Generator Thread ....When the power goes out...

[joel2000]

If I didn't keep up with it, I wouldn't remember either. I have too many things to keep up with. If I don't wright it down, it's gone. Keep up with my vehicles that way too. When I was younger, I could remember all that. But I didn't have as much stuff as I do now. Vehicles are done by mileage mostly. There are some things by time and model year, I keep a log. The gen is a piece of tape I put on the machine. Lawn mower is by the year. No need to document. I can tell you how many rounds I've fired a weapon and when the last time I shot it. We also keep up with house maintenance by writing it down. Like when things were repaired or replaced. Want to know something, we have a file.

Just yanking your chain a bit.. kudos for keeping up like that.
Maintenance on my vehicles and scooters is religious. Always has been that way. Growing up as a car guy and boat mechanic teaches you good traits. Can’t handle unmaintained, dirty toys. Home maintenance and such the same way. Genny is maintained, just not as well as I should.
Good maintenance pays dividends.

 

[basstracker89]

Just yanking your chain a bit.. kudos for keeping up like that.
Maintenance on my vehicles and scooters is religious. Always has been that way. Growing up as a car guy and boat mechanic teaches you good traits. Can’t handle unmaintained, dirty toys. Home maintenance and such the same way. Genny is maintained, just not as well as I should.
Good maintenance pays dividends.

Yep, you're right about that. My best friend growing up was a mechanic. I always thought it would be fun to have all this stuff and maintain it in my older years. Nah, now it's just work.....

 

[spencer60]

Generators are great but...

My sisters new house in SC has a nice Generac whole house setup that runs off natural gas.

Guess what they shut off during the storm and haven't turned back on yet? Yup, all the natural gas lines in the area. So no power at all for the house, the well (so no water), etc.

Power is not expected to be back for a week or so there, and who knows when they will turn the gas back on. Good thing she hasn't moved in yet.

 

[BHPSteel]

Generators are great but...

My sisters new house in SC has a nice Generac whole house setup that runs off natural gas.

Guess what they shut off during the storm and haven't turned back on yet? Yup, all the natural gas lines in the area. So no power at all for the house, the well (so no water), etc.

Power is not expected to be back for a week or so there, and who knows when they will turn the gas back on. Good thing she hasn't moved in yet.

Well, that's the thing with whole-house setups. You're powering the whole house - or at least, burning enough fuel to.

Back after Hurricane Sandy, the town I lived in in CT had a lot of expensive properties, many with whole-house gensets. I had a 5400wH gas generator and 5 full cans of gas. Power was out for 13 days. By the 6th, I think I and maybe 2 or 3 neighbors still had power when we really needed it. One neighbor was hosting 'neighborhood parties' at their place. Their propane was gone by day 3. They would have been fine, I guess, if the area had been served with NatGas.

Why? We were very selective in what we powered, and items like freezers were run for 3 hours a day, and the house rule was to only open the doors under strict control and to use igloo boxes for items we needed during the day. We could run the well pump a few times a day to fill the bath, toilet cisterns and a couple of large water cans. Cooking on the grill outside. No AC, no electric heat - just fans. No laundry (even though we had young kids). Generator was running maybe 5 hours a day. Absolute maximum.

We had lights when we needed them. We lived pretty comfortably while I spent a couple hours a day for 4 days out with a chainsaw and axe. When power came back, we had a backlog of laundry to do, and I had a BBQ grill to clean. And a genset to service.

 

[lostchild]

I love living on edge😂😂
I do at least turn the fuel off at the tank and let her sputter herself off and the carb is empty 👍🏻

Yeah, I did that... once.
Next time I needed it, had a tank full of jello-like material. Had to pull the tank and clean it out.
Now I always drain the tank and run the genny 'til dry.

 

[basstracker89]

Generators are great but...

My sisters new house in SC has a nice Generac whole house setup that runs off natural gas.

Guess what they shut off during the storm and haven't turned back on yet? Yup, all the natural gas lines in the area. So no power at all for the house, the well (so no water), etc.

Power is not expected to be back for a week or so there, and who knows when they will turn the gas back on. Good thing she hasn't moved in yet.

Interesting. Out of all my years, gas has been the most reliable utility

 

[basstracker89]

After the first 24-hrs, the next 2 days of no power went more smooth, went to bed earlier than normal

Did you get much damage where you are??

 

[spencer60]

Interesting. Out of all my years, gas has been the most reliable utility

It usually is. Here they shut it down on purpose because of the risk of fire and explosions. Falling trees breaking lines is what some of the folks at work tell me.

 

[Medic1957]

Was much worse NE of me in Elbert, Wilkes and Hart county , I think that’s where our George power feed lines come from and maybe why we were affected 3-4 days

We are a few miles South of you closer to Lexington, and have Rayle EMC. Lost power that morning at 5 and had it back by 7:30 pm. Lucky I guess.

 

[trw2094]

finally got power last night after 8 days.
thankful for having a generator .
generac 17500