Northeast folks... good luck in todays storm

[Light in the Dark]

Pretty lucky I haven't lost power yet...

 

[Ray70]

Power went out about 7:30 AM here in RI, had the 003 running for a couple hours, but switched to the 002 for now, 003 is overkill at the moment.
We're up to about 20" or more and it's still coming down. Every window in the house is completely covered. Drifts are over 4' + deep.
My M.I.L lives next door, went over to plow a path at least, I'm guessing her car is somewhere under the giant mound near her garage door!
Snow is up over her garage door windows, I'm assuming her car is under there somewhere!

 

[cstumpf750]

My power went out a little after 3am. I waited till 7:30 to crank up the 803. It ran great except for the fuel gauge which pinned past empty. I’ll deal with it when it gets warm. I shut it off at about 5:30pm when power cam back on. I had about 8 gallons in the tank and there was still at least a quarter left when I shut it down. I used a dip stick To check. I’m pretty sure the fuel gauge is a float issue.

 

[Digger556]

Is it wrong to say I'm jealous?

Any photos or video of generators in action?

 

[Wreckclues]

Only got about a foot in Central Mass...just a dusting. Didn't lose power. The M813 started right up after about 5 hours on a block heater and 10 minutes with a heat gun down the air filter yap. A lot less vibration noise for some reason...

 

[Summerpaws]

Living on the seacoast of NH, I was expecting the worst. Officials, including our power company, Unitil, said to expect the loss of power due to the high winds. They said that the crews would not attempt repairs until the winds died dow. Ran the 802 the day before. I have extra fuel on hand so I was ready. Well, other than a brief blip, the power stayed on. We got just about a foot and the wind was not all that bad. Now all that remains is the cleanup.

 

[Ray70]

Ended up with about 30" total, no power still. Ran the 003 for a while so wife could do laundry and cook, plus well pump and cords running to M.I.L next door., switched to the 002 when the load was lighter. Then ran the 831 ( with Kurt's controller board keeping it going! ) through the night. was pulling about 2kw with 6 fridge/freezers, wood stove blowers, some lights, computers etc. Surprisingly it ran about 9 hours and only used slightly over a gallon of fuel.
Back on 002 now for the day.

 

[edgephoto]

In Northeast CT we got about a foot. Winds were not as bad as predicted but was still windy. We did not lose power. Did some minor cleanup yesterday but decided to wait until today to do a full cleanup.

We already had close to 18" on the ground left from previous storms. Some spots less depending on where the sun was hitting and melting it. Snow banks are taller than mailboxes now.

 

[WWRD99]

Ended up with about 30" total, no power still. Ran the 003 for a while so wife could do laundry and cook, plus well pump and cords running to M.I.L next door., switched to the 002 when the load was lighter. Then ran the 831 ( with Kurt's controller board keeping it going! ) through the night. was pulling about 2kw with 6 fridge/freezers, wood stove blowers, some lights, computers etc. Surprisingly it ran about 9 hours and only used slightly over a gallon of fuel.
Back on 002 now for the day.

Glad it all worked out for you. That 831 sounds like a perfect size for most of what you needed. Using that little of fuel is perfect. Makes me want to get one that size when I don't need the 803.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Still 228K without power on the Cape and south of Boston. The videos that came out of there were definitely a winter hurricane.

 

[Ray70]

Earlier today they were predicting we would be restored ~ 8:00 PM tonight. Wires are down about a mile from my house....
Now they just send an update saying Saturday??? They run out of wire or something.... hope that was a typo!

 

[Light in the Dark]

Good thing you are more prepared than the average bear, for such things. Not that you want to be down that long...

 

[DieselAddict]

Glad it all worked out for you. That 831 sounds like a perfect size for most of what you needed. Using that little of fuel is perfect. Makes me want to get one that size when I don't need the 803.

Before I had a larger battery on the inverter, I used an 831 for overnight loads as well. It worked really well to keep the basic lights/fridge going.

I hope everyone still running on dino based electricity are hanging in there!

 

[Ray70]

Thank you... glad I was ready for this and my wife and daughter are not complaining at all anymore!
Here's a couple pics of my setup.
Looking from the door opening, 003A on the left, 002A on the right and the 813A in the front. all in an 8x10 shed with lighting and powered ventilation. Exhausts are flex mounted and run out through the side walls ( with less clearance to combustibles than ideal ) but after 24 hr. the wood was no warmer than the air in the shed. The 003A has a set of 6TL batteries in it, with a 2 channel Noco charger of course and the 002 and 831 are jumped off it with slave plugs. on the little shelf you can see the synchronizer box so I can shift on the fly ( like tonight when my M.I.L decided to use the oven without telling me. The 002 took the load of both houses and the oven etc, but bogged when the well pump came on, so I shifted to the 003 until dinner was done. My son did all of this setup at like age 13 I think, including the underground that brings power into the shop's sub panel. All I did was fund the project!

It's about 70 degrees in the shed and with no insulation the icicles from the snow melting off the roof are touching the ground.
Not looking forward to 4 more days of burning dead dinosaurs, but if that's what it takes...
I've been dealing with these machines for 12+ years and this is the first time I've needed to run for more than a few hours. Definitely good exercise for the machines.

The shed is about 120' from my bedroom window and being enclosed, I don't hear them running at all, but I can hear the neighbor's gas generator screaming away at 3600 a good 700+ feet away on the other side of the road!

 

[2Pbfeet]

@Ray70 That's one talented son! I really like the whole setup, and I'm glad that it is working so well for you.

That was a heck of a bomb cyclone, and you seem to have been in the direct hit target area.

I hope that your fuel reserves hold up until the power is restored.

All the best, 2PbFeet

 

[Digger556]

View attachment 963073
View attachment 963074

Thank you... glad I was ready for this and my wife and daughter are not complaining at all anymore!
Here's a couple pics of my setup.
Looking from the door opening, 003A on the left, 002A on the right and the 813A in the front. all in an 8x10 shed with lighting and powered ventilation. Exhausts are flex mounted and run out through the side walls ( with less clearance to combustibles than ideal ) but after 24 hr. the wood was no warmer than the air in the shed. The 003A has a set of 6TL batteries in it, with a 2 channel Noco charger of course and the 002 and 831 are jumped off it with slave plugs. on the little shelf you can see the synchronizer box so I can shift on the fly ( like tonight when my M.I.L decided to use the oven without telling me. The 002 took the load of both houses and the oven etc, but bogged when the well pump came on, so I shifted to the 003 until dinner was done. My son did all of this setup at like age 13 I think, including the underground that brings power into the shop's sub panel. All I did was fund the project!
It's about 70 degrees in the shed and with no insulation the icicles from the snow melting off the roof are touching the ground.
Not looking forward to 4 more days of burning dead dinosaurs, but if that's what it takes...
I've been dealing with these machines for 12+ years and this is the first time I've needed to run for more than a few hours. Definitely good exercise for the machines.
The shed is about 120' from my bedroom window and being enclosed, I don't hear them running at all, but I can hear the neighbor's gas generator screaming away at 3600 a good 700+ feet away on the other side of the road!

Awesome setup Ray! That is some serious prep work paying off.

Any idea how much fuel you are burning each day?

I'm supplementing diesel with 5800 whr of solar/day and some backup inverter gas generators for light loads up to 3.5kw

 

[Ray70]

Thank you Digger, I haven't really been keeping close track on fuel because the kid is handling most of the generator operations!
He loves doing it, clearing the snow, always out in the shop building something....
I'd say around 3 to 4 gl / 24 hr. at the most.
He's been filling 1 of those 2 1/2 gallon cans you see on the floor in the morning for the 002 and 003 and then again at night with some left by morning. he said the 813 burned about a gallon the first night.
I have a 275 behind the shop with a transfer pump that I use to fuel everything diesel around here. It's 1/2 full at the moment, but I also have heating oil tanks in the shop, the house and gas stations are open nearby.
The roads are pretty clear, the only real problem is that the power lines down the street got taken out by a huge tree.
And... my M.I.L next door is the last house fed from that direction. Her neighbor's service is fed from the opposite direction and never went out.
This morning as I Iooked out the front window while making my coffee I noticed the icicles off the porch roof and realized I've had a strip of electric heat tape running up there since last Sat. because of a huge ice dam.
No wonder the 831 was drawing almost 2Kw with only the bare min. running.

 

[Ray70]

Actually just asked the kid, he figures more like 7 gallons or so. He said he's been using a little over 2 cans full during the day and 1 gl. at night.
I thought I was getting miraculous fuel economy, but apparently not. I just wasn't paying attention.

 

[Fungal]

Wait... your kid did all of that at 13yo? Seriously?

That's some real expertise.... my kids expertise at 13yo was mostly in playing Roblox or Fortnite

 

[Ray70]

Absolutely, he was welding when he was 11, stuck a DN2M engine into a john deere garden tractor at 12 , threw this shed together at 13, even moved the shed to where it is located by himself. He started operating my excavator at about 13 as well.
He was operating my backhoe and the Lull at age 10, loading generators we sold into peoples trucks after a hurricane. One woman showed up in a ford van, he loaded an 003 into her van for her. Right in front of her 15 yo kid she askes me if she can trade kids with me! But I said no, he son looked like he would destroy my grocery bill!
Now as far as cell phone use and doing stuff on line all day.... My daughter is a totally opposite of my son!