Ready ...Set ...Generator !!

Originally posted by dsmiths We have only used it about 3 times since I purchased it, but I bet you if I sold it another 24 inch oak would isolate us, I am keeping the gen set.

 

Easy big fella'.  Never known you to rant before.  I do hold the same values.  We have had a 5.5KW genset for years as standby power.  Have had a transfer switch installed next to the garage where we store the genset.  Try and run it about 30 minutes each month with a electric radiator as a "load."  Storing gasoline is some serious business.  Some garages have the gas water heater installed there.  One small vapor trail and kaboom.  All of us have a ready supply of gasoline in our vehicles.  Might want to consider purchasing a small manual pump with hoses attached to draw fuel from our vehicles into a suitable container as the need arises.  Additionally, gasoline does age, and without proper additives, will become unusuable.  Any all good advice from you and others.  Safe Travels.

In preparation for Hurricane Irene last year, the old men on our street were all doing their old man techy-chats in the driveway but on generators instead of lawn mowers and hedge trimmers   After a few minutes they seemed to remember we had a pod and came over to see what type of generator we would have.  We haven't invested in one yet, the the old guys on our street were shocked to hear that the Hondas were going for approximately $3000+ for half the energy output of what they got at Lowes and Home Depot for approximately $600. 

You'll pay those high prices for inverter-gensets, the best are by Honda with Yamaha a close 2nd.  They are much quieter than the cheap "work site" generators you'll pick up at Home Depot, because they will adjust their speed based on the load and because their parts are designed to be quieter.  As a result of lowering their speed - all the way to an idle - they are also much more efficient.  This is especially true for a house which will have at most 200-300 watts in load for 2/3 of the day (overnight and while you are at work).

Although as you can see from my post above, you don't have to run a genset 24/7 during an outage as some think you do.  You might as well, if you have the fuel, if you expect the outage to be short.  Its nice to have lights when you get up for a midnight bathroom run.  However, if a long-term outage hits you can rely on thermal carryover in the fridge and freezer to last most of the day.  Run it several times during the day for 2 hours each and your stuff will stay cold, for maximum fuel savings.  Personally I do it 2 hours in the morning and then 4-6 hours at night.  Unless I know something really bad has happened and then I'll revert to several times a day - and be sure to eat all the perishable food first so I can stop using up my fuel supply.

Originally posted by Keith-N-Dar I met a woman from Iowa a few years ago at a conference that was totally off the grid with solar and wind.  If I ever move out of town I would like to do this.  She and her husband were quite comfortable with their power system, and were living a fully modern life.  They were heating with wood which I wouldn't want to do, so I would still have some connection.

Man.. no way would I willingly turn my heat pump back on. Wife and I actually miss the stove come spring. We will both be sitting here trying to decide if it will get cool enough over night, if we leave the windows open, to be able to at least have a morning fire. just to "knock the chill off"...lol

It is a bit more "interactive" than the set it and forget it thermostat lifestyle.. but we see it as a good thing.