Generators

[ellone]

Wow! Thank you for that. I know Central MA usually loses their power a lot more than we do. I am fine with not using the stove or washer/dryer. We don't have a well or garage doors either. Like you, my main concern was the furnace and refrigerator. As long as I can use a crockpot, coffee maker and toaster oven I would be fine. I wouldn't use them at the same time.

For short term power needs a portable battery is another option. We have one that we can plug the fridge into if the power goes out (you can recharge it by hooking it up to your car if it runs out of juice and you still don't have your power back).

 

[arthuruscg]

Great advice!!! We keep several containers of gas ready for the generator in the winter. If we don't use it, it goes to the riding lawnmower in the summer. We live in a rural neighborhood of 90 homes on total 450 acres. Most of us have generators and chainsaws, and try to help out those who don't. The power lines in our neighborhood are buried, however, the state road that bisects our entrance has above ground power lines. So we lose power several times a year, between winter and summer. We bought our 5k generator many years ago, and it has paid for itself many times over. One thing we'd do differrently, is, it has a pull start motor, like a lawn mower. As you can imagine, a pull start is the dickens in cold weather. DH always says our next generator will be a Honda push start.

Most Generators are B&S and can have the electric start added on. There are kits available or a local lawn tractor place can put a custom kit together.
One suggestion though is to get a battery tender for the battery or just forget the battery all together and use a set of long jumper cables. Since you know you car battery will always be ready.

Okay, so after this latest blizzard and losing my power for days (90+% of the town was out) I need to bite the bullet and get a generator. I don't have a ton of extra money for it. Can you get a generator for under $800 that will do what I need (see below)?

What the heck do I look for? I have a 2100 sq ft house with FHW gas heat. I would want to run my furnace (I think it's actually called a boiler) for heat, My family room outlets (t.v., light and outlets to charge phones etc), and my two fridge/freezers and microwave. I have no idea how many watts I need. I was thinking I would like a propane fueled generator as all the gas stations around didn't have power either. The ones that did have a generator ran out of gas.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Wow! Thank you so much everyone. You have all been so helpful. No disrespect meant but I would never get annoyed with my neighbors for having a generator to save their home. A lot of homes in our area had their pipes freeze and burst. We had people rushed to hospitals for hypothermia. All hotels around were full. The nearest shelter had to close as their generator would not work. Gas stations were out of power so no gasoline nearby. There are still people without power.

I totally forgot about crockpot and toaster oven! I could use those instead of my stove and microwave.

I would definitely have an electrician come out to wire it. I don't want extension cords running into my house having to leave a door or window open.

A Tractor Supply Store just opened in the next town. I'll have to check it out.

What are the natural gas generators? Are they expensive?

Thanks again everyone. You have been most helpful.

In the world of generators there are a few variables, Price, Noise, Power Quality, Effective Life, Amperage (watts x volts)

Figure out what you really want to run and determine the wattage you need.
If you have natural gas, I would get a large permanent back up generator and have it plumbed to run of your tank or gas line.

 

[GraysMom]

Hey fellow Lehigh Valley Disney fan!



We are in the middle of installing a natural gas whole house generator. This is different from a free-standing generator (which I think is what you're looking for). I mean, it's free-standing, but it's permanentely installed like an AC unit. As soon as the power goes off it will kick in. It's hooked right into our natural gasl line.

It turns out to be a much more expensive project than we though. While the unit, 10,000kw was roughly $6K with installation, there are also fees involved for prepping the site with a concrete pad, professional site plans prepared, pre-installation inspection, permits, extending the gas line (which includes trenching), post installation inspections, etc. We also needed to upgrade something - the gas meter maybe? All those extra things have made this easily a $10K project.

Most of our neighbors went with a 15,000kw unit, but I think they plan to run their entire house. With the 10,000kw unit that will not nearly cover the whole house (appx 6000sq ft). We have it set up to run a fridge in the garage, a stand alone freezer in the garage, the well pump (we have no water when the power goes out) then the entire basement level. It will also run the heat on the basement & 1st floor levels. We can move into the basement next time the power goes out. We didn't need anything hooked up in the kitchen as we have a gas range, which works without power.

Guess I know who to visit when our space heaters aren't keeping us warm enough with the next power outage, LOL!

 

[shortbun]

After Sandy passed through last October, our neighborhood was without power for several days. Someone had a generator which was so loud, you could hear it several blocks away. It was driving everyone crazy - very annoying.

We lose power around here a lot due to a very old infrastructure and a very greedy(AEP) power company. Anyway-power goes out, generators go on. They are all noisy but they don't drive anyone 'crazy.' We share, help others keep their food fresh, invite our neighbors in for warmth or a/c.

We have a large gasoline generator and keep threatening to change to a natural gas because running for fuel or even finding it in a power outtage can be a problem. You can kiss your microwave goodbye unless you turn off most of the other stuff-microwaves pull a lot of power. Get a gas burner or electric burner(portable) and be prepared to use your grill in the summer or cook more basically in the very cold winter. It's not that bad. Also, we run one fridge and one freezer but these pull lots of power too. We immediately begin cooking out of one and moving things around, packing the ON fridge and allowing all the drinks to go warm. We run one a/c(our house takes two) in the summer and one furnace-again two-in the winter. We had the board designed for one of each. Just close off the other part of the house and make do. Your budget won't accomodate a generator for everything you need. Get down to the furnace, fridge, a few lights and TV-you do know your cable will probably be out, right? So, get one of those antenna thingies, lol!

 

[ccgirl]

We lose power around here a lot due to a very old infrastructure and a very greedy(AEP) power company. Anyway-power goes out, generators go on. They are all noisy but they don't drive anyone 'crazy.' We share, help others keep their food fresh, invite our neighbors in for warmth or a/c.

We have a large gasoline generator and keep threatening to change to a natural gas because running for fuel or even finding it in a power outtage can be a problem. You can kiss your microwave goodbye unless you turn off most of the other stuff-microwaves pull a lot of power. Get a gas burner or electric burner(portable) and be prepared to use your grill in the summer or cook more basically in the very cold winter. It's not that bad. Also, we run one fridge and one freezer but these pull lots of power too. We immediately begin cooking out of one and moving things around, packing the ON fridge and allowing all the drinks to go warm. We run one a/c(our house takes two) in the summer and one furnace-again two-in the winter. We had the board designed for one of each. Just close off the other part of the house and make do. Your budget won't accomodate a generator for everything you need. Get down to the furnace, fridge, a few lights and TV-you do know your cable will probably be out, right? So, get one of those antenna thingies, lol!

Thanks for those tips. I am so not used to losing power. I think we've only lost it 3 or 4 times in the 10+ years we've been here. The longest being this last time. We've never lost it more than 3 hours prior to this so this was new territory for us. The furnace, fridge, a few lights and TV would be great. That's the weird thing...the cable never went out from what I understand from the people that didn't lose power. I have no idea how they were able to keep it on. Usually Comcast stinks but not this time. I totally forgot about using a crockpot or my toaster oven like the PP mentioned. So, the use of those two things will be great. We cook on the grill in the winter anyway so that is okay. And, I never thought about moving the food around so it was all in one fridge instead of two. I guess I'm really not much of a survivalist.

 

[momto2girls]

Hey fellow Lehigh Valley Disney fan!



We are in the middle of installing a natural gas whole house generator. This is different from a free-standing generator (which I think is what you're looking for). I mean, it's free-standing, but it's permanentely installed like an AC unit. As soon as the power goes off it will kick in. It's hooked right into our natural gasl line.

It turns out to be a much more expensive project than we though. While the unit, 10,000kw was roughly $6K with installation, there are also fees involved for prepping the site with a concrete pad, professional site plans prepared, pre-installation inspection, permits, extending the gas line (which includes trenching), post installation inspections, etc. We also needed to upgrade something - the gas meter maybe? All those extra things have made this easily a $10K project.

Most of our neighbors went with a 15,000kw unit, but I think they plan to run their entire house. With the 10,000kw unit that will not nearly cover the whole house (appx 6000sq ft). We have it set up to run a fridge in the garage, a stand alone freezer in the garage, the well pump (we have no water when the power goes out) then the entire basement level. It will also run the heat on the basement & 1st floor levels. We can move into the basement next time the power goes out. We didn't need anything hooked up in the kitchen as we have a gas range, which works without power.

We just put in a 20,000kw unit and it is the smallest in our neighborhood (only 6 houses here and they are all very large). You should hear our neighborhood in a power outage. The noise with all of these huge generators is pretty impressive.

 

[TaraPA]

Guess I know who to visit when our space heaters aren't keeping us warm enough with the next power outage, LOL!

Hey yeah - DIS Meet next power outage! Of course you know now that's I've committed to spending an outlandish amount of money on this, it will never go out again!

We just put in a 20,000kw unit and it is the smallest in our neighborhood (only 6 houses here and they are all very large). You should hear our neighborhood in a power outage. The noise with all of these huge generators is pretty impressive.

So add 99 cents to my bill for earplugs!!!

Actually, I think ours is the 15000 unit & the neighbors got 20000 unit, now that I think about it. It's still back ordered from Generac - pre-Sandy we would have had it done in 30 days. Post-Sandy - now a 3-4 month wait!

 

[M5ward]

We also are installing a whole house generator that will kick in off our natural gas line when the power goes out. We got a 20,000 kw Generac unit that will do the whole house (you are never running everything at once). Delivery is expected this week with nstallation to follow. We have had the gas meter switched out already but are still trying to decide whether to have it set on a concrete pad or just on the ground (salesperson said we really didn't need a pad but...)
We ordered right after Sandy so it's been over 3 months. Yes, it's a pretty expensive proposition, but just anticipating a power outage is a nightmare, so I won't have to go through that again.

 

[Denise W]

We ordered ours at the end of November and it is supposed to come in this week, but of course we have to wait for the plumber and electrician to be available. And yes, once it is installed we will probably never lose power again!
Denise

 

[TaraPA]

Guess I know who to visit when our space heaters aren't keeping us warm enough with the next power outage, LOL!

And you'd be welcome to come here. I was soooooo thankful to the friends that let us come shower, fill our water jugs & plug in our cell phones to charge when our power was out. We were out 4 days with Irene, 5 days with the Hallwoeen 2011 storm, and 6 days with Sandy. It really makes you start feeling like Jack Nicholson in The Shining! The worst part for us was having no water. Anti-bac gel bath anyone??? I grew up on a farm, and we vacation at our cabin which up until recently had no running water, limited electricity, no TV, radio, phones, toilet, etc. So I know how to rough it, I just don't want to anymore! The modern conveniences of this century & all the technology we get so used to relying on just make it that much harder to think about having to do without them. I've become very spoiled.

 

[GraysMom]

Hey yeah - DIS Meet next power outage! Of course you know now that's I've committed to spending an outlandish amount of money on this, it will never go out again!



So add 99 cents to my bill for earplugs!!!

Actually, I think ours is the 15000 unit & the neighbors got 20000 unit, now that I think about it. It's still back ordered from Generac - pre-Sandy we would have had it done in 30 days. Post-Sandy - now a 3-4 month wait!

We bought our generator after the Halloween storm of 2011 and thought the same thing-now that we have a generator we won't lose power again. Well, the Halloween storm of 2012 proved us wrong with that train of thought! It does give us peace of mind when they call for a possible power outage. We don't panic and scramble as much as we did the first two times.

 

[GraysMom]

And you'd be welcome to come here. I was soooooo thankful to the friends that let us come shower, fill our water jugs & plug in our cell phones to charge when our power was out. We were out 4 days with Irene, 5 days with the Hallwoeen 2011 storm, and 6 days with Sandy. It really makes you start feeling like Jack Nicholson in The Shining! The worst part for us was having no water. Anti-bac gel bath anyone??? I grew up on a farm, and we vacation at our cabin which up until recently had no running water, limited electricity, no TV, radio, phones, toilet, etc. So I know how to rough it, I just don't want to anymore! The modern conveniences of this century & all the technology we get so used to relying on just make it that much harder to think about having to do without them. I've become very spoiled.

Aww, thanks Tara! I was just kidding though . We at least have municipal water/sewer and my ILs have a gas hot water heater so it's not such a dire situation when the power goes out here. We were out the same number of days you were except we got power back on at the end of the 5th day this past November. It's sad when my grandfather, who lives in rural Catawissa (hmm, guess all of Catawissa is rural!) on a farm loses power much less often than we do here in the suburbs . Just last week I finished making a Power Outage Prep List with all the things I need to buy, do, and cook if they're calling for a possible outage. I feel more prepared for the next one at least!

 

[arthuruscg]

If it is like in the Maryland suburbs, there is a disconnect with people understanding that the trees need to be cut back to prevent power outages.
In the southern rural counties we keep asking the power company to clear cut 20ft plus away from the power lines. While the people in in Rockville are suing PEPCO over the loss in property value from "maiming" their trees. That they planted around the power lines.