Hurricane Irma

[Mike CHS]

I used to have people make snide comments about how much fuel I always had on hand plus a room full of food. They quit the comments after 15 of them spent 3 weeks at my house after their houses got damaged and I was the only one able to turn on power for the 3 weeks they all stayed with me.

Glad you made it through with no permanent damage.

 

[Baymule]

@Fullhousefarm I am glad that you and family have come through the storm as well as you have. Thanks for posting and letting us know you are ok.

 

[greybeard]

Good to see some folks checking in with minimal damage. No electricity sucks. Generators are good, if one has the fuel for it.
Fullhousefarm, what kind and size generator do you use?
My 7500 watt Generac isn't really as big as I need and is noisy as heck. I'm looking to upgrade.

I know from what news I've had time to watch that things in Fla are a big mess, but hope everyone can get their lives back to normal with as little $$$ pain and loss as possible.

 

[farmerjan]

One thing that I have found that here in Va many people that have generators, have gone to whole house type and use propane. They are quiet and seamless to start up automatically. If they make a smaller one that can be portable that runs on propane that would be my choice but don't know if they do. QUIET as a mouse. I do know that anyone that gets one, get one as big as you can possibly afford for all the reasons that @greybeard listed in his post about how long they run on half load etc.

When we had that derrachio about 5 years ago with those crazy winds that knocked power out for 5 days, my son and I traded his generator back and forth, so that we could keep the freezers going and have basic electric, but another neighbor that I was farm sitting for had a whole house one, propane, so I took showers there.
Unfortunately, with all this "fencing out of streams for water quality" and other gov.bs, we had to haul water to cattle that were fenced out of the creeks because naturally the well pumps at those pastures didn't work. If it was our land, the well pumps would be on solar, or even old fashioned windmills. Some here just cut the fences so that they could get cattle to water and the county agent basically looked the other way because they knew that it was not the time to try to get B$#%@Y with rules. Most everyone that did that then put gates in so that they could get access to the water in case of an emergency again.

 

[Fullhousefarm]

Good to see some folks checking in with minimal damage. No electricity sucks. Generators are good, if one has the fuel for it.
Fullhousefarm, what kind and size generator do you use?
My 7500 watt Generac isn't really as big as I need and is noisy as heck. I'm looking to upgrade.

I know from what news I've had time to watch that things in Fla are a big mess, but hope everyone can get their lives back to normal with as little $$$ pain and loss as possible.

Um- we have one we got during the storms in 2004. Not bad. I think it's around 7500. My husband sells Champions now so at some point he is going to get us one of those. They do home standbys (we probably won't go that route) down to small portable dual fuel and remote start units (what I used to milk this week.) He can always drop ship. If you want to talk about them PM me and I can give you his work number.

There are areas- like North Lakeland- about 30 min from us that has it pretty bad with flooding and power lines down and such. Then, there are also areas they didn't expect to flood south of us on the Alafia river that have 12' of water. Of coarse S Fl where it hit as a 4 still has lots of storm damage and stuff.

 

[Mini Horses]

LOL. There are some nice things about not having power I guess. The vacuuming, laundry and such just has to wait!

Maybe we need to make a sign "We Are IN STORM MODE" and hang it up prominently......then, don't stress housework.

here in Va many people that have generators, have gone to whole house type and use propane

YES -- Generac makes a nice one. Neighbor has one & it would be a purchase I would consider! Right now I have a 10K Generac (higher start up), electric start, that is portabe & gas. Have a device from electric co that lets me plug into it, just behind meter, to power up the house. The Device stops any feedback when electric comes back and lets me know with colored lights. Anyway, I can put breakers off and on to use the electric feed anywhere. Of course, you MUST be careful of load but, it works better than a lot of cords in and out. Since I am only one here, it's controlled. VERY heavy unit to move, even with the wheels!

You can get propane & solar portables. Expensive. Before I did that I would look at the permanent unit options with propane. I'm not in a flood area but, they could be mounted high if you were. We're talking 5K & up on prices.

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

Praise the Lord y'all are safe! My aunt also is safe, she lives in Fl too and didn't evacuate.

 

[greybeard]

Have a device from electric co that lets me plug into it, just behind meter, to power up the house. The Device stops any feedback when electric comes back and lets me know with colored lights.

I think I know what you are referring to regarding that 'device', but also pretty sure the local power company here doesn't supply them even if I were to pay for it.

10kw sounds like a lot of generating capacity, but considering an electric skillet or even using a hairdryer alone can add a 1500W (1.5kw) run load to a generator, it really isn't.

 

[Simpleterrier]

The whole house ones are nice but pricy. I have installed a few of them. I would like one it would go great with my free natural gas well. But we don't lose power to often. So I just pull out the 7500 off brand and plug it in to my dryer outlet with my main breaker off. I also only turn on what is apsolutly needed. Mostly the fridge and freezer. I would never try to run my ac even with a whole house one.

 

[Mini Horses]

GB & Simpleterrier --

Yep, must be selective with breakers & what you are doing. I checked with power co before buying to be sure I had enough to run my deep well!! But with cutting all off that is not needed, I can have hot water (50 gal well insulated, heat, cut breaker off) a & shower. Frig & freezer can run -- even those don't have to be 24/7, lights, TV for news, etc. Much better than the 3500 or so to only run frig. I am blessed to have what I do, LOL. ONE day -- bigger & better for now I am comfortable with survival.

Years back I had small one & during a several day outage, we ran it between DD, DS & me. Saved everyone food....all ran water when their "turn" & I filled a 50gal water tank on my trailer for use at my farm when at their homes. My well over 500' & pump too large...theirs were shallow, ran ok. Now, don't need to help them.