Weather

[Jack Gifford]

... Whole house inverter with 660A-H at 24 volts battery storage...

Oh- I wasn't even aware of that being done. In rough numbers, how does that investment compare with a small gas-engine generator, say 2,500 watt?

[edinlr]

Nothing compares to a small generator.  You just have to keep it prepped to run and be ready to add gas at midnight.  I have a 15 year old generator from Home Depot that has plenty of use.  It is about 6500w and cost about $500 back then. 

[Seldom Seen Slim]

We've got a 6kw (6500 surge, I think) generator.  I got it at a garage sale a few years ago for $250 or some ridiculously low price.  I wanted one that size so we'd have 220 VAC to run the water pump (we've got a well, not city water) and stuff like the clothes dryer or even the tanning bed*.  I keep a five-gallon jug of gas, marked "For Generator Use ONLY", and it's got a dose of StaBil mixed in when I buy the gas.  About once a year I dump whatever gas hasn't been used into the car and refill/re-StaBil the 5 gal. jug.  We haven't had an outage when I ran the generator since last March (I note the run date and running hours on a tag on the gen.) so I know when maintenance is due.  I know, it sounds like overkill, but it makes it easy to laugh when, as it says on the bottom of the list of instructions on how to run/hook-up:  "Enjoy the warmth while the rest of the people on the Dukes Road shiver in the dark."

*  If there's any good way to let your neighbors know that you are the guy that thought ahead -- it's having them drive by during a blizzard that's knocked the power out and they see the bright glow of the tanning bed light showing through the basement windows.

[Jessechop]

Problem is getting the fuel around here. Many of us are a good distance to get to the store...in hopes they have power to pump the fuel. In Franks case he has been since the 22nd without power

Call it 8 days, most (4-6k) generators burn a half gallon of fuel an hour @ 50% output (generally speaking) 8 x 24 = 96 gallons of fuel.... @ 3.66 a gallon = $351

Don't get me wrong, a generator is great around these parts, but only if you have the means to supply it.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

A valid point, for sure.  I don't plan on running the generator 24 hours/day, though.  Even in the coldest weather our house will stay warm enough for sleeping if there's no power for maybe 6 hours or so, so I shut down the gen. at late evening and get up early early to put it back on.  ditto when we leave the house to go to work, so maybe we would run it 16 hours/day.  One reason we can take the colder house overnight is that we sleep in a waterbed that's warm - that alone keeps us comfy.  And I do usually have a gas can handy for stuff like the mower/snow thrower, so I count on another few gallons available.  And finally -- we've got a 1kw Honda generator that'll give us some power if the big one isn't available.  I have the heating circuits wired so I can run the boiler's and the house's circulating pumps, if nothing else.  So we'd stay warm.

And it's only 16 miles to town, with a few tiny gas stations between here and there.  I wouldn't be surprised if one of them has a generator for the pumps.

[Jack Gifford]

I'm still curious about the investment required for a 24v 660 amp-hour battery/inverter system?

[Frank06]

Jack,

This system is about 10 years old but I could probably duplicate it for $5K (not including PV panels). The best thing about an inverter is that it's seamless and quiet.  The solar panels also feed back to the grid and our electric bill this year will be under $100 (the cost of having a meter).  I rode about 1500 miles on electric motorcycles as part of that too.

[bearingburner]

I've thought that propane powered would solve the problem with gas getting old. a couple of tanks will set a long time without degrading.My cousin can't be without power and has a 500 gal tank. Has gotten delivery after major ice storms.

[Jessechop]

Jack,

This system is about 10 years old but I could probably duplicate it for $5K (not including PV panels). The best thing about an inverter is that it's seamless and quiet.  The solar panels also feed back to the grid and our electric bill this year will be under $100 (the cost of having a meter).  I rode about 1500 miles on electric motorcycles as part of that too.

Holy crap, I need solar panels!

[Jack Gifford]

Frank- thanks for the numbers.

What fuel do you use for heat?

[Frank06]

We have a Tarm wood boiler that uses wood I cut on my in-laws wood lot.  There is oil backup and we probably burn 50-100 gallons per year.  It also supplies domestic hot water until I get too lazy to build fires in the summer (the system uses a 600 gallon storage tank.). I try to minimize oil use in the winter to justify all my fossil fuel addictions in the summer, lol!

[Milwaukee Midget]

Haven't had to use it this year, but I've got the little 3K, and I put a break-out on the furnace to keep the house warm, and prevent the pipes from freezing.  Despite an aging grid, I've never had to go for more than a half day without WENERGIES getting us back up and on line.

As far as the tanning bed is concerned - well - tan maintenance goes on the back burner in Beerhaven this time of year, but I do save energy by keeping the beer cold in the garage.

My buddy, Andy Kochanski has got the whole thing dicked.  He owns Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall, and he put a huge wood fired boiler on the back of the property that heats the bar, the rooming house above it, AND his own home next door.

The wood?  He's an arborist for the city - oversees tree removal. 

Hasn't paid a dime for heat in 3 years. 

 

[Peter Jack]

We have a Tarm wood boiler that uses wood I cut on my in-laws wood lot.  There is oil backup and we probably burn 50-100 gallons per year.  It also supplies domestic hot water until I get too lazy to build fires in the summer (the system uses a 600 gallon storage tank.). I try to minimize oil use in the winter to justify all my fossil fuel addictions in the summer, lol!

Frank, if you look at my location you'll see I live in Canada's equivalent to Houston. Most of the administration for the country's petroleum production is based in this city. While I'm not directly employed by the petroleum industry I get very tired of all the so called environmentalists calling false alarms on global warming and heavy pollution. At the same time I think it's important that we do what we can to minimize our footprint on this Earth within practical limitations. CONGRATULATIONS to you for setting a fine example of what can be done. The so called green community would be much better off following your example instead of jetting all over the world in huge polluting jets telling everyone how to live their lives while they consume and pollute more than anyone.

End of rant! 

Pete

[Jessechop]

FYI, its getting cold up here  Spent the day ice fishing at zero degrees (F), looking like -30 tonight and tomorrow night, might have to get out the winter jacket

[Bob Wanner]

At this point in a weather thread some PIA from CA/AZ usually makes the liquid sunshine remark, tells all he had the AC on today.
I had a guy here from "Solar City" here two weeks ago, wanted to put Photovoltaic grid on my "perfectly oriented" south facing roof. Like 800sq ft of it. Deal is, no cost for me, I pay about a 30% discount on E bill to them as opposed to Con Eddys 24 cents a KW . Actually a lease, 20 years, then I get to buy it. Sounds good today, but I'm 69, lifetime Guarantees and 20 year deals don't appeal to me anymore.
A positive is you do get juice backfed into the grid for later use, but he had no info on Battery storage, which I thought would be a selling point for his outfit. Obviously did not arouse my independant genes, as in just get a generator and inverter.
Electric Blackouts  more frequent around here the past 10 years , linemen not that quick either nowadays.
I only need to power the oil Burner and circulator pumps, few small lights, and two refrigerators. Only.
Is this doable on Batts ?
Seriously, when is a major Automaker coming out with a hybrid with a 10K built-in generator > AC and DC ? 
Bob W... single digits tonight, 12 in whiteness tomw..