"Thomas Donohue" (tomonomics)
08/05/2020 at 18:18 • Filed to: None
2
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"Thomas Donohue" (tomonomics)
08/05/2020 at 18:18 • Filed to: None | 2
| 12 |
Got kicked around by Isaias yesterday morning. Some sizable maple branches on the roof and deck, but nothing more than some dented gutters and lots of firewood for the fall fire pits. The cars parked in the front of the house only got hit by some leaves.
( I love the ‘Maple Shade’ but damn they are useless, overgrown weak saplings that grow every which way and snap off limbs easily.)
My 80v chainsaw rocks...I cleared half the block of branches/trees up to 8" in diameter and still had 1/3 battery left.
However, lots of power outages, and it looks like ours won’t be restored until at least Saturday, as we have three sections of wires down between us and the main feeder poles. The closest wreckage is a pine tree that took down the wires to a transformer.....the tree is still mangled in the wires.
Anyway, the fiber never went down so I was online most of the time. My biggest problem now is the dirty power my generator puts out once it’s over 25% capacity (it’s clear of 60% now as I begin to add more load). My UPS’s constantly flick back and forth and drain within an hour. My line conditioners are not helping like they did on my old generator. I’ve had to bypass the UPS units to keep my PC going for work. Not worried about the laptops, but my desktop......
Based on the high prices of portable inverter generators and smart UPS’s, I’ve decided to just look at a whole house natural-gas auto-transfer unit. The 11kW models have come down in price since I last looked.
Any Oppos have good generator experience? A whole-house (mains) transfer switch or do the individual 16 breakers?
Stay safe.
And a car.
gettingoldercarguy
> Thomas Donohue
08/05/2020 at 18:55 |
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Yes, generac and don’t look back. Also, your article should be named tropic thunder.
Dr_Watson
> Thomas Donohue
08/05/2020 at 19:33 |
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I know nothing of generators, but it's good to hear electric chainsaws are awesome. I loathe all things having to do with 2 cycle engines.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> Thomas Donohue
08/05/2020 at 19:59 |
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Natural gas generators are nice until you get the bill. Here’s what I put together when my wife and I discussed it:
Generac generator: ~$5,000 installed
Burn rate: ~250 cu. ft. of gas/hr (20kw at 3/4 load)
Gas Price (in Loui s iana): $9.92 / 1,000 cu.ft.
Cost per hour = $9.92 / 1,000 / 250 = $2.48 per hour.
Approximate cost per day = $2.48 x 24 = $59.52
Approximate cost per week = $59.52 x 7 = $416.64
Total cost for the two weeks we were without power after Gustav = $833.28.
We made due with a small generator to power the essentials: a fridge, a fan, a lamp, and the TV / cable box in the evenings.
Links for you:
https://www.generatorsource.com/Natural_Gas_Fuel_Consumption.aspx
onlytwowheels
> Thomas Donohue
08/05/2020 at 20:45 |
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Pure Sine Wave
https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/generator/models/ef6300isde
https://www.yamahagenerators.com/Yamaha-EF6300iSDE-p/ef6300isde.htm
Jake, Yes, wearing khakis
> Thomas Donohue
08/05/2020 at 21:05 |
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We have a 3500 inverter generator.
Got it from northern tool, it’s the same as the predator 3500. But with an actuall company to support it(northerntool) they just came out with the 7500.
They are great generators, just drain the tank and the carb bowl when you aren’t going to use them for a month. I just drain mine after the power has been back on for several days. Electric start but the pull start takes two pulls for the first start, just to get the fuel flowing.
7500
https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200756204_200756204
3500
https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200660221_200660221
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Thomas Donohue
> TheRealBicycleBuck
08/05/2020 at 22:22 |
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20kw is a lot of power, so $60 a day doesn’t sound bad.
I’m thinking ~11kW - so assume $40 a day, less $10 each day I’m not spending on grid electric, and the $10 a day I’m spending on gasoline. For $20 a day when the power is out to still have AC and a normal existence so I can work from home? I’d pay triple that right now as I’m sitting upstairs and it’s 86 degrees and disgustingly humid in the house .
Need to do more research, but I don’t see the natural gas costs as being a deal breaker.
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Thomas Donohue
> onlytwowheels
08/05/2020 at 22:24 |
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Nice, but pricey. Generac for under $3000 and some very small SmartUPS just in case.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> Thomas Donohue
08/05/2020 at 22:49 |
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National average power consumption per day is 30 kWh , Louisiana average is 42 kWh. It’s probably a underestimation to assume 11 kWh. I f you want to keep the AC on and everything running like normal, assume the national average of 30 kWh . So, i ncrease the cost by 40% to get the extra 10 kWh to meet the average and you’re looking at ~ $84 per day.
My wife’s aunt and
uncle has
a Generac for their
house. When Gustav came, a
ll of their
kids and grandkids went to
their house
since they were the only ones in the family who had power. They lived on the other side of town at the time and although we were invited,
we didn’t want to squeeze four more people into the house with at least 10 other people. I never found out what they paid, but
I heard several people in our office complaining about $800 gas bills. That was back in 2008 when the national average for natural gas was around $9.50.
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Thomas Donohue
> TheRealBicycleBuck
08/06/2020 at 08:55 |
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I was referring to an 11kw Generac for essentials. I’ll need to measure the peaks on my A/C, but everything else looks good. I am not planning on ‘life as usual’ and inviting the whole neighborhood over, just AC/heat, refrigerators, and getting online. With a small window AC unit right now, I’m averaging under 2 amps continuous, and I’m cautiously managing the peaks by manually staggering the loads. I would do the same with the Generac....A/C or heat goes off, then run one load of wash.
The point of getting an auto-transfer generator is for emergencies, and there is a cost to that. I work from home, and to not have to waste hours setting up and maintaining the portable generator is one of the main benefits. If I average five days a year of outages, and the cost is $100/day, then that’s the cost of staying online. More importantly, it’s the smaller ~six hour outages that are more likely to occur, and that is where the ‘instant on’ will be very useful, as I have about 90 min of battery power. No more wondering how long it will be, should I start the generator, do I have gas , etc ?
I understand your decision, and appreciate the extra info. But for me, the main takeaway from your post was this.
When Gustav came.... they were the only ones in the family who had power.
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TheRealBicycleBuck
> Thomas Donohue
08/06/2020 at 09:56 |
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I guess I was confused. You wrote “... still have AC and a normal existence... .” Most people mean life as usual when they say that. It’s certainly what my wife’s aunt and uncle want. I mentioned them because of the family invasion. They are sweet people who can’t say no, so when their three kids and their spouses and all of their kids all asked to come over, they couldn’t say no. All those people meant that the whole house was up and running with a heavier load than normal. I don’t know your family situation and whether or not you have relatives that would invite themselves over. I assumed you do.
We had the discussion in our household about the need/desire for a whole-house system and one of the big concerns was the hit to the budget if we had a long outage like during Gustav. For us, it isn’t worth it. I usually work at the office, so if the power is out there, they send us home anyway. I can see how your situation might be different since you work from home full time. I was sharing our experience with whole-house generators since many people aren’t aware of their energy consumption and don’t bother to do the math before they’re hit with a surprise bill.
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Thomas Donohue
> TheRealBicycleBuck
08/06/2020 at 11:22 |
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Understood and I appreciate the insight to what could be a big surprise depending on where you live and how often you lose power.
Agreed that normal wasn’t the best choice of words....I meant ‘ normal’ in the sense of not continuing to live extravagantly with excess electronics and toys , of which I have many. That’s why I’m looking for a properly sized unit, as my research so far has shown that the larger units consume a lot of energy even when you don’t have a heavy load.
Yes: A C/ Heat, PC/Internet/Wifi/routers, main refrigerator (19 cu ft) , some lighting (most of which is LED now), stove (gas), coffee maker, outlets to charge batteries/devices.
No: Large TVs, stereo, Xbox, garage doors, printers, beer refrigerator,wine fridge, dishwasher, microwave, toaster oven.
Maybe (or to be cycled with AC / heat off) : Spare fridge (11 cu ft), clothes washer, 32" TV.
As for family, mine is very large and close but not invited - they are welcome to fight over my old generator! Seriously, m y girlfriend, her kids, and anyone with a medical issue is welcome. My one brother already has a propane system with manual transfer switch (in use now, he’s probably out til Monday) and a few others have generators.
I ’d likely downsize to a small inverter at some point for extreme emergencies, and camping/glamping.
Thanks again for your input, as it wasn’t something I researched too much. Everyone has different needs/priorities, and we tend to find out what’s really important when the shit hits the fan.
CalzoneGolem
> Thomas Donohue
08/06/2020 at 11:38 |
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Here’s what I did : https://oppositelock.kinja.com/tag/quarantine-generator-install