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Generator is finally up & running!


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Installers, gas and electrical inspectors have been busy around here, but I finally got my generator hooked up.

Ottawa Hydro CEO has been sending out monthly e-mails warning about outages and I guess it got a lot of us worried enough to take some action.

My Precious:

Generator IMG_2860 (2).JPG

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I have Natural Gas running the furnace, cook top, On-Demand hot water heater, fireplace, cook-top and dryer, all of which require electricity to work. After the violent wind storm we had, coupled with the freezing rain etc. taking down the wires and hydro towers , I thought it would be a wise thing to do, especially here, where it was minus 40 here the other night, more with the wind chill.

Big Red and I will just have to clear a path to it from the back patio door and deck to the walkway and keep the air vents clear.

Generator IMG_2865.JPG

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21 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

I have Natural Gas running the furnace, cook top, On-Demand hot water heater, fireplace, cook-top and dryer, all of which require electricity to work. After the violent wind storm we had, coupled with the freezing rain etc. taking down the wires and hydro towers , I thought it would be a wise thing to do, especially here, where it was minus 40 here the other night, more with the wind chill.

Big Red and I will just have to clear a path to it from the bask door and deck to the walkway and keep the air vents clear.

Generator IMG_2865.JPG

You could put up a short piece of drift fence to protect it.

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Here ya go Badlands Bob, my backyard and the sheds I use to hold all my "Stuff" and My Precious" snow blower. (Electric Start.)

2023 Backyard and sheds IMG_2862 (3).JPG

MY PRECIOUS IMG_2859.JPG

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I had a similar deck but in place of your generator I had a heat exchanger. One winter the icicles were enormous. An icicle fell, crashed onto my deck, fell over in the worst possible direction, broke the railing, and crashed across the top of the heat exchanger.

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I have 12kw solar and a 13kw back up battery bank but the power has been out so many times and for so long this year I broke down and bought a 14kw Kohler, I cant install it until snow melts but I am tired of being at the mercy of a power company that wont maintain their power lines, all of know things are getting worse not better and were survivors so we prepare

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ive been thinking to get one but ....what will we fuel it with when they outlaw gas and oil ?

 

i realize us in the north might need them to 'survive' in a storm period but with all the new electric loads we might need this in the summer months - not for AC but just to live , 

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It’s funny, funny odd, not funny ha-ha ;), as I was reading this thread yesterday evening it dawned on me that I don’t have enough water stored up in case of emergency. I like having bottled drinking water set aside but I also like to have 20 or so gallons in a sealed drum or in 5 gallon containers. 
Last evening around 7 the neighbor kid came over and asked if we had running water. Theirs was off. So was ours. Turns out the was a water main leak and the Utility had to shut the water off in the neighborhood to fix it. 
It is back in now, but I am going in search of containers today. 
I hate not being prepared. 

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I never considered myself a "Prepper" but all things considered, I think it's just common sense to be prepared for an emergency.

Last year, the wind storm we had here left me with w/o power for 5 days. Others were out for much longer. Some were w/o power for 3+ weeks!

I lost some of what was in the frig, but I covered the freezers with blankets and was able to get some dry ice to keep things frozen.

With the BBQ, the Coleman stove and the camping gear, we made out all right.

Listening to no less a personage as the CEO of our Hydro utility, I now stock enough supplies for at least 2 weeks, including bottled water, I use and replace in rotation.  

 

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Every few years, we get a really nasty ice storm that takes down the power lines.  We've got underground utilities and natural gas at the house, a small portable generator and a camper parked in the yard full of camping gear.  I've got a 40 gallon water heater full of fresh water so I don't bother storing water.

 

Usually we only loose power for a few hours when somebody hits one of the power poles with their car.  I don't think I've ever even seen a snow blower in Georgia.  If it gets much below 20 degrees around here, they shut the schools down and run in circles screaming.  

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14 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Installers, gas and electrical inspectors have been busy around here, but I finally got my generator hooked up.

Ottawa Hydro CEO has been sending out monthly e-mails warning about outages and I guess it got a lot of us worried enough to take some action.

My Precious:

Generator IMG_2860 (2).JPG

Just curious, did that cost you about 10k ???

Ive been thinking about one but the power doesn’t go off here very often, in fact hardly ever but my worst fear is a power outage when it’s 10 degrees!! Right now if that happens it’s “Motel Time” 

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Around here, there are Motels, Hotels and NoTells but they can fill up quickly and even if they don't, the power outages affect them as well.

 

Cost wise: 

18Kw Natural Gas Generator - 6300.00; Sound Reduction Pad 350.00; Battery 122.51; Battery Heater 157.68; Oil Heater 157.68; 200Amp Transfer Switch 1185.07

Gas and electrical work and inspections extra and unique to my configuration.  Plus applicable taxes.

This is all in Canadian Funds which today is 1.34 Canadian to buy one US dollar.

 

I'm in a subdivision, with a house beside me, so I went the extra mile with the installation, by having the unit placed in my back yard with a sound reduction pad thus getting the unit as far from my neighbour as possible. We get along well and I want to keep it that way.

The unit produces about 65 db at 24 feet, about like a lawn tractor running, so there was a long run from the electrical panel and the gas meter to the back yard which added to the above costs.

 

 

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23 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Installers, gas and electrical inspectors have been busy around here, but I finally got my generator hooked up.

Ottawa Hydro CEO has been sending out monthly e-mails warning about outages and I guess it got a lot of us worried enough to take some action.

My Precious:

Generator IMG_2860 (2).JPG

You stay safe and warm!!!

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We hope to Sue!

Temperature was minus 40 overnight on the weekend, but it's warmed up to minus 8 today.

Banana Belt weather!

Canadian girls are getting out their bikinis and heading to the rinks!

Funny-Crazy-Meme-Pictures-Meanwhile-In-Canada-23.webp

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11 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

It’s funny, funny odd, not funny ha-ha ;), as I was reading this thread yesterday evening it dawned on me that I don’t have enough water stored up in case of emergency. I like having bottled drinking water set aside but I also like to have 20 or so gallons in a sealed drum or in 5 gallon containers. 
Last evening around 7 the neighbor kid came over and asked if we had running water. Theirs was off. So was ours. Turns out the was a water main leak and the Utility had to shut the water off in the neighborhood to fix it. 
It is back in now, but I am going in search of containers today. 
I hate not being prepared. 

For Y2K I bought half a dozen cases of gallon jugs of water.  Never needed them, stored them in a climate controlled area and pretty much forgot about them.  When I dug them out to get rid of them for a move, I found that many of the bottles had leaked.  Due to the nature of the storage area. the water did no harm, but I would have been out of luck if I needed the water.  Now I have my own well so no worries.

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I'm beside Findlay Creek and the South Nations Reserve Wetlands, so I can draw water if I have to.

Some Javex/chlorine in a pail will settle out most particulates and boiling for anything that's to be used for drinking, should be sufficient, but since I keep bottled water on hand and rotate it, the creek water would only be used to flush.

I was told there were no other chemical pollutants in the creek water and we have fish, frogs etc. in it. 

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1 minute ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

I'm beside Findlay Creek and the South Nations Reserve Wetlands, so I can draw water if I have to.

Some Javex/chlorine in a pail will settle out most particulates and boiling for anything that's to be used for drinking, should be sufficient, but since I keep bottled water on hand and rotate it, the creek water would only be used to flush.

I was told there were no other chemical pollutants in the creek water and we have fish, frogs etc. in it. 

Fixed location with good water source, MilSurp Lister bag and chemicals available online.

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Mind you, if it's winter and I lose Natural Gas, I'll be loading the motor home and heading south!

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25 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Mind you, if it's winter and I lose Natural Gas, I'll be loading the motor home and heading south!

You don’t have to worry, now that you have a generator the power won’t go off for the rest of the winter. Tell your neighbors to thank you 

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That sounds about right, Buckshot Bob! 

 

Meanwhile, my next door friend and neighbour, is getting a HD cable and trying to figure out reverse wiring for his place., while my neighbour behind my place, a member of the same Church, is trying to calculate the current drop from my place to his! LOL!

I'll go out of my way to accommodate them.

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Make damn sure they turn off the MAIN disconnect/breaker if they back feed!

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3 minutes ago, Eyesa Horg said:

Make damn sure they turn off the MAIN disconnect/breaker if they back feed!

I’m betting his has an automatic transfer switch. That’s how mine is set up , power goes off and about 5 or 10 seconds later you have power again. When I used a portable generator I had and still do have a panel wired in just for that. But you are correct if you back feed and don’t turn off the main you could kill a lineman. Those transformers don’t care what way the flow is they can step up as easily as down 

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50 minutes ago, Buckshot Bob said:

I’m betting his has an automatic transfer switch. That’s how mine is set up , power goes off and about 5 or 10 seconds later you have power again. When I used a portable generator I had and still do have a panel wired in just for that. But you are correct if you back feed and don’t turn off the main you could kill a lineman. Those transformers don’t care what way the flow is they can step up as easily as down 

I was referring to his neighbors that he mentioned. I agree that his system would have a transfer switch.

Not to mention when commercial power comes back on, bad things will happen to the generator!

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1 hour ago, Eyesa Horg said:

I was referring to his neighbors that he mentioned. I agree that his system would have a transfer switch.

Not to mention when commercial power comes back on, bad things will happen to the generator!

Hopefully they are just plugging in a refrigerator, not trying to back feed their house or plug in a half dozen space heaters, a couple houses could put a heck of a load on his generator. Personally if the neighbors need to keep warm I would just invite them over, now that you pointed that out you never know what they might attempt. 

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2 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

That sounds about right, Buckshot Bob! 

 

Meanwhile, my next door friend and neighbour, is getting a HD cable and trying to figure out reverse wiring for his place., while my neighbour behind my place, a member of the same Church, is trying to calculate the current drop from my place to his! LOL!

I'll go out of my way to accommodate them.

Great to be a good neighbor, but if it is your generator and what they do damages it, or worse, if what they do harms a utility worker, you are most likely SOL!

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Good point Rip Snorter:

I kinda think my backyard neighbour is too far and the drop would be too much to power anything properly and could damage whatever was trying to run.

Next door is a doable; short run, but I'll have to remind him to throw the main switch if he's drawing from me.

Here in Ottawa, we're getting winds and freezing rain tomorrow, so I may be finding out just how effective the generator is.

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Good point Rip Snorter:

I kinda think my backyard neighbour is too far and the drop would be too much to power anything properly and could damage whatever was trying to run.

Next door is a doable; short run, but I'll have to remind him to throw the main switch if he's drawing from me.

Here in Ottawa, we're getting winds and freezing rain tomorrow, so I may be finding out just how effective the generator is.

 

 

If needed, hopefully, yours will work as flawlessly as mine does!  

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