Mine is air cooled and basically a v-twin riding lawnmower engine. It does have an oil cooler and I think heat is the biggest concern with mine since it is normally needed it the warmest months of the year. I use quality oil and keep the air and oil filters changed out regularly.sveiki @Kestas. Always pleasant to see you pop in here.
To everyone: Beware Karma regarding use of generators! During our June 2 day power outage at my workplace/residence, our commercial standby Kohler generator (with Ford engine) fired up to meet the challenge. Meanwhile I fired up our brand new portable Generac 18kw unit to operate the other 2 buildings.
I was struttin' around like king rooster all in control of my domain until the second night and I hear this Extreme Horrificgrinding noise and the Kohler generator comes to a halt. Yikes! The water pump imploded and I approached with flashlight to find it bleeding in a pool of coolant. Heavy sigh.
Fortunately, the power came back on in a few hours.
NEVER claim master of your domain! Humble and appreciative is the correct standard operating procedure.
Power is out
- Thread starter Chris142
- Start date
I remember times here having to drain the water in the lines in the house and using a kerosene heater in the house for days to weeks. Back in ~2009 I think it was I didn't have power for three weeks, then in 2012 it was two weeks, etc... Third world power grid here, Highest power rates in the state to boot. Some of the industrial sites I used to work at didn't bother to pay for utility lines/connections because of the issues, they would setup Natural Gas Combustion Turbines...Part of my job was sizing the electrical infrastructure for it and maintaining it. I remember more then a few times we had the local county ask us to setup small tents on the property for warming centers and the like and we did, we had to cut that out though. The geography in this area means that one mile as the crow flies could mean 30-40 minute car rides. When bad weather hits most sites had crew quarters on the property...typically a Cot.
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Power is back on early. It's very uncommon for our power to be out. Usually its off a few minutes at most. Hours off is very rare.
Kestas
Staff member
I can tolerate being without electricity for a bit, but I'm less tolerant of being without water. I still have the task of finding a way to hook up my generator to the well pump. The bladder/accumulator can deliver a number of gallons of water before that's out. Natural gas is always reliable, I've never seen that go out.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
I’m on a very good small town grid - AEP has a regional service center a mile away - same grid as PD/FD/EMS Center, hospital, and Walmart …
It takes physical damage to go down. Have both propane and gasoline gens. Do have natural gas with 3 heat sources that do not require power. Have an ice only freezer.
It takes physical damage to go down. Have both propane and gasoline gens. Do have natural gas with 3 heat sources that do not require power. Have an ice only freezer.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
I store 27k of water out back - not potable, but flushable
Power goes out here all the time it seems - ever couple months anyway, usually for a couple hours or more, - and I am excluding the hurricane scenario which hasn't happened in a while. I was chatting with a Dominion guy a few years ago that was doing some work in the neighborhood and he said they put in a "back feed" which I assume is a second connection to the grid? He said it would be better now but it isn't IMHO
Owen Lucas
$100 Site Donor 2023
- Joined
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At our old house the power outages were so frequent and so long because our investor owned utility refused to pay overtime to the linemen I had to have a generator wired into my breaker panel. Even with 100k+ people out of power after a storm they wouldn't call a "major storm event".... At least once a year we would have a 24 hour or longer outage. I lived 5 minutes out of town limits and a 5 minute walk from the friggin sub station that fed my road.
Hopefully at our new house it's better.
Hopefully at our new house it's better.
I had my Briggs Storm Responder 6250/8500 watt portable generator connected to the panel with a 240v breaker and interlock. It was enough to power the whole house, including our well pump without having to worry about the load. Baseline (TV's, lights, the xbox etc) without thinking was about 14-20% load, ac (1.5 ton central ac) would add about another 20%-25% and the well pump another 15-20%. A full tank of gas in it would last through the night.
A "back feed " would be a connection to a separate circuit through a set of switches that remain open until that source is needed . Distribution switching can get complicated ...
Thank you for your clarification.
So our Sub is about 500 houses, hence if they were going to "back feed" it then that connection remains closed until someone enables it - is that correct?
One of the primary differentiators between us and the developing world is the relative quality of our infrastructure.
We are working every day to bring our infrastructure into harmony with that of, say, Mexico.
I'm sorry . I don't understand your question . Usually ...a back feed is a separate source that not utilized until it is needed . Figure a circuit A and a circuit B , each one feeding from a different Sub . They are connected by a set of switches that remain OPEN until conditions dictate that they be tied together . Sometimes a simple process , and sometimes a very complicated process .
