We had the same “initiation” with Hurricane Sandy. Power down that time for 13 days. Although for 27 years prior it was still out for hours or days at a time randomly and we had no genny. My son got two 8500W units at Lowe’s. One for him, one for my mom and there were trailer loads selling out each hour with people in line by the 3rd day but they sold out in 2 days. When the news spread this was going to be a long-term problem, it was the catalyst.
I eventually installed a 10 circuit transfer switch my self and surprised it has been a mainstay of our outages for nearly 15 years. I still need to go out and pull the cord to start (yuk). This setup runs 80% of my house including 2 refrigerators, our 220v well pump, the oil fired central heat, hot water and lights, wall outlets and microwave. Being rural we have no gas so the stove is electric…so no stove. Outdoor grill does great using water pans to eliminate scorching. We may have had some of the best meals doing that.
From the Sandy experience I have 7of those red 5 gallon gas cans I keep filled and re-fill the cars to keep it fresh and rotated. My new plan up until a few days ago was for a wood fired central boiler. The price of heating oil is absurd. Filling my 550 gal tank at $5.35 or more per gal just burns my butt!! The kind of stone in my shoe that really is unrealistically bothering me so……I have acres and acres of oak. I can harvest 20 or more cord of wood and still not cut live trees just from falls and aging specimens.
And now…why I am not doing that. The system is near $20,000. I have 5 cords ready, then I turn 74 in 3 months. How much longer can I go out and kick oak tree butt, haul, split and stack…then, go out in the cold, rain and snow to load the firebox every day? That math just seems to dictate against it. The rest of this novel ends with a nice monster generator moving on the pad where the wood furnace would have gone! At 85, God willing, I should be able to get it fueled easily
Thank you @John Young for those details
I eventually installed a 10 circuit transfer switch my self and surprised it has been a mainstay of our outages for nearly 15 years. I still need to go out and pull the cord to start (yuk). This setup runs 80% of my house including 2 refrigerators, our 220v well pump, the oil fired central heat, hot water and lights, wall outlets and microwave. Being rural we have no gas so the stove is electric…so no stove. Outdoor grill does great using water pans to eliminate scorching. We may have had some of the best meals doing that.
From the Sandy experience I have 7of those red 5 gallon gas cans I keep filled and re-fill the cars to keep it fresh and rotated. My new plan up until a few days ago was for a wood fired central boiler. The price of heating oil is absurd. Filling my 550 gal tank at $5.35 or more per gal just burns my butt!! The kind of stone in my shoe that really is unrealistically bothering me so……I have acres and acres of oak. I can harvest 20 or more cord of wood and still not cut live trees just from falls and aging specimens.
And now…why I am not doing that. The system is near $20,000. I have 5 cords ready, then I turn 74 in 3 months. How much longer can I go out and kick oak tree butt, haul, split and stack…then, go out in the cold, rain and snow to load the firebox every day? That math just seems to dictate against it. The rest of this novel ends with a nice monster generator moving on the pad where the wood furnace would have gone! At 85, God willing, I should be able to get it fueled easily
Thank you @John Young for those details
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