How do you prep for future power outages?

   / How do you prep for future power outages? #81  
Smart TV, Modem and Dish Network are on UPSs. They last about an hour. Most outages are 5-15 minutes.
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #82  
A UPS is a necessity if I want to keep my internet and phone up. My modem/router requires a 12 volt supply, so I have a battery tender on a 12 volt deep cycle battery in the garage, I run it through a 7812 voltage regulator, and a couple caps and fuses. The internet sails through any power dropouts with no interruptions. Cell phones and a tablet double as a computer. Of course, if the lines go down I'm on my own; no cell service at my house, but the cell phones work great VOIP. And no feeking noise box generator.

You might already know this but you'll get better efficiency if you replace your 7812 by a buck converter. But why the 7812? It regulates from 14V-35V to 12V which is above what a 12V deep discharge battery will give you. You would be better off with a boost converter so when the battery voltage drops below 12V when discharging, it will still provide that 12V supply you need to power your modem.
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #83  
whats the load on the barn. my barn has about 600 watts of heat for water tank heaters. its hooked onto the house generator. not an issue.
If we had an extended power outage that coincided with a deep freeze, then the barn usage could peak at around 5000 watts. That would cover the water heaters, a few lights, and a 3500 watt tack room heater that we run enough to keep water pipes from freezing. The general guidance from the installer to us was, "Don't run the clothes dryer and the oven at the same time." I would be inclined to include the tack room heater in that grouping. Our generator is 22KW.

If I felt like being stupid, there was about another 9000 watts in barn lighting, which I wouldn't use during a power outage. I suspect that's why the first guy wanted to install a second generator. (I have since converted all those fluorescent fixtures to LED, so the power usage is reduced almost 50%.)

I noticed on another thread that you service generators for a living. May I pick your brain a bit? When I called a local Generac service place, I was surprised that they didn't ask me the age of the generator, so I asked for more details about their service. It turns out that they buy a kit that covers all the maintenance that the manual says should be done every 1, 2, or 4 years, and they do all that service every year. This struck me as overkill in favor of charging me more money. According to the manual, the main service at 2 years was an oil and filter change, so I just did that myself. Am I being a cheap idiot?
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #84  
First service oil change and filter at 25 hours and first valve adjustment.

than every 2 years OR 200 running hours (whichever comes first) another oil filter and oil change.

Every 4 years new oil filter, air filter, spark plugs, valve adjustment (except new hydraulic valve units), and new oil.

you mention barn heat..l I forgot I have a tack room heater Also. It never gave me any issues, but if it did I could throw in an SMM module.

i have a 22 kw also, and never has lugged out over extended outages in winter
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #85  
I guess if you have lots of money or aren't "cheap" then bigger is better. But if you can have a little diesel keeping you out of the dark, warm showers and hot food, fridges/freezers kept cold AND there isn't any appreciable fuel cost adding up day after day in extended outages, well that's my cup of tea.

It also depends on your abilities. I am young enough that draging out a portable and hooking it up is no big deal. My 70+ year old parents on the otherhand would struggle with that. So if the power goes out when they are up here they will just decamp to our house. If it does out when they are in Florida they would go to a hotel or they would evacuate if there was hurricaine coming.
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #86  
On WHOLE house power.
We once were out of power for 4 days and I desperately wanted/needed to shower.
Decided even cold water would suffice.
To my surprise that water was still actually very comfortably hot. OK I did not need to mix hot/cold but sure nice.
In my situation I wanted mainly to save all my food (2 fridges and a 22 CF freezer) plus very basic creature comforts, like some light, water and basic cooking.
However with my 1000 watt genny I have that plus more than expected.
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #87  
I really wish people would stop using that TERM, WHOLE HOUSE. It's kind of meaningless for a number of reasons.

One it can mean, that you have a transfer switch for your whole service and a generator that will handle every load in your house and possibly property at the SAME TIME! That would be expensive and possibly cause more problems than it solves. And, do you need to dry clothes and have the hot tub heating during a power outage?

Then it could mean that you have a transfer switch that switches the main service but with a lesser generator, and automatic or manual load managment. That is my preffered choice. In fact, I have a 200 amp automatic ASCO switch, in an electrically heated house, with five buildings and typically use a 7.5 KW generator. In the summer, that's still too big. But every light in every building works, and for me that important. I switch to wood stove in the winter during an outage.
Mine IS whole house. It 20kw NG that takes over everything including detached garage & shop. There is nothing we cannot use today that we can't when on internal power. It was sized that way.
Our major electrical demands are well, septic lift pump and soft start AC in summer, all 220v
All other is your normal everyday 110v stuff. All lighting is LED's
We don't miss a beat if main power goes out. That's the way we planned it.
So Automatic Whole House is not meaningless here. It's a fact.
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #88  
You might already know this but you'll get better efficiency if you replace your 7812 by a buck converter. But why the 7812? It regulates from 14V-35V to 12V which is above what a 12V deep discharge battery will give you. You would be better off with a boost converter so when the battery voltage drops below 12V when discharging, it will still provide that 12V supply you need to power your modem.
I could always add a tanking circuit to the front end, but a 12v. battery has to discharge a ways to drop below 12v. I did a 24 hour test and it worked fine.
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #89  
On WHOLE house power.
We once were out of power for 4 days and I desperately wanted/needed to shower.
Decided even cold water would suffice.
To my surprise that water was still actually very comfortably hot. OK I did not need to mix hot/cold but sure nice.
In my situation I wanted mainly to save all my food (2 fridges and a 22 CF freezer) plus very basic creature comforts, like some light, water and basic cooking.
However with my 1000 watt genny I have that plus more than expected.
You can drop a kw off your load by swapping the 4600w elements in the water heater to 3600w elements. Recovery is slower, but if your hot water demand is low, it will work fine.
 
   / How do you prep for future power outages? #90  
On WHOLE house power.
We once were out of power for 4 days and I desperately wanted/needed to shower.
Decided even cold water would suffice.
To my surprise that water was still actually very comfortably hot. OK I did not need to mix hot/cold but sure nice.
In my situation I wanted mainly to save all my food (2 fridges and a 22 CF freezer) plus very basic creature comforts, like some light, water and basic cooking.
However with my 1000 watt genny I have that plus more than expected.
Reminds me of my last water heater failure. Unfortunately a generator didn't help with that. A number of days followed where I heated my water on the stove for bathing in whatever way made best use of a couple gallons of heated water. Now I'm always mentally casting suspicous glances at the new water heater.
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

71065 (A49346)
71065 (A49346)
2011 L3 MEP-806B GENERATOR (A51222)
2011 L3 MEP-806B...
2012 MACK GU713 DUMP TRUCK (A50459)
2012 MACK GU713...
Craftsman YTS 3000 42in. Riding Mower (A49346)
Craftsman YTS 3000...
2015 Infiniti QX60 SUV (A50324)
2015 Infiniti QX60...
2015 FORD F-150XL SINGLE CAB TRUCK (A51406)
2015 FORD F-150XL...
 
Top