Smartie's Bar & Grill #74

I’m really no expert on generators but I guess I use them several times a year for things other than emergencies so know a little.

The very best advice is to NOT just buy it and try and use it in an emergency. Make sure it has fluids (engine oil and coolant if not air cooled). Then run it on both fuels so you know it actually works as advertised. Make sure you know how to hook it up—even in the dark at -20F with your wife yelling at you and your kids crying. If it’s for emergencies you want using it to be second nature, not a hassle.

I know just from using one a few times a year if you don’t run it once in a while you will have problems after long term storage.

When you run it on gasoline always run the carburetor dry before storage.

If it’s electric start (surely at 10000w it is) keep the battery up. I don’t fool with lawn and garden type batteries anymore that usually come with generators. I buy good quality (Interstate are good) ATV or motorcycle batteries and install in the generator.

Again, the best advice is become familiar with it and using it for powering the house before an emergency. You will be glad you did.

 

I guess I’m not sure how your system works. Here, if power is back fed through an outlet it is back fed to the breaker box. Unless you have a disconnect between the meter and the breaker box, you can not avoid back feeding the grid.

Maybe newer code in the US includes an RCD (GFCI here) between the consumer board (breaker box) and the meter, but none of my properties do. I have one place with a double throw disconnect at the meter. I need to add more.

 

Kitty cats taking a selfie ...​

 

It kind of reminds you of the snap crackle pop of rice crispies. Sort of...

 

Beautiful cat.. He is the boss for sure.

 

That worked for us when we lost power after a storm. We flipped the main switch on the consumer unit and isolated the wind generator, just in case, then plugged the 6k diesel generator into a 32 amp outlet. It saved having to keep moving the generator between the various sheds containing freezers full of beef. On red diesel it worked out nearly as cheap as power from the grid.

 

Well it seems are electrical codes are a bit different but at least we both use red dye for off road diesel!

 

Red diesel used to be available for private pleasure boats too. A relic from Dunkirk when a grateful Churchill promised that never again would they pay full tax on their fuel. Unfortunately, a few years ago, the EU forced us to drop the concession.

 

Interesting. I love Churchill stories. Will Brexit change that?

 

It's possible I suppose. It would take someone who cares enough to put forward a bill. I doubt that private yacht owners are a big enough demographic to persuade an MP it was worth enough votes though. The EU never had any power over boats in British waters, it was only if they sailed to an EU country that they could face large fines.
Lost tax breaks are seldom recovered though so it'll probably never return. Winston would have been furious. The flotilla of little boats that risked their lives to save the BEF were rightly seen as heroes.

 

You must have the same system with a double pole switch between the meter and the consumer unit otherwise you couldn't turn you electric off to do any work.

The big red switch at the right hand end. Separates the house from the meter (And therefore the grid) Its double pole so it separates both live and neutral.

 

Great post. I agree on all points. If I get caught with red diesel in one of my semi’s it’s about a $1000 fine.

 

Ok. I see now. We would call that the main breaker. That isn’t considered a legal grid disconnect here, if you injured someone on the grid by flipping the wrong breaker etc. you would be liable. Of course you are correct it would work, as long as you were back feeding an outlet and not the panel as I do. The way I hook into my breaker box my generator power goes through the main breaker. That’s why I wasn’t following. Sorry I’m slow...LOL.

 

Its not considered legal here either, in fact NO independent power connection is legal. Though if you do it properly we have 'feed in tariffs' where you get paid for running your meter backwards and putting power into the grid. (This must be green energy.)
As a point of interest, you can do no harm by adding power to the grid, provided that output matches the voltage on the grid. So this is about unregulated supplies and unsafe practice.

 

Running a generator here in grid down situations is a safety issue, not about adding power to the grid. What happens is some clown is back feeding the grid which is dead (or assumed to be by power company workers). They grab or touch a line that’s not energized from the grid and get electrocuted by the clown’s generator back feeding the grid.

 

Interesting. We don't have power outages, well rarely. I love how different things are over there in a country we would consider very similar to us.

 

We probably get an outage lasting an hour to a few hours every couple years. This is either caused by 70+ mph winds (we get a few 70+ mph wind events each year), lightening taking out a transformer, or a heavy wet snow after trees have leafed out in the spring. Once every 15 years or so we get a days to week long outage from an ice storm. In about 1993 there was a 2 week outage from ice. 90% of power poles were shattered like matchsticks. In about 2006 we had an almost week long outage from ice. Only about 20-30% of poles were lost in that one. Statistically we are due for a long outage.

 

Oh OK. About the same as us. Why do you need a back up generator then?

 

I could rough it for a long time. But when I have nearly 1000 animals that need water (and feed depends on engine block heaters at below zero F temps) every day I have to have my submersible well operational several hours a day. I do have a lot of food stored in freezers so summer outages are a problem in that respect. Summer outages seldom last long enough to bother with a generator and I have far fewer animals to water at home in the summer as well.

 

Oh, I use a generator for all kinds of things that aren’t related to grid down scenarios. I have semi trucks parked where there is no power sometimes and have to start it in the cold. I’ll take a generator over and run the engine block heater and a charger on the battery to top it off before attempting to start it. We also brand calves with an electric hot iron a few times a year where there is no grid power. Sometimes it’s easier to take a small generator and small electric air compressor to a flat pivot tire than dragging out my heavy awkward gasoline powered air compressor. On long jobs requiring a lot of cordless tool use I take a generator to charge batteries. And my wire welder has to have juice when welding away from the shop...

 

Ok, is this power generation to make up a short fall from the grid or to cover for the 1 hour shutdowns? Freezers are fine for up to 7 hours, Don't know about pumping water but it doesn't sound time critical?

 

Gotcha. So having the generators in place you might as well use them when the power goes down.
Understood.

 

Shutdowns only. I never have had to worry much about freezers. Outages are usually in the winter or early spring anyway. But I believe in being prepared for long term outages at any time. I didn’t get to watch Covid from the outside by not planning for unlikely circumstances.

Well, I get about 20 gpm out of my submersible. If all my cows are home for calving I need about 12,000 gallons minimum per day for those cows and the other animals on the place. So that’s 10 hours per day of continuous pumping.

Lactating cows (after calving) will drastically drop milk production if shorted on water intake even for a short time. This shorts the calf of nutrition which can lead to stress and increased susceptibility to respiratory diseases or hypothermia. Furthermore, when the cow does obtain water, her milk production will increase drastically. The higher volume of milk after low milk production leads to scours in the calf (diarrhea from overconsumption) and can cause enterotoxemia (a bacterial gut infection caused by Clostridium perfringens) that is usually fatal if not treated within an hour of symptom onset.

For backgrounding cattle for beef production, constant water supply is crucial as well. It’s not a life and death issue short term (you would start seeing fatalities in a coupe to three days depending on temperatures) but a day without water would likely cease weight gain for several days because of stress. At 3 lbs per day gain at $1.30/lb on 300 animals that’s over $1100/day lost revenue just because you don’t have water. If they go off feed as well and lose weight it’s even worse.

A source of water daily is essential to animal productivity. Perhaps more important is the animal welfare issue. Cattle don’t vocalize much if they aren’t stressed about something. If cattle are without water for very long they will let you know about it. I hate to see animals unhappy even if they aren’t at health risk.

 

A lot of money ya got there. I love beef.