Without Power for 55 hours.

[KDM]

Well we survived 55 hours with NO power. That was a valuable experience. Not fun by any means, but very valuable. It taught us what was really necessary and what we could do without. I know "prepper" has been a name akin to "psycho" in recent years, but having a plan for when the power craps out and the equipment necessary to pull it off should be kind of high on any households priority list. Especially if you live out of town. We were OK, but there were some glaring holes in my planning that have since been rectified. Be safe out there fellas. North Dakota will kill you dead without a moments remorse for you or your family.

 

[eyexer]

Been there done that. Good learning experience every time

 

[svnmag]

Sorry for the ordeal. I'm glad you and yours pulled through.

 

[NDwalleyes]

KDM, if you're willing could you pass-on some "Lessons Learned" when you guys are recovered? Good to know you fared well.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Yep got caught myself with the I should have this ready for the just in case, now have the correct hookup at power pole with 6500/5500 generator which handled propane furnace with circulation pump 2 refrigerator 2 freezers and house lights as needed. We went 24hrs at first then in was on and off in various stages for various hours.
Always room for improvements I'm sure but got a good start now

 

[Lapper]

Damn, that’s a long time! Glad you came through it relatively unscathed!

 

[Lycanthrope]

Everyone should be able to survive 7 days without power in the dead of winter... Could I? not comfortably, but the fact that a majority of people these days cannot, speaks volumes. We are just a bad solar storm away from possibly being without power for months, and it could happen any time of the year.

 

[KDM]

KDM, if you're willing could you pass-on some "Lessons Learned" when you guys are recovered? Good to know you fared well.

Sure. When you get toys.....play with them. Had the wrong propane adapter to run one of my heaters. Sometime in the fall, check the charge on batteries. A couple of mine were at about half charge. Once a year, run a full tank of fuel through your gas generators and then store them bone dry. Had to play the gummed up gas circus for a generator. Have at least ten gallons of premium fuel ON HAND in the fall. When the power is out, gas pumps don't work very well. I had about two and a half gallons when the lights went dark. NOT a good feeling when I picked up the tank and shook it. We have some oil lamps, but they don't work worth a damn without....yep you guessed it.....LAMP OIL. Picked up a gallon so that's fixed. That's about the extent of my piss poor planning. I should get a merit badge for stupidity sometimes. SMH.

 

[1lessdog]

Sure. When you get toys.....play with them. Had the wrong propane adapter to run one of my heaters. Sometime in the fall, check the charge on batteries. A couple of mine were at about half charge. Once a year, run a full tank of fuel through your gas generators and then store them bone dry. Had to play the gummed up gas circus for a generator. Have at least ten gallons of premium fuel ON HAND in the fall. When the power is out, gas pumps don't work very well. I had about two and a half gallons when the lights went dark. NOT a good feeling when I picked up the tank and shook it. We have some oil lamps, but they don't work worth a damn without....yep you guessed it.....LAMP OIL. Picked up a gallon so that's fixed. That's about the extent of my piss poor planning. I should get a merit badge for stupidity sometimes. SMH.

I am sure if you would have asked on here if anyone had a generator to spare. You would have had half dozen people loading one up and delivering one to you. We have a 8500 watt a Generac. And 3 Hondas a 3000 watt and 2000 watt and 800 watt. I store them filled to the top with premium 91 octane. With no ethanol. Not all premium pumps at station are ethanol free. And have no less than 10 gallon. Most cases I have 20 gallons. When it started raining I went to town and filled two more 5 gallon cans. We were lucky, we never lost power at all. I did take the big generator out and started it just in case we needed it.

 

[wslayer]

I need to figure out how to get a quick access to being able to run furnace off generator. I do have a vent free 30k mounted on a stand that can be moved around in basement if needed. It is tapped into my propane line for furnace. I know ,they will burn out the oxygen eventually but for now it would keep pipes from freezing. Normally have 3 deep Cycles in garage from boat but didn't pull them this year to use with Couple different inverters. Seems like never enough gas on hand though. 6200 watt with 6 gal tank runs about 9 hrs. You can do the math.

 

[NDSportsman]

Generac got a workout for us too, wouldn't live in the country without one!

 

[wslayer]

Generac got a workout for us too, wouldn't live in the country without one!

Do you have the whole home Generac or just good size portable?

 

[Davey Crockett]

Do any of you guys have an inverter ? This looks like a nice neat unit that I'd use a lot if they work good. I've been happy with Caterpillar products.

 

[wslayer]

Do any of you guys have an inverter ? This looks like a nice neat unit that I'd use a lot if they work good. I've been happy with Caterpillar products.

I have a small 150 watt, 400watt, 1200 watt. That cat unit looks nice but only 200 watt

 

[NDSportsman]

Do you have the whole home Generac or just good size portable?

Whole home standby, kicks in automatically when the power goes out.

 

[Davey Crockett]

I'm thinking mostly for charging phones and batteries and maybe running the router so we have wi-fi . It was the brand name that caught my eye. I only need a generator for the water well for a few minutes every other day.

Inverters are tough , I drug an old 400 around for many years on a drill rig and it made thousands pots of coffee out in the rain snow sleet and hail and it still works. I have a huge one in a motorhome that I could grab if I need it .

 

[Kurtr]

Whole home generac is the next purchase for the house this summer.

 

[watson]

9 years ago we lost juice for 9 days. Never had a Gen at the time, waited 2 days before trying to buy one. Every store within 100 miles was sold out by then. Ended up driving to Bismarck to get one. All told it was 6 days in the dark. Kept the downstairs warm enough with the wood furnace and used buddy and sunflower heaters upstairs. Plenty of lessons learned, now I make sure everything is good to go by mid October. Gen gets run monthly with premium and seafoam and always stored full, 10 gallons of premium on hand, good supply of batteries on hand, jump pack is charged in case of dead vehicle battery, got a couple of those cell phone charge packs. Just because you have a generator doesn't mean it can't act up as well

 

[Allen]

Watson, just curious as to why you didn't go propane with the Generac?

 

[NDwalleyes]

I need to figure out how to get a quick access to being able to run furnace off generator. I do have a vent free 30k mounted on a stand that can be moved around in basement if needed. It is tapped into my propane line for furnace. I know ,they will burn out the oxygen eventually but for now it would keep pipes from freezing. Normally have 3 deep Cycles in garage from boat but didn't pull them this year to use with Couple different inverters. Seems like never enough gas on hand though. 6200 watt with 6 gal tank runs about 9 hrs. You can do the math.

Get a good 10ga extension cord, mine is 50ft. Modify it so it has two male ends. I installed a disconnect for my furnace, and between that disconnect and the furnace, I have a female receptacle to plugin from the generator. Always be careful you are not back feeding power out to the service lines.