Hurricaaaaaaaaaaaaane

First one of the year for the ab.
Link

Just a small one...

If you don't need a single large unit, look at buying a few smaller ones.

I know I won't be powering my entire (or most of) house with a massive unit, so I bought 2 smaller (2200/2000W) Generacs.  One will power the fridge, fans, tv, internet.  The other will power a portable A/C and some more fans.

They don't make this particular model anymore, but I bought a few refurbished and they run perfectly.  The newer version has a few more bells and whistles, but is rated at only 2000/1800W and cost a bit more.


The smaller generacs sip gas compared to a single 5500w unit that most people seem to buy.  My neighbor was going through 5+ gallons a day with his 5500W and I was going through about 1.5 gallons per generator/day.  I would turn off the second generator when I left and only ran the fridge and recharged the battery backups, essentially sipping power.  My fridge only uses about 600-700w after startup.

Mother nature is rushing this (sh!!) season as far as I'm concerned.  

Oh well, the weather folks downgraded the original seasonal forecast due to cooler than normal water temps.

They know better than I, right? Wait, weather forecasters get paid to be wrong.

There are a few models of the Honda generators that you can daisy chain together to boost output.

From '05 I know that a 400w inverter running off my riding lawn mower can power the fridge, satellite, TV, a fan, and a flourescent tube shop light.  They are cheap too - $50-60 at a car stereo store, now that I have a real generator I have 2 that I loan out as needed and one that I keep as a backup plan

We were out of power for 5 days from Irma last year. I have already bought some gas
as we were out of it in our area for many days after the storm.

We slept in the travel trailer and had A/C and hot water there with the help of our
generators. We are on city water and did not lose it. I moved the meat and perishables
to the travel trailer fridge. It runs on propane so the generators did not have
to run all the time.

Attached File

sooo....does Tropical Storm Gordon (otherwise known as rain) count towards my hurricane prediction?

Who has pics of our shoot we had out at Webb as TS Dennis rolled through?

@Osprey21

Finally got my new roof from last year's store.  
F***ing hurricanes better stay away this year.

Looks like the panhandle will be spared again.
BUT it ain't over till it,s over.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/several-atlantic-tropical-threats-to-arise-into-mid-september-us-at-risk-for-additional-hits/70005969

I just replaced all windows and doors in my house with impact. Pretty happy with that. Also have a 4,200 generator (UST) that I bought last year that worked well. Only problem last year was we were out of power and had no a/c. So ordering 2 small window units for this season for in store pickup this weekend.

Anyone know where you can buy the blue 55 gallon food safe drums in south florida? Fort Lauderdale area? Don't want to have to pay shipping and figure I should get 2, one for fuel and one for water would be good.

Sorry to clarify, one steel, one plastic drum lol

Gotta watch the one that just came off Africa.

So far this year is meh!

Damn, it looks like a slow mo of a claymore mine of hurricanes.

Walmart.com sells the drums and ships pretty quick. I've gotten both of mine for 55 shipped each.

Another September, another season.

After 9 days without power for Irma, I’m done roughing it. Been in FL since ‘78, when I was 3. Now I have two boys, 4 and 11mnths. I can easily do a week of “hurricane camping,” but don’t think it’s right to expect the wife & kids to deal with it. After day three, things get pretty miserable.

I’m about half-way to where I’d like to be:

1. 7000/6600 W genny with 6 x 5gal stabilized gas cans. Should get me a few days with conservative use. Need 4 more cans.

2. PORTABLE ROOM A/C. Large enough to cool our 24 x 20 family room during the day, and two bedrooms at night. (Positioned in the hall with box fans in the doors to draw in cool air. Exhausting the A/C out a bathroom window.

Can’t stress enough how important a good nights sleep is during recovery, and a cool room to take a break in after a hot day (or three) or clean up.

3. Multiple LED flashlights, room lanterns, and lots of batteries.

4. Canned foods, bottled water, Ramen noodles, cereal w/ powdered milk & Parmalat, Gatorade single serve powder packets.

5.  3 x 20lb propane tanks for grill and camp stove. Sterno just in case.

6.  Lot of extension cords including 5x 50’ 12 ga for genny.

7.  Large tarps for emergency roof repair.

8. Emergency radio.

Need to get before next season:

1. 2000W inverter genny for fuel conservation at night.

2. A few more gas cans.

3. Trees trimmed, yard overhauled.

4. Window coverings.

After investing in the genny and A/C this past spring, I figure there’s no way we’ll get hit this year.

ETA:

5. Chest freezer.

6. Additional freeze dried foodstuffs.

7. New house with 2-car garage to store all of the above.

8. Battery back-ups for TV and internet stuff.

My ultimate goal is to be 100% self-sufficient for a 2-week period before needing to venture out for gas/food/water. Worst case.

I think that you are spot on so far.  The inverter genny is titties, I have the Harbor Freight 3500 push button one and it’s amazing.

Damn, that is a hell of a prep SHONUFF; makes my basic prep feel painfully inadequate.

In my case, since non of the house is set up for a genny (nor do I have the ability & money to redo things right now), I currently setup with:

Ryobi 900w Propane Generator
35lb Propane (So far... 1x20lb, 15x1lb
300w Battery generator (primarily for CPAP.. ugh)
15gal e0 gasoline (truck is a necessity and a backup generator after all).. likely more as possible.

The nice thing of course, is that all my prep is useful aside from storms too.  The genny and battery are great for camping (again, effing CPAP), and the gas... well, its not like I wont ever use it.

No doubt my prep will go as time goes.. but budget is only so much. And we did survive Irma with no battery and genny, so I know we could do it again, at least for the short term.

I think the Honda quiets are hard to beat in power, noise, and fuel use.

I have two of the Honda EU2000i generators that I can run in parallel with a cable kit. At a pretty full load (12k BTU window ac/box fan/phone chargers) on just one, it would run a few hours on the internal tank. In parallel, adding in my large deep freezer, I can run on eco mode and get around 8 hours on the internal tanks. I hook them up to an extended run 6 gallon tank and they run all day. (6 gal extended run tank)

I may sell them and move to the new EU2200i model for the bump in power. I have been running off of four of the 20 Jerry cans, but bought six more after last year's storm.

You need to keep the generators away from the house - don't go cheap on extension cords. Get some that are well made and heavy duty enough to carry that much power the distance needed.

I have four generators. One 5250w old school chugger Porter Cable. Two Harbor Freight 2000w invertors with coupler. And one 900w 2 cycle portable. Enough MREs and Bottled Water to last the wife and me one month. Portable AC Unit for the master bedroom. And twenty five gallons of gas on hand. I even have shutters that I brought up from Miami and I now live in Tallahassee. No one up here has shutters.

My house isn't set up for a generator. But I do have enough extension cords to reach Orlando from the Capitol at the moment.

Andrew was my first and it ingrained some life lessons in me.

Harbor Freight "Inverter Generators" NOW OFFICIAL BUDGET GENERATOR THREAD

This thread is a load of information.

55 gallons for this year. Yes those are Scepter MFCs in the back.

I'm disappointed. I was hoping to try out my new pontoon boat.

That might be it for the year, boys.

I never stocked anything nor started the genny.



1:30 is beer time and toast to all the fun we missed.

Let's not speak too soon but I sure am hoping! I'm in Brevard, Irma was hellacious on us, I didn't have full power for 5 or 6 days after and work was a damn mad house because we evac'd the entire Wing. We were working 24hr shifts up to, during, and after the storm. It was long 2 weeks and a slow recovery. Our facility was hit with a tornado which disabled are back-up generator and took out our command trailer with supplies.