We got power at 5:30 yesterday.
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The sound of a generator
- Thread starter pc farmer
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We got power at 5:30 yesterday.
Happy you worked through it Adam
It sucks trying to deal with outages at home while work says we have power so get your tail in here. I dealt with that many times while living in the Seattle area.
Backup power is a complicated issue that is more than just adding up all your loads and calculating that you need a big buck 25 kW power plant.
A good analysis takes maybe 30 minutes and does not come from a sales person
Fuel source is another consideration. As you noted gasoline was a small miracle that local station had backup power. What would happen without the backup power or if they ran out of gasoline and the tanker didn't arrive on time?
If you go LP generator the tank you share with the house has to be up sized.
Natural gas is surprisingly immune to power outages as the pump stations use NG for fuel.
It sucks trying to deal with outages at home while work says we have power so get your tail in here. I dealt with that many times while living in the Seattle area.
Backup power is a complicated issue that is more than just adding up all your loads and calculating that you need a big buck 25 kW power plant.
A good analysis takes maybe 30 minutes and does not come from a sales person
Fuel source is another consideration. As you noted gasoline was a small miracle that local station had backup power. What would happen without the backup power or if they ran out of gasoline and the tanker didn't arrive on time?
If you go LP generator the tank you share with the house has to be up sized.
Natural gas is surprisingly immune to power outages as the pump stations use NG for fuel.
- Sep 3, 2021
- 320
- 297
Harbor Freight 3500 inverter generators are 15% off this weekend.
Super quiet, clean sine wave power.
Change the oil & clean the spark arrestor every 100 hours, replace the spark plug every 1000 hrs.
Super quiet, clean sine wave power.
Change the oil & clean the spark arrestor every 100 hours, replace the spark plug every 1000 hrs.
chef k-dude
Master of the Pit
Same here. Not a whole house auto, but a decent setup with crossover breaker panel and a 230V plug on the side of the house with cable from the genny to it. I can have the house back up and running, with safety breaker protecting the linesmen from backfeed within minutes.
Long story but when I had the crossover breaker panel put in, at the last minute while the snow was starting to fall, my electrician wired in the final breaker and I was up and running. The power was out within a couple hours and we proceeded to get two back to back snows totaling 18” (a big deal in central Virginia). We were without power for 8-1/2 days but I was good!
I keep upwards of 55 gallons of ethanol free gas on hand so I had plenty of time to dig out before I needed to get out and get more gas.
This reminds me I need to break her out and exercise her. I’ve also become a carb switchout expert on it (not exactly easy, especially the first time) and keep two backup carbs on hand! She has both battery start and pull start in case that fails.
Having close to 3 freezers full of meat I know I need to buy a generator at least to run them. I have a small Sportsman generator but it won't run all of those let alone other things in the house. @tallbm my Colorado has a power outlet in the ved with a small built in generator under the back seat. No idea what it will run comfortably though.
Got the same Westinghouse 12500 Watt Generator!
philpom
Smoking Fanatic
Snowmmageddon.... lol. We call it Snowpocalypse. We woke up Monday morning to a cold house but after the first day power would come on for about 20 minutes every 90 or so minutes for the rest of the week. Thankfully we have a natural gas fireplace and I used a deep cycle battery and inverter to run the fireplace hot air fan. That kept the den warm. We had no damage or frozen pipes but many not so lucky. I had an interlock kit installed after that and bought a 12,000 watt dual fuel generator after that. I picked up a WEN from Amazon. Electric start etc. The interlock means I can power the entire house though I would need to carefully consider what is run together at the same time. I have tested the central AC and it will run it even on propane (lower generator output than using gasoline) but it does struggle to start it. I plan to have a soft start kit installed on the AC unit to help. We have a 5 ton unit, that's as big as residential units get without adding multiple units. You might investigate your situation and see.
Our other house is remote and on a well. I installed a transfer switch at the pole and a dedicated 300 gallon propane tank for backup. Since the switch is at the pole it powers the entire property though typically a transfer switch means a sub panel with limited breakers. I have a smaller generator up there but the cooling requirement is much less. My main concern is water because we are up on a ridge and our well is very deep. Not getting the water up without some power. Eventually I'll put in a generator shack to muffle noise and provide a permanent home for the generator.
- Sep 3, 2021
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I love generators.
Harbor Freight is about to release a 12.500 tri fuel inverter.
I absolutely don’t need it so I’ll run right down and buy one.
Harbor Freight is about to release a 12.500 tri fuel inverter.
I absolutely don’t need it so I’ll run right down and buy one.
Bringing this back.
4 years ago we had a lot of power outages so i bought a Westinghouse 4500 and I only used propane with it. Lots of neighbors also had generators running. They changed the grid we are on and we hadn't had the problem since.
Well it was put away in the shed and not touched until yesterday. With 30mph winds SCE decided to cut the power. Before dark I pulled everything out and got it ready. The battery was dead from sitting so long but with two pulls it fired up like it was just running a few days ago. It's been going for two days now.
I did have to make a run to the Uhaul station to refill the two 40lb propane tanks.
Funny thing is I don't hear any other generators going. I bet they had gas ones that wouldn't start after all this time.
I would highly recommend if you are buying a new generator to get a propane one since propane does not go bad like gas. That and they run quieter.
4 years ago we had a lot of power outages so i bought a Westinghouse 4500 and I only used propane with it. Lots of neighbors also had generators running. They changed the grid we are on and we hadn't had the problem since.
Well it was put away in the shed and not touched until yesterday. With 30mph winds SCE decided to cut the power. Before dark I pulled everything out and got it ready. The battery was dead from sitting so long but with two pulls it fired up like it was just running a few days ago. It's been going for two days now.
I did have to make a run to the Uhaul station to refill the two 40lb propane tanks.
Funny thing is I don't hear any other generators going. I bet they had gas ones that wouldn't start after all this time.
I would highly recommend if you are buying a new generator to get a propane one since propane does not go bad like gas. That and they run quieter.
I have an old honda gen, from the 1980s. It gets started about one every 10-15 years, not kidding. I empty the tank and run it dry after each use. That darn thing starts on the third pull about 90% of the time.
I cannot remember ever having to pull it over 5 or 6 times, it's a total trooper. They cost a little more up front, but if I ever need another one it will be a Honda for sure. Although I have heard great things about Harbor Freights Predator gens. And for the price you could almost buy three and have back ups and replace parts on hand. I used to use my little Honda to charge my bassboat batteries, and for running a trash pump to pump out pit blinds at the duck club. It's only been used a few times to run our refer and garage freezers during power outages.
I would really like a whole house gen that could handle our whole house load mainly the AC , refers,and a few fans and lights . For sure Id buy a one that could run on propane and gas or diesel fuel. Propane would be the safest bet for fuel storage.
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Jason, that is a great idea, I'm going to look into small single room ACs.
I don't want to buy a whole house Gen we don't have outages very often, because we are on the same grid as our local hospital, fire station, and police department.
But I like having a gen set for those just in case situations.
I'm going to have to disagree with this statement... Fuel source does not dictate sound... Obviously the muffler does...
Also... When running on propane you lose close to 25% of it's output capacity...
For storage (a year or more)... I also drain my tank and carb... Use a paper towel on the end of a doohickey and soak up any gas left in the tank that won't drain... Leave the cap off for a few days for anything left to evaporate.. Unhook the battery... Fires right up when put in service
Propane generators loss between 5-15% wattage over gas. Mine only loses 325 watts. From 3250 watts in gas running. Mine is an inverter generator. Really quiet as well.
Yes Steve, Your correct... I misquoted.. Thanks for the correction...
I do wonder if the older ones weren't as efficient though.
We have a 22K Generac whole house generator. When you live in Florida, it is kind of a must have. We have a propane one now with a 500 gal tank buried in the yard. Before we moved to Sebring we had a natural gas Generac whole house in Ft. Lauderdale. It ran for over 2 weeks 24/7 after Hurricane Andrew. If for nothing else a small one to run the fridge & freezer is a must!
Al
Al
philpom
Smoking Fanatic
After the snowpocolypse in Texas I set the house up with a 50 Amp inlet and interlock. Bought an 11000 watt duel fuel WEN generator. I only ever run it on propane for the exact reason stated in the OP. We have natural gas and I thought about converting it for that so I have an endless fuel supply.
Up at our other home, since it's remote I had a 300 gallon propane tank installed for the same purpose. We get our water from a deep well do power is essential. Originally there was no power on that land but when we decided to build we brought electric out to us. We are literally at the end of the line, any disruption is guaranteed to impact us. Thankfully it has been extremely rare.
Good advice, run propane, keeps them like new. If you do run gas make sure it's ethanol free and add a little Seafoam to it. Run it dry and drain the bowl for storage if at all possible.
Up at our other home, since it's remote I had a 300 gallon propane tank installed for the same purpose. We get our water from a deep well do power is essential. Originally there was no power on that land but when we decided to build we brought electric out to us. We are literally at the end of the line, any disruption is guaranteed to impact us. Thankfully it has been extremely rare.
Good advice, run propane, keeps them like new. If you do run gas make sure it's ethanol free and add a little Seafoam to it. Run it dry and drain the bowl for storage if at all possible.
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