hi, i'm Jim.... i'm a mechanic, you know, the guy you call to ask for free advice when you're too cheap to go to a repair center or dealership... I work for a generator rental company, and we had a hurricane come ashore in our fair city... was the general public prepared???... if you call having cheetos and beer, yes... if you call checking to make sure that your emergency suppies, ie, your generator, flashlight, spare batteries, extra food, water, toilet paper, NO....I've been on several service calls, i've waded thru 2 feet of water to get to a generator that won't start... has it been checked in the last year??? last 2 yrs???... NO!!!!.. and now you don't have any electricity and your hagen-daze is melting and your lowenbrau is warm and loosing it's fizz....poor thing, i'm supposed to work miracles and get this POS up and running... check the oil??? did you bother to read the service manual and see that little tidbit???... so now the engine knocks and smells burned???... to bad, may i have your credit card ##???... 'cause this is gonna get expensive fast.... with all the $$$ that i'll rake in for the overtime, i think a nice heym DR or merkel DR will be a nice addition the the chapuis i bought last yr!!!....

Jim,
Hoping everyone in Texas is safe and sound first. After that someone is gonna make a ton of money on this hurricane and the stupidity of the people not prepared. The expression is "If you dumb you gotta suffer and if your stupid you gotta pay"
I own a glass company in New York I don't think I would want to own a glass company in Texas right now no matter how much money there is to be made.
Hoping everyone is well our prayers are with those in the middle of it.

we made it thru the storm ok... power went off and on about 50 times in 8 hrs, hot water was off, cold was ok ( we live in a condo).. cable was off for maybe 24 hrs......we fared better than maybe 2 1/2 million others here in houston...i've seen enough blown down trees for a while... i think river oaks had a twister... the oaks were broken off about 30' up

jimcat hit the nail on the head. I have been in his boots in different areas. In ND winters, one year an ice storm came thru and knocked down miles of rural elec poles. I had set my inlaws up with a PTO gen with a small John Deere tractor in a small shed right next to the main power pole. It had an electric engine heater so when the power went off my BIL went out and started the tractor and reconected the power system. They had it right hext to a 560 Gal fuel tank. They lived in comfort while neighbors suffered.
Lyle

We lose power every winter. Mostly blown down trees take out the power lines. I ask the power company crews why they always wait until it gets dark to lose power. "Because that's when we start drawing overtime!"

The insurance company pays me a per diem for having a generator so the Haagen Daz doesn't melt and the Lowenbrau doesn't get flat . . .

When the power goes out, you can stand on the front porch and listen down the valley -- generators, and chain saws.

I roll the generator out of the barn, plug it into the power interface, pull the starter cord, and then go back in the house. Starts first time, every time.

-- But then you don't get called by the "smart people" who know what they're doing.

Zedo, and others;

How big and what brand of generator do you recommend.

Also how much fuel would it tale to run it per 24 hour period.

I would prefer to use a gasoline generator as the same fuel couold be used in my vehicles.

Also would you recommend 2 smaller generators vs one bigger one?

Tony,
I used an Onan 6500 portable this time. It ran 2 refrigerators, a freezer, a salt water aquarium, a HD TV, DVD and a couple of lights and the cordless phones. It started every time, first time!

Be sure to get the twist plug to run off the 220V side. They make one that breaks out into 4 110 plugs.

What folks ought to look at for the future in a portable generator is a "Tri-fuel). They run on gas, LP and NG. The only problem I have with my Onan is pouring gas into it every 10-12 hours. One company I know of makes a retro kit to change most generators over to LP.

Hopefully, I'll have an NG Kohler stanby generator by the end of the year!

I have a 7000 watt generator that I bought from Harbor Freight Tools about 7 years ago for +-$500. It too has started every time I needed or wanted it. I can't remember what size Briggs and Straton engine it has but it requires a fill up (5 gal) every 12 hrs. In the one instance when we lost power for several days (Hurricane Claudette) I did not run it non-stop. I ran it long enough to keep the freezer and refrigerator cold and we did anything that required power during that 30 min - 1 hr period. As I recall I would start it and let it run for 30 min - 1 hr, 3 or 4 times during a 24 hr period. It worked fine.

I have heard but have never tried to plug the generator back into the wall with a male end of an extension cord. I was told that If I turned off my breakers at the meter and ran the generator back into a wall socket that it would put power to the house. I am no electrician and have not tried this but am interested to know if it is true.

Alan

Our house is wired to accept a generator(by an electrician when it was built). It has a seperate panel that you plug the generator into and a series of rocker switches to power different circuits in the house(labeled accrodingly). Added very little of additional cost to the house and is very safe for the lineman when they are working on getting your power back!

With a 3500 watt I can run my furnace and a freezer easily.....if I needed to run the washer or dryer I could, seperatley, but nothing else. I think a 6500 or 7000 watt could run everything, but I am too cheap for that. I also have a woodstove for heat.

-phil

When you live out in the country and your poor then theres not much of a lifestyle change. I have a 5k gasoline generator but really didnt need it much. A few oil lamps, a colman propane lantern and a standing pilot propane stove and you can fair pretty well. All I really did was fill all the vehicals and have a couple extra cans full of fuel because you were not sure when or where you could buy fuel again. Rodney.

Thanks guys for the info.

I will be moving out to the country pretty soon and I am planning on having "portable power" avialable, not only for drastic storms but for the occasional tree, or durnk driver knocks down a power pole.

I am thinking about taking a lessson from RVers.

Many of them buy 2 smaller generators that can be hooked in tandum to provede more power if necessary. I could use them like that or just use one to keep the "food cold" and a few other things going, and fire up the other generator only when I neded more electricity.
I think this would burn less fuel in the long haul and give me a compact generator to take on trips as well.

btw guys, the overtime check i got today let me buy the last rem spr22 45/70 double rifle that pueblo sportings goods had in stock!!!!.... tip burns will receive it for me, maybe by wednesday next week... first 1 in houston!!!!

With all the house building in my area, I decided about 4 years ago to install an emergency power station. Bought a 12 kw generator powered by a 24 horsepower Honda engine, fueled by propane. Included a transfer switch and a 300 gal. propane tank. Unit uses 2.5 gal. of propane per hour under full load. Have the following connected--Freezer, Furnace, Well Pump, Sump Pump, Several wall circuits and some lighting. Works fine during a storm. Unit starts every 14 days for 15 minutes and self checks the computer system for any problems. Control panel tells me if there is a problem. Sure makes going away from home a lot easier.

the small generators use lots of fuel for what output they give.... if you use 2.5 gallons of propane an hour X 24 hrs = 60 gallons/day 60 gallons fuel @ $2. gallon = $120/day for fuel...that gets expensive fast... the larger units, like 50kw, are more economical for the output they produce, and are easier to service...i have a 3cyl kubota diesel powered 10kw lima generator... at full output, it sips diesel at about a gallon an hour... and it will burn veggie oil in a pinch...but even then at $4/gal diesel, its $50 a day....

I know I'm ready for the next power outage. I need electricity for a sump pump, well pump and hot water boiler circulating pump. Having something leftover to power lights, TV, microwave, computer etc. is just a bonus.

I once had a PTO generator, but went broke (and deaf) running it with a 70+ horsepower diesel farm tractor. Because the generator ran at 560rpm's, the Perkins diesel engine ran at 2800rpm's, putting out its rated 73 horsepower...and drank lots of fuel in the process.

My Lincoln Electric WeldanPower puts out 6K watts, continuous. It's been doing so since '86. Powered by a 16hp, 2 cylinder Onan air-cooled engine. It started the 1.5 horsepower motor on my Hobart meat bandsaw, even with the normal household appliances on...freezer, fridge, TV, lights etc. It makes clean enough sine-wave power to run this desktop computer. It's too small to run my central air or my 5 horse air compressor but it's a damn fine ac\dc stick welder. One drawback, which makes having 2 generators a good idea, is that it runs full out even if the only draw is a 25 watt light bulb. 87 octane consumption is a little less than 1 gallon per hour. The longest it has run in emergency power generation is 28 hours. I backfeed it through my workshop breaker box into the house via the 230V mig/tig welder receptacle. My house has a huge knife switch disconnect that prevents harming the lineman on the power pole...it's either all generator or all Pennsylvania Power & Light; never the twain shall meet.

Amazon.com sold me a 6K watt standby Generac brand generator; the smallest they make. It's duel fuel...propane, or comes already setup for natural gas. My property has a 1 mile deep natural gas well to power it. It has a timer to start once every week to recharge the starter battery and an automatic switchover after a 30 second no power situation. I haven't had time to run all the wiring and gas line. No rush, the WeldanPower is ready and waiting.

So, I went from burning lots of diesel, to burning moderate amounts of gasoline, to who cares how much natural gas...it's free! [I once read that you'd starve to death before you ever died from carbon monoxide poisoning, running your NG vehicle inside a closed garage.]

quote:

you'd starve to death before you ever died from carbon monoxide poisoning, running your NG vehicle inside a closed garage.]

quote:

People are idiots!!!!!

Yup.

Carbon monoxide poisoning death is a real issue.

Several of the deaths in the recent Hurriccane incident were due to Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from Generators.

Also many years ago I was hunting in Colorado when there was an extreme cold spell with a fair amount of snow fall.

Several hunters died from CM Poisoning. Some by using a charcoal grill for heat in a pickup truck with a camper shell, or in a tent.

In the mid 1950's one of my dads friends killed himself [a suicide] in his garage by running the engine of his car with the door down.

CMP is a serious threat, not to be taken lightly.

7000 Watt. CostCo sells them, or used to.

They have a Honda engine, but are not "Honda Generators."

Don't run your expensive TV or computers off the power. It can surge and blow components/circuits. I have a cheapo TV I got from a pawn shop for $60.

I don't keep track of the gasoline -- Turn on the gen. and get the temp down in the fridge, use the lights when needed. I cook on a gas camp stove outdoors.

If we really want to "push" there's enough power for hot water and fast showers, but not daily.

When the power goes out here from a storm it's out for 48 t0 72 hrs. I keep two 5 gal. gas cans at the ready. The empty one goes to town for a refill.

When the crisis is done, put the gas in the car/truck. Don't store it. Gas gets stale.

CMP -- yeah! Don't use the gas cook stove in an enclosed space. I cook in the front of the garage with the door fully open, or the barn with the door open.

Generator stays outside, away from doors and vents . . . You don't park it in the front of the garage, "by the door." It runs OUTSIDE.