Hurricane Milton Thread

I chuckle at what must be an echoing deafness of snoring and a real Oom-Pah-Pah band of men farting in their sleep.  

Internet is back up! I'm trying to upload the money shot from Milton but the GRM server doesn't seem to want to take the image from either my iphone or my macbook. Hmmm, you'll just have to wait.

Just got internet back about an hour ago. Lost it at 11pm the night of the storm, lost cell service shortly after. We never lost power but did lose a lot of shingles off the roof.

We got spotty text ability the day after the storm. It seemed easier to get a text to friends in Toronto than to locals.

The day before the storm they were running tandem dump trucks in caravans of 8 or 10 off the beach. They were given police Ford Econobox all the way to the Hillsborough county dump and back. It was like watching a funeral procession for a beach town going by. I heard the pulled over 650 loads off the Pinellas beaches trying to keep the projectiles down as much as possible.

I had to drive by and get a pic of the Trop.

During yard clean up after my trees self-trimmed, my wife found this little guy under a shingle. It's a juvenile black racer, looks to be a male from the length of the tail. He's about to shed so he couldn't see much. I named him MIlton, of course, and let him go behind my shed when we were done cleaning up.

My beach building didn't get any wind damage, dang it, that policy has lost income...

This morning the quiet beach was disrupted with the President showing up. I don't like it when the town I'm in earns a stop from the leader of the free world, just sayin'. He was about 6 blocks away from my place, we couldn't get closer than 2 blocks from him. If anybody knows about the waterfront bar/rest. called Woody's, that's where he was.

JG wrote:  "One thing I've learned from this one is that I'm definitely wiring a whole-house input for the generator instead of just our five-circuit transfer panel. Would have saved a lot of stubbed toes."

We have a Generlink for full house service.   No secondary panel required.  It's sandwiched between the hydro meter and the house.  We have a 9600w stand-alone generator that simply plugs in. 

https://www.globalpowerproducts.com/transfer-switches/generlink-transfer-switch/

The down side is that somebody does have to go outside and connect and start the generator,

In reply to ggarrard :

Thanks for posting this. I've been running our 4K generator to our panel through the dryer plug with a suicide cable. Not ideal, but I follow a strict procedure when using. I've been considering an upgraded main panel and a transfer switch but this would take care of both of those needs! I would obviously need to step up my generator game. It says max 10K. I wonder if that includes the MEP-803a I've been lusting after.

Hobiecr....  Our generator is a Champion 11000w starting, 9600w running I got at Costco several years ago for around $1k... Friends use their 7500w generator to run their, but he does shut some circuits off.

The Hydro people recommend the Generlink because it won't back feed the system when thy are restoring power.

In our case, because most of our outages are winter related I can't say that my system will run the AC and the pool, but compared to a full blown Generac natural gas system at $10k, I think my $2.5 > $3k investment is good.

Gordon 

In reply to ggarrard :

Thanks for the info. I've seen that unit and we Costco so its an option. The reason I've liked the MEP-803 is that in the past I've lost power for 5-7 days, once twice in one season. Gas generators can sometime be tough to feed when gas is hard to come by. Diesel, however, always seems to be in supply. Also, they run at 1800 rpm which is a lot less annoying than a gas unit. Having said that, the power company has upped their restoration game significantly and our outages seem to be shorter. Plus, the MEP is massive, especially if you get it trailer mounted, which is what I would do, with an added 30-50 gallon gas tank. 

I'd really love to be able to run my AC from a gen if possible. I sent an info message on the Generlink and will discuss options with them. 

Hobiecr...   Agree the diesel or alternative fuel options would certainly improve options.     I get about 6 hours run-time to a tank.   I've looked at the propane /gas dual fuel ones, but so far have just made sure I have enough fuel cans ready....  But we also don't usually loose power for more than a couple day (knock on wood).

And yes...I have the noisiest generator on the block...  :-)

Gordon 

Another day, another tank of gas in our generator. It's a $500 Troy Bilt 5550W roller on a transfer switch and subpanel Tom set up for me. Gives us running (cold) water from our well, fridge, lights in the kitchen, LR and master BR, a couple outlets in each room, and a microwave, so we're fairly functional. I get about 10 hours on a tank, so that's pretty delicious.  It's like glamping with your own mattress, and as someone else said, you already know where all your stuff is. We shut down at night. It's not ideal, but if I have to do this for a couple more days, certainly not the worst thing by a long shot. Grateful my blood and work families are all okay. And the office has power and Internet, so we'll be open tomorrow with those who can spare the time away from needed repair projects.

Margie

In reply to ggarrard :

My Generac 4000exl gen was free. A friend was giving it away as it "didn't work" and her husband wouldn't deal with it. It had a broken petcock. Fixed that, cleaned the carb, and it works great. It's even electric start which I now love. I've got it feeding 2 fridges, all the lights, ceiling fans and outlets in the house (obv not all on), and the coffee pot and teapot when needed. On a full 4.5 gallon tank I got 17 hours straight run time (ovenight) which amazed me. 

And it is also the noisiest generator on the block. It also hates ethanol gas. Hunts constantly. On non-eth it runs much more smoothly.

In reply to hobiercr :

Nice. This thing is also the loudest one on my block, and there's no electric start, but if you use the choke, it's usually a one-puller. Which is good, because until yesterday morning, I was the one tending this sucker.

Margie

Marjorie...   My wife was very clear from the beginning that a pull-start was not an option, and in fact hints have recently been heard that an upgrade to a fully installed auto-start natural gas powered 10k+ Generac (or whatever brand) would be a nice upgrade (something about improved resale value)....  

I suspect I will succumb eventually...

Stay safe, and dry...

From the Great White North

Gordon 

Last night went late and we still have cleaning to do–inside and outside–but we took it easy-ish today. I watched the birds flock to our feeder for a few minutes. 

File under not taking it easy-ish.

My wife signed up for the 5K that runs through our neighborhood: up a hill, down a hill and then through the rest of the neighborhood. The rest of the neighborhood is fairly flat. She’s done this race for years, and kinda cool to have a race go past our house. I bike alongside the crowd and take photos. 

Due to all the debris, they changed the course this year: up a hill, down a hill and then turn around and come back and do it all over again–for three laps.

I bought a 4000 Watt Yamaha in 2004 or 2005. Moved to NC, moved once there and then back to FL. Moved two more times to the current house before I put oil in it for the first time in 2018. 
 

I've used it to keep two refrigerators and a freezer running, a fan and a couple of lights. It's supposed to burn a gallon per hour, but 10-12 hours on an eight gallon tank has been my experience. 
 

We didn't lose power this time. My 20 year old generator has about 40 hours on it. 

Honda EU1000i generator review and, first, thank you for loan as this came from the GRM equipment equipment shed. 

MSRP: $899

1000 watts.

Initial impressions: Light, compact, easy to move around. Honda’s official specs: 28.7 pounds (dry weight), 17.8x9.5x14.9 inches.

First, yes, I did grab the pink Sunoco fuel jugs since our friend at Sunoco said he was thinking of me when he put those in our order. :)

Fires on the first pull–and doesn’t require much effort, either. 

Quiet–like, hard to hear over the neighbors’ generators. The biggest sign it was running: the nearby beach daisies moving a bit due to the exhaust. Honda says 50 dB at rated load and 42 dB at quarter load. Much quieter than Slayer live. Even quieter than They Might Be Giants live. 

We ran two extension cords from it–one to the kitchen for the fridge and another into my office for the modem and my Mac laptop. We also periodically recharged phones, lanterns, chainsaw battery, my wife’s laptop, etc.

For cooking, my wife fired up her Big Green Egg. 

Tank capacity: 0.55 gallon.

Run time per tankful according to Honda: 3.0 hour at rated load and 6.8 hours at quarter load.

I think our power was out a little more than 48 hours. We didn’t run generator at night. I don’t think we used 2 gallons–maybe only a gallon or so. (Glad that the gas station only had premium because most of it went into the cars once the power returned.)

TL;DR: Didn’t have to fuss much with the generator, and it met our needs. Would recommend. 

This experience made me realize that we really need our own. Usually we just tough it out, or our neighbors throw a cord over the fence. 

I am considering the Honda EU2200i, though, as it offers more than double the watts (2200 of them, in fact) so more headroom. It’s a little noisier but still would be quieter than anything else on the block. 

ggarrard said:

JG wrote:  "One thing I've learned from this one is that I'm definitely wiring a whole-house input for the generator instead of just our five-circuit transfer panel. Would have saved a lot of stubbed toes."

We have a Generlink for full house service.   No secondary panel required.  It's sandwiched between the hydro meter and the house.  We have a 9600w stand-alone generator that simply plugs in. 

https://www.globalpowerproducts.com/transfer-switches/generlink-transfer-switch/

The down side is that somebody does have to go outside and connect and start the generator,

That's intriguing (if pricey). Since it's mounted between the meter and the panel I'd imagine it also needs to be installed by your utility company, or an authorized representative.

I guess if we wanted to juice up the whole house we'd also need a soft-start or some other sort of power conditioner for the a/c, too. Either that or when the compressor snaps on and demands an instant 30+ amps the generator just shoots a piston out into the yard. 

The other thing I worry about is the condition of the power. We have the old-school non-inverter 7000/8250 Predator. It's approximately as loud as a Neil Young show, and probably produces the ugliest sine wave imaginable. Although it will go for eight months of me saying "I should fire up the generator and make sure it runs" and ultimately doing nothing, then firing on the first crank with year-old gas when I need it, so I kind of appreciate the noisy old thing.

For little quiet generators, look into WEN. My dad lives off grid like I do and has to run an oxygen concentrator to charge up his Anker system and uses a WEN and a BiltHard one.

The BiltHard is....ok but it'll run 14 hours on a gallon of gas too

If there is a massive power outage like Hurricane Milton, does the natural gas still flow? Do the gas utilities have their own generators running natural gas pumps?

I've been wondering if the Honda EU2200i would be sufficient for maybe refrigerator or just internet use....I don't want one of the larger generators and prefer quiet after seeing how loud everyone else that ran them in the neighborhood. 

I started watching youtube videos and I can't believe it in addition to coilovers and turbos, Maxpeedingrods makes generators too 

I've been pondering waiting to see how the gas situation is by the end of the week and whether I should go to the PCA autocross in Taveres on the 20th. Seeing the lines for gas, I gave a big nope, and sitting in that mess. The lines got better today vs Sat, but due to all the issues, Im working from home at least for a few days this week. 

The EU2200i will run most of what you need. Lights, several refrigerators, and freezers at a time. You could even run an electric frying pan or your coffee pot. It just won't run all of those at the same time. 

I have 4 of them we use as work generators and let the guys take them home for hurricanes. They do a great job. 

In reply to aw614 :

Ha, I saw the Maxspeedingrods generators, too, as one turned up in an Amazon search.

You know, I have trusted Honda since I was 16....

Toyman! said:

The EU2200i will run most of what you need. Lights, several refrigerators, and freezers at a time. You could even run an electric frying pan or your coffee pot. It just won't run all of those at the same time. 

I have 4 of them we use as work generators and let the guys take them home for hurricanes. They do a great job. 

Nice part about the EU2000's too is you can tether 2 of them together to make an actual 4000w generator.  We have these for the race tracks and can run a full 5th wheel camper including AC's, but still have the ease and portability of two smaller units for my dad...

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I am glad we found the premium for the generator, I knew it would be good on gas but I didn't know it would be that good. 

If you are looking at generators, I have a Westinghouse that I have been really happy with but its hard to argue with a Honda. 

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

My friends have a natural gas line into there house and had gas the entire time, he is thinking about getting a new generator that will run on natural gas so they can tap into the line and have unlimited fuel for when they loose power. 

In reply to Chris Tropea :

The farmhouse my parents spent Helene in has a Generac 7000-watt stand-by generator. Propane fired and fed off of a 500-gallon tank. Running 10 hours per day, we figured it had almost 40 days of fuel before the tank ran out. That beats the hell out of dealing with gas or diesel and the problems associated with them. No hunting for or hauling fuel. Just hit the button on the transfer and the generator takes care of the rest. 

They are also surprisingly cheap. Northern Tool has the 7KW with the transfer panel for $2k at the moment and that comes with the automatic transfer switch and 8 circuit panel.