Posted on 05/02/2011 7:56:59 AM PDT by proudofthesouth
Just wanted to say that I've missed y'all these past few days. Wednesday day and night was frightening here in northern Alabama.
I was blessed that all I lost was a refrigerator full of food and 4 days 6.5 hours without power. There are others that have lost so much, much more. My beloved Alabama has been torn apart. But people have been WONDERFUL!!!!! Grocery stores and gas stations were open ASAP; restaurants rather than having to throw out their food were giving it away; others were having ice trucked in from out of state and were giving it away; people were following the rules for 4 way stopping at non working red lights; local radio stations have been on the air continously with community information; neighbors have been helping neighbors; out of state electrical workers have come in to assist. I'm proud of my state.
The worst that has happened to me other than throwing out a fridge full of food (which my home owners insurance is reimbursing me for) is a bad case of sunburn from staying outside and reading.
Would like some advice from FReepers please. I can't afford a generator but heard on the radio about something called a step up inverter that's fairly inexpensive. Its small enough to just run a reading lamp, camping fridge, computer, etc.. How do these work? (Where do they get their power from?) How expensive are they and where can I purchase one?
Glad to be back and I hope that none of my fellow FReepers suffered any losses in last weeks storms.
Good link, thanks.
YW
If you are serious about backing up your power for your your refrigerator and/or freezer - or anything which throws off appreciable sensible heat - you pretty much need to consider a gasoline generator.I looked at your link, and I gotta say I'm interested in picking up one of those puppies - and probably not the smallest one, either. Against the possibility of losing power in winter, and needing to run the oil burner/hot air fan.
I asked the customer service there about how much gas it uses and thankfully only 1 gallon at a time which is nice as during emergencies gas is rationed here.
Thanks for your recommendation!
There is another group that are bringing in some “AC Delco” generators from off-shore. I worked for a hardware distributor who sold them. Don’t think they will be as cheap as the ones on the link, but better construction.
Did you notice the belt driven unit on the link I gave you? If I remember it was $399 and took 16HP to run it. Looked pretty nice. Put a 20 HP Kohler on it and you would have something.
We already have one at the farm on our portable welder. It works pretty nice in an emergency.
Glad you’re OK - Alabama’s done us all proud...
Had other problems over the few times I actually used it.
Generators can be noisy as hell....also, during our power outage, I probably spent more on fuel than what I would have lost in the fridge...with the current gas prices, just something to consider.
My generator was a commercial/5500Watt type, the neighbors had a small portable Honda unit that was VERY quiet, but was adequate enough to keep their fridge and a few lights going.
Consider purchasing something similar to THIS (around $16 on sale), it'll give you an idea of the power consumption of your appliances, etc. so you can determine what you'll need(remember the fridge can sometimes require 3-4 times normal power consumption on start-up).
The ideal place to use it would be in a utility room or garage, or enclosed porch (ventilated to the outside). There are outlets on the generator to plug in extension cords. You can run several devices from the extension cord as long as you don’t exceed the operating wattage. I plan to use it to power my travel trailer. It has 12volt lights and a built in power converter and battery. It should be able to power my refrigerator in an emergency. Good luck!
Go to walmart and get an extension cord with several outlets,or You can use a computer surge protector along with a single extension cord. Hope this helps!
Glad you have come back to Christ!
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