generators and SHTF advice

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  • indyjohn

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    In the trees

    churchmouse

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    I believe rural living is better than urban, every time. I agree that most people don't know how much electricity it takes to run their home. That link is a useful read.

    The "How much does it really take" info is out there.

    Issue is, no body wants to buy that much genny.
     

    17 squirrel

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    :yesway: Auto switch, power my entire home and cost next to nothing to run 24/7 FTW!

    Next to nothing ?? Maybe if you are burning propane just this last year. But if you are burning gas or diesel I don't by that.
    I have a Miller Bobcat welder generator. 10,000 watts. It has a 20 + hp Kohler.
    A few years ago after a Hurricane tore up MD, I ran that machine for about 16 hours a day for a total of nine days. Fuel was just over 3 bucks a gallon then.
    With the load I had on it, 2 up well, large refrig, heat pump, lights, oven and all other household electic needs my fuel costs were just under 60 bucks a day..
    That's about 3 times the cost of having power from the elect company.
     

    IndyDave1776

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    Just in time for 'black friday' I came across some info on small&quiet generators along with advice from Ukraine's civil war.
    7 Controversial Survival Secrets Learned From The Ukraine Civil War
    Top 5 Emergency Generators for Your SHTF Power Plan

    I see one significant problem with the advice based on the Ukraine civil war, which is that it is based on a much more homogeneous society than ours. This will significantly change the conditions of remaining within an urban environment, especially if you are a 'mismatched' person. Most of the remainder appears sound so far as I am concerned.
     

    RobbyMaQ

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    Next to nothing ?? Maybe if you are burning propane just this last year. But if you are burning gas or diesel I don't by that.
    I have a Miller Bobcat welder generator. 10,000 watts. It has a 20 + hp Kohler.
    A few years ago after a Hurricane tore up MD, I ran that machine for about 16 hours a day for a total of nine days. Fuel was just over 3 bucks a gallon then.
    With the load I had on it, 2 up well, large refrig, heat pump, lights, oven and all other household electic needs my fuel costs were just under 60 bucks a day..
    That's about 3 times the cost of having power from the elect company.
    I can relate, and yes, I am on propane. My post was in Jest.
    My manual start propane genny is only 6/7k watts and is only here to run my heat (central air furnace, or if need be small oil electric heat in a single room) if in winter, or refrigerator if in summer, and the well pump. The propane grill can handle the cooking/boiling. Genny will also handle a small radio. Which, in shtf, is all I will absolutely NEED. Sure it'd be nice to have other conveniences... hence my post.
     

    churchmouse

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    I can relate, and yes, I am on propane. My post was in Jest.
    My manual start propane genny is only 6/7k watts and is only here to run my heat (central air furnace, or if need be small oil electric heat in a single room) if in winter, or refrigerator if in summer, and the well pump. The propane grill can handle the cooking/boiling. Genny will also handle a small radio. Which, in shtf, is all I will absolutely NEED. Sure it'd be nice to have other conveniences... hence my post.

    I have ran our house on the genny's (yes...2 of them) and it works pretty well. 2 refrigerators lights, furnace and appliances with extra power left.
    It takes all 3 of the genny's we have to run both houses. 1 splits the load.They do eat up some fuel.
     

    Brandon

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    I've not ran our "new" generator for the house since we have had it but I have used it for projects outside (more just to start it and let it run every so often than anything else). But I do have experience running a smaller 3500 watt generator to power key circuits of the house. It was enough if heat or ac wasn't needed/wanted.

    We now have a larger 6800 watt generator so we can run a small space heater and a tv and a few lights.

    Also bought it a pawn shop, looked brand new/never used and they came down on the price.

    Now the disclaimer - my generator won't power everything all at once but it will take the pain/misery out of a power loss situation.
     

    IndyDave1776

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    Now the disclaimer - my generator won't power everything all at once but it will take the pain/misery out of a power loss situation.

    This is a very important point. My own conclusion is that no matter how prepared you may be, the expectation of continuing life as if nothing is happening is not a reasonable expectation. Even if you do have enough generator(s) to not notice the difference, in a real SHTF you are going to have to be concerned with conserving fuel given that the gas station presumably is not going to be operating if things are that bad.
     

    churchmouse

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    This is a very important point. My own conclusion is that no matter how prepared you may be, the expectation of continuing life as if nothing is happening is not a reasonable expectation. Even if you do have enough generator(s) to not notice the difference, in a real SHTF you are going to have to be concerned with conserving fuel given that the gas station presumably is not going to be operating if things are that bad.

    I have a way around this but if SHTF living in a [populated area would be tough if you had power........and "They" didn't.
     

    IndyDave1776

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    We have low wattage lights for this. Windows covered. Gennys locked in the shop with the windows open for fresh air.
    Working on a silencing system

    In your case I had no doubt that these problems would be addressed. You just tend to be ahead of the curve that way. As for silencing them, I might be able to help. Back in the dark ages when I worked for an equipment rental company, we had a field service technician who chose a Ford E-350 van as his service truck (when the F-550 platform was de rigueur in the company). This created a number of technical challenges, many of which I solved while Patrick was out in the world wrenching on broken machines. In order to install a gasoline-powered welder/generator and air compressor, I settled out on removing the muffler from one engine and the (well, it would require at least two ports to be a manifold) entire exhaust structure from the other, and fabricated replacements to pipe the exhaust through a hole cut in the floor (and adequately sealed) and into a side-inlet ag tractor muffler run horizontal on the underside of the floor. While the primary purpose was to avoid fumigating Patrick and preventing it from being obnoxiously loud, it turned out to be very quiet, and that with a small muffler. Based on this, I would surmise that using a larger automotive type muffler should be adequate to make your generators 'vewy, vewy quiet' while you are hunting [STRIKE]'wabbit'[/STRIKE] hoodlums!
     

    Simon6101

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    We tend to lose power at my house every spring when the storms come though. I am getting ready to purchase a 3250 propane generator to mainly power the Tv(grandson), small lights, fan and most important the sump pump. Have never lost the power for more than a few hours but decided on propane for storage reasoning.

    I have a gas generator now and even with fuel stabilizer it has gotten harder and harder to start and keep running. Final straw was that the last time I used it, now the gas tank won't hold gas. It is over 15 years old, extremely heavy and no wheels.
     

    Brandon

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    We tend to lose power at my house every spring when the storms come though. I am getting ready to purchase a 3250 propane generator to mainly power the Tv(grandson), small lights, fan and most important the sump pump. Have never lost the power for more than a few hours but decided on propane for storage reasoning.

    I have a gas generator now and even with fuel stabilizer it has gotten harder and harder to start and keep running. Final straw was that the last time I used it, now the gas tank won't hold gas. It is over 15 years old, extremely heavy and no wheels.

    3250 watt genset? I would suggest upping it a bit. Sump pumps will bog it down on start up.

    We had a 3200 watt genset when our power went out, neighbors were nice to us at the time so we sent them a line for their sump pump. It ran their pump and our tv but I highly doubt there was power for anything else.
     

    churchmouse

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    3250 watt genset? I would suggest upping it a bit. Sump pumps will bog it down on start up.

    We had a 3200 watt genset when our power went out, neighbors were nice to us at the time so we sent them a line for their sump pump. It ran their pump and our tv but I highly doubt there was power for anything else.

    Remember that the rating on the side is "Usually" total inrush wattage. Take 75% of that number for continuous duty. Rough math but usually close.
     

    Brandon

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    :)

    Solved that problem in a couple of ways.
    Neighbors no longer receive a life line to keep their finished basement dry and we have a bigger genset now.
     
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