my husband and i just bought a generator at home depot 5000 wats generac for 545.00 by the time we bought all the necessary connections etc we were up to $1000.00. today we sat down and started doing some hard analysis. iF MY GENRERATOR RUNS 24 hours a day we will be out of gas in 3 days. if the US has a truly problem with our oil supply and rationing kicks in i do not think that you will be able to walk to your local gas co. and buy 10 gallons more and carry it in your hand tank. If the winter will get very severe we have to shut of out water supply anyway the generator will not keep the entire house warm. so does a generator make sense for us in Maryland

-- rena the cpa (wsch117360@aol.com), November 03, 1999

Answers

If you run it 24 hours a day, it will fail in 10 to 20 days ... Sorry, but that's the life of low cost generators 200 - 400 hours.

We plan to only run ours for only 1 to 2 hours a day to pump water, charge a couple of used car batteries for lights at other times, etc.

-- John (jh@NotReal.ca), November 03, 1999.

Unless you truly belive in the BITR, you have seen the problem in gasoline powered backup. Gas is dangerous to store and handle, plus it has a limited storage life. The preservatives help, but it still will not last long.

If you need generator backup, a propane powered generator connected to a 250 to 500 gal tank is workable. Still, those generacs are not extended run engines. 4 or 5 hours a day is more appropriate for that kind of equipment. Plus they are loud, with the power out, you will be well known in your neighborhood.

For $1000, you should be able to put together a solar powered backup system. It would only be about 600 watts, but enough for a few lights, and the TV for several hours each day. The solar is silent, and no gas required.

The kerosene lamps that are widely available are not too bad as a backup light source, kerosene stores much better than gas. Candles are a last resort, as they can get out of hand if left unattended.

Good luck with your preps...

-- Justtryntohelp (beenthere@donethat.cim), November 03, 1999.

Gas generators are good for what they're bought for: temporary, intermittent outages over a period of many years. They are not a solution to the grid going down in your area for a significant period of time. Even in a two-week ice storm, you would be wise to stagger their use.

This doesn't necessarily mean you made a mistake, providing you understand their limitations.

A diesel generator with lots of diesel fuel (1,000 gallons) is more in the ballpark for withstanding long-term grid problems due to Y2K and that brings other complications of installation, operation, etc.

Considering what you said about water, investments in oil lamps, kerosene and something to cook on (even if it's a one-burner gizmo) might make more sense and you'll spend less than $500, probably.

Again, though, the generator you have can be useful, providing you appreciate its limitations.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), November 03, 1999.

Do you REALLY need to have electricity 24 hours per day?!? If I loose electric power, I am planning on the following. Start the genset in the morning to run the furnace, pump water, make breakfast - then turn it off. If it gets too cold during the day, run the genset to power the furnace and bake some bread, boil beans, make soup, whatever. In the evening again run the genset to run the furnace, pump water, make dinner, run the hot water heater (propane fired but with forced draft) for bathing, listen to news (if any), etc. After dinner, walk the dog, close up and then since the sun is down - go to sleep and wait for the sun to come up. All this is on an 1800 RPM diesel that I COULD run 3 days straight before needing to change the oil. But I don't NEED to run the genset when there is no pressing need for electricity.

Will this give me the constant house temperature that I'm used to? No. Will it kill me to live with the inconvenance of wearing winter clothes inside and more covers on the bed? No.

Can't rmember who said it (some survivalist author), most people die in the wilderness from lack of luxuries rather than from lack of necessities.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), November 03, 1999.

Further note. That 72 running hours = 18 days at 4 hours per day. Also note that your automobile has a nice big gas tank in it for extra storage IF you have a hose to siphon gas. Be sure to put Sta-Bil or PRI-G in your gasoline to keep it fresh. Be sure to change oil as per manufacturer's specs. Always run your genset a minimum of 15 minutes or whatever time it takes to bring it up to full operating temperature, that way you'll boiloff any condensates in the crankcase oil. Be sure to have spare filters (oil, gas, fuel) on hand, as well as a spare sparkplug, etc.

If used in a sensible manner, a cheap one lung 3600 RPM noise maker will serve your needs just fine.

-- Ken Seger (kensger@earthlink.net), November 03, 1999.

-- Justtryntohelp, the best deal I've found for solar panels is about $5 per watt. Where are you getting your equipment? Also don't forget all the rest of the stuff you need besides the panels: inverter, panel mounts, tracker, batteries, etc.

If I can get 600 watts for $1000, I might actually buy some!

Al K

-- Al K. Lloyd (all@ready.now), November 03, 1999.

The best prices I have found are at http://www.partsonsale.com

They ran a special last month that was very reasonable on a per watt price. (I don't remember the exact price)

I have a need for 240 volts, no way to get that inexpensively with solar. If all I needed was 120V or 12-24V, I would go with a modest 2 to 4 panel solar array, 500 to 800 watt inverter, and compact flourescents all hooked to Sams Club golf cart batteries. This is not commercial - off grid forever equipment, just something to ease the transition. Unfortunately, TV is probably going to be the only news source (unless you are into ham equipment) and it will be heavily censored/controlled. But it will provide some info and a small TV will operate of a somewhat small inverter.

Hope this helps...

BTW I don't work for any of the sites selling Solar, gensets, etc.

-- Justtryntohelp (beenthere@donethat.cim), November 03, 1999.

IMO, unless you need it for medical reasons, I'd take it back. As stated by others, gas is hard to store safely. Generators are noisy and in general a pain in the butt. Are you really a CPA? Should have done calculations before buying ;-)

-- (rcarver@inacom.com), November 04, 1999.