Northeast folks... good luck in todays storm

[Digger556]

Thanks for the report. 2kw seemed high for an average home, so the heat tape makes sense.

7 gal/day was exactly what I figured an average load would be for running 24/7. I keep about 150 gal of diesel for emergencies, so your data point is helpful. Ideally I'm aimming for 2-3 gal/day burn while supplementing with solar/battery, I figure even with no sun, I can charge all the batteries at once and be more efficient with the fuel burned.

Your son sounds awesome, and truly interested in some things that matter. Any chance he has considered a career in engineering? We could use some more talent like that.

 

[Fungal]

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

What's your solar setup look like?

I run almost 100% solar myself... curious what you did, and how it's working at your latitude/location (I hear CO is one of the sunniest states)

 

[cstumpf750]

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!

My 803 is about 70’ from the back of my house. On a clear day with the windows close you can’t barely hear it. When it was snowing, I couldn’t hear it at all. Even outside I could barely hear it. But like you I could hear my neighbor’s 3600 rpm natural gas generator screaming away while inside my house.

 

[cstumpf750]

the little shelf you can see the synchronizer box so I can shift on the fly

What is the model of that control box I’d like to get my hands on one.

 

[Digger556]

What's your solar setup look like?

I run almost 100% solar myself... curious what you did, and how it's working at your latitude/location (I hear CO is one of the sunniest states)

Pretty basic. I have four systems, all setup as portable solar generators. The smaller three are Ecoflow units with 200, 120, and 100 watt arrays respectively. The smallest one is DC only and exists as a self-contained unit to run a portable Starlink Mini dish. My bigger homebuilt unit has a 750 watt array, 3kw inverter, 120 to 120/240 transformer (optional) and a 5kwh battery that is getting upgraded to a 10kwh LFP battery. It mostly functions as a big UPS right now for a couple of freezers.

Colorado is great for solar. I've hit 6.5 sun-hrs in the summer months which makes a lot of power from a relatively small array.

 

[Fungal]

We have two systems on the property. One to run a large garage area, and one to run our living space (it’s a Barndominium build). This is larger of the two systems that runs our living space… you’re looking at about 14kW out of 45 panels in this pic:



And those panels feed about 60kWh of LiFePO4 batteries.

It’s a large-ish system, but we’re running 2300 SqFt of living space, including AC, well-pump, lights, fans, internet… and there’s no line power available at all; It’s sink-or-swim. If I hadn’t gone hard-in-the-paint on efficiency and insulation, it probably wouldn’t have worked.

 

[Ray70]

What is the model of that control box I’d like to get my hands on one.

I'll have to take a look and see if it has any info on it. It was from a Dual 5K power plant unit. A PU-798 I believe.
You have 2 machines wired into it with 1 running as the supply. when you want to switch over, you start the 2nd unit and dial in the frequency until there is a very slight difference between the 2 units, this causes a pair of lights to slowly blink on and off in unison.
When both bulbs are off, hit the switch and the load is transferred seamlessly to the other generator.

 

[Ray70]

Thanks for the report. 2kw seemed high for an average home, so the heat tape makes sense.

7 gal/day was exactly what I figured an average load would be for running 24/7. I keep about 150 gal of diesel for emergencies, so your data point is helpful. Ideally I'm aimming for 2-3 gal/day burn while supplementing with solar/battery, I figure even with no sun, I can charge all the batteries at once and be more efficient with the fuel burned.

Your son sounds awesome, and truly interested in some things that matter. Any chance he has considered a career in engineering? We could use some more talent like that.

Soon he will need to decide how he wants to proceed in life. He is very interested in fabrication, CNC machining, welding etc. He also likes operating all types of heavy equipment. He's also got a good understanding and ability in construction, electrical and plumbing.
So perhaps trade school, or perhaps he will follow me and 2 of my brothers and go to school to get an engineering degree.
This year he will need to make a decision!

 

[Light in the Dark]

Down to only 69k without power, making progress.

 

[spotrep]

Is it wrong to say I'm jealous?

Any photos or video of generators in action?

Brother I had 40 gallons of diesel on standby a few weeks ago in preparation for the storms we got in the south. I was anticipating my 10kw heat strips to be basically constantly on unless managing loads for water heater/oven. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed.. not even a flicker of lights for us

 

[Digger556]

Brother I had 40 gallons of diesel on standby a few weeks ago in preparation for the storms we got in the south. I was anticipating my 10kw heat strips to be basically constantly on unless managing loads for water heater/oven. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed.. not even a flicker of lights for us

I feel that. I have generators, fuel, chainsaws, 4x4 tractor, 60" snow blower, and a Starlink sat. I was ready for a few days off work playing with the toys.

 

[Ray70]

Well, I'm back on grid power now, so I will reserve my remaining dead dinosaurs for another day!
It was "Fun" for the first couple days, but gets old quick....
Great to be prepared, but probably better to be prepared and not need to use it!

 

[Fungal]

Well, I'm back on grid power now, so I will reserve my remaining dead dinosaurs for another day!
It was "Fun" for the first couple days, but gets old quick....
Great to be prepared, but probably better to be prepared and not need to use it!

Yeah... your first hurricane is like that too. It's kind of exciting, and let's face it... you ALSO want the opportunity to prove to your spouse that all those preparation-related items you bought were worth it, and not a complete waste of money.

It's kind of like camping at first... and then you start to run out of gas, because you weren't being smart with your load management... so you have to go stand in line for hours at one of the few open gas stations. There you get to bake in the sun, witness a few fights, and only leave with 5-10gal due to the rationing... and you can only pay cash. Sleeping is rough in the heat, because you only had a portable generator that can't run your central heat/AC... and you didn't think to keep a window AC unit in reserve for your bedroom... because it's your first hurricane.

Etc, etc.

By about your third storm, you're a hard-eyed, seasoned pro at hurricane prep... and yet new-arrivals-to-Florida will look askance at your preparations, as if there's something wrong with you...

And then you get to watch them experience their first hurricane... and the circle of life is complete.

 

[Summerpaws]

My wife doesn't understand why I bought an expensive generator that has to be fussed with regularly. Our neighbor has a nat gas whole house Generac that, according to her, just works. I told her that me "expensive" generator was much cheaper to install that our neighbors . By far. I told her that our generator will still be running after a couple of weeks of constant use, never mind years down the road.

Her biggest gripe is I did all that work and spent all that money and we never had to use it for more than an hour. I told her that may be true, but she will be very grateful for it if we ever lose power like some folks did after this past storm or the people in hurricane country do. I have enough fuel on hand to run it for over 50 days. Hopefully I will never have to...but I could.

 

[Ray70]

What's your address? I'm only a few hours away and I can help "arrange" an extended outage for you.

Funny story, a few years a go I sold an 002A to an electrical engineer who came with an oscilloscope and his own load bank to test the machine. He and his wife were both wearing Generac sweatshirts, so after we made the deal ( note: he was super impressed with how clean the 002's power was ) I asked about the sweatshirts.
The wife said they both worked for a company that installs and services Generac whole house units, so I asked WHY do you want a 30 year old diesel generator if you work for a generator installer??
She said they get tons of angry customers who pay $20K or more for a propane backup generator only to find out ( the hard way ) that the propane they have on hand is only enough for a couple days and the propane delivery trucks won't come out until the storm has passed and are so backed up at that point that it takes several more days to get a delivery.

 

[2Pbfeet]

@Ray70 That's a great story. People here with propane generators found that one out the hard way during the last major freeze. The propane generators kicked on, they kept living the high life, and two to three days later, no power, no heat, no lights. While power came on for many of them after a week or so, it took closer to a month for the propane companies to catch up.

Isn't nice to learn from others?

All the best, 2PbFeet

 

[edgephoto]

I bought a portable generator in 2011. A hurricane was headed our way and I hate being inconvenienced. I tried camping once and decided I will do it only if I am actually homeless. My wife was like "you wasted money. just another toy", etc. etc. We lost power for 5 hours after that hurricane and I got an earful about how it was such a waste for 5 hours.

A little over a month later we had a crazy Nor'easter hit us with wet heavy snow. Trees were down, roads impassable and power was out for a week. I was then the greatest husband ever because we had power and live as normal.

We are currently building a new house. My MEP-002A will be in a shed somewhere, not sure yet. I also had pipe fitter put a quick connect for propane outside so I can connect a portable unit if I want. Most likely will never use it but it is there. I have a 1000 gallon propane tank in the ground. If the MEP-002A won't run my 3 ton A/C then I will add a MEP-003A to the collection.

 

[Digger556]

@Ray70 That's a great story. People here with propane generators found that one out the hard way during the last major freeze. The propane generators kicked on, they kept living the high life, and two to three days later, no power, no heat, no lights. While power came on for many of them after a week or so, it took closer to a month for the propane companies to catch up.

Isn't nice to learn from others?

All the best, 2PbFeet

It's always the same story: "I don't want to mess with gasoline or diesel storage." "My BBQ tank is good enough."

 

[Fungal]

My wife doesn't understand why I bought an expensive generator that has to be fussed with regularly. Our neighbor has a nat gas whole house Generac that, according to her, just works. I told her that me "expensive" generator was much cheaper to install that our neighbors . By far. I told her that our generator will still be running after a couple of weeks of constant use, never mind years down the road.

Her biggest gripe is I did all that work and spent all that money and we never had to use it for more than an hour. I told her that may be true, but she will be very grateful for it if we ever lose power like some folks did after this past storm or the people in hurricane country do. I have enough fuel on hand to run it for over 50 days. Hopefully I will never have to...but I could.

It just works... until it doesn't... and at that point, the guy who regularly fusses with his generator can probably get his running again. The fire-and-forget Generac solution that you've been paying somebody else to maintain? In many cases the owners have never even changed the oil or opened up the housing. They're screwed. If you don't maintain your own equipment, there is NOBODY coming to help you after a storm.

Because the guys who could? The guys who work on generators for a living? They're booked-out six months within 24 hours of the storm making landfall.

I'm not criticizing the whole-house generator route... it is convenient, and if you have other people relying on you, sometimes it's the best choice. I did the automatic-generator thing for my family when my kids were small (and my wife is definitely NOT a wrench-turner in her free time).

But I did all the maintenance myself... and I stocked extra parts and oil/filters (because those are unobtainium after a storm too).

 

[edgephoto]

Automatic generators are nice and work for many people. I know people who keep all their tools in a kitchen drawer. There is no way they are going to manually handle a generator, let alone manage the loads. A guy at work has one on his house in NH. Starts and runs regularly for testing. He had a power outage and it did not start. He had to wait over a month for someone to come and repair it. I tried not to laugh when he called me bitching about it. I think he was hoping I would say "I will drive up and see if I can fix it". Turns out the natural gas it was connected to shut down because the gas company does not have backup generators.

If I get to the point where I can't do the repairs or even maintenance then I would install a standby system but I would use propane. The weak link with natural gas is assuming the gas supply will be available.

My friend in Nashville lost power for a week. He runs his portable generator on Propane. The small 20lb tanks. He found out that in cold weather they are almost useless. He had to switch to gasoline. He is smart and had 10 Jerry cans of fuel stored.