Rolling blackouts in AZ

Discuss being prepared for contingencies and emergencies. Oh yeah, and the coming Zombie Apocalypse, of course!
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deanq
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#16

Post by deanq »

jcbrown wrote: August 25th, 2020, 1:59 pm Cut power from 3pm to 8pm. That doesn't make sense. Energy consumption is far higher during business hours, and during the heat. It starts the hamsters spinning that they are pushing for government funds to upgrade their shoddy equipment.
Energy supply landscape is dramatically different from years past. With the advent of solar, energy supply during what "used" to be peak hours is also at peak with demand. Electricity prices during the day are historically low. Our politicians, in their infinite wisdom, regulated the electricity supply required when the sun goes down, out of existence. That's why peak energy rates are at different times of the day now.


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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#17

Post by DRTDIVR »

Goal Zero FTW - Yeti1000 will power most things for several days. Recharging with Solar works but takes time to charge unlike gas but GoalZero makes no noise, no exhaust, doesn't use a finite resource that may be unavailable and knowing it's a giant battery might make you pay attention to consumption.

Biggest thing with a generator is that you find a way to keep it quiet and don't light your house up like a christmas tree. When no one has power, things get very quiet so a generator can be heard blocks away.
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#18

Post by h8pvmnt »

That goal Zero Option looks interesting, wont run a whole house or an AC unit but it has advantages. How much solar are you using to recharge it. They have a 3000 peak option as well.
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XJThrottle
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#19

Post by XJThrottle »

Two inverter generators here. A 2k and a 1k. Near silent power. My 1k will run for almost 8 hours on 1/2 gallon.
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#20

Post by h8pvmnt »

Yea i have a pair of 2K Honda inverters that can be jungle clipped together to make 4Kish. Together they will run an RV completely. I have no way to connect them to the house, so not sure what i would do in a sustained blackout. A fridge or freezer will keep stuff for quite a few hours if you can refrain from opening it but not for days. On quiet mode they are very quiet and will like XJ said run quite a while on a tank of fuel. But not a sustainable solution for sure. I need to go refill my gas cans. I stocked up in March but have been running it through the cars as this crap gas goes bad after a few months.
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#21

Post by XJThrottle »

I'm not trying to power the house, as mine won't run the A/C. Figured I'd just have a maze of extension cords/power strips for a minute.... As long as I have wifi and cold cocktails, I'll survive. LOL

I stocked up on gas a while back, but dosed it with Stabil. Even not doing that, my Honda has fired right up on year old gas.
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#22

Post by Abbey »

Conelrad wrote: August 25th, 2020, 8:27 am Be ready to feed the hell out of a gasoline powered set, they are thirsty. Not as bad as a propane plant, but LPG is easier to handle and store. A natural gas setup is nice, and pretty reliable but not cheap to run, either. Diesels give the best gallon per kWh but are big on the investment and sometimes noisy.

I've sold & set a lot of big gensets for commercial applications before I retired, just giving out a few hints.

Conelrad
How bad is propane? I have a 500gal propane tank buried in my yard (previous owner had a pool heater at one time). I was thinking about installing one of these:
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools ... _200771887

My thought is that it would be fine for periodic use or short-term rolling blackouts but extended blackouts would be a problem to keep the propane tank topped off. While I like the idea of having a unit that auto-starts and uses the propane tank I already have, it might be better to just get a portable gasoline unit & hook up a sub-panel that I can manually connect to the generator in an emergency.
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#23

Post by jrleen »

Propane stores easier and longer w/o the issue of gas/diesel but will cost more to have service fill the tank. Figure somewhere 3.25-4.00 per gallon dep on market/season. Great for emergency setup and limited need which is the more likely event. I figure if a shat hit the fan all sources of fuel will become limited or non-existent before you run out and no-body will be delivering.

They make portables that run on propane but portables are limited in what you can run off them. Having a big onsite tank and a rv w/gen we survived almost 3 days when a storm wiped out power lines near me. Kept food safe and we camped comfortable. Did not even eat half of a 250 gal tank we had. Your actual storage volume of these tanks changes during our summers.
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#24

Post by Conelrad »

LPG is far less dense than gasoline, so by the gallon it gets about 80% less run time on LPG than Gas.

Diesel engines get around 14% more runtime per gallon than gasoline.

Conelrad
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#25

Post by Suck My Glock »

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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#26

Post by xerts1191 »

95DA4C87-4D09-4DCA-9A5E-2CD843D84A93.jpeg
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

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Post by xerts1191 »

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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#28

Post by xerts1191 »

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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#29

Post by 1down »

Honda 2800ci for bumping freezers, fridge and running 110V minisplit in bedroom as needed. 8KW gas generator winterized in barn with 15KW PTO generator on order from HF to run the well. The 8KW genny won't see much activity as it is big and loud and a bit much to run a TV and lights if that is all that is needed.
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Re: Rolling blackouts in AZ

#30

Post by McKnight55 »

Another option might be the Champion line of dual fuel inverter generators. They can be powered with gas or propane and provide clean power for your electronics.
You could use an RV propane tank [30 lbs.] to power the generator.

https://www.championpowerequipment.com/ ... generators

I don't know much about this solar generator but it sounds good:

https://products.4patriots.com/power/ge ... hkEALw_wcB

I like the idea that it can be used indoors and it is quiet.
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