NG for the central heat and fp
Are you Ready?
- Thread starter Shawn Seeger
- Start date
My neighbors smile at me. And I smile at Doug, 3 houses over, cuz he definitely has a larger collection than I do.
So I have the AC180 (and a smaller older version) that I can comfortably carry around. Those were the initial buys for the CPAP (wife requires).
And then fire the house I have the older version of the Apex 300 + B300K + 1 200W solar panel. This is quite heavy, so i have it on a roller cart in the front closet, this slow me to quickly roll it over to plug the wood fireplace fan into it. And then over to the door to plug in solar panel during the day. And if the power was going to be out for longer than a day I can wheel it to the garage door and power the freezers for a while.
We are looking to install a entire home generator that would be propane (most likely, checking with Local gas company to see what the impact of Washington ban on natural gas might have on their business, if no impact predicted for next 10 years stay with propane, otherwise have been looking at diesel). The goal would be at minimum, well pump (we do keep at least 25 gallons in jugs all winter), freezers/fridges, some lights, fireplace fan, several outlets, and starlink and routers (lowest priority) but or local cell tower runs out of generator power at 4 hours so starlink provides phone service.
Fourbtgait
Life of the Party
If conditions are bad enough, natural gas pump stations loosing electrical power is a thought. Not all have backup generators and even with them, what do they run from?
It has happened, my wife who works for a supplier mentioned it awhile ago.
NG is pressurized by facilities 50 to 200 miles apart up to 2000 psi, and then go through step down regulators once entering the local grid to working residential pressures. So local outages shouldn't impact house supply...and in the event of a large scale outage taking down the compression stations, it would take a while for usage to bleed down the lines to inoperable.
Most precarious set-up in the nation? Hawaii. 90% of the electrical grid on Oahu is powered by multiple diesel/bunker fuel generator plants scattered around the island, operating off an average of 7 day stored fuel supply, topped off daily by incoming tankers from the mainland that hook up at Pearl. If for whatever reason the ships didn't show or the pumping station was disabled....
What made me laugh was for years (even before moving to the mountains) when people would call me a "Prepper" and I would always "Nope, just prepared." Then when we moved to the mountains and closest small grocery store is half hour drive and limited, and Fred Meyers is an hour, Costco is an hour and half away it just makes sense to have enough for a week or two.
Then the Covid lockdowns showed the world how crazy things can get, those same people that made fun of me weren't laughing any more. I literally had people say "I suppose you think this is funny." And "I bet you are just fine." Then the begging by some people online started, "does anybody have baby formula", "does anybody have toilet paper or baby wipes".
I will tell you it was the hardest monster to hold inside (I worked more than half my life at controlling my tongue and anger). That said after things started getting a bit more normal I would ask "Have you learned anything?", "Have you built a minimum kit?", "Are you getting ready for the next time something causes a disruption?"
So, it is really REALLY hard for me not to be mean and say "I TOLD YOU SO!"
(PS. Standing at DFW airport right now, after having a bit if discussion with Daughter-in-law about being ready, and what do you know there are tornado warning coming with the storm tonight! Glad we're leaving soon!)
So, last night was round one with more to come in the coming days, weeks and months.
We made it until 10pm then the VERY high winds and down pours showed up. Got the fire going right away, kept the house warm, had filled the tub in the spare bathroom. And went to bed listening to get break and crash but was warm and thankful. Power came back on for us at 1:30am. So not bad, some are still out around us, so hoping they and the PUD workers are safe.
Getting ready for tomorrow afternoon!
We made it until 10pm then the VERY high winds and down pours showed up. Got the fire going right away, kept the house warm, had filled the tub in the spare bathroom. And went to bed listening to get break and crash but was warm and thankful. Power came back on for us at 1:30am. So not bad, some are still out around us, so hoping they and the PUD workers are safe.
Getting ready for tomorrow afternoon!
So this thread finally inspired me to buy a small generator. I've lived in this house over 35 years and never 'needed' one but would have been handy a few times so why not? It's a Honda EU2200.
Question is do I set it up and put gas in it knowing it probably won't need to be started any time soon, or keep my gas can full and add it if and when it's needed? Would be nice not having to deal with running it just to run it and worrying about gas gumming it up. Could source ethanol free gas and use Stay-Bil. Or am I overthinking it?
Question is do I set it up and put gas in it knowing it probably won't need to be started any time soon, or keep my gas can full and add it if and when it's needed? Would be nice not having to deal with running it just to run it and worrying about gas gumming it up. Could source ethanol free gas and use Stay-Bil. Or am I overthinking it?
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So, congratulations on taking a step! First, you will want to find ethanol free gas (or premium) and yes ad stay-bill (in my opinion). Second, get a gas can, fill it and keep it on hand. Then depending you can always run that had through you lawn mower or car that uses regular. Third, just put in a little (1 cup or a pint) gas in the generator and just run it until empty or run it for about 15 minutes then go through three drain process so you know how for the future.
I do the run it at least twice a year routine just to keep the gaskets lubricated.
Again my opinion!
If you're heavily invested in a certain battery/power tool eco system, some of them have multi port chargers that aslo serve as power banks/back up power, with solar input ability.
I've heavily invested over the years in ryobi, for example, and they offer this for both 18 and 40 volt battery systems
Right now in this rental we're screwed if the power goes down since the water heater and furnace are oil fired.
So, will have to go old school Amish with hurricane lanterns for light. For power am looking at a 10-13 kw tri fuel gen set.
That will give us the power needed to keep the freezer, fridge, and a couple high efficiency space heaters working. It also means a crap ton of extension cords and refillable fuel containers.
I've heavily invested over the years in ryobi, for example, and they offer this for both 18 and 40 volt battery systems
Right now in this rental we're screwed if the power goes down since the water heater and furnace are oil fired.
So, will have to go old school Amish with hurricane lanterns for light. For power am looking at a 10-13 kw tri fuel gen set.
That will give us the power needed to keep the freezer, fridge, and a couple high efficiency space heaters working. It also means a crap ton of extension cords and refillable fuel containers.
During the isolated system shutdowns, most will cook on the grill and eat their non favorite food from the pantry. Then back to your scheduled programming.
When the world has a legit shutdown and it becomes every man for himself with no rule of law or order. The water will be sparse and dirty, food not readily available, they are no longer mowing the greens at the country club and its been weeks with no recovery in sight. The neighbor with the most guns is the first target, he has been buying up and storing all your guns and ammo at his place.
So keep smiling at Doug.
Survival 102.....the extended stay.
If you haven't read this book, and subsequent books, they are an interesting read. The author kinda knows his stuff.
Well, we've got a well, plus an artesian well, so, well, we have lotsa really good water, running water 24 hours, 365. We have some solar, and a generator in the buggy. We've got ducks, fish in the local lake, and we're lousy with deer, so, fresh fish, fresh meat. We're working on the veggie aspect. We have a pantry full of dried and canned goods. Have probably 6 months (not enough) of coffee on hand. We're sort of out in the middle of nowhere, won't be the first stop for the marauding zombies. We're sorta prepped.
Cheers
Cheers
Staying on the battery theme, EcoFlow and I think, Bluetti, have recently added back up power sources for fridges and freezers. They reside on top of the fridge, or beside it if you don't have room up there, plug into the wall, then you plug your fridge or freezer into that. Power goes, the UPS kicks in and it can last up to 36 hours before recharge according to testing. They can also be stacked in 2's for each device.