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Join Date: May 2003
Location: southern California
Posts: 26,964
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Things I learned from a power outage last night
Power went out at about 7:00PM, a transformer exploded. I hooked up the Honda EU2000i generator and it started right up. I load test it with my wife's 1,500 watt hair dryer monthly when I vacuum the fish tank (both take about 15 minutes). As I hooked up the 55 gallon fish tank to an extension cord, I noticed water pooling at the base of the stand WTF? Turns out the air hoses for the two powerheads that pull air and water through the gravel bed were acting as siphons. Only lost a cup or two of water, could have been a gallon or two. Cut of air tubes above the water line, problem solved. I'm going to buy a UPS for the aquarium. If I'm camping with the Honda generator, I'm SOL in terms of a neighbor or my brother (who lives three doors down) helping me out.
My brother need to borrow my cordless drill to drill out his garage side door lock because he couldn't find the key. His garage door is not accessible from the house and he doesn't have an override pull cable release on the garage door. I'm going to buy one of those $100 or so power conditioners for my 52" big screen, I currently have a $15 power strip/surge protector. I'm also going to buy a few more CFL work lights and a few more heavy-duty extension cords. All-in-All, it went well.
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Hugh |
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08-22-2009, 08:02 PM
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Cogito Ergo Sum
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It is not uncommon for an ice storm to knock out power here for days at a time. Solution? Really big freaking generator/welder. Work with it the rest of the year. Power the whole house when the **** hits the fan...
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08-22-2009, 09:50 PM
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Hugh, what do/can you power with that 2000 watt Honda? Can you keep a refrigerator and a separate freezer going? That would be my main need if we lose power for more than several hours.
The thing I need to do is modify the Prius to serve as a UPS. It is pretty straightforward, so I hear. Basically you wire an inverter to the car's 12v system near the secondary (12v) battery and when 120v is needed, simply connect an extension cord and turn the car on. The car will supply power from the big (48v I think) battery, running the gas engine only when it needs to recharge the battery. Since it runs intermittently instead of constantly, it uses very little fuel. Last edited by jyl; 08-22-2009 at 11:12 PM.. |
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08-22-2009, 11:10 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Linn County, Oregon
Posts: 48,514
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Hugh, Ask your aquarium supplier about airline check valves...these allow the air to flow one way only, prevent the syphoning problem.
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"Now, to put a water-cooled engine in the rear and to have a radiator in the front, that's not very intelligent." -Ferry Porsche (PANO, Oct. '73) (I, Paul D. have loved this quote since 1973. It will remain as long as I post here.) |
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08-22-2009, 11:18 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 5,179
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Power here on the east side of the HUUUGE town of Rolla, MO went out the other day. Big storm came through. Power went out at probably midnight, stayed out til about 2:30 or 3. Not that long compared to some. I was in a university lab at the time working on a project and didn't notice a thing as the whole place is on a different system.
Walking home that night it was raining a bit, I didn't have an umbrella, and the city was totally dark with the exception of some big lights glowing up the fog from the outskirts of town. It was extremely eerie. Perfect setting for a real film-noir movie.
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08-23-2009, 01:04 AM
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I'm with Bill
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Scottsville Va
Posts: 24,186
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Town of Rolla? Ya gotta be kidding me. Only thing in Rolla is the frog
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Electrical problems on a pick-up will do that to a guy- 1990C4S |
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08-23-2009, 01:31 AM
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"what do/can you power with that 2000 watt Honda? Can you keep a refrigerator and a separate freezer going?"
I have that same model (Honda EU2000i ). It ran both of mine for five days this winter. Jim
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down to jap bikes that run and a dead Norton |
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08-23-2009, 02:24 AM
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Did you get the memo?
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Wichita, KS
Posts: 32,337
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Quote:
Our entire neighborhood has all of the lines buried, yet somehow we still have periodic outages. Something upstream on the grid must be a weakness.
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‘07 Mazda RX8-8 Past: 911T, 911SC, Carrera, 951s, 955, 996s, 987s, 986s, 997s, BMW 5x, C36, C63, XJR, S8, Maserati Coupe, GT500, etc |
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08-23-2009, 03:27 AM
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Custom User Title
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Barrie, Ontario Canada
Posts: 2,954
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Quote:
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08-23-2009, 03:42 AM
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Detached Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: southern California
Posts: 26,964
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Yeah, I'm going to get some one-way air valves as well. The Honda will run both my house and garage frigs. and some CFLs easily.
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Hugh |
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08-23-2009, 08:07 AM
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1986 Porsche 944 2.5l
1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2
the stable a few years ago
2013 
