power outages, extension cords and generators.

S

starcrafttom

Active member
so the story begins 7 years ago when my father in-law, Ed, gave Susan and me a really nice cab over camper. It even has a nice generator in it. Well that year we lost power in the winter for 2 hours and I decided that was a bad idea. So I had my father make me a 60ft long heavy cord that would run from my camper to my house's gas central heater. This way when the power died I could run the house heater off the generator. We built it we tested it it worked great.

7 years with out a power outage since then. Tonight my former father call's, hes been disowned, to ask if we had power because he saw on the news that some places in the area did not. I don't know what the f*&^k he was thinking. He's Irish, he knows better then to temp that bitch fate. So after working on a offer revival on my computer for 3 hours and 5 calls and emails back in forth with my clients I final get to hit send. You got it... before my finger makes contact with the key the power goes out.........

so its into the snow suit and go spend half a hour getting the generator started, keeps dieing after 5 minutes, which had not been fired up in a year or more( more). go find the cable my former dad built and run it from the camper ( parked in a different spot then 7 years ago ) to the garage where he heater is and, wait for it, come up 5 ft short...... I do have several good extension cords so no problem and just as I get the whole thing set up the generator dies and , wait for it, the power comes back on...........
 
Ummm, sure looks to me like the Avatar name should be (wait for it)

StarCrossedTom

Anyway, that is why it is called the Fickle Finger of Fate...
Hey, at least you have power now - and you got some exercise - and you now know you need to rebuild the carburetor on the generator
(don't mess around - buy a rebuild kit and just do it - trust me on this)
Be careful with compressed air - that little ball will squirt out and disappear...

And, that reminds me I need to run the boat generator later today and pour our the gas in the can and get fresh gas - after I get done rebuilding all four hubs with the new Air Tight Hub grease seals that UPS delivered at 8PM last night...
 
Years ago after we lost power in PDX for a week I had a gentran installed in the garage. It is hooked up to the furnace (gas) fan. A small generator can run the fan giving heat (at least).

Since that time we haven't had any extended outages.
 
We had a terrible snow storm in the Northeast in October that curtailed power to us for several days. Power outages have become more commonplace in our area in recent years, so I have been using storage-level Blue Stabile in my generator's 5-gallon gas tank -- always leaving the gasoline in the carb*, and start it up at least once every 2 months (for about 15 minutes) with a load bank test (1200 Watt toaster oven.) This helps to ensure that the generator is functional when it is needed the most. Even multi-million dollar emergency power equipment owners (Computer Data Centers, for example) tests their equipment regularly to help ensure greater reliability. So I recommend to all generator owners that they test their equipment regularly and perform the preventive maintenance as directed by the equipment manufacturer.

* In Connecticut, temperatures in the summer can exceed 100 degrees. I have found that even when I run a small engine dry, minute gasoline residue will remain that could eventually gum up the interior of a carburetor. Using storage level stabile and starting the engines regularly have mitigated this problem for me. In colder climates, perhaps running engines dry is better? -- I don't know the answer.
 
Chuckpacific":3taw23jo said:
Years ago after we lost power in PDX for a week I had a gentran installed in the garage. It is hooked up to the furnace (gas) fan. A small generator can run the fan giving heat (at least).

Since that time we haven't had any extended outages.
Click to expand...

I remember spending a week in SE Portland without power. We ran extension cords across the street because they had power there. My Dodge van was frozen to the ground with 6 inches of ice from the top down the drivers side to the ground. Thanks God for a wood burning fireplace insert. I'm sure our 3 month old baby enjoyed that heat as much as we did.

Harvey
SleepyC
 
thanks for the tips about stabilizers for the fuel but my gen set is propane. it has always been a bear to start but once started always ran well until now, when I needed it. Power has been on all night and its still snowing hard right now.
 
Tom,

Then all you need is $$$$ to fill the propane tank :lol: .

We have a 10K genset that will run away with propane.
Last fill was $1200.-

I think I would move out to the RV or the boat if this turns out like 96. Was living in Maple Valley then and power was out for many days while we were on the coast storm watching. Driving through Portland on ice with no power to the traffic lights made every intersection "interesting".

6-10" inches here on Whidbey and still snowin' but no ice (and no FDD's) so far

M
 
In years past we experienced frequent power outages in our rural setting.
When we built our house in '93 we installed a gentran with a portable generator that powered a good deal of our home. This year after finding that our portable generator was no longer salvageable we ordered a 14 KW propane generator. The generator was back ordered due to NE US demand from their recent adverse weather events. Three weeks ago the generator arrived and just last week the final connection was accomplished. This one powers all that the old one did plus a major electric household heat circuit. (Although we heat predominately with wood in our wood stove). Two days ago we lost power, however we were not at home to enjoy the event of the generator automatically starting. However, when we returned home we could tell that it had operated as the exhaust melted the 10" of snow 4 feet out from the generator.
At this moment more snow is falling on our already accumulated 10" of snow. Power outages continue in the area but so far no more draining on the propane tank.
I've had the tractor out plowing our driveway as well as a our elderly neighbors. Daily we check on their needs, grocery shopping etc. (He is 95 years old and he is still quite active). They also have a propane fired generator like the one we just installed and his been quite pleased with it.
 
Dave,

If you are on "auto-fill" from your propane dealer you should let him know you have the generator AND call him if it looks like you will get down to 25%. You don't get 13KW for free :shock: but it sure beats going out and filling up 5 G of gas at a time all through the night. (That's how you find out how expensive generator KW really are).

I think if it came to a real long emergency I would use the Honda 200i to drive the fan on the woodstove and keep the propane for cooking. I have 120 G in the boat I can use.

Don't expect any flooding issues here at 200ft on Whidbey but the boat is outside the door if we do.

Stay safe

M
 
If you have flood problems we are all screwed and I own al gore $5 bucks.

I once had to paint a 600 gallon propane tank with a black spot to get it to work. It was so cold that the propane in the tank would not vaporize. Cleared the snow off it and used a spray can, that I had to heat in the truck, to paint a spot on the tank facing the sun. after a hour the tanked heated just enough to get the fuel flowing and start the hot water heater and the central heat in a customers cabin. Lots of fun.
 
Grumpy":3q6a7gco said:
Dave,
If you are on "auto-fill" from your propane dealer you should let him know you have the generator AND call him if it looks like you will get down to 25%. M
Click to expand...

I am on "auto-fill" and yes they already know. I'm thinking that they broke open a few bottles of champagne in their office after they connected the propane line from the tank to the generator. (We've had a propane cook top, water heater and clothes dryer for years). Just one more thing to keep the economy moving..... :roll: . But when the power goes out and the generator comes on Momma's Happy....When Momma's Happy, Everyone is Happy... :lol:
 
When I installed tanks and delivered propane I set a lot of 1000 gallon and more then a few 2 or 3 2000 gallon tanks at homes to run gensets for the coming y2k doom. Its going to take years for those fools to use up that gas if every. One guy got hurt trying to hook up a fill hose to his 100 gallon tank to he could resale to his friends. ended up braking his arm and releasing the whole 1000 gallons to the air. God I love morons.
 
Now that you are speaking of morons...... When I installed a propane furnace at my home in Idaho, the furnace folks who did the energy audit told me I would burn about 700 gallons a year. OK. The Propane company "couldn't get me a 1000 gal tank" so delivered a 500 and put me on a twice a year fill plan. First fill was in the summer, cheap for then. the second in Feb, twice the price per gallon. So I went back to requesting the 1K gal tank. They spent 2 months waffling. Finally, I switched company's and pulled the little tank up by the road and put a sign on it explaining my satisfaction with their service. I called them and told them to come pick up the tank, Said they would get it next week. It sat there for 2 months until one of their drivers reported to the company about the sign. Yup, I love working with morons too. The new tank saved me about $200 a year by filling only once a year in the summer.

After burning wood exclusively for 28 years, it sure was nice to just flick the switch.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Harvey, You have to understand that these moron had NO gas or propane appliances in there homes at all. The big tanks where just for the gen-sets when the world came to a end. So In other words the 1000plus gallons I pumped 13 years ago is still stilling there. Most of the homes where well below the snow line and all the way down to Folsom ca. Some where in Sacramento. big waste of money based on fear.

As for the tanks sitting by the road. Sounds about right for some companies. They would refuse to pick up tanks in the hopes that you would not switch out. when I worked for Kamps and Amerigas I would pull the tanks from Suburban propane and replace them with our tanks then drive the tanks to the Suburban yard. It would piss them off a lot.

still snowing here and getting deeper.
 
There's hope for you Tom. It has stopped on Whidbey now

1000G would last me about 18 months what do I do about Armageddon then :-)

M
 
Hey Starcrafttom,

If I ever get to Maryville Wa. I'm going to buy you a couple of beers just to hear your stories. If you ever get to my area of Georgia I'll do the same.

Zap
 
Well Harvey, you have convinced me that living anywhere in this great country you will find the know-it-all fool who lacks common 'cents'. He is the one who will ask for change for his penny.

We get an occassional winter storm that takes out our power, but mostly it is the Nor'Easters and hurricanes. I added a 15kva water cooled automatic genset that runs on natural gas. The local company here would not supply propane for a genset because I have natural gas already feeding the house and my priority would be very low for any fill when a high demand was present.

My gas meter looks like a gyro spinning the dial when the furnace, water heater and genset are all on line. Listening to it start for its 20minute test run at 0800 every Thursday is reassuring. One of the best investments, aside from the added insulation, I made to the property.

Art
 
starcrafttom":90frgev1 said:
when I worked for Kamps and Amerigas I would pull the tanks from Suburban propane and replace them with our tanks then drive the tanks to the Suburban yard. It would piss them off a lot.
Click to expand...

Tom, you just made my day! I'm so happy you pissed Suburban off! They pissed me off so bad several years ago that I marched into their office......lucky I didn't end up in jail..... :shock:

(Sad part is, I've heard stories from other former customers of theirs as well.)
 
Zap, last time I was in Georgia I married a crazy redneck gal. Good luck getting me back down that way unless you know how to fish stripers. I divorced her years ago but I still get the shakes when I hear "Georgia on my mind"

Dave, Suburban is and has been a shady company. I had friends who worked there and the thing they made the drivers do. Not picking up tanks, topping off tanks that were not even half empty when the customers did not want then topped off just to name a few. That's why it was so easy to get people to switch out. They would keep your tank full so they could use that as an excuse not to remove it. Tell you that the gas was theirs until it went thru the valve and I could not pump it out. sorry but the tank is Suburbans and the fuel is the customers. I can pump the fuel in to my tank anytime I want and return the tank to suburban. Suburban would even try to charge the clients for tank removal when I did the work. hell one of there drives topped off 4 tank on one street that I had changed out 6 week before. Those guys got free gas that day.
 
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