| Steve & Susan 2005-05-21, 5:52 pm |
| I live in an urbanizing area of Missouri. For the first 30 or so years
of my life, I grew up and lived around New York City, so I'm
comfortable with a certain standard of service. I can remember only
two significant losses of power in the old neighborhood.
Things are not as good out here. We have a power failure at least once
a week long enough for the UPSs to drain out on the computers. I hate
running around the house resetting clocks and went to mostly battery
operated ones except for the appliances that have internal clocks and
timers. We also have several per year that happen during storms that
last for several hours and one averaging out to about once in two
years or so where power is out for at least a day. During this time,
aside from electricity, there is no heat (furnace is propane, but the
blowers are electric) and there is no water (water is from a pumped
well, not from a public utility). During those times, it's like we're
Y2K survivors.
There was a time when I was considering investing in a propane fired
Onan or Baldor slab-mounted generator with an automatic transfer
switch to run the house. I presently have the same type of setup as
Ken, a small gas powered Onan in the garage. I've used it to run the
refrigerator and TV as well.
If I were to buy a new home (or maybe I should say, If I could afford
to buy a new home), I would probably add $10,000 and outfit the
electrical system with an automatic transfer switch and generator.
It would be nice having electricity when everywhere else is dark.
Steve
On Sat, 21 May 2005 11:48:49 -0400, poboxdc@ix.netcom.com wrote:
>Bishoop wrote:
>
>Two years ago after a severe thunderstorm left 100,000+ homes
>in my county (Montgomery County, Md) without power, I went
>out and bought a Coleman (Briggs & Stratton engine) generator.
>It has a peak load of 6250 and constant 5500 watts. I have
>used it one time since my purchase, but you must be reminded
>you get what you pay for. ($498) I can run my TV, refrigerator,
>and a few lights with no problems. At the time I didn't need
>heat. Also some fans can be run. You have to figure up the
>watts/amps of each item and decide what you want to keep on.
>
>One neighbor told me "What good is it if you run out of gasoline?"
>I replied, "Well, I would syphon some gas from my car!" and he shut
>up.
>
>I do feel better owning one.
>
>(ken)
|