Are you really prepared?

I just went through a 12 hour power outage and was going out of town that same morning. Power was out just before I awaken in the early morning. Coffee was still hot, thank the princess for that one. I had no choice and had to drive my son back to residence and the plan was to stay overnight. My battery back-up system kept the stove on and I knew it would still be on when the power would come back on eventually. My daughter was gone to work and be there at the end of the day to feed my small hopper Accentra. As it turn out, the power was out for at least 12 hours because of the tail end of the wind storm from the southern neighbors. I wasn't going to fire up the generator and leave it unattended so the homemade UPS battery back-up system worked flawlessly as I was gone away. I work 12 hour shifts and I need a self supporting power source for the stove until I get home to start the generator if needed. Are you really prepared? What do you have up your sleeve for a outage? Stay warm & thirsty my friends

 

Generac 17kw whole house generator for me!

 

I've got an old 5500 watt generator with a 13HP Briggs that will run the whole house including the well pump. It's noisy as all h*ll, and drinks fuel like there is no tomorrow. I also have a Champion 2000 watt inverter generator that can run the pellet stove/furnace, lights and electronics. If both those fail, I have a 800 watt Harbor Freight Chinese 2 stroke generator. That'll at least keep the fridge cold and run a light, although the power output isn't very clean at all.

I'd love an automatic whole house generator, but knock on wood our last extended outage was in August 2009. I figure worst case if it's winter, and all three generators are broken then I can fire up the wood burner and keep warm with that. If its summer and all three generators fail, then it's neighborhood barbecue time.

 

Any specs or pictures of the homemade UPS battery back-up system?

 

I have the 12kw version.

 

Yes.......I am prepared!

 

Well there was this wonderful ice storm back in January of 1998, a few of us managed to make it, it was a might slick outside however and the power was a might unreliable and a lot of free firewood became available.

I could do it again but prefer not to.

 

i remember that well Smokey . many were w/o power for months , because of the damage to the power lines and we're not even talking about remote areas . i ran into a friend from Porter that lives on a main road and he was hoping for sometime that week 2 months later . Limerick was lucky

 

Got a small UPS to get me to my 3500 watt champion generator or even my 1800 watt ETQ inverter.....both are big enough for fridge pellet stove and lights.....have an instant water heater (only thing propane is good for other than grill) that requires minimal electricity so don't need muc

 

I have a IOTA ITS-30R for the transfer switch, a TBS Powersine 600 puresinewave 12 volt inverter, A COTEK CK-1215 charger and two Trojan T-105 6 volt 225A/hr batteries connected in series. It cost me around $1k but I didn't skimp on the inverter(maybe the size). I previously had a Garrison(Noma) UPS made by Xantrex which bit the dust and was unserviceable so I decided to fabricate one and replace only the failed parts if needed. I will probably add another IOTA transfer switch for a generator in the future. Those computer UPS are just too small for my liking, not enough time to fire up the generator.

 

X2. My 2500 watt Honda that I bought during that storm still runs like a dream, never been serviced. Clean oil and a new plug every so often and it still starts on the first pull. My brother wired a secondary panel with an outside plug. Throw a switch and it's disconnected from the main panel. Can run pellet stove, sump pump, fridge and a couple of lights. I'm all set.

 

Up he road, someone has a generator that comes on by itself and runs on propane.
That ice storm Smokey talked about was hell. But it was the one and only time we lost power for more than a day.
There still are limbs falling of the trees that were damaged during that storm. If you look at the trees now with the leaves off, it is very easy to see all sorts of broken limbs an the multiple branches that grew from them.

 

I have the wood burner for heat , cook with propane with an full 20lber as back up, and some where between 300 -200 Beers depends upon what day of the week it is.

 

I have a QuadraFire Isle Royale wood stove with a 20'x18 wood shed almost full and 90 acres behind the house.

Eric

 

Been thinking about getting a genny ,lived here for 22yrs most we've ever been with out power 30-36hrs. Prolly gonna get one just to have, nothing big .

 

Yup all I really need it for would be a major rain fall event to keep the pump running so the man cave don't drown

 

here's a great lil genny http://supergenproducts.com/shop/refurbished-2000w-inverter-red/

i have that and a 4k open frame . both Champion's . super quiet and only burns a gal of gas every 8-12 hrs . the bigger one goes through almost 5 gals in that time and is quite a bit noisier .