Getting prepared.

RalphVa · Feb 13, 2021

Moved 20 gallons of diesel fuel from carriage house to garage. Carriage house doors don稚 work on the generator. Can open the one door manually, but the ramp to it could be slick.

Generator uses about 6 gallons/day.

Snow yesterday and trees all covered still. Rain has started.

Supposed to be freezing rain, as it will remain below freezing. Big chance for power outages.

Think one 5 gallon container of diesel would go into the 60 gallon Isuzu tank but I'll wait.

One of the best things we did was to install the whole house (12.5 kw) diesel generator. Can even run one hot water tank and the clothes drier on it, if there's room.

Ralph

shooterdon · Feb 13, 2021

Ours runs on propane, so it is super simple. It is always "prepared" and I have a spare 500 gal tank that costs me $54/year to rent.

It is good feeling knowing that you are ready.

Wakey · Feb 13, 2021

I have extra oil / filters in case of an extended power outage. 100 hours between changes, that comes quick.

Wakey · Feb 13, 2021

And Ralph, I hope you don't get an ice storm. The worst part is all the branches and sticks from dead ends you have to pick up for the next 3 years haha

Larry Caldwell · Feb 13, 2021

I have a wood shed full of dry wood, a 2500 gallon gravity feed cistern, and a dinky little camp generator that is whisper quiet and will run the fridge or freezer 4.5 hours on a gallon of gas. Bath water is a copper laundry tub on top of the wood stove. I don't bother with electricity until the second day of an outage. The world did fine without it for 100,000 years or so.

ChuckT · Feb 14, 2021

Here in Florida I consider a whole-house generator a necessity. We've had one installed at last two houses we lived in and should have had one before that.

Diggin It · Feb 14, 2021

shooterdon said:
Ours runs on propane, so it is super simple. It is always "prepared" and I have a spare 500 gal tank that costs me $54/year to rent.

It is good feeling knowing that you are ready.

That won't help a bit if the roads are closed and the trucks can't get through to deliver. Even two full 500 gallon tanks may only get you a week or so if you're also using LP for home heat, hot water, laundry and cooking. Our last two long term outages were longer than that. Hundreds, maybe thousands of miles of roads were blocked by fallen trees and it took weeks to get them all cleared. People ran out and couldn't get more, at any price. You can't personally transport any quantity of LP like you can diesel.

I'm in the process of installing a 16Kw LP generator, but I know that during a projected long outage I may have to ration use of it if the roads are blocked by snow, ice or fallen trees. I'll be keeping my smaller gasoline unit to help cover those gaps.

japody · Feb 16, 2021

We had a terrible ice storm here that knocked out our power for 36 hours. We're at the age where we don't abide not having our creature comforts - heat, water, refrig, TV and internet. So, this thread is right on time. We're discussing getting a whole house generator. Will probably need a 22 Kw unit. Looking at propane fuel. We would only use it for the necessities listed above. From what I've read, they use about 2 gals per hour at half load. Does that sound right? Any other insights, comments? Thanks.

Diggin It · Feb 16, 2021

There are a bunch of threads on that. The engine and the load (how much power you're using) will affect fuel consumption. They rate that at 50-60% load, so if you get a 22Kw and are only using 11K or so, that estimate should be 'good'. If you're using 18 to 20K, it will likely use more fuel. That's part of why they want people to get 'in home quotes' ... to better determine your average use and size the unit properly.

It's only partially about creature comforts for many. For others with mobility or health issues, they may not be able to move a portable to deal with a PTO unit. And if you have life dependent medical machines, you're not going to want to, or be able to deal with a portable if power goes out in the middle of the night or during a storm, or both. I don't have those issues now, but who knows what might happen in a few months or years. I want to get set up with a stand by while I can.

Again, the biggest issue with LP is delivery. Only the fuel trucks can do that and you're reliant on their ability to get to you when you need it. Road conditions and other customers can seriously affect timely deliveries. I'd love to have a diesel standby, but couldn't handle the additional cost.

Billy Bee · Feb 16, 2021

Diggin It said:
That won't help a bit if the roads are closed and the trucks can't get through to deliver. Even two full 500 gallon tanks may only get you a week or so if you're also using LP for home heat, hot water, laundry and cooking. Our last two long term outages were longer than that. Hundreds, maybe thousands of miles of roads were blocked by fallen trees and it took weeks to get them all cleared. People ran out and couldn't get more, at any price. You can't personally transport any quantity of LP like you can diesel.

I'm in the process of installing a 16Kw LP generator, but I know that during a projected long outage I may have to ration use of it if the roads are blocked by snow, ice or fallen trees. I'll be keeping my smaller gasoline unit to help cover those gaps.

2 full 500 gallon tanks only last a week? Seems excessive, what are you heating?