Generators & Troubling Times

After we got hit by the remnants of Hurricane Ike in mid-September all the way up here in Ohio, I did some re-thinking. We actually got hurricane force winds (sustained 78 mph winds for 2-3 hours). Didn’t incur much damage (few limbs down, small amount of garage fascia trim damaged). But we were without electricity for 48 hrs. Some people were without for over a week. Fortunately, I had a friend who loaned me his generator which kept our refrigerated/frozen food from going bad. Since we live in the country, I have always been mildly concerned about an extended power failure, particularly in the winter. This event revised my thinking so that I am now prepared for this eventuality.

We all are advised (by govt, FEMA, Homeland Security, etc), to be prepared to fend for ourselves for an extended period of time, if necessary. In these troubling times of political, economical, weather calamities, and other uncertainties, I think it is wise to heed this advice.

Determined to get my own generator, I did alot of research. Essentially, you need to stay away from the off-brands and go with Honda, Briggs & Stratton, or Kohler engines. Also, you need to get an appropriate size unit to run your basic needs. In my case, I determined that to be a 5500w (8250w surge). You still have to use power management. IOW, you have to run some things at certain times, and others at other times. I need to run a few lights, my water pump, fridge/freezer, dishwasher, microwave, tv & computers, and a couple small heaters. I also have an electric hot water heater and a hot tub. I can’t run everything at once, but I can run the hot water heater at night (when everything else is off), and then everyone can take a 10 minute shower the next morning. The hot tub heater can also be run intermittently (4 hrs every couple days) to maintain the temp. This would prevent having to drain the hot tub to prevent freezing. I am able to turn off my main breaker, and then energize the panel and selectively turn on/off various breakers to manage the load. We also heat with wood (wood stove), and have a hand pump well as a backup.

With every generator in the state being sold out for a couple weeks, I finally found a Briggs & Stratton brand generator in my wattage at Home Depot for $699. Was able to get it on my card with 6 months no interest. Even a month after Ike, generators are hard to come by (most all of them have been shipped to Texas). Lowes still had none (as of 10/18/08 – a month later).

Generators do consume alot of gas. This size, under full load, running 24/7 would probably easily go thru 10 gals/day. That is another good reason to manage your usage. It is not necessary to run it 24 hrs continuously. You can turn it off at 10pm and then re-start it in morning at 7am. If you don’t get a large enough unit for your needs, you will regret it, since you won’t be able to run what you need. If you get too large a unit, you will be wasting a large amount of money in gas running the thing. The bigger engines burn more gas. The purpose of the portable generator is to be able to function (get by).

Even gas cans were hard to find. Finally, Wal-Mart got a good supply in of 5 gallon size for only $8.50. I bought 5, and have filled them and also added fuel stabilizer (StaBil) which keeps the gas fresh for up to 2 yrs.

So, if we have an ice storm, blizzard, some societal breakdown, etc., I feel somewhat more prepared.