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Sitting in my dark house, lighting a few candles and charging my cell from my laptop.

Power went out at 10 last night.  Just called the electric utility (municipal). They don’t expect to fire it up until noon.

The steady drone of my neighbor’s generator is a reminder once again that I always swear during an outage that I will get a generator; the urgency fades quickly once the power is restored.

 

LL

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Good luck to you.  I know that is unsettling to say the least.

 

Uno and I have had that conversation on many occasions.  I think he may finally be serious with this last group of storms we had that knocked the power out numerous times.  We'll see.

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Here in my section of the 3rd World of the PRK, power outages are routine.
In the summer, we have rotating brown-outs because of user overload.
In the winter, we have blown transformers and downed lines as a result of poor line maintenance.

A house generator that runs on NatGas would work in my area.
The gas mains in our street are not as old as other sections of the PG&E system, and less likely to explode like they did in Daly City.
Our NatGas supply has been very constant for nearly 30 years in this house.
We have a gas water heater and gas fireplace insert.. neither requires A/C power to run during an outage.

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49 minutes ago, bgavin said:

Here in my section of the 3rd World of the PRK, power outages are routine.
In the summer, we have rotating brown-outs because of user overload.
In the winter, we have blown transformers and downed lines as a result of poor line maintenance.

A house generator that runs on NatGas would work in my area.
The gas mains in our street are not as old as other sections of the PG&E system, and less likely to explode like they did in Daly City.
Our NatGas supply has been very constant for nearly 30 years in this house.
We have a gas water heater and gas fireplace insert.. neither requires A/C power to run during an outage.

 

This is where things get tough around here, and partially explain my delay.  We have no natural gas line on our road.  It stops at the corner of an intersecting way.  Utility says it has no plan to extend the line - too costly (they say).  So that leaves propane or gasoline.  Gasoline is too fussy to store for extended periods, and probably hard to get if there is an extended event or disaster.  Propane requires a substantial tank, and given our rocky soil, burying one is extremely expensive (if possible at all).

 

Power came back on 10 minutes ago.  Hit "Forget" until the next time.

 

LL

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4 minutes ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

 

This is where things get tough around here, and partially explain my delay.  We have no natural gas line on our road.  It stops at the corner of an intersecting way.  Utility says it has no plan to extend the line - too costly (they say).  So that leaves propane or gasoline.  Gasoline is too fussy to store for extended periods, and probably hard to get if there is an extended event or disaster.  Propane requires a substantial tank, and given our rocky soil, burying one is extremely expensive (if possible at all).

 

Power came back on 10 minutes ago.  Hit "Forget" until the next time.

 

LL

 

LL,

 

Propane tanks come in lots of sizes and shapes.  A 420 lb (100 gal) tank is 4 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter and should run a whole home generator for a minimum of 48 hours. This tank can be hidden from view by a small fence and some strategically places shrubs.

 

Not sure if this will meet your needs but it does give you an idea 

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I think about a generator every year around November! I almost sprang for one last year. Natural gas. As Loophole said, it faded as winter came to an end.

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Why do you want to bury your propane tank.  Mine is above ground partially hidden by bushes.  A generac generator with above ground propane tank is great to have.  The downside is I wonder if my neighbors noticed i have lights while they sit in darkness even though I'm 2/10 miles from the road.   

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We were living in the Panama City, FL area back in 2004 when hurricane Ivan hit.  There was little major structural damage to the area, but due to downed trees, the power was out in our area for 5 days.  I had no generator.  I lost about a thousand dollars worth of meat in my garage freezer, and had to rent an out of town motel for several days so the family could sleep in air conditioning.  I vowed after that storm that I would buy a generator, so I bought a 6000/8500 troy built generator that never fails to start to this day.  Since 2004, we have yet to have a power outage that lasted more than a few hours, so you might say that was money wasted.  But once every 3 months, I replace the gas in the generator and start it up.  I run it under load for about 15 minutes, then shut her down.  The piece of mind of knowing I can at least run my fridge, freezer, a 110 volt AC unit, computers and phone is well worth the money I paid in 2004 for a gennie.  Buy a generator now, LaRue, even a gas one.  You won't regret it.

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1 hour ago, Marshal Hangtree said:

We were living in the Panama City, FL area back in 2004 when hurricane Ivan hit.  There was little major structural damage to the area, but due to downed trees, the power was out in our area for 5 days.  I had no generator.  I lost about a thousand dollars worth of meat in my garage freezer, and had to rent an out of town motel for several days so the family could sleep in air conditioning.  I vowed after that storm that I would buy a generator, so I bought a 6000/8500 troy built generator that never fails to start to this day.  Since 2004, we have yet to have a power outage that lasted more than a few hours, so you might say that was money wasted.  But once every 3 months, I replace the gas in the generator and start it up.  I run it under load for about 15 minutes, then shut her down.  The piece of mind of knowing I can at least run my fridge, freezer, a 110 volt AC unit, computers and phone is well worth the money I paid in 2004 for a gennie.  Buy a generator now, LaRue, even a gas one.  You won't regret it.

 

It was the same here for Hurricane Irma in 2017. No damage around here but power out for 5 days. Lost the food, temper and any good thoughts about Duke Energy. 

Even if I wanted to get an out of town motel, I probably would have had to go to North Carolina. Even then, of course, there were no gas stations open anywhere that had electric. Bought a 10,000 peak/7,250 running portable gas generator. I'm an electrician, so hooking it up is no problem. Beginning of hurricane season, I buy 50 gallons of E-0 gas and add stabilizer. If nothing happens, I use it in my vehicle after the season ends in November.

 

By the way Irma = I Really Miss Air (conditioning).

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The longer an outage we have in the winter, the better I like it. The Christmas lights are beautiful when the rest of the neighborhood is blacked out. :D

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We have a propane generator (Generac) now and two huge propane tanks. One tank for the house (heat, WH, and oven) and one for the Generac generator. We already had a noisy gas generator for the house (we want to sell it) and a Honda 6500 for my trailer and the house at night, when we don't need the AC.

 

I feel that I'm too old to sweat or shiver :o;) when the power goes out.

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Miz Allie, if I may, a respectful disagreement:
It's not that you're too old to sweat or shiver.

It's that you're old enough to realize that you don't have to!

(*psst ... whisper mode on* ... you're still younger, smarter and better lookin' than me, not necessarily in that order! ... *whisper mode off*)

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A quick fix is a power inverter.  These can be well under $100 and run off your vehicle to convert 12V to 110V.  Good enough to run lights and a fridge.  You can drive your generator (aka  your vehicle) to the gas station as needed.  No concerns about sour fuel, storage or costs, like a generator.  A generator is likely to be a better solution in areas of greater risks like very cold sites or situations of depending on lifesaving medical equipment. 

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