is cheap and plentiful when you don't need it.
Walmart closes the doors when you need stuff in an emergency. The local mom & pop outfits that Walmart tries to drive out of business stay open and serve the community as best they can.
A good radio and a good attitude will keep you partially sane when it's cold and dark.
Streetstar wrote:There are natural gas generators that are hard wired into your home's service box that are available if you have natural gas at your location -- more expensive than a portable for sure -- but even a portable that will provide 9k watts is not going to be cheap
A nat gas line can also be used to power a gas heater --- that and a bunch of 0ne and 5 gallon containers of water can turn your living room into a campground for a little while
Yea, that works as long as two conditions are met.
1. You have natural gas. Not everyone does.
2. The gas supply isn't interupted. And unusual occurance, but it has happened.
Now I've heard there are generators that run on both natural gas and gasoline. Never seen one, but I bet they are expensive.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
The problem, of course, is that with power outages being so uncommon it gets real hard to wrap your mind around a bit of gear that might, maybe, get used once per decade. And remember, if you want it to function it'll need regular maintenance.
I work with some guys who are solar nuts and that makes far more sense to me, but it costs ten times more!
Being prepared isn't cheap or easy.
Oly
Cheers,
Oly
I hope and pray someday the world will learn
That fires we don't put out will bigger burn
olyinaz wrote:The problem, of course, is that with power outages being so uncommon it gets real hard to wrap your mind around a bit of gear that might, maybe, get used once per decade. ...
Oly,
So far this year, we've had a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake, and now this freak/early snow storm. It may be just an incredible run of bad luck or it might be the new normal.
In any case, the infrastructure seems to be failing much more frequently than I have ever seen. The power companies have cut back their workforce in response to the economy and aren't able to respond to these "uncommon" events with the same speed and efficiency that we used to take for granted. The power company sent a fellow out to guard a downed 12kv line up the road until it could be repaired and I spoke to him at length about this very issue. He is a long time employee and has seen this situation developing for several years.
I will admit to being old and not too fit and unprepared. The options seems to be either hope for the best or start working on changing the odds a bit more in my favor. Being a victim of circumstances is frightening and embarrassing.
Sorry to hear about your situation, jhrosier. That would plain be a pain. Luckily the wife and I live in an area that doesn't have a lot of trees to blow down power lines. In fact in all the years I've lived here the most I can recall being without power was about six hours. But, I've often thought about plumbing in a generator. In this day and age being without power for just a short time can throw a wrench in the works. Most homes just aren't set up for day to day living without it. Harkening back to the days of yore, everything was heated by the main fireplace in the house and it was huge. Nothing now compares in size and versatility. So a generator makes good sense.
jeepnik wrote:Now I've heard there are generators that run on both natural gas and gasoline. Never seen one, but I bet they are expensive.
We got a couple of them from Northern Tool that would run on Natural Gas, Liquid Propane, OR Unleaded Gasoline. Cost maybe $150 more than the competitors back 15 years ago when we got them. We wound up not using them (never even un-crated one of them), as we got a permanent-install one just a bit later. I need to get them out of storage and sell them, actually.
There are lots of generators that run on Liquid Propane, and I'd think a 700-gallon tank of that would last quite awhile...
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
Losing power for extended periods of time can be a real PITA. In 2005 we had to deal with hurricane Rita. We were without power for 5 weeks.!!!!
We got back here two days after the storm blow through. I had bought a 55 gal drum of diesel for my Truck, a 55 gal drum of gas and 30 gals. more on board the RV for my 8 KW generator. Running the RV at night for the AC along with the freezer and Frig. I have a small 1.2 KW we used for fans during the day. In 5 weeks I had to refill the gas drum one time. Didn't have to use the RV gas. I did go through a little over 2 gals of Shell Rotella motor oil for the two generators.
One cool thing that I found out. There is a Valero gas station here that has a standby generator that even if the store is closed you can get fuel if you have a credit card.
Since then because the other was getting old, I bought another generator just in time for the Ike hurricane. We were without power for about 12 day for Ike.
I just saw on the news that 80,000 are still without power in Conn. I have had a generator for 30 years and it seems like we lose power at least once or twice a year in the last 5 years.....3 days in this last storm....6 days last year, and 8 days in an ice storm......3...5 gallon jugs and the 7k generator does my house -oven and dryer......before Cancer took my wife I had to make sure we always had power and I have a spare, a wood stove. pellet stove along with an oil fired boiler....NE winters can be brutal and the infastructure is getting older..its like our other passion......I would rather have and not need it.....but we sure seem to need it every year.....k
Its hard to impossible for the infrastructure to anticipate things like last Saturday. A month later & that storm wouldn'ta made the news. I'm lucky & we never lost power, but I'm also pretty dissapointed by all the finger pointing. People need to remember how to get by without lifes conveniences if they need to. I'm glad to see that here at least the talk is about generators & ways to deal with it. All week I'v been hearing folks cry about CL&P's lack of action & preparedness, then they cry about all the trucks working on the roads & cry about the cost of power. Like it wont cost more to keep enough guys on the clock to deal with this full time. Bottom line is this was caused by trees with leaves & wet heavy snow. Not much a power co can do about that. They dont own the trees either so while the must keep the wires clear they cant just go cutting down trees across the region, thats our individual responsability & the responsability of the town, city & state, whichever owns the tree.
JMHO, but if you choose to live here loseing power is something you need to deal with. I'v got a generator capable of keeping my food cold & froze and the lights on, thats all I figure I need. I see this stuff as an adventure mostly, life goes on & we learn from it.
I've been doing my research and have decided to get a Generac 6500 W running - 8000 W surge generator.
With the transfer switch & cables it should be about $1300 total.
It will require shutting down the other circuits to charge the water system periodically. I can live with that.
This unit is not safe for computers & entertainment gear. That's OK with me also and keeps the price to about 50% of the higher end system.
I've not heard anything negative about the Generac brand equipment, yet.
I have a few weeks to change my mind as it seems that a lot of places have nothing in stock right now.
Lever is right....you are responsible for yourself, and if you can a neighbor.....thats another reason why I left Boston in 75" after I got out of the Army....and moved to gun friendly NH and that you were and still pretty much are required to be self sufficent....and until I get to old to turn a key switch on my generator or snowblow my driveway....etc...I hope to keep as independent as possible and not to need the system to hold my hand.....as they do a pee poor job in normal times.never mind an "event"
Jack.......if the Genrack is a portable you may want to look elsewhere....if you are looking at portable you are by code allowed to install a lock out kit on the panel cover with size depending a double 30 breaker to the left or right of the main breaker....both can not be on together....and you get to use every circuit in your home....again size depending instead of the few in the sub panel.......my Black max 7K 87K start @ Sams Club was a grand....Honda engine and the voltage regulator is smooth,.....it has run for days on end.....good luck....my old generator is a Yamaha 5K industrial and it never failed me in 25 years....pull start and after 25 years how could I blame it if it failed!
. This in turn can run the water system if you have snow on the ground, melt snow for all your water needs. If its below 30 degrees or so you have your fridge. But if you want to go the generator way get a fuel tank with a pump, the kind for the back of pickups and start filling it 5 gal at a time before winter hits and use Stabul in the fuel.
Hearing about your experience, Jack, sure makes the rest of us think about what we'd do if (when) it hits here.
