Foul weather = me concerned over electric

[coralreefer]

Really, 8 hours of no water movement you feel most corals and fish could survive? If so, then it would be wasted money for these automatic battery systems.

Mike in the summer I've gone 6 hours a couple times with no problems.
Luckily I think 3 hours is the longest we've been without in the winter. With temps outside in the mid teens...IIRC...tank temps dropped a degree or two in that time. Almost hooked up the generator that day but the power came on.
BTW we do have access to a generator and have used it to run pumps and heaters if we have an extended outage.

 

[jmccown]

Power just came back on. Been off since Friday right after I posted about getting a generator. Generator saved me.

 

[LtPiper]

I went 11 hours Saturday. Room temp went down to 57F don't know what the tank went to. No problems here. Like I said earlier Jason aka H.Crisp went two days or so with no power no backups a few years ago. Couple of years ago I also had a two day outage but went and got a $100 Wally world generator at the end of the first day and ran heaters and one pump each on 3 tanks and a refrigerator and a deep freeze and my laptop with modem with no problem.

Remember your refrigerator/freezer is like your other appliances only working intermittently. They aren't pulling 600watts all the time. For instance your refrigerator is only going to use 600 watts depending on the model for about 4~5 minutes every few hours unless your opening the door every 5 minutes then it's going to use a lot more power. That's why when putting up groceries or when cooking you assemble everything so you open the door once get everything in or out and shut the door.

 

[carb850]

For those that lost power, I hope all turns out well and I hope your better prepared next time... I hope I'm better prepared next time too.

Anyone have experience with Propane powered generators?

 

[carb850]

Bump.

Other than Lowes and Home Depot, any other suggestions for local places to buy a Generator?

 

[coralreefer]

Sam's Club, Costco or Tractor Supply.

 

[LtPiper]

Amy you'd be surprised at the number of places that don't have them now local. Walmart and Kmart used to have them as well but don't any more.

Green's might have them. I know Nitro Lowe's is still out of them as of Sunday.

Might check with Evan's and Pile and the Best hardware on the east end as well.

 

[carb850]

Places that carry them will likely have them back in stock before I have the money.

Everything is a compromise. Soon as I talk myself into one I think about the con's to it and look to another. I'm sort of leaning toward about a 3250W Generac. I can get a larger one for not a hole lot more money and it can run more things. But it will also be larger, heavier, and use more fuel.

BTW, I did call Pile Hardware and they have a couple Brings in stock currently.

 

[LtPiper]

Personally I've been looking at Solar/wind/battery type backup. Thought of that natural gas bill after a gen's been running for a day or so just scares the hell outta me.

 

[Altpers0na]

i reallllllllllly wanted a natural gas gen, till i compared usage rates of electric vs gas... that was an eye opener..

of course, nothing vs gas is an easy win..

 

[carb850]

Natural gas would be nice for the conviencence of no refills, but I fear it could cost more to run than gasoline and usually it is only larger ones that come compatable with natural gas.

I was looking into propane because they burn cleaner, it stores longer, and no worries about the gas going bad in the engine. However, fewer of them available so harder to get consumer reviews and I think it might be easier finding gasoline to refill in longer situations than it would propane bottles. I could be wrong though.

 

[LtPiper]

Both reasons why I want a Solar/wind setup as you don't have to go out and get refills of anything it's already there ready to use and you can start using it now to bring down that electric bill.

 

[carb850]

Do you think we have enough wind or light to make either efficient in Charleston? I'd figure the wind power would be almost useless much of the year.

 

[Financial Panth]

im not worrying about my fish this year

Youre signature is hilarious.

All i can think of is Gob from arrested development doing is terrible magic tricks now!

LOLOLOL

 

[luisgo]

I have a backup system that will work for 10 hours with some Koralias connected to a UPS. Check here a previous post describing my system.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14697532&postcount=30

If you want to have an idea of the power consumption of your reef tank check this post with an analysis I did on my 125 gallon reef. The cost of electricity is very high in Puerto Rico where I live, 17¢ per kilowatt. In the states is around 7¢ so multiply my cost by .41.

Power Usage of my tank is 588 watts per hour ($2.40 daily / 24 hours = .10¢ per hour / .17¢ per kw). That is an average. Peaks may be close to 1,000 watts.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1702895

 

[LtPiper]

Do you think we have enough wind or light to make either efficient in Charleston? I'd figure the wind power would be almost useless much of the year.

Yes because people farther north that have less light have homes that are totally off the grid.

 

[Reefdiver72]

I have a diesel truck with a 5000 watt inverter across the 2 batteries it runs almost my whole house and is easy on fuel as my diesel just sits idling I have about 400. in this setup but I can also have electric where ever I want to go camping. I can run aircompressors welder or just powertools it makes it nice to have electric on the go.