Blackout?

[snow]

Coming our way? Seems more and more recent chatter about our national power grid being hacked/attacked to destabilize our country.

Sadly,i dont have a plan B just incase we lose power whether intentional or weather related.

On the fence installing a home generator.

Who has a plan "B"?
Gas,diesel or propane?

 

[Zogman]

Generac, natural gas. Might be better with propane. Propane tanks not allowed in the Grand City.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Coming our way? Seems more and more recent chatter about our national power grid being hacked/attacked to destabilize our country.

Sadly,i dont have a plan B just incase we lose power whether intentional or weather related.

On the fence installing a home generator.

Who has a plan "B"?
Gas,diesel or propane?

That would depend on your location and what you presently have. Propane makes the most sense for me. I can tell you the ND Health dep emergency services uses diesel but have a giant tank, was told in a extreme emergency natural gas service most likely won't be working. What's the shelf life of diesel?

 

[Rowdie]

A generator is one thing we still need. Planning on propane.

 

[SDMF]

Assuming we're talking about a whole-home standby type generator. Fuel stability should be your biggest concern which means for most people, Nat'l gas or Propane is their best option.

In most cities, nat'l gas will be your only stable option as big propane tanks aren't allowed. In a smaller town where 500+ Gal tanks are allowed, propane will be your best option, especially since Nat'l gas probably ISN'T an option in those locales.

Gas or diesel are only really an option if you live rural enough to have a bulk tank of one or both and use enough of both to keep them fresh/stable.

 

[Obi-Wan]

Assuming we're talking about a whole-home standby type generator. Fuel stability should be your biggest concern which means for most people, Nat'l gas or Propane is their best option.

In most cities, nat'l gas will be your only stable option as big propane tanks aren't allowed. In a smaller town where 500+ Gal tanks are allowed, propane will be your best option, especially since Nat'l gas probably ISN'T an option in those locales.

Gas or diesel are only really an option if you live rural enough to have a bulk tank of one or both and use enough of both to keep them fresh/stable.

Like I stated before the ND health dept emergency services went diesel for the fact that they cannot be sure if natural gas will be available in a large event. Their generator is the size of a van body truck which I assume would use a shitload of diesel in a short time. I assume they change the diesel on a regular basis to be ready if the need arises.

 

[SDMF]

Like I stated before the ND health dept emergency services went diesel for the fact that they cannot be sure if natural gas will be available in a large event. Their generator is the size of a van body truck which I assume would use a shitload of diesel in a short time. I assume they change the diesel on a regular basis to be ready if the need arises.

For someone living inside city limits, it's likely not legal to have a bulk tank of diesel or gasoline on your property, so, diesel isn't really an option, nor is gas because you can't store enough of either to make it very long in a blackout.

You see and hear those big generators running during really hot weather sometimes. They'll run the generator to "exercise" it as well as to keep the fuel stable/fresh. At one time the power companies had to "buy" any excess electricity those huge generators put off. A buddy of mine used to sell the generators and service contracts for same, but that's 12-15yrs ago so I don't hear about that stuff anymore and might not be current on the what's what.

I was driving on S University past Sanford South U campus 4-5 weeks ago and saw a big plume of diesel exhaust. Sanford must've been exercising their generator as there was no blackout at the time.

 

[SDMF]

The smallest diesel generator that Generac makes is 15KW and at 1/2 load uses .8Gal/hr.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Will dual fuel generators, gas/propane start ok on propane when it's real cold or do they have to start on gas and switch over to propane ?

 

[Zogman]

My Generac exercises every Tuesday evening for 5 minutes a 8:59 PM.

 

[snow]

Thanx for the input guyz , thinking propane might be the best option, I'll sniff around this comig week pricing generators

 

[snow]

My Generac exercises every Tuesday evening for 5 minutes a 8:59

Sounds like my daily morning workout routine @6am,my young retriever is my coach, wakey wakey you old fart,walkie time...

 

[NDSportsman]

Generac propane powered standby here, runs once a month, definitely awesome to have when the power goes out.

 

[Maddog]

With a blackout does one assume electric AND gas?

Curious if generator could be natural gas -- for the possibility of electrical blackout.

Or should have a different power source for the generator -- ie gasoline. (Diesel is a very lesser option.)

Thoughts appreciated.

 

[snow]

Generac propane powered standby here, runs once a month, definitely awesome to have when the power goes out.

So looks like this generac generator is the the one to consider,thanx again guyz, wouldn't trust natural gas,convenient but if we lose our power grid,this would include losing natural gas,yes?

 

[eyexer]

I’m not so sure about losing natural gas. It’s pumped with natural gas compressor engines. My only concern would be the computers that control all the safety devices, monitoring systems etc. but they will have generators to run that stuff too.

 

[riverview]

I’m not so sure about losing natural gas. It’s pumped with natural gas compressor engines. My only concern would be the computers that control all the safety devices, monitoring systems etc. but they will have generators to run that stuff

i worked at a natural gas compressor station, we had a huge apu that ran off the pipeline gas when the power went out.

 

[Allen]

Parents live in the heart of the Bakken, so there are a lot of black and brown outs. Just about a month ago they had a whole-home, propane, automatic generator installed. I haven't been up to see it yet, but the cost was around $23k if I remember correctly. This includes a propane tank, the home is all electric except for the generator.

 

[1850reata]

The generac automatic system would be awesome to have. I opted for a cheaper route and bought a tri-fuel generator that can run most the house. Had an electrician put in a generlink transfer switch and a HVAC guy put on a quick connect for the natural gas line.

 

[eyexer]

Parents live in the heart of the Bakken, so there are a lot of black and brown outs. Just about a month ago they had a whole-home, propane, automatic generator installed. I haven't been up to see it yet, but the cost was around $23k if I remember correctly. This includes a propane tank, the home is all electric except for the generator.

Wow that must be one big ass gen. And has to have an automatic transfer switch at that price. You can get an 18kw gen that’ll run probably any house for roughly $6500. Manual transfer switches are cheap but automatic ones can be 3-4k if I recall correctly. I’ve lived just outside of Williston for 20 years and have yet to experience a brown out or any power outage that wasn’t caused by a snow storm. That’s totally weird that they have em