I have a generator but I’m concerned about being able to get fuel in a crisis scenario
I have a generator but I’m concerned about being able to get fuel in a crisis scenario
I know it would not be practical, but my mind just wandered into an idea regarding storing kinetic energy from solar cells. Imagine some huge concrete blocks or rocks attached to a chain connected to a drive at the top of a tree that drives a generator. During the day, the solar powered motor cranks them up to the very top. Then, at night, as you use power, they drop, spinning the generator, supplying power kinda like the weights of a cookoo clock.
SI have a generator but I’m concerned about being able to get fuel in a crisis scenario
I suppose you wouldn’t get all that much power out of such a thing though, unless you had a tree a couple miles high.
It also sounds kinda rube goldbergish...
I know someone in sunny california who has an entire roof of panels and a large bank of batteries who is almost entirely off the grid. Very expensive, but he used tax credits and such at the time to put it in.
Like our ancestors, you need to plan how to live without electricity altogether. Use a hand pump or a wind mill for the water. Candles to replace the lights. Hand fans for the ceiling fan. No refrigerated foods. Maybe use the solar panel just for the radio or else just forget it.
I have a generator but I’m concerned about being able to get fuel in a crisis scenario
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gasoline powered is only good until the stored gasoline runs out.
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anything as in additive(s) for the fuel to prevent deterioration
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I lost power during Hurricane Ike for 5 days. I have a 5500 Watt gasoline generator. I have six 5~6 gallon cans. When hurricane season starts, I keep two full at all times, using marine grade fuel treatment. I test my generator, and I make sure I have a couple cans of starting fluid.
If a hurricane nears our side of the gulf, I fill up all six. If danger passes without use, I use those cans to fill up my truck, setting no longer than 3 months.
During Ike, our street stayed out of power for 5 days. I only had 3 cans then. The power outage was not wide spread after a day or two. I could fill up a can each time it was empty within a half hour drive. By the fifth day, I was driving an hour one way, just to find a station that had power and gas in their tanks.
In the Houston, Texas area, that is pretty much the limit of reason for long term, wide spread outages. Destruction significantly worse than that and I suspect power for my fans and lights will not be my major problem.
Someday, I will add a dual or tri-fuel unit, gasoline & propane, maybe natural gas as well. I keep several cans of propane for the grill at the same time for the same reason.
I would not depend on the solar battery system of this small size to run my pump for water. I am still stuck in the subburbs on city water. We keep several cases of drinking water all hurricane season, along with several cases of other drinks. If a hurricane nears, I fill up the 65 gallon portable tank I use for remote property.
Not perfect, not as much as I want. But time and money requires compromises. After a week, we are not likely to be staying in the tight quarters suburb if it comes to that.