well. you ready for the lights to go out again? and non ethanol fuel?

So been looking into this and not quite sure what to get for my house. We don’t get any outages besides these PG&E shut offs (1 out in 3+ years). Thinking an inverter like the Honda is enough to keep the fridge running and a few appliances (electric stove). Or just go big and get a conventional with more watts. Don’t necessarily need it to run the whole house. Any thoughts?

 

I’m in the same boat. I don’t need my internet and TV. Just trying to keep my food and beer cold. Plus run a computer inside my water heater.

I checked the tag in my fridge and it’s way within the capacity of a 2000 watt.

For the record. A 2000 ran my fridge, and my neighbors fridge and garage freezer. It was my test. It passed. I’m sure it would fail if all three appliances were warm and needed full juice to cool.

 

Electric stoves use a shit ton of power, heat from gas burned + electric work created.

1. determine what you can't live with
2. determine how many luxuries you aren't willing to give up

Fridge is, for the most part, you have to keep powered up once every 12 hours (if it's closed).

For me, I really only care about my two fridges, the chest freezer and the main unit. Chest freezer is <100W when on. The Main fridge is around 250W when on. That's less than 1/2 load on my gas generator. I can run both once every 4-12 hours depending on how many times I open them.

Additional loads can be to charge my 12v Lithium Battery that's hooked up to my inverter to power my internet and tv.

To cook, I'd just break out the propane, kerosene, or white gas stove. I don't like how inefficient it is to use a fossil fuel to power an electric stove since it wastes the heat.

I can just grab the stove off the shelf and have it running in a minute on my counter.

 

my thoughts exactly. Might just have to pick up that Honda. Saw a Ryobi that got great reviews and some cool features but not sure longevity.

Figured I’d be without the stove and have a burner on my grill or Coleman to use. I think I’m just going inverter to be simple and easy to store/manage.

 

Our power is off again this morning. Back to generator power.

 

So the Honda 2000 / 2200 seems super solid... but Costco has a Yamaha engined clone of it made by AiPower that can be run in parallel and comes with the cable. 2000w peak, $450. They look pretty good and get good reviews. I figure 2 of them which gives me some redundancy if one fails, gives me a loaner for friends if needed, and if I run both gives me 3200+ watts... all for $900.

https://www.costco.com/a-ipower-160...red-inverter-generator.product.100343958.html



Thoughts on this model? Probably have to drive to Medford OR to get them, stores are empty around here.

We're without power and they're projecting another shutoff (or just extending this one) until Thursday.

 

My turn up here in Meadow Valley outside Quincy, power off last night at 11. Windy yesterday, they waited until late to kill power.
Wonder if we all should invest in something more permanent since this could go on for years?
Duane

 

Per the radio, issue with PG&E down the Feather River Canyon by Caribou on Hwy 70. Evidently a spike in power which affected the power company as far away as Susanville.
Duane

 

Home Depot got some Champion 5000W and 6250W generators in today and it was a mad house there. I picked one up just in case, but would rather have a the Honda 2000 inverter instead. Going to see if I need it otherwise will return and get the Honda once the craziness cools down.

 

My boss bought one. He said it’s been solid all week. Only complaint. He said the position of the gas cap makes it difficult for his fans to be comfortable carrying it.

 

Just went to Roseburg OR and got 14 AiPower 2000w Honda clone generators for the whole neighborhood...

plus 2 gas cans for the one asshole that just had to be difficult

 

Wow! You’re a good neighbor!

 

Well to clarify I just made the run and used my CC, they are repaying me....

 

That still makes you a good neighbor.

 

I said you were a good neighbor. (Not a sucka one)

Man. I wish I lived next door to you. I would have made that run with you.

I hope you scored some airline miles on that CC. Solid show of humanity bud. Kudos.

 

For the record. I love those race cans the motorcycle and car guys use. Easy to fill and zero dribbles.

Leftover gas can go into a car and you can pour out the last drop.

 

For the record. I love those race cans the motorcycle and car guys use. Easy to fill and zero dribbles.

Leftover gas can go into a car and you can pour out the last drop.
You can pour the can dry. I bought a two gallon one my wife can handle easy. But it’s green. The white ones kick butt cuz you can see fuel level easy.

 

So I ran it for another 12 hours today. 24 total and the 40Lb propane tank feels about half full.

In So Cal where gas is is close to $4 a gallon and propane is $3 a gallon that's pretty good so far.

 

With all these recent power shut off's by the electric companies has anyone thought having a Generac standby generator installed . These have been featured on tv commercials and can power an entire house . Also for fuel in runs off of your natural gas line to your house

 

They're cool, but you're dependent on an uninterrupted supply of NG. Like Diesel, Gas, or Propane, someone had to put it there, except you have a lot less control over it. They're also shit ton more expensive than a manual transfer switch and a portable.