Winter is near

[DonW]

Well its that time of year again. Time to dig out the generator. Buy fresh gas and double check that all your heaters are working properly. If your running vortech's or tunze's on a battery back-up move them to the surface if the power goes out.


Don

 

[Scooterman]

Ran my generator for the Hurricanes just to run it, also made a 10g cord to run the house rather than use a bunch of extension cords. It ran the tank completely, window A/C, refrigerator & all the lights, micro wave, one burner on the stove, washing machine etc.
No problem
also have 25g of gas with double stabil in them.
fresh oil
close off the fuel & ran it dry but not sure if that is a good idea or not as I've herd both sides to drying the carb diaphragm out.

 

[DonW]

Ran my generator for the Hurricanes just to run it, also made a 10g cord to run the house rather than use a bunch of extension cords. It ran the tank completely, window A/C, refrigerator & all the lights, micro wave, one burner on the stove, washing machine etc.
No problem
also have 25g of gas with double stabil in them.
fresh oil
close off the fuel & ran it dry but not sure if that is a good idea or not as I've herd both sides to drying the carb diaphragm out.

My 100ft 8g cable grew legs last year. I left it hanging on my transfer switch box outside. $300 mistake I wont make again this year, going to boobie trap it this time around.:lol:

Don

 

[miwoodar]

My 100ft 8g cable grew legs last year. I left it hanging on my transfer switch box outside. $300 mistake I wont make again this year, going to boobie trap it this time around.:lol:

Don

:lol:


I don't have a generator. Maybe some day but not yet. I have a 205 amp hour DIY UPS though. It's good to run my MJ mods for a couple of days at full bore. If an outage lasts longer I can connect it to an inverter in my car.

I would recommend to anyone who doesn't have any kind of backup to get one. The peace of mind that comes along with it is immense.

 

[Sascha D]

My 100ft 8g cable grew legs last year. I left it hanging on my transfer switch box outside. $300 mistake I wont make again this year, going to boobie trap it this time around.:lol:

Don

Hehe sounds awesomely viscious! :lol:

So how much does a generator run anyway? In my current situation I dont have anywhere to put it unless I want to smoke myself out of my apartment but hopefully I'll be buying a house in the next 3 years.

 

[SeaMonster]

harbor fright has pretty cheap ones. probably not the best quality but how often will we need it anyways. I dont have one either

 

[trido]

My brother blew up his generator and wants his big one back now. Wah Wah Wah. Now I have to buy one. Wah.

Any kind of power back up is better than none folks. If I have to Ill drive my truck into the back yard and use my power inverter with the engine running all night long.

Another great thread DonW. Very appropriate for the time of year

 

[mmn_usn]

just make a suicide cable. And add a plug to your power box.. just turn off the main power to the house and back feed your house... and just power from the gen to the box or into the dryer outlet.. not a long cord and no need to move plugs from their outlets.... just turn off what you don't want the gen to run...

That is the way we did it on the Island of Guam... lost power at least 1 time a week

 

[surf_buddy]

My brother has a genrator he said I could have. Currently it's wired into his house that the previous owner used as a backup for the servers he was running out of his home. Since it's a rental home my brother doesn't need it. I'll probably pic it up in the next couple weeks, but will need someone to tie it into the power sullpy of my house. This is something I am not at all familiar with... does anyone know of somone in the Seattle area who is experienced (licensed/bonded/etc) to do this? Or should I just let my fingers just do the walking? Thanks!

 

[Sascha D]

just make a suicide cable. And add a plug to your power box.. just turn off the main power to the house and back feed your house... and just power from the gen to the box or into the dryer outlet.. not a long cord and no need to move plugs from their outlets.... just turn off what you don't want the gen to run...

That is the way we did it on the Island of Guam... lost power at least 1 time a week

I'm pretty sure I would have blown myself up hehe! In Hawaii we lose power about once a month or so.

 

[trido]

just make a suicide cable. And add a plug to your power box.. just turn off the main power to the house and back feed your house... and just power from the gen to the box or into the dryer outlet.. not a long cord and no need to move plugs from their outlets.... just turn off what you don't want the gen to run...

That is the way we did it on the Island of Guam... lost power at least 1 time a week

You know, manufactures build a thing called a power transfer box. They typically come with six to eight circuits and have switches that isolate the generator from the house. They are specificly designed just for this purpose and only cost about $100. Then when the power comes back on, you dont blow up your generator and all of your appliances or risk you own well being in the process. Hence the name suicide cable.

 

[trido]

My does anyone know of somone in the Seattle area who is experienced (licensed/bonded/etc) to do this? Or should I just let my fingers just do the walking? Thanks!

Any licensed electricion can do the work for you. They are pretty easy. If your not afraid to stick your hands in the main breaker box of your house. Any way, dont forget to keep your generator outside,(so it doesnt kill you) and chained up(because it will get stolen).

 

[DonW]

just make a suicide cable. And add a plug to your power box.. just turn off the main power to the house and back feed your house... and just power from the gen to the box or into the dryer outlet.. not a long cord and no need to move plugs from their outlets.... just turn off what you don't want the gen to run...

That is the way we did it on the Island of Guam... lost power at least 1 time a week

Around here it will cost you. TPU sends people out listening for generators when we have a big outage. If your generator is backfed they will take your meter, its really their meter so they have every right. When everyone elses power comes back on you will still be running on your generator. Once you pay all the fines you can have your meter back.

Don

 

[mmn_usn]

Thanks trido. I got a good laugh. While in Guam I went around looking for a box or plug so I didn't have to build the cable... no one had one. Or knew what one was. But if I said "suicide cable" the ran and got the closest one to them to show me what it was. Definately would rather have the box than the cable, but it is still the poor man's way out of no electricity.

 

[Sascha D]

I knew I should have been an electrician...

 

[trido]

I knew I should have been an electrician...

Well............ one of the top ten "job related deaths in america" jobs. Electricity is very dangerous.

 

[Blazer88]

I seemed to have dodged a bullet last year with zero power outages (probably because all of the trees were taken down two years ago from the nasty wind storm and I was able to borrow a generator for a week) but I bucked up and bought a generator in anticipation this year. Craigslist has some pretty good deals, I was able to snag a Coleman 1850W with just a few hours of use for $125, that should be plenty of power if the lights go out.

 

[MC Lighting]

This topic comes up every year and as stated if you can afford the reef hobby you better be able to afford some sort of power backup whether it be a cheap inverter or a generator. Thanks Don for the reminder though ran both generators yesterday since the weather is starting to turn. Although I myself use suicide cables in the past I do not recommend them to anyone who does not understand electricity it is far to easy to screw up and kill yourself or blow the generator not to mention the risk of backfeeding the grid possibly killing a worker a mile down the road. Transfer switches are easy to install and are cheap I highly recommend one to anyone who wants standby power.