"What if the power goes out?"

[MstrCarpenter]

"Not a Problem." I respond to my wife as she's baking her famous Holiday Pecan rolls. I'v got a small suitcase Honda in the back of the Van, our 5500w is already tuned up in the basement of the shop (still needs a wheel kit installed though), and a 6700w up front in the trailer. 1/2 hr. later the lights go out.

I got my raincoat, headed out towards the shop, pulled the gen. set from the construction trailer and wheeled it down the street to the other end of the house. Back to the shop for 5 gal.s of gas. Now I'm not sure who is dumber, me or the designer of this spout. I can't get it to work the way someone thought it should so I attempt to remove the whole cap.  Push down on two tabs at once, squeeze and twist. It's a screw-on cap! Does it really need to be this difficult? The opening on the generator is about 3" and I don't want to go back for a funnel. I can do this. Except the can has this flow limiter disguised as a non-removable plastic strainer so the gas still just dribbles out. 30 mph wind with gusts to 60; I think I still got more than half in the generator.

Now that it's time to plug it in I find my cord has a 20a 240v male end. This gen set has a 30a 240v receptacle; back to the shop. Can't find the right cord cap right now, but this 30a 3ph is close. A quick snip on the prong opposite ground and it fits. I've wired enough of these to know I'll need a #1 and #2 phillips, a #2 square, and medium flat screwdriver. Possibly allen wrenches too. It's dark, raining sideways, and getting colder by the minute. Or.... If that hooked prong was in vs. out, it would fit. Snip! Now I just have to make sure that snipped ground goes in where it's supposed to. Main breaker off, Gen. breaker on, hit the start switch, and we have lights.


The dough had an exceptionally long time to rise, so the rolls are on the large size. Some of them stuck to the sides of the pan too. They're not all pretty, but I can assure you the taste was not affected.


BTW The power came back on. I went to the basement, flipped a few breakers, and told my wife the generator will shut off when it runs out gas. That didn't fly. At least it stopped raining. it changed to snow.


Merry Christmas!

[6270_Productions]

Sound a bunch like farming.

You gotta fix this thing . . . before you can use that thing (and you better hope this thing doesn't need fixed first).

Next we can talk about finding things.

[jteneyck]

Stories like yours convinced me to buy a whole house natural gas generator and automatic transfer switch.  Besides not having to do anything when the power goes out, it works whether I am home or not, and that's a major comfort when I'm away knowing the pipes aren't going to freeze in the Winter or the stuff in the fridge and freezer spoil in the Summer.    

After you get one you'll be surprised how rarely the power goes out.  It's been snowing and howling a steady 30 - 40 mph here the past two days, with gusts over 70 mph, and the temp. is in the low teens.  The power hasn't so much as even flickered.  

John

[EdL]

Added the automatic generator at my moms 14 years ago along with a new qo breaker panel.
Due to poor choices by the po, in the spring one had 2 minutes to restore power or the basement would flood. Outages were frequent, power co has fixed that, drainage issues I corrected, no issues now.

Ed

[MstrCarpenter]

To those that have automatic start gen. sets and transfer switches; How long is the power off before the generator takes over? I'm asking because our power went out several times, from a few seconds to just over a minute, before it stayed off for several hours. I was at a colleagues house years ago when the lights barely blinked; like for 3-5 seconds.

I acquired a manual transfer switch, but it only serves about 6 circuits. I really prefer to power the entire homestead.

[jteneyck]

I have a Generac 17 KW.  When the automatic transfer switch sees an outage (of more than a few seconds) it turns on the generator, verifies it's running, and then switches to generator power.  It takes about 15 seconds total.  When grid power is restored the transfer switch waits a few seconds to make sure it's going to stay on, switches back to grid power, and then shuts down the generator.  You lose everything when grid power goes down, before the transfer switch switches to generator power.  Switching back to grid power, however, the transition is seamless.  

The first couple of times we lost power after we had the generator my cable modem and cable TV box would go down when we lost power.  The cable box, in particular, takes several minutes to reboot after power is restored.  I know, I shouldn't be complaining, but I hated waiting for it to reboot so I bought a UPS for it and the modem.  Now when the power goes out, the UPS systems bridge those 15 seconds until the generator takes over, so I no longer lose the TV or modem.  

I bought the generator about 6 years ago after we had a 23 hour power outage in mid Summer.  The thought of a similar outage happening in the Winter was what convinced me to buy it.  I think the longest we've been without grid power since I bought it is about 4 hours.  It's my $7000 insurance policy.  

Maintenance is minimal.  I change the synthetic oil and filter once a year.  I change the spark plugs every couple of years. I regapped the valves once, per the manual.  I changed the battery after 5 years, just because.  Something did fail in the carburator/choke system which required a service call and replacement of that assembly.  I think it was about $400, which was ridiculous, but I couldn't buy the part independently.  

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  

John

[EdL]

IIRC, the start time is adjustable, I set mom's at 1 minute. Used to be many "interuptions" that would only last 10 seconds.
Her Generac does not sense low voltage or brown out. Its to bad because that really messes with things.

Ed

[Stwood_]

I roll my 6800w genset to the pole and plug it in.
We'll run it a couple hours during the day to keep the 2 freezers and frig up to snuff.
Thats all we need to run it. I'll also utilize that time to jump on the computer if need be.
We store water for drinking and the terloits, cook with LP and/or on top of the woodstove.
Have candles and lanterns for evening light.

[slippy20]

This past year, we installed solar with battery backup.  Over the last month, we lost power 5 or 6 times, twice for 3 days or more.  The battery is seamless, and the solar recharges the battery during the day-even with 100% cloud cover.  There are a lot of upsides, including that you only use the power that is needed, as opposed to a generator, where excess capacity is mostly wasted.  I have a generator, too, but I did not need it.  Super happy, would never go back.

[jteneyck]

This past year, we installed solar with battery backup.  Over the last month, we lost power 5 or 6 times, twice for 3 days or more.  The battery is seamless, and the solar recharges the battery during the day-even with 100% cloud cover.  There are a lot of upsides, including that you only use the power that is needed, as opposed to a generator, where excess capacity is mostly wasted.  I have a generator, too, but I did not need it.  Super happy, would never go back

I'm interested in doing something along these lines.  Is your solar system large enough to run your whole house?  Do you sell excess power to, or get a credit from, the power company? How long will the battery last when the power goes out and can you run everything in the house with it or just the critical stuff?  And - how much did it cost? 

Is it mounted on your roof or stand alone?