Emergency power system for one perosn: Generator or battery system?

If you use batteries, use "starved electrolyte" or "AGM" batteries. No gassing. Optima YellowTops are a good reasonable solution - or go with Hawker Genesis EPs if your budget stretches that far (they are PRICEY, but excellent batteries)

Reply to
clare
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I'd recommend the generator option but you must address several issues:

First you must isolate your electric system from other tenants in the building, and from the local utility while you're generating. If you don't do this the best case is that the generator will trip out from overload. worse case, you will electrocute some poor lineman trying to restore your service. Usually this isolation is done by installing a transfer switch at your service inlet. This switch allows you to power your house from the electric line or your generator, but not from both at the same time.

List all the devices that you intend to power and find out how much power they consume.

Develop a plan about how you will dispatch the devices. To size the generator you need to decide which devices you need to run, and which devices you will run at the same time. After you have done this you can then size the generator based on the maximum load. For example if the refrigerator and furnace (running at the same time) would overload the generator you can shut one off while the other is running. By developing a load management strategy you can get by with a much smaller generator.

Locate the generator in a well ventilated area outside your residence where the exhaust and noise will not bother you or the neighbors.

Keep a reasonable amount of fuel on hand, in a safe place.

Locate fire suppression (extinguishers) equipment in an area that you can get to if the fuel supply or the generator should catch fire.

Finally have the whole system inspected by a capable electrician before you turn it on.

HTH EJ in NJ

snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net wrote:

Reply to
Ernie Willson

New Hampshire

I have a 19.5 cu ft frige that pulls 120 watts, maybe 600 surge, 100w of cfl=3D 400 watts, hows a frige an issue or a tv.

Reply to
ransley

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in news:gik1i9$urf$ snipped-for-privacy@news.motzarella.org:

Startup draw may be too much for a 1KW generator.

And odorless,colorless,poinsonous CO gas. In a winter situation,indoor use is not a good idea.

Use snow in a insulated cooler.don't just leave food outside to keep cold;sunlight will heat it up.

one more thing to consider is carbon monoxide poisoning.You need a CO alarm in your apartment,if you're going to be using a generator near it.

I used a 12V/20AH gel cell to power flourescent lights for 7 days back in

2004 after Hurricane Charley,but that was August and 90 degF temps. I powered a 12V flourescent like they sell for closets,powered by 8 AA cells,but has a jack for external power,I had made up a cable well before the outage.I also powered a pair of 12V fans salvaged from PC power supplies to keep a breeze going over me at night,so I could sleep in the 90degF heat.

You can charge them from your car's system,and get a 12V cellphone charger,too.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

Batteries would be good for 12v RV flourescent lights and thats about it, unless you spend 1-2000, now figure the cost to maintain them, maybe 20-40 a month, and an inverter. If its just lights ok

Reply to
ransley

-snip-

I'm not so sure. My refrigerator draws 4-500watts but the starting surge is over 1100. My furnace is similar, but the initial surge for the pump is about 1200--- when the fan kicks in it jumps to 1300 for a second. I have an energy star freezer that doesn't cool food fast-- but it only draws 2-300 watts. [I couldn't catch it starting- wish there was a high/low memory on the kil-o-watt meter]

All these were measured with a Kil-o-wat meter last week. [the dishwasher comes in at 1200watts.]

There's a wild-ass guess chart here-- your appliances are sure to be different;

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And no matter how well you plan it- you'll be outside congratulating yourself on how you switched off the furnace to run a load of dishes- and come back inside to see your wife drying her hair with a hairdryer while a pot of coffee runs through the electric drip machine. The

5500 watt generator was ok with it. [but not when I forgot and tried to pop some popcorn in the microwave]

I wouldn't trade you my ice storms for your hurricanes-- but I've managed to lose power for a week several times in my life. 2 days used to be routine- but this past outage this week is the first time we've lost power in some time.

But I'm old, and I could- so I bought a generator this time around. It's 5500 watts- 8250 surge- so aside from the hum in the background power outages don't change our routine much.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Microwave?? get a portable gas stove, my furnace 87000 btu pulls 375 watts, maybe 800+ surge, old units use more. You have to test everything with an amp meter and no guessing allowed, even know surge load. A gen would work if you had a good place to set it up, and a Honda EU nobody will hear, look at db ratings at Honda. And have a new digital Co meter inside and check peak level often.

Reply to
ransley

Gas light, camping stove, battery tv.

Reply to
ransley

Why not if you rent? Give me five minutes and the furnace will be running. When power comes back, another five minutes and it is back on the grid. It is a simple two wire setup. Google "wirenuts"

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Sure, *you* can, you're old. ;-) The OP sounded kind of young to me; not much experience.

Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

a cheap harbor freight 2500 watt generator is probably best bet for cheap infrequent use

batteries dont last but a few years.:(

A 1000 watt 1500 surge inverter with jumper cable connection to the gals car would provide a rotating power source in a emergency. no fuel storage, no noisey generator, useful on trips. cost around a 100 bucks:)

I have 3 generators, a 800 watt one, a 2500 watt one and a 4000 watt fuel piggie.

but mostly we have used the 1000 watt inverter........

Reply to
hallerb

run off you vehicle with it idiling, provides power, no fuel storage, no cranky hard to start infrequently used generator. inverters have lots of advantages, just piuck the size you want. add jumper cables for quick connection.

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We have used our inverter for trips, picnics where there is no power etc.

had wonderful time with sno cone machine at a picnic grove with no power. kids loved making sno cones

Reply to
hallerb

At an apartment complex leave the keys in a running motor? Maybe in a gated, guarded complex. What about alternator life, or the car looses coolant. I would not do it for more than a few minutes to get heat with my car.

Reply to
ransley

Wow; a lot of responses, some good, some well, not so.

Basically IMO it depends on what you need and how long an outage you want to plan for. As long as it's only a little light, the radio & maybe small TV, you would be fine with 12V devices. If you need to continue life as though the power weren't out, neither solutio would help unless it was a good sized genset.

If you have to provide heat (freezing weather or colder) or air conditioning, use anything that draws substantial current (any large item; refrigerator, freezer full of meat, microwave, toaster, lots of lights and gosh knows what, you should work out the wattage you need by adding those all up according to what's on the nameplates, and get a generator of at least that much capability, which may top 3,000 watts worse case. In a way, living alone adds additional btu requirements since there aren't others there to contribute body heat either.

IMO if you don't have to worry about refrigerators, freezers, furnaces, air conditioners, you'd be fine with batteries; just check how long they last at the loads you'll place on them and go from there. Oh, and if you have well water, you'd have something else to power, too.

We have a 5,000 Wat generator and it will run our well pump, fridge and freezer and a few lights all at once. But usually we kill the regrigerator/freezer to run the well pump just to keep the generator from being overly taxed; everything on makes it work really hard should they all demand power at the same time. There's a transfer switch: Start the genset and flick the switch, and it turns on the house power thru its own set of breakers. So be sure to add a Transfer Switch to the cost if you fo the generator route. They're arond $100 plus installation which you'd need permission from the owner to do. In the overall, batteriy power it best if it can give you enough to do the things you need to do for as long as the longest period of time you think you'll need it. Hmm, maybe a battery system and a small genset to charge the battery system if it's needed? Nothing to install that way; just plug the battery chargers nto the genset when you need to charge it. No transwer switch, no installation.

HTH

Twayne

Reply to
Twayne

Instead of a transfer switch, you can just drag a couple of heavy-duty extension cords with triple taps around (plug your light-duty cords into that). It work pretty well, actually.

Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

I've had a 1500 W generator for 40 yrs. Is a Craftsman w/ tecumshe

1.5 Hp engine, It will run refrigerator or freezer and enough extra for a light or two. Also good enough for a hot plate.. So something in that line I would suggest.
Reply to
Jack Davis

Yes, that will work as described for anything with a plug. In fact it's how I handled it until I could get the transfer switch installed. Can't close the doors or windows the cords come in thru though, and often exposes an opening for CO to come in. A CO detector would help there. Quite a nuisance if you had to do it very often as we do areund here, but perfectly workable if it's OK with the user.

Twayne

Reply to
Twayne

I have a lamp cord with a lighter plug on each end. One goes into the vehicle, other one to the jump pack. By the time I get home from some where, the jumper pack is recharged.

If you don't need to haul it around, trolling bateries are far better amps for the bucks.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Some people lack horse sense. Or, have no concept of how wiring works. I've met a LOT of people who don't know much about wiring. I make a living doing wiring for them.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

If you do not install a transfer switch, then make absolutely sure that you disconnect the main breaker before powering up your generator system. If you don't do this you really can seriously injure/kill a lineman with the electricity that can be fed back out to the line.

Any utility I have ever dealt with required a transfer switch for a home generator.

EJ >> Twayne wrote:

Reply to
Ernie Willson

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