-
Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/
What did you do to prep today?
- Thread starter squerly
- Start date
FrancSevin
Proudly Deplorable
After visiting my Son's place in CT during Sndy,we realized how vuneratble he is to power outages.
While he did not lose power that night, he could quite esily with all the trees and such where he lives.
He has a well Oil furnace and Gas water heater. But with power out he has none of the above. So I will be rewireing my ranch genset as a backup power source and install it next Christmas. He will then be a proper preper.
I know he will need a licencsed electrician to do the final hook up but I can set the panel on the wall, pipe out the diesel exhaust and parisite a fuel line off his heating oil tank.
5500 watts should keep his furnace,water pump and kitchen appliances on line. The gen has an automatic start when the power shuts off. It also self diagnostics and runs a monthly test, all automaticaly.
Now, I have to find a new system for the ranch. I want bigger power ( 10,000 Watts) but I don't need the auto start. The solar systems maintain anything I need running when I'm gone.
While he did not lose power that night, he could quite esily with all the trees and such where he lives.
He has a well Oil furnace and Gas water heater. But with power out he has none of the above. So I will be rewireing my ranch genset as a backup power source and install it next Christmas. He will then be a proper preper.
I know he will need a licencsed electrician to do the final hook up but I can set the panel on the wall, pipe out the diesel exhaust and parisite a fuel line off his heating oil tank.
5500 watts should keep his furnace,water pump and kitchen appliances on line. The gen has an automatic start when the power shuts off. It also self diagnostics and runs a monthly test, all automaticaly.
Now, I have to find a new system for the ranch. I want bigger power ( 10,000 Watts) but I don't need the auto start. The solar systems maintain anything I need running when I'm gone.
muleman
Gone But Not Forgotten
Saw this and thought it might be handy for folks with apartments or small pantries.
http://amy-toby.blogspot.com/2012/03/canned-food-storage.html
http://amy-toby.blogspot.com/2012/03/canned-food-storage.html
Attachments
Last edited:
Bet that brought a tear to his eye and a lump to his throat.
As someone said, you need to run it once a month for an hour or so with a load on it, a big load, make it work. I personally use 1500 watt electric heaters. There's no need to be fanatical about it but it really needs to be done.
Also, when you are done exercising it once a month let the fuel tank run dry or shut off the fuel supply and let the generator die from fuel starvation. You really don't want any old, stale gas sitting around in the carberator. Stab-il will help but remember when you put it in and make sure that gas is used up in a year or so from that date.
I'm sorry if you guys know all this but there's nothing worse and I do mean nothing worse than a generator that won't start. Just talking from personal experience.
muleman
Gone But Not Forgotten
I would say by Tuesday you better find a home for the water in the trunk or it will be froze and leaking.
Found this product today.
http://www.waterwise-distillers.com/waterwise-model-1600.htm
One of my problems has always been potable water. I have a swimming pool with about 30,000 gallons but, because of the chlorine in it, I can't really use it for filling toilet tanks and flushing toilets without putting the septic system at risk.
I thought that something like this would at least give me a couple of flushes a day and I could run it on the gas cooktop, the propane grill, a camping stove, the wood fired smoker or a wood camp fire. It's either this or a Berkey water filter.
Maybe I just need to get a portapotty and be done with it.
http://www.waterwise-distillers.com/waterwise-model-1600.htm
One of my problems has always been potable water. I have a swimming pool with about 30,000 gallons but, because of the chlorine in it, I can't really use it for filling toilet tanks and flushing toilets without putting the septic system at risk.
I thought that something like this would at least give me a couple of flushes a day and I could run it on the gas cooktop, the propane grill, a camping stove, the wood fired smoker or a wood camp fire. It's either this or a Berkey water filter.
Maybe I just need to get a portapotty and be done with it.
Thanks.
AAUTOFAB1
Bronze Member
today i started looking at how to make my property less inviting to wondering zombies. the access from the street is gated but i need to be able to get cover built into certain areas so i can see but intruders are exposed.i want to funnel them into a corner to box them in,+ has any one ever seen the trip wire style warning devices? they use shot gun primers so if some one or some thing ventures past it triggers the primer. in the dead of night it makes a hell of a bang.
JEV
Mr. Congeniality
http://hitechammotogo.com/html/perimeter_alarm_systems___acce.html at the bottom of the page.
This is illegal in most states, but may be fine where you live. FWIW, I would be more fearful if a tripwire turned on floodlights that exposed my position, followed by a loudspeaker that gave the following announcement...
"Hey....Bitch! You're now saving the batteries on my night vision scope."
Purchased a Cammenga compass and I'm learning to use it. Turns out there is a lot more to using a compass than just finding North!
That's a beauty.
'Way back in my teen years, when I did a lot of camping and hill walking (hiking), I was able to use a compass pretty good. These days I'm not so sure but I still carry one and topo maps in the truck ... just in case.
What all foods do you dehydrate?
And Welcome to Forums Forums. Stop by and do an intro in the Introductions Forum when you have time.
Here is a direct link to that forum. http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/forumdisplay.php?f=48 just look for the 'new post' button right under the forum title "Introductions Forum"
I haven't done much, if any, preparing for quite a while. I've almost everything I need in place to get by. I'm too old to be bugging out anywhere so I guess I'll stand or fall with what I've got where I am.
Oh, by the way, welcome tystone 48.
Oh, by the way, welcome tystone 48.
There was a time in my life, at the airport in the Cameroons in West Africa, that I would have gladly shot somebody for a roll of toilet paper.
Ah, that was another day in another life. 
Rusty Shackleford
Automotive M.D.
Don't want to see this thread die as we need to prep now more than ever. We replaced the old lo-boy tv stand in the LR a week or so ago. Instead of throwing it out, I stood it up on end and put it in Mason's closet behind the wall. Now it is hidden food/supply storage.
Attachments
That'll work!!!!
I haven't done much new prepping lately, just more of the same old stuff. I did get a small lake built and I'll turn the water well on it in the fall and see how much water I can get in it before spring when the sprinklers need to be turned back on.
Got a place all figured out for the standby generator that I'm probably going to put in this spring. It'll be an air cooled, 20 kW, natural gas unit from Generac or Kohler. That should take care of the whole house except for the a/c and the well pump. I looked at low speed, liquid cooled ones but I honestly don't think that the extra expense is justified for the few occasions we lose power these days. The utility company has done a good job over the past few years clearing their ROWs and outages are few and not long lasting ... but you never know when the next ice storm will hit.
OH, I did pick up a couple of bucket filters from Sawyer (I think) just in case the water gets shut down again but even then, the water utility now has a back-up generator for their well pump so we shouldn't lose water for any length of time.
Otherwise it just the same ol' stuff.
BigAl
Gone But Not Forgotten
I ain't prepped much , but I guess living where we do , everyday is a prep day for us . Got 3 generators now . A inverter 2200 watt , a Generac 8000 , and a military 15000 unit , We have are own creek .plenty of firewood , All the game/fish we could possibly ever eat. A 36 foot RV that is loaded with everything we need and ready to go on a moments notice . I keep one room in the shop loaded with everyday repair parts for keeping everything up and running .You name it , it is in there .
I have become the Ace Hardware of the back country around here . Yesterday it was a bag of tile mortar that was loaned out and will be replaced on Tuesday . Friday it was a roll of 15 pound felt , one 30/50 well switch and 1/2 dozen PEX plumbing fittings . Monday it was a water heater temp relief valve .
I have become the Ace Hardware of the back country around here . Yesterday it was a bag of tile mortar that was loaned out and will be replaced on Tuesday . Friday it was a roll of 15 pound felt , one 30/50 well switch and 1/2 dozen PEX plumbing fittings . Monday it was a water heater temp relief valve .
Why don't you think a 20KW would take care of the A/C and well pump?
The well pump should be a piece of cake.
My 15KW won't run my 5-ton heat pump but I'd think a 20KW would. (I'm swapping out the 15KW for a 30KW to run the whole house).
The well pump and the a/c are 3-phase. I've got one of only two houses in the county that has 3-phase power. The utility company wanted to disconnect it a few years back but balked at replacing two big, honking a/c units and the well pump.
Without those two I think that a 20kW unit will run the whole house. Sure, we have 3 fridges and 2 freezers, 3 ovens, 2 sets of washers and driers but if the power goes off nobody is going to run all that stuff at the same time. With a little judicious power management I think that we could get by with a smaller generator but 20 kW should handle everything without being stressed.
If power goes off during the summer we use fans, a portable a/c unit or a big evaporative cooler. Or, if all else fails, we adjourn to the RV that's sitting in the driveway and live in relative comfort for a few days.
Last edited:
Gotcha.
Instead of a 20KW single phase, why not get a 3-phase?
Too much work.
There is single phase and three phase coming in to the house. The house itself is on a single phase 200 amp panel. The 3-phase goes to a panel in the shop. The two are entirely separate. The shop panel powers the a/c and well pump and a single leg is used to power other stuff like the shop itself but mainly things outside around the property like the sprinklers, the lights and power to the gate, the barn, the pool and hot tub etc.
I'm not a great home electrician but I suppose that I could put a 3-phase generator on the shop panel and make the house run off a subpanel coming from it. My head hurts just thinking about it. It's way too much work for me. The single phase installation should be fairly simple, the electrician will manage that just fine.
You got me thinking though. Maybe what I need at some point is two separate generators, one on each panel, an automatic transfer switch on the house and maybe a manual transfer switch on the shop or both on auto switches.