HEllo everyone!
So I find myself now living in Fl. and am told I should have a portable generator on hand for the inevitable hurricane season. OK, sounds like good advice however I really dont know what size , I guess I would also plan on having a transfer switch wired in, I’m not that confident in my abilities for that so Iwould leave that to a licensed electrician, any ideas on cost of that?? I believe the needs in my house are
electric stove, 40 gal electric HW heater, the central air is 3.5 ton house is app. 2000sq. ft.
ANy ideas? Please dont tell me to move back up north , I’d love to, wife would kill me.
Thanx fellas
Replies
If it's for emergency use ... how much power do you REALLY need? That's the first criteria.
I mean, if it was me ... a little portable 2000 watt unit would provide me with far more than I needed, and my "transfer" would just be to use an extension cord!
I'm with you. I have a Honda 1000 that is tiny and so light my wife can carry it with one hand. It makes less noise than our fridge, runs lights , TV, and the fridge or freezer for an hour twice a day. Best of all it runs for a good 10 hours on the tiny amount of gas its tank holds.
If power is going to be out for a long time local gas stations won't have power to run their pumps and you won't be able to fuel a large generator. If you are only going to run your refrigerators then 3000 watts would be plenty with extension cords. If you want to power the whole house then you need a contractor and electrician to install a very large system running off natural gas with a main panel that has a transfer switch. Probably looking in that case over $12,000.
Remember that it is going to be warm when the hurricane hits. I think it would be important for you to run your refrigerator to keep your food from spoiling. Electric stove? Maybe be better to use the microwave and/or a small induction heater ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MVN1M6 ). A/C only if health issues; use a fan or two. If you are getting a portable generator, how much gasoline is going to use and for how long do you think you're going to need it. Where do you plan on getting gas, transporting it, and storing it?
Ejc,
Just went through Gustav and was out of juice for 10 days. My 3500w was just right to run TV, some lights, window ac,fridge, and my computer. It used 5 gallons of gas per 14 hours. Gas was hard to find even after 5 days.
You are going to need something other than a portable to run the whole house.
KK
If cost is an issue, get enough generator to run your refrigerator & freezer. They don't need to be on 24 hrs a day, 4 or 5 is usually enough. I have a small Coleman gas grill (camp stove size), bulk tank adapter, and a 5-gallon propane tank for cooking. My generator is 4500 Watt and is more than enough, I have 6 6-gallon cans of gas on hand a few days before the storm hits. I can even run a small window air conditioner if necessary for my 89 year old mother in law. Make sure you have 3 or 4 5-gallon water containers for cooking & drinking (paper plates, of course). In S. Alabama, it's like a week long camping trip :-)
Edited 2/11/2009 8:26 pm ET by Ray
Honda EM6500SX electric start $3000.00 wonderful tool. Runs my entire home 1800sqft. Wired directly to my panel (the power cord that is). Runs for approx, 8hrs. on (it's) full tank. I store (20gal. of stabilized fuel) for emergencys. Running it needs to be protected from rain, so a covered area is a plus. I also have two carbon monoxide detectors that I place strategectly when the machine is running.
Don't forget that portables can be stolen, esp when you need them most.
When I am building for a customer who wants most of the house available to power, I just have my electrician size it and buy it from him so all I have to do is write the check. Those units are usually 10-14Kw. and run propane or deisel.They are set up to auto-run for twenty minutes once a month or two weeks to keep the battery up and circulate the oil.
Mine is a 6Kw portable Onan gas that I can take to jobs when needed. I run cords to the appliances and TV. I do not like to run the PC on a genset because they are known to have voltage control issues sometimes.
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Propane is also an option. It doesn't get stale like gasoline and 150 gallon tanks are common.
I haven't made the plunge yet but I have the tank for my pool heater and we roughed in the pipe for a generator if I decide I want one.
I run my 4T heat pump off 10kW genset. 50 gal gas for backup, stored in 80% full 55 gal bbl.
You can store gas for over 20 years in a sealed barrel - still have some stored from 1991 and no problems when I used most of it when gas hit $4/gal.
Storage bad news if not sealed with expansion room in bbl, expansion in FL heat may be a problem, never had to deal with any temp over about 90F.
After living through Hurricane Ike in Tx, I can tell you there is a real benefit in having a generator that runs on nat. gas (if you have nat. gas service). Even portable generators use A LOT of gasoline if you run it 24hrs a day.
I can't vouch for this company, but they make a kit that converts a gasoline portable generator to nat. gas:
http://www.propane-generators.com/
You can also buy a dual or tri fuel generator, but they don't tend to be very cheap.
hmmmmmmmmm,
After reading , I can see this is gonna require more reading on my part. O Kay, getting more knowledge is a good thing. The mention of propane has me thinking as well, because there is a 250 gal propane tank buried in the yard for a pool htr. Would be nice and perhaps safer I guess as a fuel option beings as its already in place, and wouldnt have to worry bout gas cans. I suppose I should also look around for electricians in this area, I dont know anyone here. Port St. lucie area. thanx for everyones input , it has brought up some ideas as well as questions.
Eric
Bump....hope I didn't kill your thread by being off topic.
No,
but mebbe just mebbe, wifey will wanna go back north when shes all done playin down here
Hey, I can dream
As I'm day dreaming about a world in this country that's soon going to be like an early Mel Gibson movie, given what our government is now doing, I picture a cabin for my family in the north, maybe Michigan or Minnesota, where my family will make the final stand. In that circumstance, I'd like to have a few Honda generators, one for primary, and one or two for backup. I remember being in the Army and tripping over a Honda generator because it was so quiet. I'd go for a few 1.5 KW rather than a 5 KW just to have the back up.
As I recall, there was a SERIOUS gas shortage in those movies. I'd be considering a non electric cabin, or wind and solar, hydro etc.
As long as I'm spending your money, get a stationary unit that uses natural gas or propane. I would scrimp on power myself, you may not want to. Also, get a small stove that works on the same fuel. There are camp sized ones that are nice and fold up.
I have a portable that I use on jobsites, and a transfer switch at my house when needed. it works OK.
If your only need is at home, a permanent automatic installation will be much more efective and economical in the long run.
If you want to run all that stuff, you will need at least 10kW... possibly more based on the surge current of the AC unit. All of that stuff will have to be wired into a separate panel.
A 10kW "portable" generator is large, heavy, expensive and very thirsty... doesn't matter if it runs on gasoline, natural gas, propane or diesel. You had best check up on the fuel consumption per hour.
Many consumer level generators are not suitable to operate sensitive electronics like computers.
A small inverter style generator is quiet, fuel efficient and normally rated to provide power clean enough for a computer.
I have a 3kW Honda inverter (3000is) and it will run all day (well, 8 hours- thinking workday) at 50% load on about 2 gallons of gasoline. It is also very quiet... and it won't provide 220v.
That 3kW generator would be plenty big for a fridge, a couple of lights, a fan and a TV or computer to connect to the outside world if possible.
Fuel storage will be your biggest problem. There were people that burned their homes down stockpiling gas as prices climbed. I would definitely look into those UL listed metal safety cans... you could cycle the cans into the car every month to keep the fuel fresh.
Diesel is much less dangerous to have around (yeah, it burns but it expands much less and it takes a whole lot to make it explode), but diesel generators are much more money.
I too live in Fl, installed for my mother-in-law a 15kw propane, powers 90% of her house, I have a 12kw gas unit, and we are putting in a 15kw propane at my son's. If you are looking to power in post storm time I suggest the propane and switch the HWH to propane (then you can run your AC. People that don't live here (and I lived in Mi until '86) sometimes poke fun at us for wanting to power up after a storm, but hot is hot and rotting food in the ref stinks. I went thru one post storm without back-up and never again. I like to compare it to living in Northern Mich with a 200' drive and not owning a snowblower or plow and only having 2 sweaters, yes you can shovel by hand and when you are shoveling you don't need the coat and gloves all the time, but why suffer.
I got friend that have them whole house generator, on natural gas, they was burning $100 a day fuel for three week. do you really need all that power. if you do you are just plain spoiled. couple hours a day will keep the food cold.
I'm in north west Florida. Stayed through a couple hurricanes. Now my hurricane preparedness kit consists of an F350 and a fifth wheel. If you've got a truck you're half way there! Still nice to have a small gen if you want to come home early (stay in the RV). A nice park is a lot less depressing than a hurricane aftermath without power. And if it keeps comin' at ya, you can keep runnin'.
Actually, I find the hurricane itself isn't as bothersome as the tornadoes it can spawn (out of nowhere). Hurricane winds = 110 mph, tornado winds = ??? Kind of puts a pit in your stomach after you decided to stay. Also the hurricane wind gusts (just a few seconds) can break any bets you had with it.
That's why the experts tell us to leave. They understand how unpredictable hurricanes are, we don't.