Y2K didn't do much except fuel the nega-doomers. The folks who ridicule anyone who prepares for trouble. Hurricanes are still a concern. And winter time storms. Freezing rain is what pulls down power wires in my area.
It sounds like a spare tank of propane is a very wise idea, if you buy one of these. The fuel doesn't go stale while sitting, that's an advantage.
I'd think that the extra cost of the generator would discourage me. I'd get a cheaper generator, and a couple gascans to put in the shed. Pour the gas in your car, and fill them back up at the gas station. Twice a year to be certain you have good gasoline on hand.
Many important points. These are small attached houses so the neighbors are close. Not one of them would steal it and getting it out of the backyard would be non-trivial anyway.
CY: A chain and padlock is a good idea. Also post an armed guard (inside the house) for watch. Bring the generator in when not in use. You'd be amazed. People drive around with car windows open to listen. I know of two people in my area who have had generators stolen.
No one else has a generator. Still, I wouldn't want a very noisy one. But if it's summer, I don't really need it as much. Winter the windows will all be closed, which is when I would need it more.
CY: It's still very possible your neighbors will be jealous or angry. In the modern socialist society, anyone who is better off, needs to be pulled down. Sad, but that's the way of the world.
We've had a blackout three times this year, only one lasted even two days but that got annoying enough for me to think about this.
CY: My approach is to look at the needs, and then find creative way to meet them. Light? Flashlights. Light and heat? Fuel lamps like oil or propane lanterns. Daylight? Go to bed earlier than usual.
I do have natural gas but wouldn't want to think about running a line outside. Propane seems much easier to deal with given the lack of real need. Two spare tanks should cover any short term need.
CY: I sure hope things work out well for you. I'm curious of a couple things. Whcih generator do you buy? And is it quiet or noisy? Does it run well? Does your TV work well, or does it have a bunch of snow in the picture? How long did the fuel tank last? Please be kind enough to write, again, on thsi list. Tell us how things work out for you.
If you've got the extra money, go for it.
Why not? Natural gas STARTS from the outside (generally). It's just as easy to tap into a NG line as it is a water line; easier, in fact, because you can do so by simply drilling a hole in the NG pipe.
Propane CAN'T be easier since it involves a trip somewhere to get the tanks filled. NG comes right to your house.
CY: And he may well be surprised how miserable his neighbors can be, in times of crisis.
CY: And also to be less likely to be stolen.
If you've got the extra money, go for it.
CY: Always decisions to make.
Why not? Natural gas STARTS from the outside (generally). It's just as easy to tap into a NG line as it is a water line; easier, in fact, because you can do so by simply drilling a hole in the NG pipe.
CY: Many places have external meters, and that may be a good place to tap off a NG line. The Home Depot near me has stationary NG generators. Those look convenient, if money will permit. As for me, no money to be had. So, a small gasoline generator will have to serve.
Propane CAN'T be easier since it involves a trip somewhere to get the tanks filled. NG comes right to your house.
CY: In most parts of the world, the NG is totally dependable. Propane can be used for cabins, and remote properties with no NG available.
I'm in software and we busted our butt to make sure that nothing bad happened. Lots of software changes, lots of tests with our customers, and sure enough, Y2K comes and nothing goes wrong. But it sure would have without all the work we put in.
Will do. I just checked the furnace and it's hooked directly into the house wiring somehow, not into an easy-to-deal-with plug. The first thing I need to do is take a better look at all those wires and see if I can figure out how to connect it to the generator. If not (probable), I'll need to hire an electrician. The whole idea goes out the window if I can't run the furnace off it.
I will look into running natural gas, but the main comes in the front of the house so it would involve taping it near the rear, where the furnace and hot water heater are. But the only way to run it out of the house right now would be the dryer vent, and running a gas line next to hot exhaust seems like a bad idea.
I liked the idea of propane because I already have propane tanks but maybe a larger tank would be ok?
Then what would he use for the gas line since that size is too small for NG?
Is this in the harbor freight do it yourself manual?
Hmm. You may be right.
I note the gas line to the burners on my stove are, maybe, 1/4" and I know the gas line to a gas yard light is 3/8.
I know ! I have "skinny" gas.
Alternatively, I meant to say 3/4".
Thanks for the field report. I would have continued on, thinking Y2K was a false scare. Except that some people like yourself corrected me.
I've used a three wire cord, cut off an appliance. (Preferably appliance that someone else put to the curb.) I disconnected the furnace, and wire nut it to the appliance cord.
Do this only if one has basic electrical knowledge. I had a job for six years, as a furnace and HVAC installer. So, I got some training.
After the power cut, put the wiring back as it was. Safety rules apply, disclaimers also apply. Do not use while taking a shower, or while watering the garden. Remmber: After the power comes back on, you're working with live wires.
Most houses have some place where a contractor could drill through the sill plate. Not a big deal. If you had a contractor install a stationary NG generator, that's a routine way to handle it.
Near me, the propane companies have 100 pound "cooking gas" tanks, and
100 or 250 gal "heating gas" tanks. The price of the gas is different, too.Sounds like you've decided to get the portable LPG generator. Please let us know how it works. Maybe some others on the list will purchase the same generator, if it works well.
Some people don't have NG piped to their house. In those areas they may have LP fired water heaters, ranges, ovens, clothes driers, and fireplaces (as I do). There would be a 100-200 gallon or larger LP tank outside the house. In those cases, it would have to be a very long outage to run out of LP, and even so, the LP is delivered.
I remember changing out the BIOS in a number of computers to make them compatible with the new date.
TDD
During the y2k rollover, I didn't have any ten year old computers. All of them handled the year 2000 with no problem.
Did you finally get rid of those 80286 and 80386 systems you were using while the rest of us were using Pentium Is, IIs and III's? Even 486 systems had no problem with y2k.
Only the doomsayers predicting the fixes undertaken wouldn't be adequate raised fears...
As dgk says, there was a _LOT_ of effort invested for quite a long time preceding just the year or so ahead to avoid any major problems.
I'm in (or was at the time, anyway) power generation and other industrial controls -- many, many, controllers and other pieces of gear one outside of the area might not even think as having computers or time-bases in them were either upgraded, modified or replaced to ensure the grid stayed online.
Needless to say, despite all the testing there was some apprehension as the bewitching hour approached and a lot of folks were on standby for the just in case a component somewhere acted up and threatened to start any other potentially cascading event.
AFAIK within the electric utilities that were EPRI members there were only a handful of very minor incidents; none that had any bearing on actual operations.
In the last few years I have actually had to service some systems still running DOS 6.22. It's a good thing I hang onto old computers so I have parts to fix the ancient machines. The new machines won't run DOS or the old peripherals, different interrupts and such. It's funny, the old IBM PC's were built like tanks. Yesterday I had to decommission an old IBM server at a department store that had a 1998 date code on the hard drive. The server even had a beige housing. 8-)
TDD
But I do have NG so it becomes a question. Still, I don't like the idea of running a gas pipeline outside of the house. I don't think it's a job for me which makes it expensive.
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