The Coffee House

[smoke665]

They're really noisy, they stink, and they're only as good as the amount of gas you have. Now, my sister in law

I have a portable unit that we can keep the refrigerators running, have lights and tv, but won't powered the heat pumps. The goal was to install a standby propane unit big enough to power the house, but frankly in 11 years we haven't lost power for more than a few hours, so haven't seen the need. The standby units are very quiet.

 

[Gary A.]

Last week Gary decided to install solar w/backup batteries. He is gathering bids.

 

[JonA_CT]

Our cabin in the UP of Michigan. Not roughing it at all.... Sorry, I'm a city boy
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Let us know when you're hosting the next Coffeehouse meet-up


No generator here. But...my parents have a propane-powered auto-on whatever generator that will run everything in their house, and supply their motorhome with it's requisite power needs. So if Jose decided to mess with us next week and we lose power...I just shift my home base about 10 miles to the Northeast from here. They'll eventually run out of propane, but it'll take them awhile. I think their tank is rated for 10+ days.

 

[smoke665]

@Gary A I've looked at solar, but frankly I couldn't make it work financially. Between the cost and the lifespan of the panels and batteries, it just wasn't cost effective. Adding wind power to the mix made it closer to the utility cost, but still not cheaper. Now if you're in an area with a steady directional wind, a relatively small wind powered generator will blow solar out of the water. Before we built on this property, we had another parcel that we were looking at. It had 2 year round springs, one of which was large enough to have powered a micro hydroelectric plant capable of powering an entire home, and selling excess. Only problem was the land was to far out in the woods.

 

[terri39 10]

They're really noisy, they stink, and they're only as good as the amount of gas you have. Now, my sister in law

I have a portable unit that we can keep the refrigerators running, have lights and tv, but won't powered the heat pumps. The goal was to install a standby propane unit big enough to power the house, but frankly in 11 years we haven't lost power for more than a few hours, so haven't seen the need. The standby units are very quiet.

You should hear the ones some of my neighbors have been using the last couple of days....it's like waiting for someone to turn off their lawnmower. I don't know much about that kind; they looked basically like engines dropped in a frame. Very loud, and they were running constantly. The fumes were wafting over here, as well - I wasn't impressed that it'd be something I'd want to do.

We've lost power here, over 2.5 years, 4-5 times total. This was the longest (just over 2 days, and there are still a few thousand around here without). If this neighborhood gets its natural gas lines, it might be that I'd drop the $$ to get one installed and just forget about it. It would stay with the house and likely be an eventual selling point, of sorts. My sister in law never thought about it until she got one with this house she now lives in, and swears it's the way to go.

Nothing I'm going to do while under duress - I'd have to look at some models and be ready to pay for a professional installation. It's pretty woodsy around here, and it's a small town - doesn't seem like a bad thing to plan for.

 

[smoke665]

ou should hear the ones some of my neighbors have been using the last couple of days....it's like waiting for someone to turn off their lawnmower. I don't know much about that kind; they looked basically like engines dropped in a frame.

Most of those portable models are like mine, nothing more than a lawn mower engine and alternator/generator. By comparison the standby units are designed to be quiet from the ground up with soundproofing enclosures. You likely wouldn't hear it running unless you were on top of it. Here's an interesting read on them Generator Noise Levels - How Loud Are They | Norwall PowerSystems Blog

 

[Gary A.]

Right now our electric bill is under $100 a month. Gary can get a pretty good solar system for around $75 a month. That would cover my entire household needs 24/7 all year long. No wind, no hydro, just solar.

Longest outage I've experienced in SoCal, was about 8 hours, during the Northridge Earthquake. Other than that, over a couple of decades, so few outages for so little time ... that it isn't worth mentioning. Outages are very rare out here, and when they do hit, the one's Gary personally experienced, .... 20 minutes ... maybe.

 

[smoke665]

@Gary A. we have 400 amp service, here for house and buildings so a full solar source would be pretty pricey for us. Wind generation has been making some inroads of late, but the noise factor is a problem. The other potential source for some is taking a 4 cylinder automotive engine coupled to a conventional generator and using a wood gas generator to provide the fuel.

 

[Gary A.]

There is a general move here for residentials to upgrade from 100 amp service to 200 amp ... my bids are for 200 amp. Wood burning generators would not pass our South Coast Air Quality Management District's standards, unless you have a boatload of filtration on the backside. There is a lot of huge industrial wind and solar farming out here in the deserts. Gary has a nice, consistent breeze capable of turning a small turbine ... but it really isn't necessary.

 

[SquarePeg41 3]

Solar is very popular in our town. Lots of south facing houses have the panels. Our house is a prime candidate and we get solar salesmen knocking on our door several times every year. Since I'm hoping to build up, I can't really consider any of that right now. Have to finalize the plans for the house first.

 

[snowbear120 52]

Power outages are pretty rare for us: the cables are underground for most of the area. We do get them but generally only for a few minutes, unless there is a problem at the substation. We did get something over the weekend, while we were in Maine. The clocks for the microwave and Keurig had gone bonkers, but the TV was still on (we put it on Animal Planet to keep kitties occupied)

 

[Gary A.]

Delish ...

 

[smoke665]

In 1993 we had a snowstorm of all things that knocked out power for 7 days. The biggest reason was not the snow but Southern not maintaining their right always. There was such an outrage that hardly a blade of grass survives now on the right of ways, but power outages are pretty much a thing of the past.

 

[smoke665]

There is a general move here for residentials to upgrade from 100 amp service to 200 amp .

Wow, seriously we had 200 amp service at our old house that was 30 years old. Course when you run multiple HVAC systems service panel requirements go up. Even so, our all electric utility bill averages out just over $200/month, which isn't bad for the area we heat/cool.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary thinks that the energy requirement for heating/cooling are significant less out here than in Alabama. There is a band of older residential housing near the coast which has no A/C.

Gary has central air, but only runs it about two weeks total out of the year.