What's going on.

[pkveazey]

I looked at the weather map and JohnyMac is getting snow but I'm 200 miles South of him and my Electricity is out. How can that be? Well, at least I got to fire up the Generator and see if it still works. When they lay dormant for too long, they can stop working and they have to be "Flashed" to make them supply electricity again. Mine sat for a year and I got lucky when I fired it up. When I went back in the house and flipped the breaker, the lights came on. Sometimes we need a minor emergency. 42% of my County is without power.

[Jackalope]

   It's a beautiful day here in middle TN.  It started out cool in the middle 30's, but the last time I looked it was 66.  I hope your power comes back on soon, PK.

[Nemo]

FYI.

Nemo


https://poweroutage.us/

[JohnyMac]

 

Congrates PKv

[pkveazey]

The power was off for almost 6 hrs. I switched back to outside power and I shut down the Generator (not in that order). I let the generator cool down a bit and decided to check the oil. Wow! The oil level was right on the full mark and was almost clean. I've had the generator in my outbuilding for about 20 years and besides a lot of dust, it still looks and runs like new. Then I rolled it away from the open doorway and put the CAMO cover back on it. It only used about a half a tank of Gas. When I use it, I pull it right up in front of the open doorway so the exhaust goes outside and heat doesn't build up and overheat the engine. A side benefit is that it is much quieter when I run it that way. The outbuilding is 60 feet behind the house and I have to listen real close from inside the house to hear it running. I'd like to say that I've changed the oil at least once but I really can't remember ever changing it. The manual says to change the oil every 25 hours of hard running. Ha, I run almost everything in the house off of it and I'll bet I have at least 100 hours of run time on it over the years. Of course the little lawn tractor battery is always dead so I have to jump start it when I need it. It also has a pull rope but I'm too old and weak to be pulling that thing more than a few times. It has a 5 pound oil pressure gauge on it that shuts the engine down if the oil pressure drops below 5 pounds. That means that I have to pull the Hell out of the Starting rope hard enough to get the oil pressure up to 5 pounds or the engine won't start. At my age, that ain't gonna happen. About 5 good pulls and I'm about ready to call the EMS to drag me off to the Hospital. Thank goodness for electric starters.

[Searchboss]

The power was off for almost 6 hrs. I switched back to outside power and I shut down the Generator (not in that order). I let the generator cool down a bit and decided to check the oil. Wow! The oil level was right on the full mark and was almost clean. I've had the generator in my outbuilding for about 20 years and besides a lot of dust, it still looks and runs like new. Then I rolled it away from the open doorway and put the CAMO cover back on it. It only used about a half a tank of Gas. When I use it, I pull it right up in front of the open doorway so the exhaust goes outside and heat doesn't build up and overheat the engine. A side benefit is that it is much quieter when I run it that way. The outbuilding is 60 feet behind the house and I have to listen real close from inside the house to hear it running. I'd like to say that I've changed the oil at least once but I really can't remember ever changing it. The manual says to change the oil every 25 hours of hard running. Ha, I run almost everything in the house off of it and I'll bet I have at least 100 hours of run time on it over the years. Of course the little lawn tractor battery is always dead so I have to jump start it when I need it. It also has a pull rope but I'm too old and weak to be pulling that thing more than a few times. It has a 5 pound oil pressure gauge on it that shuts the engine down if the oil pressure drops below 5 pounds. That means that I have to pull the Hell out of the Starting rope hard enough to get the oil pressure up to 5 pounds or the engine won't start. At my age, that ain't gonna happen. About 5 good pulls and I'm about ready to call the EMS to drag me off to the Hospital. Thank goodness for electric starters.

I have 3 generators. One, similar to the small popular Honda inverter generator, I use to run small tools or charge batteries and electronics when I go tent camping, etc. The other one I use for general use when I need a generator in the field. The big 10 KW dual fuel one (electric and manual start) I bought to run essential equipment in the house if we have a long-term power outage. In my area (Georgia) this is usually caused by a severe weather system. Typical outages occur very infrequently and usually only last for a few hours, but have been as long as a week or more after a hurricane or tornado-like winds. None of these generators came with an engine use timer installed, yet all the manuals state to do maintenance based on hours run. Considering the cost of an hour meter this seems stupid to me. It may save the manufacturers a few dollars, but I think including a timer should be standard practice. I have since installed an hour meter on each of the generators. I also keep a usage/maintenance log for each of my generators (yes, I was in the military). The hour meter makes it much easier to keep track of use and when I should do routine maintenance. Although I do run all three generators several times a year, I must admit that I do not do it as often as recommended. Fortunately, they have so far started easily and run as advertised. Mmmm, now that I think about it, it is time for me to change the oil in each generator this spring. I'll add that to my to-do list.

While having a generator is a personal choice, I think it is one of the smarter choices for most people who want to ensure that they have emergency power available. I realize that I am preaching to the quire here. Where I see most people make a serious mistake is not figuring out how much fuel they will need to keep their generators running for a given time during an emergency. Once I did the math I upped my fuel storage considerably. While I can't keep a generator running long-term, I can at least keep things going during most longer foreseeable outages using stored fuel. I learned the hard way a few years ago how difficult, frustrating, and time-consuming it can be to try to keep a generator running and constantly hauling and refilling fuel containers, both gasoline and LP gas, during a week-long power outage. Fortunately, several of the nearby stores had power and never ran out of fuel in our area during that disaster. I wish I had put a run-timer on my old generator. That would have helped me to perform the routine maintenance I should have done back then and make it last longer than it did.

[JohnyMac]

We have a 3.5 kWh petrol generator that we have had since 2010. We used it when we built our cabin.

Today it lives under the 6, 390 watt solar panels in a sound reduced (Not sound proof) box and is used if the sun doesn't shine and the batteries are low for the solar system. When we were out of power for 8-days two years ago. I did run it once to top off the solar batteries. Using the 220/240 V cable to the 120/220/240 charger installed in the system, I was able to fill the batteries in about three hours.

I maybe start it once a year. I know, I know, I should probably start it more often...3-4 x a year. 

I only use non-ethanol gas in it which in my opinion is the reason it starts so easily being 13+ years old. I share a 250 gallon gas tank with my neighbor for when the SHTF as I am sure I will not be able to buy non-ethanol gas when that happens.

My only complaint is the damn thing weighs a shiton. I am thinking of buying one of those cool light weight, quieter Honda 2.0 kWh ones too. Remember, one is none and two is one. 

 

[Sir John Honeybucket]

2 days ago I did a quick check on the medium sized solar power station in my work shop. The battery voltage was low and the panel was indicating a problem.  Next morning, I discovered the high winds had deposited a thick covering of pine needles all over the 100W panel.  In 12 years, this is the first time, because they usually fly over and/or slide off.  Once cleared and a day of charging, the battery charger say's it's healthy and ready again for use.  I have more than a few small panel back-ups and in a pinch can put solar on the truck battery to keep it topped-up even without driving the truck, should the rest fail.

Now, this is a 'medium' solar station on my workshop, by my math.  it charges a 130 Amp/hour, 12v battery and has a 600 Watt 'pure sign wave inverter if needed, but it rarely is.  It also has USB ports for recharging things.  It runs back-up radios rather well.

CHECK YOUR BACK-UPS!   Especially when ' It always work, never failed before.'.


Sir John Honeybucket

[Nemo]

I have a stick.

Nemo