Hurricane Time Once Again- Generator ?

[Piney]

Greetings--

Soliciting comments/recomendations--

Being somewhat newbies to the gulf coast and hurricanes-- and having been here during Ike.....

We're considering a generator. Nothing as fancy as a permanant one.
We'd like to be able to run the refrigerator, a couple of fans, a small window AC in the bedroom, a few lights, tv, charge the cell phones and laptop.

I figure around 3500w or so. That seems to be in between-- smaller ones 2k or less, then larger ones > 5kw.

Gasoline consumption is a concern-- I dont want to get one too large and have it eat up gas.

We've got a natural gas line in a convinient location to tap into it-- but all the natural gas units that I can find are the whole house kinds.

So-- what do my gulf coast neighbors use ?

[Teamless]

4k or so is enough to run run a number of things.
at my Bro-in-Laws, he uses a 4k, wired direct to the fuse box.
Can't run the A/C, but depending on what you turn off, you can run refrigerator, lights, ceiling fans, washer, general wall plugs, TV, etc.
If you want to make coffee, turn off almost everything
Same with the microwave
During IKE we went through (about 12 of us at his house after the storm), 1 gallon or so every hour.
If thats not bad enough, remember, when the power is out, it is also out at the gas station, so it was not much fun getting gas for it.
Good thing we had access to several company vehicles and siphoned or drained the gas (yes, we were permitted to do so)

I will say from my experiences (and I hope I am not jinxing us all), I have been in Clear Lake area for 16 years, and only during Rita did we evacuate and Ike did we lose power (for more than a few minutes). Ike- 11 days without power.

we have looked heavily at the whole house natural gas generators, but the $8000 or so cost for 20k watts is a big price tag! (or I would have one)

[surprise_i'm_armed]

Go to the Honda site (not sure of exact web addy) and they
have a wonderfully detailed tutorial on all things "generator".

It will answer a lot of your questions, plus give you a good over-
view of how to hook up your generator.

I saw this about a year or two ago, but I assume that it's still
there. If you buy anything with "Honda" on it, you know it will
be good stuff.

SIA

[glbedd53]

After Ike I bought a Briggs & Stratton 5550 watt. You can get a natural gas conversion, that's what I'm gonna do pretty quick because as you've already heard, gasoline availability when the power is out is a problem. If you google generator natural gas conversion some stuff comes up. Mine has a Briggs & Stratton but if I could have afforded it I would rather had one with a Honda engine. The Japanese just have their stuff together on those small engines. Like Echo chainsaws, they always run and they always start, and almost no maintenance.

[jacobsd8195]

I bought a Brigg's & Stratton 5,500 watt after Rita and luckily BEFORE Ike. For about $100 in parts, you can make an extension that will tie into the 220 outlet of a dryer and run most of the house (excluding central A/C of course.) During Ike, we had a window unit A/C, ceiling fans, TVs, Internet, lights, coffee pot, toaster, microwave, refrigerator, etc. Plus, the convenience of being able to turn on the lights normally (especially in the bath room) when the generator was running.

You have to have your brain engaged with this setup... main breaker to the outside OFF and know that if you don't do things in the proper order, you could have a hot live wire at the end.

We went through 5 gallons of gas for about 10 hours of generator use... I already have 15 gallons ready to go.

Funny story. When the power first went out well before the hurricane, I started the generator and got it all hooked up. It ran for a couple of minutes and then stopped. I yelled to my wife "WHAT DID YOU TURN ON!?" Stupid me... I forgot to turn the gas on... it ran until the gas in the fuel line was out!

[StewNTexas]

If you do make a pigtail to plug into your electric dryer outlet, MAKE A CHECKLIST. It is very illegal to hook up this way. Too many linemen have been knocked off a pole by people connected this way, and not properly disconnecting from the grid.

First, turn the main power off at the box. Turn the breakers off to the AC, water heater, stove and any other 240v breakers you have. Go around you house and unplug anything that is not needed. Don't forget answering machines, clock radios, computers, and any TV you will not be using.

This will allow you to selectively use a refrigerator, fans or ceiling fans, a TV or radio for local news. If you have 'smaller' TVs, use it, and not a big screen.

It is best to start the generator, give it a couple of minutes to settle down, then plug into your house system.

Be careful where you place your generator. They will walk off during the night if not chained very well to a heavy object like your trailer hitch. Be sure to keep in your driveway and not where fumes can be breathed.

Don't get caught hooking up this way. Investigate how much it will cost, and how difficult it is, to add a transfer switch to your breaker box. This is the safest and most legal way.

[jacobsd8195]

If you do make a pigtail to plug into your electric dryer outlet, MAKE A CHECKLIST. It is very illegal to hook up this way.

Definitely agree on checklist, and I do in fact have one. I didn't know it was illegal to hook up like this...

[StewNTexas]

Not just illegal, but VERY illegal.

I have not heard of it happening, but your having power, and noise from a generator, might cause a LEO, or someone from a power company investigating how wide ranging a power outage is, could cause you a problem.

Wow, what a long sentence. Need to work on that.

[gregthehand]

I buy mine (yes I own a few) at government auctions. I've picked up diesel generator sets with 8 hours on them for less that $380.

[mctowalot]

WARNING - LONG POST!!!
After witnessing the nightmare that was the Rita evacuation, I knew the best route (pun intended) to take during the next hurricane would be to hunker down - we live just inside the southern part of the 610 loop.

When it became apparent that Ike was headed our way I bought one of the last Briggs & Stratton our local Home Depot had in stock. I believe it's rated at 5500 watts continuous with 8000 peak - the "peak" rating is important because some appliances take a short surge of wattage to get started up, ie: a window conditioner unit (which is yet another item you might want to consider purchasing to compliment your generator).

I suppose I should mention that at the time of Ike's arrival my wife was six months pregnant with our daughter, our son was 1 and a half, my 65 year old mother in law was staying with us, and we had 3 large dogs that don't take well to long car rides.(During the Rita evacuation it was taking as long as 10 hours to drive from Houston to Conroe, a 45 mile trip - folks were stranded on the side of highways out of gas, food, and water). There's no way I was going to subject my family to such trauma!
So sure enough, as Ike rolled into town the power went out, and stayed out on our block for nearly 6 weeks.

But it was no big deal thanks to Mr. Briggs and company.
That generator ran non-stop the entire time (except of course for refueling and maintenance).

We had a window airconditioner,1 big screen TV, 2 refrigerators, the washer and dryer, a computer, the dish television box, lighting, a microwave, and an electric skillett when needed. Yup, we were really roughing it!

Oh yeah, I forgot we also ran a cord to our neighbors so they could keep the pump in their aquarium running, saving the lives of several dozen fish and 1 snail.

With all the appliances we had running, the generator was burning about 5 gallons of gas every 8 hours. But it was so worth it. The biggest challenge was finding an operational gas station every other day. We only had five 5 gallon gas jugs, and there were non to be found anywhere in the city after the storm. I have to admit I felt like "The Road Warrior" each time I would go out in search of gas, and there were some pretty tense moments when I was really glad I was armed to the teeth - but this post is long enough without going into all that.

Months after the storm I came home to find 25 new 5 gallon jugs in the garage - my wife had found a sale. You can bet they will all be full when the next hurricane hits.

One last thing I want to share about all this: After the storm passed our backyard looked like a war zone, with tree limbs all over and the fence was down. I was able to use the remnants to built a temporary fence to keep the dogs in but anyone could see into the yard - and see the precious generator and gas jugs. So my wife rummaged through the garage and found a bunch of old targets from the gun range. We picked the ones with the best grouping and posted
them conspicuously all around the yard. Nothing says
"NO TRESPASSING" better than a shot up target nailed to a tree!

So, by all means, in addition to plenty of guns, ammo, food and water get a generator. I have since learned of some super efficient models by Honda that burn much less gas (they also cost more of course).

[Grog]

If you are going to store gas long-term, you might want to consider treating with Sta-Bil.

http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Carry-a-Kimber]

Went to visit the folks the other day and was informed that they are having a whole house gen. installed next week. I know where I will be headed if we get hit this year. The wife and I will be building a new house in 3 or 4 years and one of these will def. be in the build.

[Teamless]

I will be headed if we get hit this year

if you post their address, we can have a big get together LOL

[PJK]

I personally run a 5000 Watt gas generator. It was made by Coleman / Briggs and Stratton and it ran about 2/3's of my house including both fridges, microwave, outside lights for security, ceiling fans and tv's . It did not run my home A/C, my pool or my oven, but everything else ran through it without an issue. I do however have 2X110 watt 12000 BTU window a/c units that kept the living areas very comfortable. At the time I had 8 X 5 gallon cans and was running the generator for 10 hours on and 2 hours off. With this schedule I ran about 10 hours on 5 gallons of gasoline. I do have a power siphon kit that I bought at Auto Zone, and both of my vehicles were completely full of gas so there was about another 45 gallons available.

If you are going to set this up, you might want to have an electrician install a 2nd circuit panel with a power transfer switch. This powers my house directly and I don't have to run cords anywhere. I just told him which circuits to make hot on the generator. Now I have just one plug (the 4 prong) to plug into the generator and flip the big red switch. I have an instruction sheet on the generator and even my 14 year old can completely convert the house to generator if I am not home. The hookup with all parts cost about $250 installed by my electrician. Here is a picture of the setup:

Power Transfer Switch

How the switch attaches to the generator

The lessons I learned and the way to rectify them:

1 - Buy a Honda Generator. They are much quieter.
2 - Buy bigger gas cans that have a flexible fill hose. It is very dirty and the new environmentally friendly fill spouts leak everywhere. I now have 2 of these as well. I fill each of my cars up at least once a month out of the cans and then take them to be refilled. In June I fill up the 8 gallon tanks and starting in November I just empty the 5 gallon tanks into the larger tanks. I keep both 14 gallon tanks full year round, but rotate the gas within 6 months in every tank. http://www.jcwhitney.com/14-gallon-fuel ... map=538314" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
3 - Make sure you have plenty of generator oil. You need to change it every 20 hours of use. Also make sure you have something to empty it into.
4 - Get a very large chain or Krypton lock. I put a lag bolt into a can and filled it with lots of cement in my backyard. I can then chain my generator to it and just run my one cord over there. There were a lot of generator thefts during Ike. Yes I have plenty of guns, but I do sleep.

[glbedd53]

The traffic nightmare everyone talks about has a very simple solution. Leave at midnight the day before all the sheeple that wait til the last minute to leave. Not only was the traffic not bad, there wasn't any. If you wait til you know where it's going, it's too late because that's what everybody does. We made it to Shreveport in record time during Rita and Ike. Got up the next day both times and turned on the TV to see all the gridlock.