Back up home battery systems? Generators? Solar panels?

[Chris_in_SoCal]

We had a lot of outages last year due to winds and fire danger. Sometimes it was out for days. I bought a Westinghouse Igen4500DF 4500 watts max Gas or Propane but only ran propane because it is quieter and don't have to worry about gas/carb issues. I ran a large RV extension cord into the house each time and was able to run everything but the HVAC. It was very quiet and you could not hear it running 10 feet from the house with the doors closed. I do think Generic makes them now.

It happened often enough at the end of the year I purchased a whole house Cummins RS20AC 20KV Dual Natural gas and propane with 200amp auto switch. It is auto start, auto switching and auto maintenance. I have yet to have it connected to the house yet. It will be hooked up to natural gas so the gas co. will have to install a larger meter.

 

[1MoreFord]

For those of you who use gasoline gensets you Do need to use fuel stabilizers. You need it in your fuel supply since you can't count on getting gas during power outages. You also need to burn your supply in your vehicles to keep new stock on hand.

If possible you should buy E0 gas for storage. If you can't get E0 then rotate your stock Very quickly because Ethanol fuel will separate into water, ethanol, and gas over time. Ethanol is poison for small engines and once stratified it is for cars too. Even E0 needs to be rotated but not as fast as Ethanol.


Here's a link to help you find E0 fuel.

Pure-gas.org - ethanol-free gasoline in the U.S. and Canada

Pure-gas.org is the definitive web site listing stations that sell pure gasoline in the U.S. and Canada.

www.pure-gas.org

 

[Brokenhandle]

For those of you who use gasoline gensets you Do need to use fuel stabilizers. You need it in your fuel supply since you can't count on getting gas during power outages. You also need to burn your supply in your vehicles to keep new stock on hand.

If possible you should buy E0 gas for storage. If you can't get E0 then rotate your stock Very quickly because Ethanol fuel will separate into water, ethanol, and gas over time. Ethanol is poison for small engines and once stratified it is for cars too. Even E0 needs to be rotated but not as fast as Ethanol.


Here's a link to help you find E0 fuel.

Pure-gas.org - ethanol-free gasoline in the U.S. and Canada

Pure-gas.org is the definitive web site listing stations that sell pure gasoline in the U.S. and Canada.

www.pure-gas.org

We run ethanol gas in all of our gas cars / trucks and have for years. Also lawnmowers, trimmers and what not. Lawnmowers and such I try to add sea foam on occasion... especially at the end of the season... makes for an easy start in the spring. Chain saw is probably 25 years old, ran ethanol gas in it all it's life... still runs like a champion. So ethanol isn't all that bad.
But I do agree, for back up generators... better use something to treat the fuel... you want them to start when you need them, that's for sure.

Ryan

 

[1MoreFord]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Glad you're having good luck. Not everyone does.

My old Honda daily driver didn't like Ethanol. I'd loose power and 10% mileage every time I ran E10.

 

[pc farmer]

We run ethanol gas in all of our gas cars / trucks and have for years. Also lawnmowers, trimmers and what not. Lawnmowers and such I try to add sea foam on occasion... especially at the end of the season... makes for an easy start in the spring. Chain saw is probably 25 years old, ran ethanol gas in it all it's life... still runs like a champion. So ethanol isn't all that bad.
But I do agree, for back up generators... better use something to treat the fuel... you want them to start when you need them, that's for sure.

Ryan

We only use non ethanol gas in small engines. Been working good for us. Before that when using regular gas the carbs would clog up

 

[1MoreFord]

We only use non ethanol gas in small engines. Been working good for us. Before that when using regular gas the carbs would clog up

Most likely from corrosion caused by ethanol.

 

[pc farmer]

Most likely from corrosion caused by ethanol.

Yup. I hate it for the corn farmers but ethanol isn't good

 

[Brokenhandle]

I've actually had mechanics tell me the opposite. The ethanol in gas causes issues for people that rarely use it. The issues arise when the ethanol starts cleaning fuel lines that are dirty. But not gonna argue the point... you either like it or not.
Am I just lucky? I doubt it. My dad delivered mail for 30 years, ran ethanol fuel always... and never any fuel issues. Not any jobs harder on a vehicle than that.
Not trying to convince anyone, but with hundreds of thousands of miles on vehicles ran on 10% ethanol, you can't sell me on it's bad.

Ryan

 

[SmokinAl]

We’ve had Generac’s in both our homes in Florida. In Ft. Lauderdale we had natural gas, so no problem with a tank. Here in Sebring, we are not allowed to have an above ground tank either. So we have a 500 gallon tank buried in the front yard. All you see is the top cover in the garden. That may work for you too.
Al

 

[clifish]

We’ve had Generac’s in both our homes in Florida. In Ft. Lauderdale we had natural gas, so no problem with a tank. Here in Sebring, we are not allowed to have an above ground tank either. So we have a 500 gallon tank buried in the front yard. All you see is the top cover in the garden. That may work for you too.
Al

I converted my generator from gas to natural gas, easy and cheap conversion. I got the tri-fuel kit from US carburetor and it works great.

 

[idahopz]

We regularly lose power several times per year. One time I borrowed a Champion generator and it worked fine but was very loud (enough to keep us up at night). We finally decided to purchase a generator that would not only supply our needs during power outages, but also when using our fifth wheel. Out choice was a Honda 7000i which is enough to power almost all our needs and is whisper quiet. We hardly hear it run and is miserly with fuel consumption. It is a bit pricey however, but I'll always go with Honda in the future.

 

[Fueling Around]

Daja vu? Wasn't there another genny thread not long ago?

For backup I would prefer a genny over a solar with battery bank
Lived in Seattle in the 80-s and 90's. Power outages frequently but didn't bother me until I got married and wife was stay at home with the kids. I don't remember if A/C or generator came second. First was converting from electric FA furnace and electric water heater to natural gas. Not enough room in furnace ducting to install an A-frame condenser so used a couple window units.
Got a Generac cheap at Costco. Noisy old technology, but it put out enough juice to keep the fridge and freezer cold, run microwave, run furnace or 1 a/c unit and open the garage door (which I did frequently to piss off the neighbors). Only used for an hour in the morning before work and then all evening after work

Used it once in 22 years since moving to MN.

 

[philpom]

We live in North Texas and experienced the awful week of no power and temps near 0 degrees F. We have natural gas in our house so we ran the fireplace all week, that basically saved us. Later that year I installed an interlock kit and 50amp power inlet box out back. Bought an 11,000 watt dual fuel generator and now I'm good. I bought a WEN Power generator off of Amazon for under $1,000. I may convert it to natural gas and pipe that over to it but for now keeping some gasoline and propane around provides comfort. You can build a small generator shack to cut down on the noise.

 

[Jonok]

For rarely used small engines, 100LL avgas is the ideal solution. It is engineered to be stable, unlike mogas, and is the definition of corrosion resistant. It works great as mix gas as well. Haven’t trashed a carb on anything since I started using it.
Head down to your local airport and make a few friends.

 

[fxsales1959]

Two winters ago (here in Austin, Tx) we lost power in our all electric home for three days during some of the coldest weather in a long time.
Lots of people in Texas died from the cold, many suffered broken pipes that flooded their houses when the thaw came.
We survived by burning every bit of my BBQ wood, including post oak sticks, pecan sticks, hardwood pellets and many bags of expensive charcoal in the fireplace.
The day the power came back I was getting ready to start busting up the furniture to feed the fireplace.
So, last night at 9:45 the power dropped out again, this time for only 1.5 hours but it was still above 90 degrees outside so we were pretty jittery when we hit the bed at 10.
All that brings me to the topic, without calling Generac and dropping big bucks, what should I do for short term power back up?
I see suitcase sized backup batteries for around500/600 but they don't seem to last long just powering a freezer and some fans.
Anybody done the research on using automotive or marine deep cycle batteries with a transformer as a backup?
I don't have the knowledge or skills to do the math on it but it would seem to be better than buying a fancy battery suitcase unit.
On the other end of the price range has anyone looked into solar panels with the jumbo battery system?
The Generac whole house unit with propane would be the best but my HOA won't allow propane tanks in the back yard.
The alternative to one large tank would be a shed full of the smallest ones and lots of tank swapping.
Thoughts, advice?

We have two gas jobs that have sufficed small stuff. I've got a little honda I used to use on my cabin cruiser when I still had it. also bought a 5K job two years ago during hurricane tax holiday.
The Honda is barely enough to run refrigerator and freezer. it's pretty quiet and good on gas.
The 5K Champion is a noisy F&*(ker. I can use it for doondock camping and get by for a weekend. I'm in hurricane target zone in SE Florida. I stayed home for Wilma because I was new to here and stupid. Wilma was 115mph winds here. I know some of our brothers got BF'd by Ian last year. Ive never considered whole home because i can't afford it. I figure if there's one coming now, I'll load up the critters in the truck and hook up my toyhauler and head for GA.
Back on subject, if you look at whole home you're stuck with reading reviews. Of course if you've ever read some of the illiterate reviews for crap on Amazon, you get what you don't pay for.
I've babbled more than necessary. over and out.
John

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I have a predator 4000 for emergency use. I start it about once a month and let the gas run out. Tried to start last week and no go. I put new carb on last year and now need another. I am installing a propane kit this week on it. Hopefully that works out. I just have for freezers during power fail. Lucky not needed it so far.

 

[daniels]

Several years ago we lost power for 3 1/2 days. We are in southern Iowa. Temperature hung out just a few degrees below freezing.

We have an LP fireplace and ran it off of our 500 gallon LP tank the whole time. I had a fully-charged, larger deep cycle battery and a 400 watt inverter. That kept a light on with a CFL when we needed it, kept the laptop and cell phones charged, ran a radio, and powered a small TV. I put a new trash bag in a trash can and put frozen food in it on the porch on the north side of the house. The refrigerated food went into ice chests with no ice and were set out in the garage. I made coffee, tea, and cooked on a SVEA 123 backpacking stove in the basement near the back door in case of any issues. I also have a Coleman 2 burner camping stove and camping lantern but didn't get them out. I keep plenty of Coleman (style) camping fuel handy.

The only problem we had was the water in the water heater got pretty cool for showering on the 3rd night.

The battery was still half charged when the power came back on.

A few years ago we got a Generac standby generator that will power the house and it runs off of the LP tank. It ran the house for about 10 hours during the summer one night and kept everything going so we know it works fine.

We're pretty well set.

 

[clifish]

I have a predator 4000 for emergency use. I start it about once a month and let the gas run out. Tried to start last week and no go. I put new carb on last year and now need another. I am installing a propane kit this week on it. Hopefully that works out. I just have for freezers during power fail. Lucky not needed it so far.

I did a propane/NG conversion on mine and it works great. You will still probably need to replace the carb first so it is in working order. Then do not use any gas anymore.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Y

I did a propane/NG conversion on mine and it works great. You will still probably need to replace the carb first so it is in working order. Then do not use any gas anymore.

Yes. Got the whole thing. Hopefully got right hose? Gas One 2102 New Improved 6 ft Low Pressure Propane Regulator and Hose Connection Kit for LP/LPG Most LP/LPG Gas Grill, Heater and Fire Pit Table,Brown/A

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WB2BH2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[clifish]

Y

Yes. Got the whole thing. Hopefully got right hose? Gas One 2102 New Improved 6 ft Low Pressure Propane Regulator and Hose Connection Kit for LP/LPG Most LP/LPG Gas Grill, Heater and Fire Pit Table,Brown/A

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000WB2BH2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I did NG so it hooks up to the house. I am sure what you got is fine. Test it before you need it though. On mine the regulator hooks up to the carb and needs to be purged while the gas is on before starting.