Your last generator Maintenance Run

   / Your last generator Maintenance Run
  • Thread Starter
#571  
I have not heard how things are down Olympia way... a few years back it rained 30 days straight and then the wind came... and what a disaster... power out for as much as a week with all the down power lines... and those with well water had more trouble.

I can picture you comfortable and cozy with a big smile on your face enjoying the fruits of your labor and planning... probably thinking how sweet it is!

I don't keep much gas around in cans... do try to keep my trucks full and the van holds 36 gallons and with the pump set up I can pump/transfer fuel at 2 gallons a minute and have a thumb control valve to cut flow on a 10' 1/4 inch line... works great for my mowers, tiller, log splitter etc...

A buddy of mine does the same thing with his 1 ton - but he has extra incentive to do so, he lives in BC (Bring Cash land) so he likes to buy fuel in Washington state.

I don't worry about him or you using transfer pumps at home UR, but there are a lot of folks I wouldn't want to see doing that, esp. under emergency conditions.

Rgds, D.
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run #572  
Well the pacific northwest had a huge w indstorm that knocked out aprox 640,000 homes from power grid. Our house was without power for 2-1/2 days.

I font care what anyone says about generator costs, having light,heat and water while its black, dark and cold all around is great piece of mind. I loaned 2 portable generators to neighbors.

I received calls from most of the 30 customers i installed generators for over the past year thanking me for the systems. They all were veryhappy. I also was receiving between 8-9 calls an hour from people wanting generators. It was very tiring telling people i couldnt do anything at this tine except setvice calks on systems not operating or helping out getting some furnace pigtails, etc instalked to use smsll portable units. Night time temps were in mid 20's.

There is a mindset among sone people that generators atnt necessary. That is disolving here. I have people teloing me their utility companies are telling them to expect another 5 - 10 days to get power back.
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run #573  
Well the pacific northwest had a huge windstorm that knocked out aprox 640,000 homes from power grid. Our house was without power for 2-1/2 days.

I dont care what anyone says about generator costs, having light,heat and water while its black, dark and cold all around is great piece of mind. I loaned 2 portable generators to neighbors.

I received calls from most of the 30 customers i installed generators for over the past year thanking me for the systems. They all were veryhappy. I also was receiving between 8-9 calls an hour from people wanting generators. It was very tiring telling people i couldnt do anything at this tine except service calls on systems not operating or helping out getting some furnace pigtails, etc installed to use small portable units. Night time temps were in mid 20's.

There is a mindset among sone people that generators atnt necessary. That is disolving here. I have people telling me their utility companies are telling them to expect another 5 - 10 days to get power back.

Problem is...there are NO generators available for 500 miles
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run #574  
There is a mindset among sone people that generators atnt necessary. That is disolving here. I have people teloing me their utility companies are telling them to expect another 5 - 10 days to get power back.

A few years back I used to be one of those people. Always worried about losing power and heat during bad winter storms... or worried about losing all my perishable food during warm weather storms.

I see a generator like a spare tire. You can go years without needing it but when you do its value is priceless.

Although I think we all agree that a generator requires a bit more periodic maintenance than a spare tire. :)
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run
  • Thread Starter
#575  
Although I think we all agree that a generator requires a bit more periodic maintenance than a spare tire. :)

grs has described more than one customer that didn't understand that point, but I'd say most of us that hang out here agree.

Sometimes that knowledge has to be earned by spending hours or longer getting one to start.

Rgds, D.
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run
  • Thread Starter
#576  
Well the pacific northwest had a huge windstorm that knocked out aprox 640,000 homes from power grid. Our house was without power for 2-1/2 days.

I dont care what anyone says about generator costs, having light,heat and water while its black, dark and cold all around is great piece of mind. I loaned 2 portable generators to neighbors.

I received calls from most of the 30 customers i installed generators for over the past year thanking me for the systems. They all were veryhappy. I also was receiving between 8-9 calls an hour from people wanting generators. It was very tiring telling people i couldnt do anything at this tine except service calls on systems not operating or helping out getting some furnace pigtails, etc installed to use small portable units. Night time temps were in mid 20's.

There is a mindset among sone people that generators atnt necessary. That is disolving here. I have people telling me their utility companies are telling them to expect another 5 - 10 days to get power back.

Problem is...there are NO generators available for 500 miles

Supply/Demand, well illustrated.

In a major outage with widespread damage, it takes significant time to recover. More people are starting to pay more attention..... in this thread, and in the real world around me, I'm seeing more residential automatic generator systems being installed.

It wouldn't stop me installing one if it wasn't the case, but I would think that a properly maintained automatic generator system would add to the resale value of a property.

Rgds, D.
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run
  • Thread Starter
#577  
b&d posted a while back about Generlink.

I inquired, and got this response re. Canadian distribution:

"We have been on the market in Canada for almost 10 years. The GenerLink is available in every province except BC, Quebec and NB."


I don't know the reason for those exclusions.

Rgds, D.
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run #578  
I can really see where power is paramount if on a well...

The nearly a week without power in Olympia in the middle of winter had just about everyone outside the city on generator power...

As with most things... planning goes a long way.

Never had a genset at the cabin... propane and candles and lantern... never had to worry much about refrigeration... one winter Grandma just wrapped the frozen goods and put them in the snow bank...

As kids... we always hoped the power to go out... we called it Pioneer Living and my Grandmother would tell stories about the root cellar and growing up without electricity or telephone... it's the things that keep life interesting for kids.

To her having hot water on tap was the ultimate in luxury... and with a propane water heater life was good...
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run #579  
I can really see where power is paramount if on a well...

The nearly a week without power in Olympia in the middle of winter had just about everyone outside the city on generator power...

As with most things... planning goes a long way.

Never had a genset at the cabin... propane and candles and lantern... never had to worry much about refrigeration... one winter Grandma just wrapped the frozen goods and put them in the snow bank...

As kids... we always hoped the power to go out... we called it Pioneer Living and my Grandmother would tell stories about the root cellar and growing up without electricity or telephone... it's the things that keep life interesting for kids.

To her having hot water on tap was the ultimate in luxury... and with a propane water heater life was good...
I have to admit we as kids rooted for power outages as well. Even as a newlywed, the roughing it was sort of romantic and exciting. Not any more. I have a 3kW that will power enough appliances/lights etc. to keep the house comfortable. I have considered a larger automatic genset, but it is hard to justify the expense and fuel burn. It would be nice though not to have to monkey with the mechanical interlock on the service panel in the dark and decide what breakers to keep on.
 
   / Your last generator Maintenance Run #580  
We are getting some of that cold air down into KY (temps been dropping today) but Thanksgiving it is to be nice and 62F so I need to get our main generator fired up and loaded up.

It was the 2009 ice storm that sold a lot of generators and two years later most were up for sale because they were "in the way". :)
 

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