Your last generator Maintenance Run

[ultrarunner]

At the cabin... we had auto fill for the 500 gallon tank and would go through about 350 gallons a year.

When the bear took out the regulator and the gas escaped... we went one winter without and saved about $900

Since then we use about 40 gallons mostly in the summer for hot water which no longer meets the autofill contract.

Thing is Propane Company says they cannot fill tank without a $100 system check if valve has been turned off or tank is empty...

At this rate we might not see them for 10 years!

I turn gas off and on all the time... especially when property is vacant... guess you have to be qualified to turn it back on?

WE own the tank and have had to prove it twice in the last 50 years... don't know what it is with propane suppliers losing paperwork.

 

[bullbreaker]

At the cabin... we had auto fill for the 500 gallon tank and would go through about 350 gallons a year.

When the bear took out the regulator and the gas escaped... we went one winter without and saved about $900
.

Is the Bear still alive ?

 

[ultrarunner]

Yes... I even saw the bear several months later and it did a lot of damage in the area but is protected...

My neighbors home was trashed... bear broken in and destroyed it...

I question why law of Fish and Game can't shoot it... they said their hands are tied... if a bear becomes a problem they may relocate...

Hungry bear rips apart cars at Tahoe trailhead

Unwanted visitors: keeping bears away | TahoeDailyTribune.com

And it has been an ongoing problem... after all... people are in bear habitat... right?

Several bears are killed in Meyers area | TahoeDailyTribune.com

tahoe bears ripping apart houses - Bing video

 

[bullbreaker]

And it has been an ongoing problem... after all... people are in bear habitat... right?


[/url]

Yes and they where there before 100 per cent no doubt . :thumbsup: I live way out northeast of Naples , Fla 34117 and for a place way down almost on end of the peninsula you would not believe the amount of black bears we have here . They do the same around here , tear stuff up been known to get in houses etc . I enjoy seening them and glad also they try to tolerate us humanoids .

 

[LouNY]

Well did my generators fall run up today, was saying last week I needed to run it and check it out, greased the PTO and checked gearbox last week.
Put a bit over two hours on it today when the power went out.

 

[3930dave]

Just checked the propane tank levels. It's been a bit over a year since we added the 2nd 500 gallon LP tank & had both old & new tanks filled.

Current gauge levels suggest we have approximately 700 gallons left between the two, so we used maybe 100 gallons over that 13 month period.

We use a propane furnace as backup heat source for the heat pump & the generator exercises once a week. We have a had a few short term outages over the period (longest was maybe 6 hours).

Unless we have a significant outage this winter, or a long stretch of really low temps, we may not need to refill next year either (my gut level trigger point for refill is in the 5-600 gallon neighborhood).

Quite economical..... esp. nice w. no storage (lifespan) issues :thumbsup:.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

February like Blizzards here! DANG, I wish the power would go out!

Careful what you wish for ! :laughing:

Had a brief driveway chat with my elderly neighbour yesterday. She knows I'd help her out during an outage, but commented she's getting her son to research a whole house auto generator for her.

She's very resilient still, but has grown really concerned about her declining husband who is still in the house. He's under proper medical care, but she doesn't want to face transporting him somewhere in the event of an extended outage. (We've had a few interruptions lately, and as close as she is to me, is on a different feed that seems to go down more often).

Reliable electricity is very convenient..... that chat reminded me that it's absence has much more impact on some people than others....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

At the cabin... we had auto fill for the 500 gallon tank and would go through about 350 gallons a year.

When the bear took out the regulator and the gas escaped... we went one winter without and saved about $900

Since then we use about 40 gallons mostly in the summer for hot water which no longer meets the autofill contract.

Thing is Propane Company says they cannot fill tank without a $100 system check if valve has been turned off or tank is empty...

At this rate we might not see them for 10 years!

I turn gas off and on all the time... especially when property is vacant... guess you have to be qualified to turn it back on?

WE own the tank and have had to prove it twice in the last 50 years... don't know what it is with propane suppliers losing paperwork.

Too much of a pain for many people, but how about transporting your own 100# tanks ?

I see an occasional pu at Costco here, with 2+ 100# tanks for fill. They've usually got the best propane prices around.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Well did my generators fall run up today, was saying last week I needed to run it and check it out, greased the PTO and checked gearbox last week.
Put a bit over two hours on it today when the power went out.

Good stuff..... that's helpful of your local utility..... maybe you can ask them to call IT's utility and get them to flip the Big Switch for him !

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

Too much of a pain for many people, but how about transporting your own 100# tanks ?

I see an occasional pu at Costco here, with 2+ 100# tanks for fill. They've usually got the best propane prices around.

Rgds, D.

I have not seen a Costco with Propane but have not looked for it...

Wouldn't be a problem putting 100 gallon tanks in the trailer... I do think I would run afoul of some regulation... a friend had a bunch of 5 gallon tanks to exchange and was told he had too many and would need placard... or something like that.