Our last major ice storm left us without electricity for 17 days and we used $370 in gasoline for the generator being used concretively. Most gas stations were without power for the first week.
Fred/N0AZZ -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Frantz Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2014 5:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT GENERAC generators On 7/26/14 at 10:52 AM, [email protected] (Lynn W. Taylor, WB6UUT) wrote: >My gasoline generators were a constant maintenance hassle because the >AC power was so reliable that they were very rarely used, and I was >constantly cleaning varnish out of the fuel system. Our generator dates to the great northeast ice storm of 2008. That is the first and last time it was used "for real". Since then it has had its oil changed once a year after running it for 1/2 hour. We run it until the gas tank is dry and have had no problems with starting or running. Fuel for the generator is kept in 5 gallon gerry cans and cycled through our vehicles regularly. The house was built in 1793, so can be used without electricity. During the ice storm we had one room just above freezing and one below -- walk in refrigerator and freezer. Two wood stoves and 5 fireplaces cover the heating and cooking needs. Candles and oil lamps provide light, and we can go to bed earlier than usual. :-) The XYL likes indoor plumbing, which requires running the well pump. The oil burner also helps keep the house more livable for less work than the two wood stoves. During the 5 days we were without power after the ice storm, the well pump and the furnace were the two loads we "had" to run. We also ran some lights, a coffee grinder etc. The local gas stations were open, making filling the gerry cans easy. We are still trying to nail down our real needs to prepare for the next extended outage. In addition to ice storms, hurricanes happen, and tornados have taken out the power lines from a major generating station leaving Huntsville AL without power for several days. (My XYL arrived in Huntsville with an inverter and was very popular because she could help people charge cell phone batteries from autos.) 73 Bill AE6JV ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Re: Hardware Management Modes: | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | If there's a mode, there's a | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | failure mode. - Jerry Leichter | Los Gatos, CA 95032 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
