General > General Technical Chat
Power Failures! In the year 2020 !!
coppercone2:
--- Quote from: Red Squirrel on May 08, 2020, 08:19:55 am ---
A small propane generator would not be a bad idea to have though. I like the idea of propane as it's cleaner, not only for the environment but for the engine itself. So for something that does not get lot of use it's probably less prone to issues like gunking up etc.
--- End quote ---
I can recommend mr. heater, with a 20 pound cylinder adapter. It's very tactical but I don't like keeping propane in the house for obvious reasons, but they screw right in and you can have heat some where in a hurry. I used to refill the propane cylinders with the ice and fridge trick, but I found one of them slowly leaking once so I stopped reusing them.
That way, you have two propane powered appliances, making it a better value. Also a useful way to get rid of left over propane, since you might not want to run a generator on a 1/4 filled tank. I guess you can get some kind of manifold but that is kind of complicated, since you will be left with half empty tanks eventually, expensive/waste of space. I find half empty BBQ tanks to be a problem, even if you grill.
IDEngineer:
Where we live we get several multi-hour power outages per year. When we get really severe weather (50 MPH winds with gusts to 70 for 12-24 hours, ice storms, etc.) we have gone several days without power and some areas around here have been without power for 2-3 weeks in the 38 years we've lived in this region.
We have a 7KW gasoline generator and keep a couple dozen gallons of treated, non-ethanol gasoline on hand at all times. We have enough engine-powered things around (boats, ATV's, jetskis, plus cars) that the gasoline gets FIFO'd so it doesn't go stale. I run the generator for 30 minutes or so at the first of every month as a preventive measure. Everything that generates large amounts of heat in the house (HVAC, water heater, dryer, oven, cooktop, etc.) is natural gas fired, and all light bulbs have been switched to LED, so 7KW of on-site power allows us to run the house like normal 24/7.
The remaining last step would be a NatGas fired autostart generator with an automated transfer switch. I can honestly say that in my lifetime I have NEVER seen the natural gas system "go out" unexpectedly, and I've lived in three US States including "earthquake prone" California. An automatic NatGas generator is about is foolproof as you can get. But by the time you buy the generator, and install it, and pay the gas company to increase your meter size to support the increased demand (it's substantial), you're approaching USD 10K and I can manually start a gasoline generator a lot of times for that much money.
coppercone2:
benefit is refrigerator protection
Red Squirrel:
I've looked into those natural gas generators too but yeah can't quite justify it. For fridge/freezer, if things got really bad I would just make ice outside and bring it in, or start moving food outside.
For a while every time it was windy we got a power outage on my block since trees would touch the HV line that runs behind my house, but the crews would usually have it back up within 1-2 hours so the UPS made more sense. They've been keeping the trees trimmed now so it happens less often.
coppercone2:
--- Quote from: Red Squirrel on May 09, 2020, 08:31:55 pm ---I've looked into those natural gas generators too but yeah can't quite justify it. For fridge/freezer, if things got really bad I would just make ice outside and bring it in, or start moving food outside.
For a while every time it was windy we got a power outage on my block since trees would touch the HV line that runs behind my house, but the crews would usually have it back up within 1-2 hours so the UPS made more sense. They've been keeping the trees trimmed now so it happens less often.
--- End quote ---
i struggled with a cheap gasoline one for like 15 years, fuck it. I am hank hill about that. One fuel for grill, heat and electricity. Does not spoil. Does not smell. Actually works. And you CAN put gasoline in it if you want to, so long you clean it after (hopefully it will never come to this).
I do wonder if it would have a problem in a really cold weather environment, but its usually summer rain storms here
Also the factor of draining fuel (usually wait for it to cool some what) is annoying as hell. This you can put away and forget about immediately after 2 couplings and 1 valve.
BTW you can get a kit to refurbish generators to run on propane, i.e. the tiny honda generators. That might be very interesting for you. Those little hondas are really cool, but I don't own one, rather have everything work then play circuit breaker management etc. You can probably do it with a cheap garbage one too.
Notes about video to do a better job:
1) add a bracket for the zip tie, don't tie two hoses together, its really ghetto
2) use a torque wrench (its fire)
3) do apply the loctite and see if you can extend the threads, I don't like it for high vibration, read about how to use threadlocker and clean before using it as recommended. Careful with temperature there, you might need a high temp threadlocker, and you need to make sure there is no plastic contact because metal threadlocker does not like plastic, and plastic safe threadlocker is gummy and probobly sucks with temperature. consider using a lockwire, castle nut, etc
4) lose the quick connect, lazy BS, use a gas rated brass fitting (like on a welder)
5) strain relief on the hose might be a good idea (bracket + rubber)
6) don't use the thin plastic cover to mount the top fitting, add a bracket to a heavy structural element
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