I'd be happy to contribute but I'm not the writer that many here are.
30 years electrical and electronics experience come in handy sometimes.
Mark
30 years electrical and electronics experience come in handy sometimes.
Mark
Who should write the power outage article?
- Thread starter budrecki
- Start date
So Mark, to you run a UPS at your home?
I vote for anyone to write it! I live in a flood zone on the east coast and rode out Isabelle. Roughly 20% of residents in our town had water in their homes. Our power was restored three days after Isabelle, but we had neighbors just two doors down that where without power for eight. At that time, we didn't have fish. If something similar happened right now, I'd have a fish disaster.
I vote for anyone to write it! I live in a flood zone on the east coast and rode out Isabelle. Roughly 20% of residents in our town had water in their homes. Our power was restored three days after Isabelle, but we had neighbors just two doors down that where without power for eight. At that time, we didn't have fish. If something similar happened right now, I'd have a fish disaster.
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No dirk. Two problems with that. 1) A UPS output is not meant for motor loads. 2) A typical UPS will not last through an extended outage. I have a 5KW generator and transfer switch that I installed at my house since Rita.
Mark
Mark
We have a generator and transfer switch, too. We lost power for 2 days during Isabelle.wesleydnunder said:
Roan
Roan, I think for folks like you with multiple tanks, a generator is a must. I moved 4 circuits which I consider critical to a sub-panel which is in turn fed by the transfer switch via normal power to one pole and gen. power to the other. This allows us to have a bathroom and l/r light, t.v. for weather updates, refrigerator and power for our tanks. Sometime this month I'm buying a 2KW gen. and a 120 volt window unit for our bedroom. After Rita it was unbearable inside the house. We were without power for three days and tried to sleep on cots outside. When the power was restored and the central air fired up, my wife slept for 12 hours while I worked on tank cleaning.
Mark
Mark
Quote by Patoloco:"Get a 5gl. bucket and keep half filled with electricity in case you have a power outage"
Just make sure you get a tight-fitting lid for your bucket Pat or all your microcosmics will leak out.
Mark
Just make sure you get a tight-fitting lid for your bucket Pat or all your microcosmics will leak out.
Mark
Nod. We bought the generator years ago when we ran an ISP in MI -- it was a total necessity then. We kept it when we sold the business and I don't know what I would do without it.wesleydnunder said:
It's old now and we need a new one big time. Hubby wants one that will drive the entire 1st floor, plus all the fish tanks (1st, 2nd and basement) AND the AC and furnace. Sounds like a lot but I have a lot invested in these tanks now and he is working on a 92g reef.
It is very very hot to me in VA and I hardly ever go outside when the temperature gets to 90*+ -- if I can help it. Doesn't seem to matter how much water I drink, it only takes an hour or so in the heat and I start feeling weak and faint. I wear shorts almost year around. I'm too Canadian for my own good
Roan
I agree. I live on the Texas gulf coast and from now until the end of oct. I think about how nice it must be in Canada. Typically the temp. is 79 at dawn with at least 90% humidity and during the dog days the wind stops moving for weeks at a time. After one of those big storms moves through it's even worse.
Powering up most of your house and all that equipment I'd think you would need in the neighborhood of 50KW-75KW. Thats a sizeable genset for a residence, though not without precedent.
The only problem with a generator occurs if we have to evacuate again. My 5kw has a 10 gallon gas tank which, at my current load, will last about 18-24 hours. If we leave there's no one here to turn it on and throw the transfer switch ( those automatic tranfer switches and gensets are VERY expensive) and if I engage it before we leave it could run out of fuel before we get back. I'm trying to figure out a way to add an auxilliary gas tank for it.
Mark
Powering up most of your house and all that equipment I'd think you would need in the neighborhood of 50KW-75KW. Thats a sizeable genset for a residence, though not without precedent.
The only problem with a generator occurs if we have to evacuate again. My 5kw has a 10 gallon gas tank which, at my current load, will last about 18-24 hours. If we leave there's no one here to turn it on and throw the transfer switch ( those automatic tranfer switches and gensets are VERY expensive) and if I engage it before we leave it could run out of fuel before we get back. I'm trying to figure out a way to add an auxilliary gas tank for it.
Mark
