Ready for power failures?

Just flashlights here. We don't have any sump pumps or anything else that needs to be powered on in this townhouse except some freezer/fridge items that would be cheaper and easier to replace than buying a generator. We've never had a big power failure here though so that's lucky - although funny enough my subdivision was one of the ones built after the Plainfield 1991 tornado in Illinois.

Now that I think of it, I've never been in a real power-outage. We've had outages for maybe a few hours but nothing that wasn't fixed by the next day.
 
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Originally Posted by Miller88
Our power company here is terrible, so the power goes out frequently. My parents were without power for over 24 hours last month! I ended up running up with a generator so they didn't lose food. I completely expect it.

Thankfully, my power hasn't gone out since I bought a generator. I still need to get the interlock switch for my furnace so I can run that in the winter when the power goes out.

I only keep 5 gallons of ethanol free gas around. I figure if it's going to be longer than that, I have a 20 gallon in my Jeep and a 35 gallon tank in my truck and I can use those and just drain the gas out of the generator after.


Try to get some gas out of both of them. Now days almost all vehicle have some kind of baffle built into the fill neck that makes it impossible to get a hose to go down it to siphon gas. If you want to get gas from a vehicle for emergency use you will most likely need some kind of a tap on a fuel line, and you better be careful that you deal with a low pressure section, and do it safely, and also do it so it will pass inspection if you state requires inspection.

There are some Schrader valve pressure test points that are made to be installed on fuel lines, maybe something like that could still pass inspection and be safe enough to be on a vehicle if it were ever in a crash. I have not looked for them, but if I wanted one I would call Summit Racing as my first place to search.

You would need a mating hose connection that depresses the Schrader valve so it stays open while you get gas from the vehicle.
 
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I have a Coleman Powermate 5000 Watt / 6250 Watt Surge rated that is powered by a 10 HP Tecumseh engine that is big enough to run the whole house AC. And I have a Generac 2200 Watt inverter generator and have pre-wired a DPDT 30 Amp contacts 120 Volt coil relay with both the N.C. contacts tied in parallel, and those contacts wired in series with the power plug for the refrigerator. I have tied onto the main blower motor for the furnace and ran that to a switch that then connects to the DPDT realy coil. I can connect the small inverter generator to feed the whole house during outages in the winter, and throw the switch so that when the furnace is not running the fridge gets power, and when the furnace runs the fridge is disconnected, because the small inverter is big enough to power either one, but not both at the same time.

In the winter I keep 20 gallons of gasoline, and the small inverter gets about 4.5 hours per gallon, because a winter storm could make the roads unusable for more than a day. In the summer I only keep 2.5 gallons of gasoline, because the roads are always usable.
 
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I have everything else-just need the generator now...
smile.gif


Been lucky here when it comes to storms....
 
Proper power backup would be either a small inverter generator or whole house like a Generac. The generator needs to provide true, clean power otherwise you will burn up whatever is running on it. Whole house generators are becoming more of an essential part of the home just like central HVAC systems.
 
Originally Posted by OilReport99
Originally Posted by 1978elcamino
Here in Florida there is always a push this time of year for hurricaine preparedness. I just bought a Powerhorse generator from Northern Tool, its a 27k / 18k to run the whole house with a transfer switch on both panels. I also have a fuel pump setup with connectors to pump fuel out of the boat to my cans. I also have a small tool bag in each bedroom with a few flashlights and a LED lantern. So with that, I feel ready.


You're never too ready in Florida during hurricane season. We spent almost 10 days w/o power during Irma. Sucks

You did well buying a whole house generator. Cords on the ground are not the best option for extended periods without power.


Well, its not really considered a "whole house generator", its just a great big portable generator that will run both panels that run the home. Although I wont be able to run up and downstairs AC units, cook and shower all at the same time. I will be able to run at least one AC, make hot water, cook and shower (just one) while running all the lights, tv, internet multiple fridges and freezers and be comfortable with never going without a key componet of living. The best I could do without going overboard on my budget. I also keep tons of water on hand.
 
Originally Posted by JimPghPA

Try to get some gas out of both of them. Now days almost all vehicle have some kind of baffle built into the fill neck that makes it impossible to get a hose to go down it to siphon gas. If you want to get gas from a vehicle for emergency use you will most likely need some kind of a tap on a fuel line, and you better be careful that you deal with a low pressure section, and do it safely, and also do it so it will pass inspection if you state requires inspection.

There are some Schrader valve pressure test points that are made to be installed on fuel lines, maybe something like that could still pass inspection and be safe enough to be on a vehicle if it were ever in a crash. I have not looked for them, but if I wanted one I would call Summit Racing as my first place to search.

You would need a mating hose connection that depresses the Schrader valve so it stays open while you get gas from the vehicle.


I'm thinking like an old R-12 AC hose, which presses the schrader down. Not sure the fitting is right though.
 
Originally Posted by Miller88
Our power company here is terrible, so the power goes out frequently. My parents were without power for over 24 hours last month! I ended up running up with a generator so they didn't lose food. I completely expect it.

Thankfully, my power hasn't gone out since I bought a generator. I still need to get the interlock switch for my furnace so I can run that in the winter when the power goes out.

This was my cure for unreliable power. When we built this house 20 years ago power outages were numerous, happening in even moderate rainfalls and all our neighbors warned us about the situation. Since the area has high clay soil and everyone is sump pump dependent I made sure to install an automatic standby generator right away. Almost immediately after getting that installed the utility came and put in all new wires on the poles and buried some of them underground. Since then we have had a totality of probably an hour of down time in 20 years.

Once about eight years ago we had an F1 tornado in the town and as we drove back home just after the storm everything was out including the traffic lights. I thought, finally our generator will be useful. But as we turned down our street everyone's lights were on! I couldn't believe it.

So 20 years later and still no significant outages.
 
Originally Posted by kschachn
This was my cure for unreliable power. When we built this house 20 years ago power outages were numerous, happening in even moderate rainfalls and all our neighbors warned us about the situation. Since the area has high clay soil and everyone is sump pump dependent I made sure to install an automatic standby generator right away. Almost immediately after getting that installed the utility came and put in all new wires on the poles and buried some of them underground. Since then we have had a totality of probably an hour of down time in 20 years.

Look at it this way: If buying a generator is all it took to get 20-years of reliable power, you're still money ahead.
 
Around cities the electric customers are close enough and numerous enough that the electric companies can and usually do construct big ring systems. With a ring system if there is a fault such as a tree branch on a line, or a pole down from a crash they turn off the power with big circuit breakers that are usually in sub stations and quickly open up isolating switches that are remotely operated but not capable of actually opening when the power is on because they can not handle breaking the current at high voltage. Right after the isolation switches on both sides of the fault are open the big breaker in the sub-station that can handle bringing back online the high current and high voltage brings back up the rest of the ring and only a small percent of the customers are without power. If the fault is still on the circuit it powers down again, and more isolation happens, and then the power is brought back up. Usually this is all per-programmed to happen up to 3 times, and each time it may take longer to do a better job of isolating the problem. This is why sometimes you have short power interruptions but in general the power stays on if you live near a city. Also as you get further out from the city there may be bigger rings that are usually constructed of to work with voltages that are higher than the smaller ring systems close to the city.

However when you get too far from a city usually the customers are too far apart to use a ring system. Then a tree-branch system is used. However with a tree-branch system when a fault happens the power company shuts down the power with the big breakers that are usually in the sub-stations and usually they can open an isolator switch, but there is no ring to back feed the part of the branch beyond the fault, so many more customers are without power than would of been if it were a ring system.

So, in general, if you live far from a city in an area where there is a lot of distance between electric customers your power is probably on a tree-branch system and if there is a problem it takes longer to find and fix it, and more customers are without power for longer times.
 
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Originally Posted by JimPghPA
Around cities the electric customers are close enough and numerous enough that the electric companies can and usually do construct big ring systems. With a ring system if there is a fault such as a tree branch on a line, or a pole down from a crash they turn off the power with big circuit breakers that are usually in sub stations and quickly open up isolating switches that are remotely operated but not capable of actually opening when the power is on because they can not handle breaking the current at high voltage. Right after the isolation switches on both sides of the fault are open the big breaker in the sub-station that can handle bringing back online the high current and high voltage brings back up the rest of the ring and only a small percent of the customers are without power. If the fault is still on the circuit it powers down again, and more isolation happens, and then the power is brought back up. Usually this is all per-programmed to happen up to 3 times, and each time it may take longer to do a better job of isolating the problem. This is why sometimes you have short power interruptions but in general the power stays on if you live near a city. Also as you get further out from the city there may be bigger rings that are usually constructed of to work with voltages that are higher than the smaller ring systems close to the city.

However when you get too far from a city usually the customers are too far apart to use a ring system. Then a tree-branch system is used. However with a tree-branch system when a fault happens the power company shuts down the power with the big breakers that are usually in the sub-stations and usually they can open an isolator switch, but there is no ring to back feed the part of the branch beyond the fault, so many more customers are without power than would of been if it were a ring system.

So, in general, if you live far from a city in an area where there is a lot of distance between electric customers your power is probably on a tree-branch system and if there is a problem it takes longer to find and fix it, and more customers are without power for longer times.



Sometimes I wish I became an electrical engineer so I could learn all this. It's fascinating.
 
Originally Posted by RhondaHonda
Originally Posted by Dave Sherman
increased demand causing lines to sag into trees.


Is this really a thing?

Not as much of an issue anymore. The power companies are always monitoring line sag and tree contact. I just received an alert stating a low flying helicopter will be low flying my area the next couple weeks along the high tension lines looking for tree growth getting too close to the lines. I get alerts every summer concerning the lines.
 
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Over 12 years ago when we got out of the overtaxed and overpopulated Long Island, NY ... and moved south. I thought about getting a generator for power failures since to us, we were more in the "country" here in SC.
Well, heck, the most we ever lost electric was just under 4 hours about 7 years ago. So we pretty much went 7 years without a power loss and close to now, another 7 years and still no power loss. This isnt including a very rare loss of less then an hour. I do have back up power supplies on my internet equipment and get all excited if we lose power, again, rarely and to this day, can only think of one time where I got to use my home internet for a short time before it came back on *LOL*

Im completely shocked how reliable service is. Maybe the newer communities have a big benefit being everything is underground.
anyway, glad I never bought a generator ..
 
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I bought a Predator 6500 with an 8gallon tank and a 15 hr run time. Its mostly to run the pump and the fridge. MA got pasted by a few bad storms and the govt made the utilities harden their networks. Now tree trimming seems to be a growth industry in MA. I hear their high powered chippers almost daily. I also like the way the utilities have a mutual protection agreement. The guys who fixed my last outage came from western NY
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I don't expect problems in the Winter. We have an 1800W generator. If it goes out in summer it will power our bedroom window unit.
 
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