MondoBongo
Obligate Feeder Obsessed
It's been a fun couple of days, wall of text incoming. 
After Sandy rolled through our area, I decided it was time to buy a backup generator. Thankfully we were spared most of Sandy's wrath, but it certainly drove the point home. I purchased a 6500W Briggs & Stratton, based off what I had learned from Sandy. It was winter, so it was cold. I assumed I would need to run a few space heaters, as well as tank heaters, pumps, and other odds and ends around the house in the event of an extended power outage, so I went big.
Now, thankfully, I've never needed to use that generator. It never even got filled with fuel, and sat, tucked away in a corner of my garage, nearly forgotten.
Nearly forgotten until Tuesday night, that is.
At about 7:45PM our power went out after a small thunderstorm had rolled through the area. By the time the power died, the storm had already moved on and the sun was back out. This typically isn't a big deal. We've had a handful of outages at our current place, most are usually fixied within an hour or two, the longest being just under 4 hours. So I waited. When things didn't come back on in an hour, I started getting worried. Two hours in and I was begining to sweat. I called the power company and their ETA for a fix wasn't until 3am, almost 5 more hours! So crap. Looks like it was time to do something.
Pulled the generator out, read the manual (always RTFM!), ran my extension cords in to the tank, went and got fuel. Plugged system critical components of the tank in (I skipped the heaters and instead decided to run my powerheads, return pump, and skimmer. More than absolutely required, but I figured I had plenty of generating capacity, why not?). So at about 11pm, I yanked that cord and hoped for the best. Mercifully it started on the second pull, and ran like a top. Flipped on the tank, and all was right in the world.
Except HOLY HELL was that thing loud. We have a detached garage about halfway back on our property, I had the door open and generator in just enough that I knew it wouldn't get wet. It sounded like it was sitting in my dining room. We live in the city, so lot sizes are small, and our neighbors are close. Keep in mind when I chose it, I was assuming winter operation, and considerably more load.
Since the air temperature was only in the mid 60's, I wasn't concerned about the tank cooling too much, just the oxygenation in the water. So I ran the generator for about 90 minutes, then at about 12:30AM killed it. I figured that if the power company was correct in their estimate, the tank would be fine for about another 3 hours or so until the power came back on. Set an alarm for 4AM, and tried to get some sleep.
I wake up at 4AM, and the power is still off. Oh hell.
Back out to the garage, and yank that generator cord. At this point I'm fully expecting half the neighborhood to turn out with torches and pitch forks, but thankfully no one did. Called the power company back, the new ETA is 7AM. yikes. So I run the generator for about another hour, at just after 5AM, I shut it off again. I figure it can coast another two hours no problem.
6:55AM. Power is finally back on. HOORAY!
Check the tank, everything is working. I conduct a partial cencus, and satisifed I had done all I could, I was finally able to get some sleep.
The next day, everyone looked fine. I apologized profusely to our neighbors for the noise in the middle of the night, and let them know that if we're without power and they hear that generator running, feel free to drop an extension cord over the fence for some juice. It's the least i can do for making such a racket.
So what now?
I overprepared. Don't get me wrong, I am glad beyond measure that I had that generator. However, I think I could have kept the tank stable for the required amount of time with some strategically deployed battery backups, and a smaller (and MUCH quieter generator). If I don't need to worry about heating the rooms and the tank, which is probably not a concern for at least 2/3 of the year here (Western PA), then I'm confident I could get away with a lot less juice. So I ordered a battery backup for my MP40, some battery powetred air pumps, and I am going to see about a few small UPS backups, and eventually purchasing a smaller generator that I can use without making all my neighbors hate me.
That's it. Thankfully everyone in the tank survived and looks great. I used a sledge hammer to put in a thumbtack, and my neighbors are wonderful forgiving people that I adore.
The next time, and make no mistake there will eventually be a next time, I will have a better plan in place to make life easier on me, and everyone around me.
Thanks for reading.
After Sandy rolled through our area, I decided it was time to buy a backup generator. Thankfully we were spared most of Sandy's wrath, but it certainly drove the point home. I purchased a 6500W Briggs & Stratton, based off what I had learned from Sandy. It was winter, so it was cold. I assumed I would need to run a few space heaters, as well as tank heaters, pumps, and other odds and ends around the house in the event of an extended power outage, so I went big.
Now, thankfully, I've never needed to use that generator. It never even got filled with fuel, and sat, tucked away in a corner of my garage, nearly forgotten.
Nearly forgotten until Tuesday night, that is.
At about 7:45PM our power went out after a small thunderstorm had rolled through the area. By the time the power died, the storm had already moved on and the sun was back out. This typically isn't a big deal. We've had a handful of outages at our current place, most are usually fixied within an hour or two, the longest being just under 4 hours. So I waited. When things didn't come back on in an hour, I started getting worried. Two hours in and I was begining to sweat. I called the power company and their ETA for a fix wasn't until 3am, almost 5 more hours! So crap. Looks like it was time to do something.
Pulled the generator out, read the manual (always RTFM!), ran my extension cords in to the tank, went and got fuel. Plugged system critical components of the tank in (I skipped the heaters and instead decided to run my powerheads, return pump, and skimmer. More than absolutely required, but I figured I had plenty of generating capacity, why not?). So at about 11pm, I yanked that cord and hoped for the best. Mercifully it started on the second pull, and ran like a top. Flipped on the tank, and all was right in the world.
Except HOLY HELL was that thing loud. We have a detached garage about halfway back on our property, I had the door open and generator in just enough that I knew it wouldn't get wet. It sounded like it was sitting in my dining room. We live in the city, so lot sizes are small, and our neighbors are close. Keep in mind when I chose it, I was assuming winter operation, and considerably more load.
Since the air temperature was only in the mid 60's, I wasn't concerned about the tank cooling too much, just the oxygenation in the water. So I ran the generator for about 90 minutes, then at about 12:30AM killed it. I figured that if the power company was correct in their estimate, the tank would be fine for about another 3 hours or so until the power came back on. Set an alarm for 4AM, and tried to get some sleep.
I wake up at 4AM, and the power is still off. Oh hell.
Back out to the garage, and yank that generator cord. At this point I'm fully expecting half the neighborhood to turn out with torches and pitch forks, but thankfully no one did. Called the power company back, the new ETA is 7AM. yikes. So I run the generator for about another hour, at just after 5AM, I shut it off again. I figure it can coast another two hours no problem.
6:55AM. Power is finally back on. HOORAY!
Check the tank, everything is working. I conduct a partial cencus, and satisifed I had done all I could, I was finally able to get some sleep.
The next day, everyone looked fine. I apologized profusely to our neighbors for the noise in the middle of the night, and let them know that if we're without power and they hear that generator running, feel free to drop an extension cord over the fence for some juice. It's the least i can do for making such a racket.
So what now?
I overprepared. Don't get me wrong, I am glad beyond measure that I had that generator. However, I think I could have kept the tank stable for the required amount of time with some strategically deployed battery backups, and a smaller (and MUCH quieter generator). If I don't need to worry about heating the rooms and the tank, which is probably not a concern for at least 2/3 of the year here (Western PA), then I'm confident I could get away with a lot less juice. So I ordered a battery backup for my MP40, some battery powetred air pumps, and I am going to see about a few small UPS backups, and eventually purchasing a smaller generator that I can use without making all my neighbors hate me.
That's it. Thankfully everyone in the tank survived and looks great. I used a sledge hammer to put in a thumbtack, and my neighbors are wonderful forgiving people that I adore.
The next time, and make no mistake there will eventually be a next time, I will have a better plan in place to make life easier on me, and everyone around me.
Thanks for reading.
