Emergency Power

I borrowed a gas generator when Hurricane Charley hit my area
in 2004...Lost power for 17 days with temps in the low 90's and
90 percent humidity...The generator went down after a day in the rain.
Lost everything except a hawkfish which I still have. You could have
sold a generator for a couple grand easy at that time. My water
was at 90-93 degrees..Couldn't even buy ice. Just had a battery air pump.
 
i lost power during Charlie for about 7 days and while i couldn't buy ice ANYWHERE i could buy as much dry ice as i wanted from a wholesaler. they saved my tank. just something to think about next time you're without power in the summer.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11445695#post11445695 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Runfrumu
It's amazing, spending 300 bucks on a plastic skimmer that basically bubbles water, but spent half that on something that can power most of my house in an emergency.
Click to expand...

i get these skimmers free with each visit from mcdonalds!!!

colorcutout.gif
 
Solar panels in the middle of a snow storm, ice storm, or a week of clouds will do nothing. They cost a fortune. I even know someone who sells them but won't use them... :lol:


Here is the website with natural gas generator conversion kits.
http://www.propane-generators.com/

I purchased an opti-ups that has a true sine wave output for about $400 on ebay. Powers my koralias and a return pump for 6-8 hours.
 
This thread has been very helpful. I think the propane conversion kit for a generator and paddlefoot's convenience cord is the way to go. I hope I can get that together by next winter. This winter I hope my luck does not run out.
 
We have a generator for long-term outages but recently picked up a Xantrex battery backup system for those times when no one is home or able to start the generator during outages. It is an all-in-one unit that can run our Tunze 6025 for upwards of 50 hours (tested!), and cost way less than piecing together a system with the same capacities. This is the unit we bought. No complaints so far!

Cheers,
Marty
 
For those of you reading this thread that can't have a generator and would like another option I suggest you check out the Triplight APS612. Basically its a UPS system that you provide your own battery for. So grab this guy and go down to your local wally world or costmo and get 1, 2, 3, heck 4 150 Amp Hour Marine deep cycle batteries and you'll have a the biggest UPS on the block.

Deep cycle batteries are not very expensive, last about 10 years and can be charged/discharged about 1000 times. Unlike a car battery they can be completely depleted without causing damage.

It's not a generator, but for those of us that can't have one due to HOA restrictions, etc it's the next best thing.
 
during the last power outage, I just daisy chained some extension chords from my parent's RV that I moved in front of my house. I then fired up the generator and prayed that the power came back before I ran out of gas.
 
a MiTM 7500 watt generator @ cost will be 1500.00 (roughly) My wife and I are purchasing one and it will be set to go off automaticly. (This will be able to run the whole house)


I have read things on here about purchasing much smaller units from all over (size is not the issue) and I have got to warn most of you~

BEWARE- lol...... alot of these generators that run you 200 or 300 or even 400 bucks are JUNK! they are meant to be used a few times and discarded. An auto store, or even HomeDepot, or Lowes is not always the best place to go shopping for a pice of equipment that NEEDS to function in an emergency situation EVERY TIME. Spend a few extra dollars do some research make sure if it does break you can get parts for it (boy do I have some good stories about that one!) and shop wisely.


L.R.
 
Yup, many cheap gensets will not withstand a lot of use. There are some exceptions though. Some of the china Honda Knock-offs will run just as long as a honda! The RV community is a place to check for the current best deals and where to get them. Those folks beat their gensets to death and are very critical reviewers for durability and noise.
 
You get what you pay for. When it comes to emergency power you don't get a second chance, or the luxury of borrowing. I bought locally at an authourized dealer/repair shop. I fire up both gens quarterly, load them for an hour, refill with treated gas and put them back to bed. I opt for 2 small gens over one big one. True, there are twice the moving parts but you get 2 chances at maintaing life vs. 1.
(Being ex-Navy and an offshore boater I have a small but managable redundancy fetish)
Who in their right mind would ever venture out 30 miles offshore one one engine?
 
Well thank you for your service :)

I sell Generac stuff, it is not bad for the price (for standby gensets). There is certainly better stuff out there though.

For portable generators, you can't beat a Honda. If you can't afford the Honda, at least get one with a Honda engine!
 
IF you need a generator, and IF your generator won't run, and IF you can't find another one, then a $70, 750w inverter from Wal-Mart and elsewhere hooked to the car will run your tank at least, like one did for my tank during a few days last month.
 
I don't know if mine makes a "true sinewave", it but worked fine with computers, powerheads, ballast, heaters, etc., and the label said it was fine for TV's too.


To reduce noise from a generator I've made a 4-sided cover out of plywood lined with sound-absorbing foam from McMaster-Carr. For about $80 worth of materials you can knock the sound down so low you can converse normally at ten feet from the noise source.
 
Computers and TVs have switch mode power supplies. They will run off of a square wave. The power supply works off of the peaks and valleys and could pretty my care less about what is in between the extremes.

Heaters are pure resistive devices and could also care less.

Tar ballasts have an iron coil that is saturated with a magnetic field, it could care less.

Motors and electronic ballasts are a different beast and rely on the smooth transition from peak to peak. A "true sine wave"

If the wave is a little chopped the motors may run hot and the ballasts may not run efficiently. As the waveform deteriorates things get worse. Motors may run hot, or not even spin! Ballasts may overheat or suffer damage.
 
I ran heaters, wavemaker and powerheads, return and skimmer pumps, IceCap ballast and another brand of electronic ballast, TV, computers, and I also ran one of our furnace blowers intermittently with the inverter.
Here's the inverter that I got at walmart for $70...http://www.invertersrus.com/pi750ab.html
It has a "modified sine wave" output.

"Caveat"? Not exactly.
 
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