Portable Generators

[ultrarunner]

^^^ This is the reason they now ban all wood heat at certain times of the year... it doesn't matter if you have an EPA certified clean burn stove installed with a permit and properly seasoned hardwood... it is a blanket ban for 99% in the SF Bay Area

 

[DieselBound]

That's probably my fault, since I posted about running a portable generator off of propane. I still think it's a good idea because of engine reliability and fuel storage. When I set up a generator for my mother I also gave her an electric hot plate because she was comfortable with that. The generator was to run the furnace so she would have heat. With an electric coffee pot and a hot plate she could have coffee and cook simple meals. A friendly neighbor (Caterpillar tractor mechanic) was always there to make sure the generator was running properly.

For home use, we just cook on the wood stove. I have a portable propane stove I have never used because the wood stove is more convenient. If things get really bitter, I can just move into the FSC travel trailer with a propane furnace and range. I have a tiny camp generator for the travel trailer that will run a couple light bulbs and a battery charger. You just reminded me that I should look into swapping the 12 volt lighting fixtures with LED lighting fixtures. The 12 volt fluorescent over the kitchen table has always been a little anemic for my taste...

I suppose any discussion of generators needs to include why you need the power. I understand why people in the South or Arizona want a whole house generator big enough to run their AC. I can understand why somebody in the NE or Great Plains wants a 100% reliable generator that will keep their furnace going. I'm more lackadaisical, and only fire up the generator on the second day of a power outage. Even then, it's only because I want to take a hot shower. Electricity is more of an afterthought than an essential. My real energy utility is the six cords of dry hardwood in the wood shed.

Great commentary!

Key is that it all depends on location and needs.

For those without a gas oven/range, or would like a small, efficient oven/cooker, I'll give a thumbs up to the NuWave oven (wife got one and we use it quite a bit).

 

[grsthegreat]

^^^ This is the reason they now ban all wood heat at certain times of the year... it doesn't matter if you have an EPA certified clean burn stove installed with a permit and properly seasoned hardwood... it is a blanket ban for 99% in the SF Bay Area

thats why i wont live on the left coast. Hehe. Wood heat here. I have 20 acres of firewood

 

[DieselBound]

Careful about broad brush strokes. I live on the "left coast." Yes, some times there's burn bans. Air stagnation happens. Next air mass comes in and it gets purged. Folks on the "other side of the mountains" don't have the air stacking up, it just flows across the midwest.

SF Bay Area has an issue with too many people. Like any other hugely populated areas if it isn't the impact from one thing it'll be from another.

My wife's from Manila. Most folks from North America would crap their britches if they went there. She and her family used to cook using sawdust.

 

[ultrarunner]

thats why i wont live on the left coast. Hehe. Wood heat here. I have 20 acres of firewood

Mom's got about 20 acres with coastal oak... every year at least one big oak or limb topples... oodles of oak firewood.

Twenty five years ago there was no end to folks offering to go in a haul off the storm damage... a couple of years back she even called a few when a couple of trees toppled... all right on the fire trails... not a single person was interested... one even told her it was going to be very expensive to have all that wood carted off... this is how much things have changed...

If you want a nice little fire on Thanksgiving or Christmas you can simply forget about it... roving smoke police with anonymous tip lines to report chimney smoke.

The current proposal is to have landlords remove or brick up chimneys in rental and require the same when a single family home is sold.

 

[ultrarunner]

Careful about broad brush strokes. I live on the "left coast." Yes, some times there's burn bans. Air stagnation happens. Next air mass comes in and it gets purged. Folks on the "other side of the mountains" don't have the air stacking up, it just flows across the midwest.

SF Bay Area has an issue with too many people. Like any other hugely populated areas if it isn't the impact from one thing it'll be from another.

My wife's from Manila. Most folks from North America would crap their britches if they went there. She and her family used to cook using sawdust.

A lot of the wood my Grandmother used was chips... the farm co-op owned a large chipper and it chipped baseball sized chunks... as a kid I remember how quick and loud that machine was... it left piles of chips easily shoveled or carried in a bucket... not quite sawdust but the same idea.

 

[DieselBound]

Mom's got about 20 acres with coastal oak... every year at least one big oak or limb topples... oodles of oak firewood.

Twenty five years ago there was no end to folks offering to go in a haul off the storm damage... a couple of years back she even called a few when a couple of trees toppled... all right on the fire trails... not a single person was interested... one even told her it was going to be very expensive to have all that wood carted off... this is how much things have changed...

If you want a nice little fire on Thanksgiving or Christmas you can simply forget about it... roving smoke police with anonymous tip lines to report chimney smoke.

The current proposal is to have landlords remove or brick up chimneys in rental and require the same when a single family home is sold.

Though that's the direction now, at some point in the future it will revert. Entropy will dictate it.

 

[TomSeller]

And for those of us in northern climates heating is our largest energy demand; and many folks (I am one) heat with wood.

If I lose electricity I can still cook and heat my home. .

Isn't this a thread about electrical generators?

 

[DieselBound]

Isn't this a thread about electrical generators?

And how to not need them?

 

[ultrarunner]

Noise level is becoming more of an issue when I shop for things like generators and compressors and often overlooked. Honda was the first quiet generators I noticed... from the small camping ones to at the time their larger diesel units... the diesels were used for outdoor music events and super quiet.

It would seem something like a generator that may run for extended periods lack of noise would be a big plus.

I've been compressor shopping and surprised that many portable compressors have cautions or prohibitions for use with small portable generators due to the high starting currents...