Rolling blackouts in AZ

[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.

 

[Abbey]

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/product_200771887_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.

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[Suck My Glock]

 

[xerts1191]

 

[xerts1191]

 

[xerts1191]

https://pjmedia.com/election/stacey-lennox/2020/09/08/flashback-kamala-harris-praised-california-engery-policy-thats-now-causing-rolling-blackouts-n904873
WORKING OUT PRETTY GOOD

 

[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.

 

[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/search/dual+fuel+inverter+generators

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

https://products.4patriots.com/power/generator/weight-in-gold?AFID=ACQYTPPG_Sr-03&utm_campaign=ACQYTPPG_Sr-03&utm_medium=&utm_term=cid-11367267040&utm_content=agid-111006600613_adid-472993747085&source=cid-11367267040_agid-111006600613_ad-472993747085_target-_network-ytv_dev-c_placement-youtube.com&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8rT8BRCbARIsALWiOvTbn36GnAwKou4sYnSblrzpeB-UEAAlsmHLWJHDEgbof3EpCszr3JMaAnhkEALw_wcB

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