So, what brand of generator, how big, and what fuel? I can't afford one of the Generacs for the whole house, but a portable sure would be handy to have. While I could care less about the tv, the wife would go nuts and well... My house is mostly electric. My furnace is gas. I know that you get what you pay for. You can buy them from $89 to $1,000 or so. Reliability is key.
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I used to think that natural gas was the logical solution but the events of hurricane Sandy proved that wrong...there were so many gas leaks they had to shut down the pipelines. So I guess I would have to store gasoline...enough for at least 3 days or more.
Buy the biggest one you can afford. A 1500 watt generator will only power one hair dryer and thats it. If I had the cash I'd buy a 3000 watt Honda generator thats sound attenuated so I wouldn't broadcast that I had power_and_gasoline.
Hi,
A lot of factors to consider here. How do you want to power it (gasoline, propane, ng), how do you want to connect it to your house (a real transfer switch) or just running power cords. If you go gas, you will want some decent gas cans and a safe way to store it. You will also want to treat the gas so it doesn't go bad. I keep my furnace running and run fridges/freezer/tv/lights/microwave on a 3500W yamaha. Don't buy a super high watt model that sucks so much fuel that it eats your gas supply in short order. Buy enough to do what you need done and no more. If you go extension cords, you can usually put a male/female standard plug on the furnace direct wired line so that it can be unplugged from the house power and plugged into the generator extension cord. Inverter based generators cost more, but can lower their speed when the demand is low and conserve fuel. Yamaha/Honda cost more, but are designed to run for thousands of hours.
I like this site for lots of configurations:
nooutage.com
Good luck,
Alan
A lot of factors to consider here. How do you want to power it (gasoline, propane, ng), how do you want to connect it to your house (a real transfer switch) or just running power cords. If you go gas, you will want some decent gas cans and a safe way to store it. You will also want to treat the gas so it doesn't go bad. I keep my furnace running and run fridges/freezer/tv/lights/microwave on a 3500W yamaha. Don't buy a super high watt model that sucks so much fuel that it eats your gas supply in short order. Buy enough to do what you need done and no more. If you go extension cords, you can usually put a male/female standard plug on the furnace direct wired line so that it can be unplugged from the house power and plugged into the generator extension cord. Inverter based generators cost more, but can lower their speed when the demand is low and conserve fuel. Yamaha/Honda cost more, but are designed to run for thousands of hours.
I like this site for lots of configurations:
nooutage.com
Good luck,
Alan
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It may be hard to find a portable propane fueled generator and the larger tanks can be expensive.
I you can afford it diesel is the way to go. You can store diesel far longer than gasoline before it goes bad. Otherwise get gasoline, store treated fuel and rotate it.
If I had the extra cash, this is the one I would get:
http://www.centralmainediesel.com/order/09912.asp?page=L09912
http://www.centralmainediesel.com/order/09912.asp?page=L09912
Ice storm a few years back put the 6500 watt generator (my thought as a minimum size) I bought from Pep Boys after Katrina to use. I happened to be purchasing some tires, and was looking around and they had a stack of them reasonable. It sat basically unused except for an initial test a couple of years. We are total electric, 3000 sq ft rock in the country. Fireplaces were of no use, sucked out more heat than they produced. (changed that later with Great Wall of Fire Products - really made a difference, but that is another story) I found 4 1500 watt box strip heaters with fans and strung cords from the generator under the carport under the garage door, and through the entry door. I taped cracks with masking tape.
We survived 7 days and nights. You do have to have quality large 12 or 10 gauge cords so you do not have a fire hazard. I had to fill my 5 gal gen tank every 6 hours. I did it safely while running, you may not want to. I fortunately had several gas cans, but would have to make a trip occasionally refill them. The water plant was down, so I chipped Ice in a metal 5 gal bucket and sat it beside the exhaust to use to flush the toilet. We had a griddle, coffee pot, one lamp, TV when we needed it, ham radio off the back up battery when the cell phone tower backup finally died. We rotated a cord with the refrigerator and freezer a couple hours each day to keep them cold and frozen. The propane grill on the deck was handy after I chipped a path to it. That went in the flush bucket.
We now have a better check list. Number one, if you have an electric water heater, when you get everything in place, take a shower while the water is still warm, it might be a while until you have another one. After 4 days we drove 20 miles and rented a motel room that had power for an hour to take a shower.
We had a place to go, but decided we would stay home and take care of things. After two days it was frustrating to look down at the corner 800 ft away and see the street light on. Some of my neighbors were out two weeks.
Plan all you can, improvise as you go, you will forget something, but you will find out how much you really do not need.
Good luck to you.
We survived 7 days and nights. You do have to have quality large 12 or 10 gauge cords so you do not have a fire hazard. I had to fill my 5 gal gen tank every 6 hours. I did it safely while running, you may not want to. I fortunately had several gas cans, but would have to make a trip occasionally refill them. The water plant was down, so I chipped Ice in a metal 5 gal bucket and sat it beside the exhaust to use to flush the toilet. We had a griddle, coffee pot, one lamp, TV when we needed it, ham radio off the back up battery when the cell phone tower backup finally died. We rotated a cord with the refrigerator and freezer a couple hours each day to keep them cold and frozen. The propane grill on the deck was handy after I chipped a path to it. That went in the flush bucket.
We now have a better check list. Number one, if you have an electric water heater, when you get everything in place, take a shower while the water is still warm, it might be a while until you have another one. After 4 days we drove 20 miles and rented a motel room that had power for an hour to take a shower.
We had a place to go, but decided we would stay home and take care of things. After two days it was frustrating to look down at the corner 800 ft away and see the street light on. Some of my neighbors were out two weeks.
Plan all you can, improvise as you go, you will forget something, but you will find out how much you really do not need.
Good luck to you.
Like Alan mentioned, the first question to ask and answer is "what do you want to provide power to?".
Tally up what you want to run and use one of the many online tools to figure out how many KW gen set you need. For example, no point buying a gas guzzling 10kw set if all you want to power is the gas furnace blower and a couple lights. Likewise if you want to run the whole house business as usual you'll need a bigger set.
Tally up what you want to run and use one of the many online tools to figure out how many KW gen set you need. For example, no point buying a gas guzzling 10kw set if all you want to power is the gas furnace blower and a couple lights. Likewise if you want to run the whole house business as usual you'll need a bigger set.
Propane is sealed and stable. If you already have a large propane tank, you may consider LP or converting a gas generator to run on propane. I read a post from Hurricane Sandy that said they could not get the 20lb bottles, but the ones for forklifts were available. I have a "wet" line on my 500gal propane tank, so I can refill the smaller bottles. If you have a tractor, consider a PTO driven generator.
This is an interesting read from someone just through Sandy
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=253251
This is an interesting read from someone just through Sandy
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=253251
