Without Power for 55 hours.

[Longtine]

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.

Prior to getting your generator un-gummed.......how many times did you say "don't open the fridge"?

 

[watson]

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

I never got a generac, Kurtr mentioned one in the post above me. I personally couldn't justify the cost for one. I started with a smaller 5000 watt but bought a 12k watt dual fuel in 2021. It runs everything that I need it to in an outage

 

[KDM]

Prior to getting your generator un-gummed.......how many times did you say "don't open the fridge"?

Had the fridge on an inverter and battery. Which is why the half charged batteries were a lesson learned. The refrigerate and freezers are a priority for our house. If we lose power in July or August the food bill to replace what could be lost would hurt something fierce.

 

[Longtine]

Had the fridge on an inverter and battery. Which is why the half charged batteries were a lesson learned. The refrigerate and freezers are a priority for our house. If we lose power in July or August the food bill to replace what could be lost would hurt something fierce.

Agreed. Same for me.

 

[guywhofishes]

Can the contents of fridge/freezers can be insured for replacement cost?

And if so, wild game replacement would be $$$$$

 

[Allen]

Can the contents of fridge/freezers can be insured for replacement cost?

And if so, wild game replacement would be $$$$$

Yes, I have known a number of people who have filed insurance claims for contents of a freezer. I think most insurance companies just have a flat amount they will pay. That way you don't have to find the receipts for all the Kobe and Wagyu beef you had on hand for the family reunion.

 

[risingsun]

Yes, I have known a number of people who have filed insurance claims for contents of a freezer. I think most insurance companies just have a flat amount they will pay. That way you don't have to find the receipts for all the Kobe and Wagyu beef you had on hand for the family reunion.

Yes. Exactly why insurance is so high.

 

[Whisky]

90 hrs for us. We made out pretty good, except I also got to take my first carburetor apart. That was fun. We made it most of the time on a 3500w Predator. It helped I have a wood stove, LP cook top, Milwaukee batteries and lights, and a shit ton of camping stuff. Towards the end a neighbor came over and wired in a bigger generator at my power pole, in case we were looking at being out all weekend. Power came on 5 hrs later.

I will be purchasing a bigger generator of some sorts, be it a bigger portable or stationary whole home/yard. I also need to get power to buildings so I can get doors opened/closed, and keep a tractor plugged in. This could have been much worse. Blizzard and sub zero temps woulda been a bad deal.

I think the inlaws are going on 6 days now.

 

[Longtine]

So.....gets me thinking. Top 5 needs......Heat and water (if on a well)........then bread, meat, firewood. Maybe Crown Royal. Ok. That is 6.

 

[Whisky]

So.....gets me thinking. Top 5 needs......Heat and water (if on a well)........then bread, meat, firewood. Maybe Crown Royal. Ok. That is 6.

Power to fridges and freezers is pretty important, I had two of each. And also a septic lift station. Whiskey is absolutely a necessity.

 

[KDM]

So.....gets me thinking. Top 5 needs......Heat and water (if on a well)........then bread, meat, firewood. Maybe Crown Royal. Ok. That is 6.

Hot coffee for me is in the top 5. If I can have my hot coffee in the morning, my attitude towards life is golden and I can deal with almost anything. If I don't..............I make Stalin look like a part time sunday school helper.

 

[WormWiggler]

as a yonker I recall my aunt & uncle being without power for over 2 months. They lived on a dead end power run and it took that long for the lines to be repaired. I recall the wood burning stove he set up in the basement. Probably made him said to burn up all the scrap wood he had squirrelled away. People were tougher back then.

 

[Lou63]

have a medium sized generator, I keep about 20 gal. of premium due to the lawn mowers, 4 wheeler, snowblowers etc so good there.

main floor of this old drafty house is heated with a ventless propane heater (have the CO2, explosive gas, etc monitor) Have buddy heaters and propane lanterns and lots of candles. During the last outage we had and having fiber optic I plugged in the tv and internet and watched movies.

Could feed a small army with the canned goods and stuff in the freezer. as far as crown my wife bought a cafe/bar so have access to that. I grew up helping mom can and we butchered our own so have continued to have a big freezer and cabinets full of canned foods (not a prepper/psycho) just the way I was raised.

I will be looking into a generator for the cafe as its on the border and if roads are closed there will be lots of truckers looking for a warm place with warm food. plus if it happens in summer there are too many fridges and freezers to keep cold.

The one thing I didnt see anyone else list was candles, I pick them up after holidays on clearance and they are easy to store, never go bad.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Gas on hand is a must, as well as water, enough to last a few weeks at least. Also you can burn oil lamps with diesel if needed, not ideal for sure, but it will work. Kerosene is better. Ive got a few dozen large candles that ive picked up on after holiday clearance, sometimes you can get them 75% and even 90% off if you pay attention at the discount stores.

 

[Longtine]

have a medium sized generator, I keep about 20 gal. of premium due to the lawn mowers, 4 wheeler, snowblowers etc so good there.

main floor of this old drafty house is heated with a ventless propane heater (have the CO2, explosive gas, etc monitor) Have buddy heaters and propane lanterns and lots of candles. During the last outage we had and having fiber optic I plugged in the tv and internet and watched movies.

Could feed a small army with the canned goods and stuff in the freezer. as far as crown my wife bought a cafe/bar so have access to that. I grew up helping mom can and we butchered our own so have continued to have a big freezer and cabinets full of canned foods (not a prepper/psycho) just the way I was raised.

I will be looking into a generator for the cafe as its on the border and if roads are closed there will be lots of truckers looking for a warm place with warm food. plus if it happens in summer there are too many fridges and freezers to keep cold.

The one thing I didnt see anyone else list was candles, I pick them up after holidays on clearance and they are easy to store, never go bad.

I'm old school but always have a stack of these....

 

[NDwalleyes]

Just tripped across this. Electricians do you see any code issues?

 

[Allen]

Only issue I see with it is the maker of the video did not talk about how/where the thermostat is being powered. I "assume" it's being powered by the 120V supply to the furnace in this example, but I've seen other examples where the thermostat was powered via something other than the furnace itself.

 

[1850reata]

I had a generlink transfer switch installed at the meter then have a 10k tri fuel generator. Put a quick connect to our nat gas line so as long as theres gas flowing were set. If not i always have a min of 20 gal gas on hand. Wanted generac whole house system but it is spendy and what happens if natural gas lines quit feeding?

 

[Wall-eyes]

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.

Great reminder to all, should of would of could of right. Hope all is safe for those still out.

 

[jdfisherman]

Only issue I see with it is the maker of the video did not talk about how/where the thermostat is being powered. I "assume" it's being powered by the 120V supply to the furnace in this example, but I've seen other examples where the thermostat was powered via something other than the furnace itself.

Not sure I've seen that, but probably exists somewhere. My experience has been old style mercury switch that doesn't need power, or some kind of programable that runs off of its' own battery.