Stijn!!

[porsche4life]

Mag lite? We aren't in the '80s any more guys! There are much brighter, better, smaller flashlights out there these days!

[RKDinOKC]

Not for also hitting someone over the head with.

[GH85Carrera]

We have gas logs in our fire place. The last time we had an ice storm and lost power we fired up the gas logs. They provide some heat. That is likely the last time we have had the gas logs fired up. In theory I could pull out the gas logs and burn real wood if I had any to burn.

The power was back on fairly soon so it was not a big problem. It always makes me want to get a generator. Then I start the escalation. I figure if I have to buy one why not get one that could run the AC in the summer and why not a Generac with a automatic power transfer switch. Then I see the price tag and say nope. In 16 years of living there we have lost power just once in the winter for less than 18 hours. I can't see spending thousands of dollars for that rare occurrence.

[Porsche-poor]

I have a 5000 watt generator. It is enough to run the gas furnace and keep the fridge and freezer working. Its wired into the main panel via a transfer switch so a few lights and the tv do work as well.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Mag lite? We aren't in the '80s any more guys! There are much brighter, better, smaller flashlights out there these days!

I have one of them there cool modern day flash lights. It is very bright and compact. I use it often. But with a full charge it lasts just a few hours of conservative use. My old huge mag light is not super bright but it runs for many hours and a swap to fresh batteries takes just seconds. Once that new fancy light dies I would have to use the car battery to recharge it overnight.

[RKDinOKC]

My brothers Y2K farm house/bunker runs off the grid, wind, battery, and diesel. It sells wind power to the grid to about make the electric bill zero. They buried a big tank and filled it with diesel (treated to last a long time). If the grid goes down it switches to battery with wind keeping them charged. If the wind ain't enough it kicks on the diesel. I don't think they do the routine starts on the diesel so it may not work if really needed. The thing I thought was bad is that you can see the wind generators way up on a tower for miles. If there had been a bad enough Y2K civilization crash that they would have to rely on their farmhouse, those wind generators would advertise the location.

Gotta be careful with that emergency preparedness stuff. Before you know it you are labeled a doomsday prepper.

I visit the American Airlines Logistics building that does all the flight planning etc. in Dallas. The power coming in the building runs two big electric motors that turn two big generators with huge flywheels on them. If the power cuts there are two big industrial gas engines that immediately kick on at 5000 rpm. Got to watch them do their weekly test. The gas motors are kicked in by the flywheel and are instantly running at 5000 rpm. It happens so fast there is no spike in the power output of the generators one way or the other. It is quite startling to be standing next to a cold motor that is suddenly running at 5000 rpm.

My nephew built a big house kind of in the country. The power was going off all the time. He put in a propane generator that will power the whole house for weeks. He set it up so the propane company fills the underground tank from his front gate and never comes on the property. He is moving and his house is up for sale for $1.4mil american.

[Porsche-poor]

Oh goodie the holiday schedule just came out for 2014 looks like I lost a day so much for benefits.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Porsche-poor

I have a 5000 watt generator. It is enough to run the gas furnace and keep the fridge and freezer working. Its wired into the main panel via a transfer switch so a few lights and the tv do work as well.

I have thought several times about that. I figure a generator stored in the storage building with no gas in it would keep for years. I ALWAYS put Stabil in my gas when I buy it. I have three gallons of gas right now with Stabil waiting for spring mowing.

[GH85Carrera]

The plant that my brother in law works at has a 16 cylinder CAT generator. It makes enough power to run the plant at full capacity with plenty of power to spare. They have a kiln that is the size of a average high school gymnasium. The only time it gets shut down is for scheduled maintenance. It runs 24-7 for 365 days a year. The last time they had to run it for extended time they ordered diesel fuel buy the rail road tanker load. They buy a lot of fuel for the front end loaders and other heavy equipment.

[RKDinOKC]

The reason my nephew did the propane thing is natural gas was going to cost a bunch to get a line to his property and he didn't want to have to worry about storing gasoline or diesel. Made a lot more sense to go propane and have regular deliveries keep the tank topped up.

You could put in a natural gas powered generator, assuming you have a gas powered furnace and water heater like I do.

Saw an episode of Hillbilly Blood, or something like that where they built a still/gasifier that made wood gas out of burning wood and hooked it up to a regular gasoline generator to run the electrics on his house.

[GH85Carrera]

Oh, the natural gas powered Generac is the dream. I am just way to cheap and way to logical to spend that type of money for something I might NEED once per decade for less than a 24 hours.

[RKDinOKC]

me neither

I got kinda disowned from my family because I didn't chip in for the Y2K bunker. Told them I was confident that nothing was going to happen. And I was the crazy one!

[Porsche-poor]

Y2K the non event. The place I was working at had us all on call to come in. The head of engineering finally told the plant mgr if you really think we are coming in here to pick the pieces you are more nuts than all the rest of the y2k loons.

[GH85Carrera]

Y2K was the last time I stayed up until midnight for new years eve. I was expecting a big nothing and I was not disappointed. I was asleep by 12:30 that night.

[Outback Porsche]

Morning Ladies and Gents

[pete3799]

I've got 2 generators. One is a diesel the other (welder/gen.) is gas.
No transfer switch so I have to run extension cords which is a pain but I can run the water pump (220V) the fridge, freezer, lights, etc.
Heat with wood so no problem there.
It's currently 75 degrees warmer inside then out (right on 0* at the moment)

[Porsche-poor]

zero as in "0" good god that nuts

[azzarule]

evening all,

Jeff send me some of that real bacon, the 5hit they have here is just the tails, and so bluudy salty and sweet its ridiculous.

[Porsche-poor]

Complain complain complain.

LOL no kidding the crap sucks

[Rick V]

Evening Y'all.
This is a flashlight. I use it at work, and carry it when I travel, I run the battery down and swap it out with the second one and I always have one cooking. It would be a good hunting light.
Flashlights | MSCDirect.com