Trigger Mike Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I can tell by the news that water, electricity and gas are in short supply, what about natural gas? Is it still flowing to the homes that use it for the stove etc? I imagine not.I ask as watching it got me to thinking the generator would be a good idea, but obviously you can not keep enough gas on hand to outlast multiple weeks without power and gas at the station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Propane or natural gas is the way to go with a generator IMO. However the expense may not justify that decision. I bought a gasoline powered generator three years ago because I did not feel the risk and cost justified the natural gas nor the propane approach. With natural gas you have a supply unless things really go south, but with propane you would be limited by the size of your tank, cost of gas and if the electricity is out, how will the man deliver your propane to you. He has to have gasoline to do that unless his truck runs on propane. A lot of folks can not afford the extra money for either propane or natural gas. Heck, a lot of people can't afford gasoline generators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 After Sandy, NG was for the most part was shut off and good luck refilling LPG tanks(you need ele. for that). Stick with gasoline of diesel for 'genny' fuel cause you can carry it in a bucket if you have to. BTDT.. LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 After Sandy, NG was for the most part was shut off and good luck refilling LPG tanks(you need ele. for that). Stick with gasoline of diesel for 'genny' fuel cause you can carry it in a bucket if you have to. BTDT.. LG I thought as much. Seems like you really can not keep enough gas on hand, plus gas goes bad if it sits too long, so ideally something you could crank or wind that worked might be better from a fuel standpoint. The downside to wind is that it is not always windy, so I thought a good solution would be wind power that you can crank like the emergency radios might be a solution. I also wonder if one of those power outlets that have a battery back up might be a good temporary solution for the fridge to give yourself time to rearrange things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hacker, SASS #55963 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Propane is a good choice here. A large enough tank on premises can provide a generator plenty of fuel. My parents live in Connecticut and have been without CL&P power since Sandy. Their floor of the house (think condo floor) is powered by a propane powered generator. It is still going. The tank is on the premises and would have been topped off prior to the hurricane. Last time I check over 100 streets in this comparatively small town are closed due to trees and treelimbs along with powerlines down. They are expecting to start getting power back this weekend or early next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stubborn Dutchman, SASS # 61363 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I have a 17KW whole house generator and so does my mother. They run off the 500 gal. Propane tanks we have for the house. Mine is a little oversized for my house, so it provides all my power needs at just over warm up speed. This consumes about 2 gal/hour. Last April when we had a freek blizzard here, we were without power for 36 hours. My propane showed a drop of less than 3%. Mothers used less than 5%, as hers is a smaller unit and therfore ran a little harder. Best money I ever spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Hi Mike, Where we live, a sparsely populated, forested county, we have frequent power outages that can last a day or more (rarely more than a day). So, we bought a large gas Honda 6500. If Hubby thinks the gas has sat too long in the generator, he puts it in one of the cars. Likewise, If we need more gas and are snowed in (rare) or the gas station is without electricity (rare, but all three have happened in the four years we've lived here), he can take fresh gas out of one of the cars. Regards, Allie Mo PS We have another huge gas generator; but it is noisy and kept us awake. So, when I got one for my trailer, we got the Honda to run the house at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I thought as much. Seems like you really can not keep enough gas on hand, plus gas goes bad if it sits too long, so ideally something you could crank or wind that worked might be better from a fuel standpoint. The downside to wind is that it is not always windy, so I thought a good solution would be wind power that you can crank like the emergency radios might be a solution. I also wonder if one of those power outlets that have a battery back up might be a good temporary solution for the fridge to give yourself time to rearrange things. I 'rotate' my genny fuel once a year. I also use a product called 'Seafoam' in the fuel http://www.seafoamsales.com/ Way better than anything else out there. I also use only prem. fuel in any air-cooled eng. I own because with the higher octane rating, the engine will run cooler. Many cities will not allow those large (250 gal+)LPG tanks in a residential type areas. I'll never let any of our cars have less that 3/4 tank of fuel in them. Having lived through 2 major earthquakes(AK & Mex. City)I'll stay with gas and diesel for genny use.Easy to find from 'dead' cars/trucks. LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spooky Joe, SASS #24061 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Myu daughter lives in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, about 1 1/2 mile from the water. She told me last night that while the electricity is still off she still has gas to cook with. Cell phone service is sporatic, sometimes cutting on and off while on a call. Still has battery power left on both the laptop and the tablet but internet service is iffy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 I was in Armageddon, ahh, I mean New York City (specifically, Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens), yesterday and today, assisting my friend in Brooklyn. She has power and services and is putting up her friends who have no power. I saw gas lines 4 or 5 blocks long. The parkways out of the city, Hutchinson River, Merritt and Wilbur Cross all have real slowdowns near the rest areas where people are lined up for gas. I also saw stations with signs that said "no gas". I went there with an extra 5 gallons in cans "just in case" but realized that ifthey were full I would have a problem so I poured the gas into my tank when I got there. That was when I discoverdthat one of my cans leaked when pouring. Drat. zI did have an offer to sell the cans but it required my friend to take the cans into her apartment and I told her that she did not want to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 Seems like it is hit or miss on what works as things happen differently for different folks even in the same disaster. I recall one snow storm where i had no power for 4 hours and the street by my house was without it for 4 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 Does propane leak out or turn bad like gas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Does propane leak out or turn bad like gas? no. I suppose if you leave the valve loose or have a really old tank it might but, in general, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Original Lumpy Gritz Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Does propane leak out or turn bad like gas? Takes longer, but YES it will go 'bad' and LPG tanks do rust from the inside also(I use to haul 'bulk' LPG). Underground LPG lines can break just like NG lines do. LG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G #1840 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Many people on that side of the country use fuel-oil for heat. If your genertor is diesel then you can run that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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