With hurricanes and maybe other things coming, I've struggled with maintaining refrigeration when power goes out for more than a few days. When we had a couple outtages 12 years ago, we cooked and ate everything as it thawed/warmed up. This time, a generator will be involved. Assuming a 2200w generator can run a larger chest freezer, I'm planning to diy a super insulated ice chest. I'll run the freezer off the genset, and use frozen water jugs from the freezer to cool the ice-chest-refrigerator. I don't need a huge fridge for my minimal needs. Dorm fridges are rather inefficient and under-insulated Fridges tend to be under insulated, so NOT running that would save on generator use. I'm also looking at a portable battery pack by soveriegnsolar. That will charge everything that matters besides the freezer....and will be charged from the genset. Lotsa ideas here, but wondering if it seems generally workable albeit a tad inconvenient. Sca
We use a 5500 watt continuous, 6500 surge generac. It powers two freezers, a fridge, well, lights and TV without issue. Furnace too but not the heat pump / ac. I'd think a 2200 will power any freezer a home owner would own.
A 2200 watt inverter generator should be able to run 3 freezers/refrigerators at one time IF you stagger the startup. Go buy a cheap Kill A Watt plug in and see what your freezer draws. I would guess 200-400 watts each running and triple that or more at startup. A lot of people claim freezers are more efficient if they are over half full. So throw 10-15 gallon jugs of water in there and use them for drinking water as needed during an electrical outage. Take one out at a time and keep a cooler cold to reduce opening the fridge/freezer to a minimum! 5 gallons of gas will easily last me a week plus when RV camping without electricity using a 2000 watt Yamaha inverter. At home I usually keep enough gas on hand to go a week plus if the power goes out. I won’t be running heat and air but fans, well, fridge freezers will all be taken care of. During higher risk periods I’ll pick up another 30 gallons of gas. Could probably make fuel on hand last 30-60 days if I needed it to.
If you are looking at EF batteries, you may be able to find them cheaper at Wellbots (or sometime Amazon or Ebay - just make sure to use the EF official stores to be able to registr and get the 5 year warranty). My Delta 2 Max (D2M) has been a workhorse for the last year. I use it every day to power my microwave, coffee pot and portable dishwasher. I also sometime power other stuff or charge up my smaller battery packs. I charge it back up every couple of days using two solar panels. But if I needed to, it charges quickly off AC (or a generator). The larger battery packs are more efficient at powering larger energy draws. They can charge up small devices like phones or tablets, but the BMS/fans also draw. So, consider getting a cheap smaller model to charge those types of thins as they won't inherently use as much. If you plan on adding solar panels in the future (portable or a couple of fixed), then I would go with the D2M or the Delta Pro (which I believe is on sale for a bunch cheaper elsewhere). Both of those can take more solar, so charge faster. You may also want to look at Bluetti (I have a couple of AC180 that have performed well with my washer, vacuum and window fans). It really depends on what features/capabilities are important to you as to which route you go. If you are planning on more the battery style types, I have no advice. I know I've seen Growatt and some other stand alone batteries discussed there, I just don't remember if any of them have a solid reputation in the community. Regardless of which type you are looking at, I would join a DIY solar FB page and copy/paste this post into as a question (maybe indicate the type of battery - EF or standalone). I'll bet someone else has tried exactly what you are thinking of. I belong to the below FB pages. If you don't do FB, try Reddit. Off-Grid DIY Solar (these guys can be a bit harsh if you don't at least do the research on what the draw would be) DIY Solar (these guys are a little more forgiving of the newbie, but there are still a couple of asshats there) Also, as mentioned above, you absolutely need to know what the power draw (amps and watts) is for the freezer. And especially important is the start up draw.
Exactly. And second using an inverter style genny...very fuel efficient (especially at partial load) and much quieter
DNH best I could assess the freezer without pulling the motor cover, was the 400W running, and 1200w startup. I'll pull the cover to be sure though. I keep that chest freezer stuffed. Good to know on the gensetgas usage. Ill experiment running everything before any fun events hit. In the storms a few years ago, the chest freezer stayed cold for 5 days before stuff on the very top thawed. so, will cover the top to hold the cold, and can run the freezer e/o day to keep it cold (will get thermometers and tsst that theory tho!) bogieb short term, solar isnt necessary. But I have some misc panels I might use for longer term fun. Ill look into the setups you mentioned and see what gives. brenndatomu I def like a quiet genset (grey man theory). Used one at the local VFD on the truck. So far, the critical function will be the freezer, everything else (phones, headlamps, other batteries) can charge off a battery pack (maybe solar eventually).
We have 2 refrigerators and 2 freezers. Before I had a generator that could run the house off a transfer switch I would play round robin running each one for a few hours. It worked but wasn’t fun. The freezers are full of meat that would cost thousand to replace. It’s not ideal but can be done, wouldn’t want to count on it long term…
I started canning to avoid a freezer or two full of potential losses. We also changed our diet pretty hard, I don't need NEARLY the protein I ate when younger and working out, nor now when actively working a physical job. I also changed protein sources that include less meat weekly.
I have experimented with fridges & freezers by rotating power. Seems that after the house cools off (3am or so), the compressors for the fridge & freezers don't kick on much. I didn't experiment due to lack of power generation capability, but rather the fuel costs. Was without power for 12 days running at this time of year once. Fuel costs even when being frugal can climb to very high levels. I'd have been almost better off letting the food go in the end (had no idea it'd be almost two weeks before the juice came back). I tend to shut stuff down around ten or so and run a portable AC in the bedroom for half hour or so just to make sleep a little more comfortable. Last outage I was running an 8500 surge unit. It would idle down through the middle of the night when none of the compressors were running. Soon to supplement a Yamaha 4k unit to my generation capabilities. (freebee that needs a little help) Another trick I just remembered was that I put a bunch of water bottles in the freezers to increase thermal mass.
Other than freezer, and the battery pack (for phones, tablet etc), I won't run power for anything. The genset will run a couple hours a day for those things, maybe every other day if the freezer stays where I want it. When it all gets interesting, comfort will go out the window, critical functions only. I reckon we could hole up in one room for a slightly AC cooled evening though....that makes sense...
Will definitely take the idea of stuffing freezer though. I'm thinking a bulk food purchase might quickly take up some space.
I used water because it's cheap and can still be used normally afterwards. If the genny goes down, can transfer the frozen bottles to refridgerator to keep cool for a while longer.
Santan solar, a set of 250-400w solar panels and a nice 4000 w pure sine inverter hooked into a couple 200ah LiFePO batteries would do you better I think. generators burn a LOT of precious and expensive gas
Once the food starts dissapearing....I guess 5G buckets of water would fill voids. Im building an ice chest on steroids, hopefully better insulated than the fridge. Will try using that for a while. Ordered bluetooth thermometers today...will keep track of temps in fridge, freezer, ice chest.
But the permits we'd need to pull, even to have a wooden mount in the yard.....rediculous. I'd love to set something up just for power outtages , I dont think anyone would complain.
If you build a rolling mount, there is no permanence, so shouldn't need to get permits. I've seen some that people really put thought into and can rotate or angle thru the day to follow the sun easily. I have a couple of 320w rigid panels I got this spring that I just laid on yard carts so I can roll them out from the rotating shade (I couldn't have a permanent ground mount anyway because of the rotating shade). Maybe one day I'll build something better to hold/move them, but right now it works. There are also folding, portable solar panels up to 400w that would be good for backup-emergencies - I have some of those which is what I started with last summer and they work well. They can be expensive but if you get them bundled with a power station, a lot of times you can save like 1/2 or more I have a set of 350w portable that aren't weather proof so they are set up and put away for every use. I used those all last summer and fall. I also got a couple of 220w bi-facial folding panels that I set up during late winter, when there was snow on the ground. I set them up on a stripped ironing board and my outdoor cloths rack. I'm not supposed to strictly leave them out all the time (although they are somewhat weather proof and fairly rigid), but they held up fine. I just folded them up and put them under cover if it was going to snow a bunch. I don't use the portables as much now that I have some rigids, but I could charge all 3 of my power stations at the same time if I needed to. Using my power stations has become a hobby - LOL My roof top solar supplies plenty of power and I haven't had a bill since the spring after installation. However, if there is a power outage or emergency situation, I am well acquainted with my portable stations so won't be trying to figure things out under stressful conditions.
I was thinking the same....find a smaller trailer (or the like) build a wooden rack, and mount rigid panels to. Wiring and battery box would be underneath while temperatures permit. Maybe run a wire in cold months. FarmerJ I was thinking of building a shed of some sort, making the panels the roof on one side. But as money hungry as my town is....it really might be worth getting a permit to have a 'temporary' setup.
When you get an outrage; and you have power back up and are handing out water, ice, phone charges. Neighbors remember that a long time
Get genny that runs on LPG or NG or duel fuel, grid goes down so do most gas stations. LPG can sit in tanks for years with no problems unlike gasoline. Pipe line natural gas seldom goes out also.
