A reality check after Power went out !

[toppop52]

When we built last year we couldn't afford to do the generator we wanted as a permanent backup, so in the meantime I picked up a generator that will do the whole house less heat pump, water heater and oven. It's wired in so all I have to do is switch it. Since then I found a 25 gal portable propane water heater, I use it to to wash stuff outside just to keep the water from standing too long and I have it valved to supply the house with the turn of a valve. Not a ton of hot water but better than none. I have gas back up heat and the good old propane grill. I'm not way out but definitely far enough out to be away from the citiots. This year's plan includes the whole house propane generator and keeping what I already have. I usually don't even bother with it unless power is out for 8 hours or more, like someone said, I can sleep in the dark.

 

[Ken45101]

I have to chuckle....and appreciate my experience years ago backpacking. When you backpack, you learn to live with what you carry on your back. That means a candle or flashlight, a small one burner stove and either the water you carry with you or creek water (or melted snow in winter). Hot water? Well if it's beyond a cup of coffee, "hot water" may mean anything that's not frozen solid! I even remember keeping the quart water bottle inside the sleeping bag so that it wouldn't freeze.

 

[k0ua]

It is a 24VDC to 240 VAC pure sine inverter. Sine wave output is a lot more expensive. About $500 for the 3KW inverter. Ive run the whole house with it avoiding the heavy drains. Everything but the internet connection is very happy. Must be some hash on the output causing a frequency issue. I wonder if a capacitor would absorb that. :confused3:

Larry try 3 .01uF disk ceramic's with 1000V rating. Put one on each leg to ground and one across the legs (common mode). See if that helps. If not, then we need to look as some "hash chokes" but keep in mind the current rating... heck you know all this stuff..

 

[Midniteoyl]

Well , I think more than a few neighbors got a reality check last evening when the power went out , it was like the apocalypse started and they were in the street after the first 1/2 hour with no lights/air conditioning or dinner on the stove .I have a few large generators I use on the property locked up in my trailer and 1 10,000 watt in the garage along with a few hundred feet of large gauge extension cords and we were up and running in short order .But they were like moths to a candle and came towards the light ! I had more than a dozen perplexed wanderers in my driveway with no clue as to what to do to take care of themselves . Now I have to explain that we live in a subdivision and are currently building our forever home 60 miles away on a piece of land away from these YUPPIES ! But these people were LOST after 2 hours and many were sitting in their cars running the a/c and lights a few wanted to know how I had power and they didn't and 1 demanded that I loan him a generator and fuel till the power came back on because his girlfriend wanted to watch a dvd and the cable was down ! We try to be as self sufficient as possible and are moving further out to get away from these unprepared people .But I have to say I really didn't think they would be so unprepared as they really are ! After 3 hours and no power back on the first in line to "borrow a gen and fuel" are my immediate neighbors who tolerate my constant projects ,large garden and chickens . my point is these people didn't even have a few emergency candles to burn let alone anyway to cook for themselves and short of coming to my driveway would of just had to sit in the dark ! By the 4th hour I was passing out cold soda's and beer and we fired up the gas grill to feed some of these people as they sat by the driveway lights and waited , many got in their cars and drove off towards town to the bar to sit and wait for the power to come back on and it did after about 7 hours a large tree down the road had taken the main lines down and it just took them awhile to get things going again .I just did not realize how unprepared many of these folks were even for this short power outage ! I did learn one major thing they all expected the few of us who were prepared to fill the needs of those who weren't ! :confused3:

So nobody has a gas grill besides you? What kind of place do you live in!??

 

[SPYDERLK]

Larry try 3 .01uF disk ceramic's with 1000V rating. Put one on each leg to ground and one across the legs (common mode). See if that helps. If not, then we need to look as some "hash chokes" but keep in mind the current rating... heck you know all this stuff..

Not as well as you I think. Thanks for the advice.
.,,,For the record, my 240 inverter has no ground reference to output. I connect to house service thru a centertapped auto transformer to establish that reference. It appears I can wire the tranformer across service 240 permanently with extremely small loss just so I dont connect the center tap to ground until I need to use the transformer. With all 3 connections to AC mains the auto trans is always trying to hold equal V on each leg and warms up due to any mismatch caused by unequal loading in the house. It runs warm wasting power. But with centertap disconnected delta T is undetectable almost. Yaay!
larry

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

So nobody has a gas grill besides you? What kind of place do you live in!??

Well, I would think that most had a grill in their backyard but didn't want to sit in the dark !,I was just the nice guy who set out chairs and provided lights and food . Call me guilty !:confused3:

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I happened to be cleaning the garage last weekend and did a quick inventory. I have wall hung candle sconces for 20 candles, 6 wall hung oil lamps, 4 table or mantle oil lamps, and two Aladdins. I also have 4 hurricane lanters, two of them antiques with the old 1.25" wicks. I have a 2500 gallon cistern set up to feed the house plumbing, and a wood stove for heat. I have a couple generators that I don't even bother to haul out until the 2nd day of an outage, to run the water heater and the freezer. Entertainment is by battery radios, a Kindle and several books I haven't read. I have a propane camp stove, but have never used it because the wood stove has a decent cooking surface. My wife loves that our house does not change comfort level when the power goes out.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Well, I would think that most had a grill in their backyard but didn't want to sit in the dark !,I was just the nice guy who set out chairs and provided lights and food . Call me guilty !:confused3:

In that case, the power getting taken.. er, going out about once a week. See ya soon! :thumbsup:

 

[cqaigy2]

Well, I would think that most had a grill in their backyard but didn't want to sit in the dark !,I was just the nice guy who set out chairs and provided lights and food . Call me guilty !:confused3:

Dang, wish you lived closer. I'd bring beer with me.