When we talk about off-grid power or emergency electrical power, most preppers are talking about solar panels or possibly a wind generator. We tend to scoff at gas-powered generators, as if they are something that only “amateurs” would use.
Yet even while we do that, disaster management professionals buy generators to power stores, police stations and their emergency operations centers.
Much of the negative attitude about fuel-powered generators in the prepping and survival community comes from the root problem with these generators, in that they need fuel to burn; fuel that won’t be available in a long-term survival situation. But what about short-term survival; wouldn’t it be useful then?
Let’s be honest with ourselves; few of us have enough solar panels to power more than our cell phones, let alone keeping the fridge running. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to keep our refrigerator working, rather than having all that expensive meat spoil?
Unless you’ve got a lot of solar panels up on the roof, that probably means buying a generator. Fortunately, they’re not all that expensive; so they’re probably a good addition to your prepping stockpile.
But is that it? Do we just need to buy a generator? Actually… not. If you’re going to have a generator, there are a few things you should do, making sure that your generator will be ready for use, the next time a storm causes the lights to go out.
Figure Out Your Plan
Before even buying a generator, you should figure out a plan for how you’ll use it.
In other words, what are the critical electric devices that you have to have power for? Once you’ve decided that, then you need to know how much power do those critical electric devices draw.
Finally, you can figure out where to place the generator for maximum benefit and how you’re going to get the power from the generator to the various devices that need it.
Related: How to Make Your Own Hydrogen Generator
Stockpile Gasoline
No portable generator is going to be useful without a goodly stock of gasoline to fuel it. That can be problematic though, as gasoline doesn’t keep well over a prolonged period of time. Six months is about the maximum without additives and those additives will only add about another six months to the shelf life.
The obvious solution to that problem is to rotate your gas stocks, following a first-in, first-out (FIFO) schedule. As the gasoline starts getting old, pour it into one of your cars to burn. Then fill that container again, maintaining your stockpile.
Related: The Best Places Where You Can Store Fuels Safely In An Emergency
If you’re going to do that, I’d recommend that you not use plastic gas cans to store your stock. All gas cans expand and contract as the temperature cause the gas to expand and contract. This can cause leaks in those plastic cans.
Better to use metal ones, which can still end up being damaged by expansion and contraction, but will not start leaking. Better yet, buy a used 55-gallon steel drum and put it on a stand, so that it’s laying on its side.
Add a non-sparking spigot in the small bung hole, which should be located at the bottom. The drum can then be filled through the large bung hole. Using some of that gas every month and adding fresh gas to replace it will keep the gasoline usable.
Protect the Generator from EMP
One of the reasons we’re concerned about being able to generate our only electricity is because of the risk of an EMP. With that being the case, it’s important to shield the generator from EMP. That way, it will still operate, even after an EMP attack, somewhere down the line.
There are a couple of ways of doing this, both variants of the idea of the Faraday Cage. The first is to store the generator in a metal shed. That shed is essentially a Faraday Cage anyway, so it will protect the generator from EMP damage.
Just make sure that the generator doesn’t touch the metal of the shed and that there’s a layer of non-conductive insulation between them.
If you don’t have a metal shed, then you still need some form of Faraday Cage for storing your generator.
You could go through the trouble of building something that will work in that way or you could just buy some EMP proof cloth.
This relatively new material is what they’re making those EMP proof pouches for cell phones and other electronic devices. But you can buy the fabric by the yard, allowing you to use it to wrap up your generator.
Related: 10 Faraday Cages You Can Make at Home
Buy Extension Cords
Having a generator isn’t going to do you any good, if the electricity can’t get where you need it.
Yet most of us don’t have enough heavy-duty extension cords and splitters to do this.
We’re either going to have to move the devices from where they are, to wherever the generator will be or we’re going to have to put the generator in the wrong place, just so we can use it.
Good extension cords are expensive, I get it; and good extension cords are the only way to go. Buying cheap ones and joining them together to cover a long distance is a sure way of starting an electrical fire.
Better to invest the money in some good, heavy-gauge cords, than to take that risk.
Install a Generator Interlock
An even better way of getting that electricity from your generator to the appliances which need it is to install a generator interlock at your breaker box. This special circuit breaker and interlock allows you to connect the generator directly into the house’s wiring, allowing the existing wiring to do the distribution for you.
At the same time, the interlock will disconnect the home’s wiring from the grid, making it so that the electricity your generator is producing isn’t just lost in the grid.
The generator interlock is a much less costly solution than the alternative, that of installing a whole house switch. Still, it would be a good idea to have an electrician install this for you, unless you’re comfortable working inside your breaker box.
Replace the Muffler
When the time comes to use the generator, you’re going to be faced with other challenges than just the possibility of running out of gas.
As soon as you fire that thing up, all your neighbors are going to know that it’s there. You can’t really prevent that, but you can reduce how many neighbors hear it.
The mufflers on generators really don’t do all that much to reduce the amount of noise they produce. They do something; but not all that much.
You can improve on that by adding on a small muffler of the type that would be found on a compact car.
Weld an elbow to the output of the existing muffler, allowing it to act as the mounting adapter for you. Then either attach the new muffler right to that elbow or attach it through a short piece of tailpipe.
This isn’t going to make the generator totally quiet, but it will help. Your neighbors will probably still hear it; but the guy living a block away probably won’t. So it will make a difference.
A Further difference can be made by erecting a fenced-in area in your backyard for the generator to sit in, when in use. The fence will further absorb the sound that the generator makes and what it doesn’t absorb, it will help reflect upwards.
Between that and the muffler, you will hopefully reduce the generator’s acoustic signature to the point where only your closest neighbors will know it is there.
Create a Secure Generator Area
While you’re building that fenced-in area, you might as well make it secure. That could mean just putting a locking gate on the area, so that people can’t get in there without having to break the lock.
But I think I’d go a step further than that and make a concrete pillar, buried into the ground.
At the top end, install a large U-bolt, while the concrete is still wet. That will provide a great anchor to chain the generator to, making it much harder to steal.
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Short term or long term. Better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it.
I don’t believe it will be short term. It’s not that bad, they say. It’s going to be back to normal. Please understand. It will not be normal any more and how can it be when we have lost so much.
You better hear this warning. This survival site is here to learn you how and what to do to help you get a little further down the road. I read the post and think how funny it is to read these post and think do they really know what’s coming. Are we doing enough to get some what ready for this that is on its way to our door step.
Yes and No.
(Better get all you can.) “The door will be closing”. They are going to bring a stop to you getting supplies. Better listen people.
Hey just think what it was like in 2019. Was good. Now 2021 and look at the hell we are in.
They have ruined our earth with greed. Destruction of our love for one another.
It’s up to you and you alone to be ready. If not then you will perish.
I have been working very long hours to get extra money to buy all these things that I think I might need to survive. But it’s getting harder to get or even find some things now. I can only say one thing if you do not heed this warning. Good luck…
Hey, cashless is coming. They are just waiting to push the botton. When that happens then you will be watched by your big government. The ones that will take good care of you.
Just a rant. But true.
my power company loves the money I send them, they will want to keep getting it. Here we already have to harden against spikes due to wildfires overheating transformers.
I have a 3400 Sq Ft house with a 500 gallon In-ground propane tank. My fireplaces, stove, and heater run on propane. I have Tankless Water Heater for all of my hot water needs.
I am looking to get a 22KW Generac Whole House generator along with a Surge Protector from Generac (designed to go between the Incoming electric and the line to the generator).
What do you think?
We had nine days of power out here in Central Louisiana in July 2020 from a hurricane. My 12k dual fuel gen ran the whole house– and ran my butt ragged keeping fuel in it.
A small propane bottle ran it for 4 hours. An “RV” size bottle would make it for 8.
8 gallons of gas would run it for 12 hours, which was overnight so would get us to the morning.
What I discovered was that overnight, all we really needed was the bedroom 5k AC for comfort. And it didn’t make sense to run that big 12k gen for that, but it was all we had.
So now I have a SECOND generator, 4.5k, a Westinghouse, to handle one extension cord to the AC and a couple of bedside lights, plus phone and comp chargers, and one to the main house fridge overnight. Which takes 3 gallons of gas per night.
Now you might say, just shut down the AC and suck it up sleeping hot!
Sure. At that time it was 100 during the day, and our activity level was through the roof, maintaining generators, chasing fuel, cooking, shuffling food in the freezers, fridges, and checking on family, neighbors, etc, etc, to exhaustion. Plus we didn’t have a day I wasn’t on the chainsaw cutting limbs, trees, and clearing roads.
If you couldn’t get a night’s worth of deep sleep, you were sluggish, confused, and starting to feel a little hopeless by day 4 or 5. It was a serious lesson in SHTF.
Thank God we still had water. But it was very easy to extrapolate to the misery we’d have experienced if the water had been shut off from town because of lack of power to the town’s small filtration system. They had a gen that thankfully kept working.
It was a real-world shakedown cruise of an experience. We learned a lot about how your life changes when even a portion of the grid, and standard life breaks down. I’m still absorbing lessons learned.
But I damn sure have two generators, plus several hundred dollars worth of parts, supplies and accessories to maintain them; a souped-up extension cord box with 10 big boys with 3 outlets each. And a shelter for each generator to be under to operate safely.
Somebody told me, oh those gens will work fine out in the rain. Uh huh. But try filling them up with gas when it’s raining 2 inches an hour.
22K generator on a “static” 500gal propane tank will probably last 12-14 days non-stop use.
For “longer outage use”, my suggestion is to size the propane powered generator for “your essential power needs”; not for running everything your house requires (microwaves, HVAC, etc.).
I would size to run critical items only (water well, refrigerator/freezers, necessary lighting, and maybe (1) portable roll-around A/C unit. Do the math and figure out your minimum load requirements. The reason I say this is to stretch your 500 gallons of propane out as far as you can.
– A 27,000 watt Generac will run 9 1/2 days continuously on 500 gallons of propane.
– A 22,000 watt will run longer.
– A 14,000 watt will run even longer….see where I’m going with this?
Don’t oversize if feeding from a fixed gas supply, unless you’re only worried about short-term power outages from hurricanes or storms…
Red Ant: You’re 100% correct on all counts.Yet we will never
know the the amount of damage an EMP will cause until it hits us.God forbid!!!
USSR Nuclear EMP Upper Atmosphere Kazakhstan Test 184
Revealed the following damage:
#1 Generating Power Stations: Burned out and one burned down.
#2 Underground Power Lines. Fused
#3 Aboveground Power Lines .Fused
#3 Long Distance Phone Lines. Shut down.
#4 Electronics Pre-1962. Destroyed.
The US conducted a low yield Nuclear EMP UPPER ATMOSPHERE TEST on 9 July 1962 Code Name Starfish Prime.
The detonation was 900 miles from Hawaii and the islands reported phone outages,alarms going off,and traffic light malfunctions,.
Those tests were done with technologies that are now over 50
years old. I suspect that improvements have been made.
I don’t know if many of us will survive but we must try. There are a number a ways to reduce the damage from an EMP attack. Get busy!!
@ Kay
Yes may GOD help us. JESUS will be the only one that can help us. Pray that it will pass over you quikly. Just be ready, for the time is near…
John 3:16
AMEN
I have gas furnace, water heater and stove top. My generator is a 6500 watt Northstar unit with a Honda engine and some Italian generator. Northstar brand prides themselves with high quality choices. I bought one that small to be able to run 24 hours a day economically. Has served our needs well for several days at a time. We haven’t even tried to run cloths dryer or electric oven but use everything else. I once used a 5 hp pressure washer with this generator on a remote site. 5 gpm@1800PSI. It labored it starting up the 5hp Baldor 1750 rpm motor. Made sure the pump wasn’t developing pressure until motor was full speed.
I understand the Faraday cage aspect of protecting the generator from EMP, but if your appliances and devices aren’t protected, won’t they be toast if they aren’t protected as well?
Not necessarily. I don’t even think a faraday cage for an average generator is even necessary. EMPs mostly affect digital devices. They don’t do a heck of a lot to analog stuff.
Not everything is is rendered useless by an EMP. The closer you are to the source of the EMP the larger the effect.
An old gas engine with a magneto and breaker points will not be put out of service by an EMP. An old tube radio will also survive . Things that have transistors, IC, micro processors will have a high potential to fail when an EMP occurred if not protected or hardened against EMP. Power lines will have the tendency to collect the pulse and send a large electrical pulse to anything connected to them. This can burn out transformers, generators and anything else connected to them. Any length of a conductor will do the same to some extent. Directing this power to someplace where it can be dissipated is the challenge.
I was thinking the same thing, you got a generator, gas. But all your appliances are toast?
Been doing this for years. 3 times in the last few years we have been without power for a week after storms. An 8500 watt generator and 70 gallons of gas got us through the week running a fridge, freezer, 2 ceiling fans, led lights, and and a window ac. Start collecting gas at the beginning of June and start using it n the cars at the end of November gets us through hurricane season. But always keeping 30 gallons in the off season just in case.
@ Craig
I would say yes. To many volts or amps. It ruined…
Non-ethanol gasoline will store longer and won’t spoil as fast. Don’t buy the cheap gas.
Where do you find non-ethanol gas? Seriously. I can’t find it anywhere in Virginia. I’ve even been to boat docks locally.
Val, I don’t see how to reply to you, so I am replying to Jason.
93 octane and higher octane gas does not have ethanol. You can also buy Tru Fuel, but that is really expensive.
We have to pay .60/gal. more for non-E
It would be good to have spare carburetor kits,spark plugs, and oil just in case. They don’t cost much and give peace of
mind. I use PRI-G as a fuel life extender.
The EMP SHIELD CO. have shielding devices for generators as
well as homes,vehicles,and HAM radio’s. They are pricey but
what is it worth to operate equipment that will keep you alive?
If the effects of an EMP are as devastating as we believe that they are then we will all need a source of electricity however small to survive.
PRI-G is good stuff! Personally have used gas I stored for 4 years, non ethanol of course? It was just as good as the day I stored it, strong smell and all? High but well worth the price!!
Yes, despite seeing time after time “gas will only last 6 months or so”, with PRI, I’ve stored it up to 5 years with no ill effects. My guess is it will last longer than that, but I can personally say 5 years having done so.
What about LP? I cannot see a down side to LP. I bought two dual fuel carburetors for fifty bucks put one on the generator and it runs like a top and the other for spare. I then acquired a few of the LP cylinders used for grills, stacked them in a corner. I am guessing I am good for a month. They will not go bad like gasoline and I believe will be much easier to find when gas stations have no power as every gas station, hardware store, DIY warehouse and many more places sell them. Plus LP business can partly refill them without electricity.
Power output is slightly reduced, the engine runs hotter, and fuel consumption is higher.
What makes you think you can get LP filled with out electric?? And how long do you think pre filled tanks will last at a home store in an emergency. You need a better plan and keep an eye on the expiration date on those propane cylinders, propane is highly corrosive and will crode the tank from the inside. That is what makes the tanks rusty, not weather as many assume.
ETHANOL FREE GASOLINE FOR GENERATORS?
Virginia? I have no idea, but a quick Google search should tell you who sells Ethanol-free gasoline. But most WAL-MARTS sell Ethanol free 93 gasoline at their MURPHY GAS STATIONS.
If you live in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, or Florida then you know about Buc-ee’s gas stations. ALL Bu-cee’s have Ethanol-free gas. Their pump islands are equipped with “blue-handled” gas nozzles. The BLUE handles are Ethanol-free…
Thanks! I’ll have to check Murphy’s. The damned ethanol ruined most of my 2-stroke engines way back when it was forced upon us.
There are stations in some parts of Texas called QT, Quick Trip. They all have 91 octane E0 fuel. Also, near me is a Shell station that has 91 octane E0. So, check around it is out there. With stabilizer, that can be stored for up to two years. Rotate it out a little sooner if you are leery. LOL!!
pure-gas.org
I EXCLUSIVELY use 90 octane ethanol free ‘recreational’ gasoline in my machines.
It’s at the pump locally in upstate New York at ‘Valero’.
It’s been getting increasingly expensive, but—
When fuel has been in the auger for two years with no stabilizer and it starts in two pulls?
I’ll never use ethanol poisoned fuel again!
And you can get Beaver Nuggets also! Love me some BUC-EE’s! They turn their diesel over quickly also and sell DEF at the pump.
The last emp was in the early days of telegraph. It fried all the telegraph wires. Anything with wiring will be toast w/o a Faraday cage.
Which begs the question, back in the 1850’s the only wiring infrastructure were the telegraph lines. Some of the telegraph offices burned down because the papers by the telegraph machines caught fire from the electrical sparks produced.
Fast-forward to today. Copper wiring is in EVERYTHING. Residential, commercial, and industrial complexes are FILLED with copper wiring. What happens “when” we are hit by another massive solar flare or man-made EMP? I’m thinking that everything will burn to the ground. Am I wrong with my logic regarding this???
Please comment, because this is one of my greatest concerns on this subject other than the total collapse of civilization as we know it.
Sorry. Mark, you are confusing a coronal mass ejection with an electromagnet pulse. Those are two totally different animals. A coronal mass ejection is a eruption of electrons from the sun. An electro magnetic pulse is an eruption of electrons from an atomic bomb. While the results on us peons are similar, there are dramatic differences. What you referenced in your post was a coronal mass ejection commonly called the Carrington Event. There have been many such ejections since the Carrington Event. If you are interested, research on line, How Many Coronal Mass Ejections Have Affected Earth Since The Carrington Event?
A coronal mass ejection generally affects long lines of conductive metal. For examples, those lines you see on tall towers going across miles of wilderness or the railroad lines that you see stretching from the summit on I-10 to Las Vegas. The Carrington Event which you reference occurred in 1853, a time when there was very limited domestic electric service. The Carrington Event affected telegraph transmissions, in some cases causing fires in the telegraph shack. It also distorted railroad tracks, closing down railroad lines until the tracks could be repaired. Fortunately, in 1853, there were few telegraph lines and fewer domestic electric lines. Even railroad tracks while more numerous were not as ubiquitous as they once were and are even now.
An Electromagnetic pulse atomic bomb is designed from the get go to destroy electric circuitry. It isn’t just a random result of an act of nature that coincidentally collides with our lifestyle. It is a weapon designed to destroy the totality of man’s electric structure. While a CME may have an effect on electrical wiring, you can bet your last dollar that a EMP will be designed to destroy your car. If you are the proud owner of a 1947 Chevrolet two door coupe, your old buggy may escape being toast. If you are the proud owner of a strictly stock Ford Model A, congratulations, your vehicle will most likely be the only working vehicle in your neighborhood. If you own a Volt or Tesla. boo hoo, your snazzy, all electric wonder toy will be smoldering toast after an EMP.
It is important to differentiate between an electromagnetic pulse (man-made) and a coronal mass ejection, (a naturally occurring solar event). We are entering a period of increased solar activity and just this past week experienced the first X class solar event since 2017 which was during a period of decreased solar activity.
The folks who study such things have announced the the sun goes through alternating eleven-year periods of increased and decreased solar activity. We have just left a period of solar inactivity and are now entering into a period of increased solar activity.
While I would be the first to admit that I am still in the Bonehead 101 Class for Coronal Mass Ejections, I have learned that there are at least three classes of CME, the G class, the M class and the X class. There may be more but the X category is the one that is the most worrisome.
ln conjuction with an X class CME, you have the chance of multiple ejections happening in seriatim which cause a hole in the earth’s magnetic shield allowing full impact from follow along CMEs. This past week we had an M class CME followed by an X1.5 class CME. The M class allowed a disturbance of our magnetic shield and when followed by an X class CME, allowed more electronic disturbances than would have occurred if the X class were all by itself. It also was a short burst, so it only affected an area of the North Atlantic and due to its 1.5 strength, only affected short wave broadcasts over a wide range over the north Atlantic, Eastern U.S., Western Europe, Western Africa, the entirety of Central America and the whole northern half of South America and a large portion of the south Atlantic.
Had the X1.5 CME lasted longer, it would have affected all of the U.S. and most of northern Asia.
Now the disclaimer. I am not an astrophysicist. I am not a dedicated solar watcher. I have no technical background in astrophysics or related sciences. However, I am a very interested non-professional follower of solar activity as I believe that it is the biggest danger to our continued way of life as we presently know it.
Consider that there is no electricity due to the fact that all the transformers in the world have been blown by a significant overload of electricity flowing down the lines that supply all of our electrical needs. Consider that when the transformers blow, they also catch fire due to the overload. Go around your neighborhood and count the number of power poles that have round or square devices attached near the top of the pole and consider that that device explodes in a profusion of flame. Consider that every such device explodes in a similar manner.
Now consider that due to that phenomenon happening to every such box in your town, what do you think the possible dedicated fire response would be to such an event. Consider that the explosion is followed by the melting and dropping into the streets and backyards of all the lines that you see in the air between power poles. The dropping is the result of heat sufficient to melt the copper wire, so that the line dropping into your backyard is actually molten copper.
I haven’t looked up the temperature at which copper melts but you can easily do that and consider what probably will happen when molten metal the temperature of molten copper drops onto your shrubbery or onto your house should line extend over the footprint of your home. I don’t care what your fire department’s response time is, they will be overwhelmed by the number of fires resulting from an X plus category CME.
Consider all the sequelae of no electricity anywhere. Crude oil refineries will not work. While atomic energy plant may still be generating electricity, with no transmission lines to carry the power, they will be next to useless. No cash registers will work. Once the batteries have used up their juice no computers nor cell phones will work. The gasoline pumps at every service station will not work. You can dip gasoline from the in-ground storage tanks until they run dry or the level of the gasoline is below what your dipstick will reach.
Hospitals will not have electricity for any kind of procedure. All homes for the elderly and the convalescing will be without electricity so all the electro-mechanical devices we use to keep our frailest alive will cease to function. Most isolated electric devices will continue to function until their batteries fail. Your heart transplant will work until the batteries die and then so will you. If you need a C-Pap machine in order to live through the night I guess you had better get accustomed to sleeping upright. If you need oxygen, well, as soon as your tanks run dry you are going to be out of luck unless you can manage to get down to where the big cylinders are stored and manage to get some transferred from the big cylinders to your little portable cylinder.
If you are in a low lying part of town once the sewage pumps stop from lack of electricity, sewage will start to back up in the lines unless there is an emergency valve that allows raw sewage to flow into the river or lake or wherever treated sewage flows now. If you are low enough and don’t have a shut off valve in your sewage line, raw sewage will start appear in whatever fixture is lowest in your home and continue until it starts to overflow onto the floor. All those folks uphill from you who are dumping water into their defunct toilet and bath are adding to your misery.
I could go on for pages about all the failures that will happen with no electricity. I think the ones I have outlined above give you enough of an idea what to expect in either event, only an EMP will be worse than a CME.
The damage to our systems will not last mere months but will last years and perhaps even lifetimes. We will be suddenly wrenched back into the 18th century but without the life skills that folks who lived then had and without the infrastructure that existed then. Do you know where the closest blacksmith has his forge? Is there even a blacksmith in your county? Do you know how to butcher a pig and preserve the meat? Does your wife know how to spin wool into yarn and how to weave that yarn into cloth and how to sew that cloth into garments? Those were life skills that most people, even city dwellers had in the 18th century. How many of us know how to drive a horse drawn buggy? In fact, how many of us know how to hitch up a horse to a buggy? How many of us have a buggy and harness available to us. Livery stables where one could rent a horse and buggy already hitched are few and far between these days. The last time I checked Hertz and Avis websites they were not offering already hitched buggies. After an EMP their lots will be full of non-operative piles of sheet metal.
a faraday cage won’t stop anything if it is wired
Val – where in VA? I’m in central Va and we have Royal stations that have non-ethanol. Some Southern States have it as well.
Cool beans. There is a Royal station about 8 miles north of me.
If you are truly serious about prepping for electrical shutdown-your stockpile should include am-fm radio and or ham radio kept in your stockpile location, protected by a faraday device. And they should probably not be put into use immediately following an emp strike, as no one is absolutely sure how long those waves will be powerful enough to disrupt electrical and electronic devices. I am personally doing small things like food storage, extra batteries for flashlights, camping supplies that I can rely on if necessary, etc. but I am not at home during the day, so my ham radios are out for normal use, and I expect if something happens, they will be destroyed before I can get to them. I am also somewhat hampered by the fact that we have our grandkids every other week, so it is difficult to plan for how much we will need should something happen. Do I think we may need these preparations? Absolutely. Could I be doing more? Absolutely. I will do the best I can, but it won’t be perfect, and I will forget something, so I will deal with the situation if and when it comes, and hope I have done enough. That’s really all anyone can do.
Beck,, I am ham operator also and worry about my equipment. If emo happens would the repeaters still be operating?
dealing with EMPs and a nuke weapon exchange >>> you’d have to be in a constant “use & scoot” scenario for your electronics for possibly years – for certain that initial period of time there would be additional random nuke hits after the initial volley ….
just one reason why you need a totally re-usable Faraday cage design >>>> can’t lose your whole electronics stash while listening to the “on the hour” broadcasts ….
If you need a Faraday cage to protect your radio equipment then most likley the radio and TV stations been hit with the EMP and can not broadcast anyhow.
Hey peppers, I need help with a/c. I live off grid in the Mojave desert. It gets hot and my jenny shuts down when it gets too hot. I have solar but it not enough to run my a/c. I live in motor home so the a/c is not the best. I just need. Suggestions on staying cool.
If can get a large tarp a few feet off the roof to provide some shade it would reduce the load on the AC. I put a remote oil filter kit on my gen with a trans cooler in the line and a 12v fan to suck air through the gen and cooler.
Alan, tks for ideas. I have cover over it but not enough air flow. Can you send me particulars on the oil filter and trans cooler? Tks
Paul,
Those little “personal air conditioners” you see advertised on tv and online are really just miniature evaporative coolers. They run about $30-40 through Amazon. We recently bought one called ArcticAir Pure Chill to put in the bird house (a 12′ x 20′ wood framed building) for the chickens and Guinea fowl because summers here in Texas get so hot. I am sure it would work more noticeably if the house didn’t have 2 windows and the birds’ door open all the time, not to mention the exhaust fan, but I have noticed that it seems to help somewhat, at least enough that the birds come inside for the shade during the day. It uses about half a cup of water for 6 hours or so of operating time and, for a closed motor home, one in the living room/kitchen area and maybe an additional one in the bedroom would probably take the edge off enough to make living there bearable.
I got the filter re-locater from Summit Racing, I just found one that would work with the oil filter part # of the generator. The cooler is just a single loop I picked up at Advanced auto but the line size was slightly larger than the fittings the re-locater kit came with so I had to order the correct size fittings from summit. The fan is a small electric radiator fan I used that because I thought it would be better out in the weather than a house fan. I did this several years ago. Summit told me which kit would work with the filter I had but you may get the same service from your local auto parts store. It’s also nice to have the filter vertical during oil changes.
The early pioneers who lived in the Mojave Desert used to hang wet sheets inside the house in front of the widows which acted as early swamp coolers. If you have electricity, a fan blowing over a wet towel will also act as a swamp cooler. When I first moved to San Bernardino back in the early 60s. a lot of the houses had swamp coolers on their roofs. Swamp cooler is the colloquial name for evaporative cooler. I even used one in a car once driving to El Centro from San Bernardino in August. The problem was, it was so hot, the mat in the cooler dried out almost faster than I could add water to cool the car. It was still better than just hot air blowing in from the windows. We used to call that the 4/65 a/c unit. Roll down all four windows and drive 65 mph. Swamp coolers do drive up the humidity, so you will have increased problems with mold and rust if you run a swamp cooler a lot.
There is a good reason why the Latinos in the warmer parts of North and South America used to nap during the heat of the day. Remember what the folks in India used to say, “Only mad dogs and Englishman are about in the noonday sun.” Rest during the heat of the day. Confine activity to early morning and late evening. Hang shade cloth on the outside of your trailer between you and the sun. Buy misters. If you go to Palm Springs for certain and I think other desert locations have them in outdoor locations, but they are sprinklers that only emit mist. It is amazing how much they cool the outside air on a patio or other shaded area. So from 1100 until 1700 sit outside in a shaded area with misters. After the sun goes down be sure to open all the doors and windows and if you have electricity, run fans to draw in cool air and exhaust hot air. If you don’t have electricity, do the wet shet routine. Make sure the sheets stay damp all night. Moisten then just before bedtime. Frequently in the desert you will start to have a dramatic temperature drop as soon as the sun sets. It could be worse. You could be in Philly or WashingtonDC where at 0300 the temp is still 85 and the humidity is still 85. I can remember driving through Philly coming back from the Jersey short during the early hours of the morning with everyone sitting out on their front steps or up on the roof because it was so hot inside the houses in the days before a/c.
Hand fans are remarkably simple cooling devices. I haven’t looked but I am sure that Amazon sells hand fans. When the electricity goes out hand fans still work. Look at the bright side, when it is 115 in Barstow the humidity is below 20% so your body cools naturally by the sweat evaporating almost instantly.
You could be in the deep South where, while it is only 85° the humidity is 95% and there is no such thing as your sweat evaporating. You are drenched in sweat and it is still stinking hot.
Propane stores a LOT longer than any gasoline or even diesel. Propane conversion techniques are available.
Generators that sit idle for extended periods soon become useless. They should be exercised at least monthly under load. 50% of the generator running wattage is recommended. Lacking a load bank, you can make up a resistive load with several heaters, heat guns, or hair dryers.
Definitely! Having worked in the nuclear industry, we always performed weekly generator turnovers with out running (cylinder vents open) and monthly runs at 80% load for 30 minutes. running equipment is happy equipment.
The city found that out during the big fire we had three years ago. They had bought generators to use to pump water for the city if there was a power failure. During the fire the power failed (Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! ! !) As I understand the persistent rumor, the folks running the water department (we have lots of problems with the administration of the water department) had never bothered to see if the generators actually worked after installation. To their chagrin and to the detriment of many homeowners in the city, the generators wouldn’t start. Yep, you figured it out. No generators. No water. No water, fire department mainly stands and watches as houses burn. There is litigation going on but because the newspaper is liberally left, news of governmental failures is only reported in small type deep inside the paper. Three years later I can’t tell you the progress of the litigation. I suspect it will ultimately be settled with the attorneys getting most of the money; the taxpayers getting to pick up the bill in a city already in hock; and the folks whose homes were destroyed or damaged will get a pittance.
Want an example of what the litigants get in a class action? A Honda class action for some failure so obscure it didn’t even register when I was advised that there was litigation ended with me, as one of the unwilling litigants receiving a coupon for $25 against the purchase of a Honda accessory. $25 off OEM accessories brings them down to the going price at most auto parts stores. Wowza, wowza, wowza, I rushed right down to my Honda dealer with the certificate in hand. Yeah, right.
When I had a working standby generator I fired it up every three or four months and didn’t have any problems. Had some load on it and ran it for an hour or a little longer when I forgot to shut it off. Couldn’t hear it because I had a remote mounted muffler made from an old propane tank. I also have a battery maintainer on it. That’s the way to go because the battery is 15 years old and still cranks it over. Guess I should find some time to fix the magneto and I’ll be styling again. lol.
I quite unfortunately live in Illinois, I guess my biggest worry is the power going down in the winter time. We have a Solar Generator with 4 panels, and 2,000 watts. I know it will not run my furnace, but my refrigerator and freezer. We purchased a Sun Oven, but it is just for cooking. Any advise on keeping warm? I am a newbie prepper, only been doing this a couple years.
My backup to my backup heater is a 9000 BTU portable Buddy by Mr. Heater. These are made for screw on bottles. I’ve converted mine to run off a 100 lb tank. A word of advice: propane tank pressure can reach a couple hundred PSI. The rubber seal on these heaters has a tendency to leak. Picture flames 3 feet high. To eliminate the possibility, I ran an adjustable regulator on the tank, dialed down to about 10 PSI. The heater’s internal regulator then knocks it down to the 11″ WC required by the burner. Fittings are available to adapt the hose from the regulator (normally 3/8 flare) to the heater.
Farmer: Just a word of advice: I contacted the manufacturer of the Mr Heater Buddy to ask why you could only run indoors on the 1# tanks. They said because only the 1# tanks will NOT OFF GAS if it gets too hot. All other propane tanks will OFF GAS PROPANE FUMES if it gets too hot. You do NOT want propane fumes in your home while you stay warm and sleep.
Just a warning.
guy, we are blessed with a greater %%%% of sunlight compared to other parts of the country – but we aren’t the South & SW >>> you need to add a couple more sources of energy – definitely winter heating most likely thru propane storage ….
Freethinkers, I live in desert offgrid.. I learned my 1st Winter here is to use propane heater. Keep adding solar but even in the desert solar has drawbacks with cloud cover. If you can go with wind turbine.don’t buy a cheap one as they don’t work well. Go with one that can start at 2 mph and can handle up to 50mph. I am orig from PA so I know about winter up there. Solar, wind and generator is always good combo.
My house heat is LP gas but has a chimney that used to be used for Wood and oil burner furnace. I have in storage 55 gal steel barrels and those kits to turn barrels into wood burning stoves if a long term SHTF event happens. Reviews say they are great heaters but barrels have limited life span. Google this:
US Stove Barrel Camp Stove Kit, BSK1000
Oh, and leave the tank OUTSIDE!
Hello from New England. A few years back I found a stand alone wood stove at a garage sale. Let me add that we know NOTHING about heating or ventilation or anything else in the iron stove arena. The stove was stored in a shed for many years and had rust and looked TERRIBLE. I bought it for $50 and the seller even loaded it in my car. My husband cleaned it up with naval jelly and high heat paint. My brother is an HVAC tech. For a total of $200 we have a functioning wood stove. We no longer use the furnace in the winter. We can cook and boil water on the stove and… My husband LOVES to spend all summer and fall collecting, chopping, and splitting wood (I am lying). There is a lumber mill near by who sells VERY CLEAN scrap wood on the cheap. We pick it up for $50 per chord. The firewood is kiln dried. The sawmill owner used to have to pay to dispose of the scraps.
At the same garage sale I bought a kerosene heater for $10. However, kerosene is VERY expensive. My family used to use diesel fuel in our kerosene heater when I was a kid and we are all still alive to varying degrees.
I run one or another of my generators monthly so each averages every 3 months. 1400w pull start, 9k battery start, welder generator. All gas.. so ofcourse i keep some on hand and have additives as needed. Gas cans are used in my car and truck and refilled every 4 to 6 months. My main house power is of off grid solar but the array has been down 15 months so 0 house power. I use the 1400w to run a lamp, tv, and fridge 3 hours each evening. 1/4 gallons of gas last about three days this way. Food is cold. I try not to open the fridge through the heat of the day. I set an old ice chest without a lid upside down on top of the generator. Not over it, just on it. It absorbs a lot of the sound. A 30 ft heavy duty extension cord comes in from outside. It is actually cheaper than an extension cord from a shop with commercial power.
I’m getting ready to rebuild the array. I have all new equipment and panels. Instead of one array for the home I’ll do several. The bedroom and bathroom will be large enough for lights, ceiling fan, heater, laptop, printer, and a lamp. The kitchen will for a refrigerator, microwave, 2 burner hot plate, instant pot,the ignitor for a propane stove, an external power socket, and front porch light. The livingroom will be a ceiling fan, a large evaporative cooler, a TV, electronic keyboard, and a small fan, the laundryroom will be for a washing machine, propane dryer, electric waterheater or on demand waterheater, ceiling light, and back porch light. The well house will include a 1/2 horse pump, a light, and and external power socket. Three sheds will be on 2 arrays for lights and power tools for different types of projects. In the case of an EMP the 9k generator is in a no contact metal container. But if copper or aluminum wire melts nothing will be needed anyway except for assorted radios, two way radio sets, a CB radio, batteries, solar battery chargers, and an old cd player and a stack of cds in another no contact metal box. The rest including buildings may be fried ashes.
Questions for speculation…In the case of an EMP, would a motorhome on rubber tires with nothing running also be totaled. Why any vehicles? You can hit a car with lightening and usually it will run afterwards and most often any occupants are ok. Is it proven or speculation about vehicles, turned off laptops ect.
Worse case I get it. But is it possible it is over estimated? In a past EMP it was wires with power going through that burned.
Actually this is to clergy lady: Unfortunately, the only reported test involved automobiles that were privately owned by the people conducting the tests. As soon as the cars started to fail they stopped the test. Well, duh, whodda guessed? Sure, let’s run a test and burn up my Land Rover. Sounds good.
For whatever reason, and being the paranoiac that I am, I suspect that the goobermint has tested various cars and the results were dismal, especially with all electric cars which were burned to a crispy critter at only half the pulse that current weaponry can produce. That certainly would not propel the sale of electric toys that the goobermint is pushing. Hmm. A sudden thought. Perhaps that is behind the goobermint’s push to get us all in toy electric cars. Whammo! EMP pulse hits, the damage is 100% to electric cars and the few remaining gas driven cars are seriously damaged because the goobermint has put a bounty on older cars. Any cars turned in for charitable purposes go to the scrap heap. They aren’t resold on the open market. Of course cars donated are older cars. They get a bounty from the goobermint (at least in the PDRK) for turning them into scrap. The scrap goes to our BFFs in the Far East, the Chinese to make oh, tanks, rockets, steel for their new deep water fleet, things like that.
So the most common urban legend is that vehicles that have no computers in them which is around prior to 1980 may survive an EMP. The thinking with regard to a CME is that more vehicles will survive a CME. All electric wonder cars and 21st century cars will probably be unrepairable junk.
Some people post the above as if it were handed from on high. The real story is that there are no reported VALID tests of results on motor vehicles, so anyone who posts a positive statement of what WILL occur is talking out of his other mouth. As I posted earlier, got a 1972 Chevy coupe, probably will run. May have to replace a few parts but no big deal. For a hand cranked 1927 Model A? You are going to be the heroine of the neighborhood until everybody runs out of gas. Right after the big glow you PROBABLY will be able to go out, advance the spark, set the throttle and choke, get out front, crank away and it will start right up. That is if it hasn’t been sitting in the barn since 1941.
Otherwise it is going to be shank’s mare, bicycle, riding horses, mules and donkeys or driving carts pulled by same. Except for an EMP, electric bikes should be okay providing they are not close to a large electrical device such as a transformer. An electric bike in a metal shed that is tight fitting with the bike not touching any of the walls may make it okay through an EMP. There are so many factors involved that no one can make a blanket statement that it will or will not survive.
I think you mean retard the spark before cranking your 1927 Ford.
Another idea –
Dig a trench about 2 feet deeper than the longest length of the generator and about a foot wider than the width.
Place some concrete blocks on the bottom and a piece of plywood on them.
Place generator on that.
One could make a tent cover to help hide it from prying eyes or mound dirt up the outer sides of the hole.
It will dampen the noise quite a bit.
Straight gasoline with Sta-Bil will make it last about 1 year (a bit longer in cooler temperatures).
Diesel will last a whopping 20 YEARS.
Thank you for the speedy replies! I really wish we could leave this state, but circumstances simply do not allow it. God bless all of you in the pepper community. I have learned so much these past two years. All of the information folks have supplied are real life skills, not the junk we learned in school.
There is a great deal of great information here. Also some not so great. I really do hate being a naysayer, as I have always been an idea guy to try and help. I feel like I need to speak up here, however, due to the seriousness of the topic, both in terms of potential costs, damages, and even the possibility of health and life & death aspects.
First though, in the article, one of the subsection titles was ‘Replace the muffler.’ While that was not actually suggested in the article, which is good, some people might think that you can do that, since it is in the article as a header. Especially since it will be easier to unscrew the existing muffler and screw in a different one, rather than make the adapter.
The problem with that is the muffler on the engine was designed to create the correct operating conditions for the engine. Primarily back pressure to the valves and cylinders, but not just that. The reduction of sound is an intentional part of the muffler, but the muffling parts of the device are arranged to create that specific back pressure and flow through of the exhaust gasses. Removing the original muffler can decrease the life of the engine significantly, as well as preventing it from running at its most efficient using the minimal amount of fuel.
Do add a second stage of engine exhast sound suppression, yes. As in the article. And there are many other ways to achieve that, as well. A couple of specific aftermarket mufflers designed for the task are available and work very well. You can also rig a system to run the exhaust through water. However, again, this has to be done just so to avoid damaging the engine and reducing its efficiency and life. Also, anything that affects the speed of the engine, such as incorrect muffler installation also stresses the generator head significantly as it tries to compensate for the speed changes.
The placing the generator down in a large trench, off of the very bottom, is good. So is the fence. However, there are many other ways to achieve far more sound suppression for not only the engine exhaust, but the vibrations from the engine and generator head, and on larger generators, the sounds of the cooling system airflow. From the fan itself, to the actual air going in, often through a radiator, but not always. And then going out the other side. In the open, this is not as noticible because the other sounds are much louder. If you reduce those, then the air flow sounds become evident.
During the process of quieting a generator, additional things can be done that can increase the utility, the security, make some things easier, and several other advantageous thing pertaining to prepping.
I am not sure if this is allowed, as it is pretty long, but I am adding some addition information I have been thinking about for some time. It, and every thing above is:
Just my opinion.
Here is a site with lots information specific generators:
http://www.generatorsales.com/
It gives dimensions, power levels, and very importantly, fuel consumptions at various power production rates.
My thoughts on generators.
It is not usually practical to run a complete house with an electric generator, particularly if space heating and hot water heating is electric. Even electric cooking units cannot be run at anywhere near capacity. But it can be done.
So, you must balance practical needs and costs to obtain the proper size power plant. Somewhere between a three-kilowatt unit to a fifty-kilowatt or more unit will suffice. You can get along with a small unit if you accept doing without some of your appliances during the time you are dependent on your power plant.
Before discussing actual sizes of power plants, let me discuss wiring hook-ups, as they can be a factor in choosing the unit.
Most units come with several receptacles. You can, of course, run drop cords to the various appliances that have accessible plugs. However, this is inconvenient and dangerous, partly due to the fact that long cords reduce the capacity and invite getting a cheaper cord since you are buying so many, which is probably undersize for the draw that will be on it.
Another method is to direct the power through the complete breaker or fuse box. If you do that you must throw breakers or pull fuses to keep automatic equipment from coming on and burning out the power plant, and remembering not to use too many other appliances. This is often hard to do, especially for children so used to using anything they want in any combination.
A third system is to install equipment such as lights, fan, hotplate, etc., connected only to the power plant. This equipment would operate only when the power plant is running. This method is impractical for most homeowners.
A fourth method, and the one I prefer, is having all non-essential items too large for the power plant in the main fuse box or breaker box. This main box would have a sub-feed to a transfer switch. The power plant would also feed this transfer switch. The transfer switch would feed another breaker box that controls all important circuits. This way either commercial or private power can be switched at will.
Do not hook up a power plant to your house wiring without a transfer switch. This eliminates frying a power company repairman working on the commercial lines. Without the transfer switch the possibility exists of connecting the power plant to the feed lines and having the power go into the mains. Not only is this dangerous to repairmen, but it will burn out your power plant as it tries to power all your neighbors. And if the commercial power comes back on with your power plant running, your power plant is ruined for sure. And will probably burn your house down in the resulting fire.
Put important circuits on this supply.
1) furnace controls
2) freezers, refrigerators, microwave oven circuit
3) several lighting circuits to allow at least one light in each room
4) security and fire alarm system
5) at least one outlet circuit in the kitchen
6) at least one outlet circuit in the warm/cool room for radio, TV
7) all the circuits supplying power to communications equipment
8) solar heating controls.
You may also put the electric cook-top or range on this supply if you remember to use only one of the small coils. Do not try to use more than one at a time, or the oven. Use the cook-top only when most other things are off.
If you have a gas oven, you might need to have the circuit to the stove on the emergency supply since some newer stoves use electronic ignition, electronic thermostats, and other electronic controls.
The clothes washer can be used if only minor lighting is on. Do not use it whenever other heavy equipment is being used. Unless you have a very large power plant you will not be able to use an electric dryer, and then only if you turn everything else off. However, if you have a gas dryer you can use it if other units are turned off since a gas dryer uses only a small amount of electricity to run the timer and a motor to turn the drum.
Water pumps are a rather special situation. Most jet and submersible pumps are 3450 rpm, capacitor start, capacitor run motors. Capacitor start/Capacitor run motors take a bit more running wattage than universal motors, and a great deal more to start. Being 3450 rpm increases the starting draw by up to another 25%.
So, if you have a water pump of any size you need one of the larger power plants to enable you to use the water pump. You will quite probably have to keep the pump turned off until you need water, since, as the pump operates on an automatic switch, it could kick on when some other heavy draw load is on and overload the power plant.
I would suggest not even attempting to run hot water heating units. You may want to have a power plant large enough to run your dryer if everything else is turned off. It takes some planning but can be done. Similar is the situation for air conditioners. You probably cannot run the central unit, but might be able to run a window unit in the warm room, or perhaps in a bedroom. But you will need one of the larger power plants.
If you or your family has some special needs, such as asthma or allergies you may need the air conditioner, or if you have a baby, you may need the dryer. Or special medical equipment may depend on electricity. Be sure to take these special needs into consideration and plan accordingly.
But make sure you turn off those breakers feeding other equipment when you are using one of the heavy draw appliances to prevent overloading the power plant.
I also suggest that whether you install the unit now or not, make provisions to attach a power plant from outside, just in case you ever get a larger unit or borrow or rent one. If the provisions are there it is a simple matter to hook up and run.
Now to the actual units. Many types are available. Inexpensive manual start one-hundred-twenty volt only models starting at about three hundred watts and going up to fifty kilowatt units that require a farm tractor or industrial engine to run.
Fuel choice can be gasoline, diesel, propane, or natural gas. For those interested in alternative energy and for DIY people, some of these units can probably be converted to run on alcohol or methane. For smaller power plants, gasoline units are by far the most common with diesel a distant second. So check with dealers for choices other than gasoline. See the article on generator fuel choices.
The heavy duty, continuous duty generators (more than three or four days use) are often slow speed diesel units designed to increase engine life. If you contemplate this type of use, these are the units to get. But for occasional short term use the standard duty units are fine.
Large institutions often have units running on natural gas, but I feel that the loss of gas service during physical disasters is likely, therefore I cannot recommend that fuel for home generators. Plus, many areas have no natural gas service anyway.
Propane is much the same situation. Places using large amounts of propane generally run a power plant, if they have one, on propane. And those that use propane as their main household fuel could use a propane fueled power plant.
But for an all-new installation needing a new fuel storage tank I suggest diesel. It is safer than gasoline or propane by far. The fuel will last longer than gasoline if treated with solutions available for that purpose. Diesel is usually cheaper and, so far in the fuel shortages, has been a little more available than gasoline. If you own a diesel-powered vehicle, it is the only way to go.
All units over about three thousand watts (three-kilowatts) produce both one-hundred-twenty and two-hundred-forty volts. Usually, all the power can be drawn from one plug of either voltage or split among several one-hundred-twenty-volt receptacles, and one or two two-hundred-forty-volt receptacles. With a full power receptacle feeding the transfer switch, the hook-up is simple. Some of the larger units have no receptacles. These use wiring lugs similar to the ones in the transfer switchbox. These are wired direct.
Some units require you to fill a built in one-gallon to three-gallon tank. Others use an outside buried tank. For serious use, an outside buried tank is safer and more convenient. If the unit is mounted inside a utility room, make sure all exhaust connections to the outside are secure and cannot possibly leak.
I also believe an extra quiet muffler and a spark arrestor is a good idea for either inside or outside installation. See my article on generator quieting.
Valve the fuel line with a valve rated for the particular type of fuel. This allows you to unhook the unit if necessary. Maintain adequate supplies of the proper oil and spare parts for the unit.
Electric start is available on most models of power plants and comes standard on medium and larger capacity units. It is your choice.
Automatic start and switchover is available on a few of the larger models. This system monitors the commercial power supply. If commercial power fails the control opens the transfer switch, cranks the electric start power plant, and then connects the power plant to the load. If commercial power comes back on, it switches the load back to commercial power, idles the power plant for a short while, and then stops it – all automatically.
Most units also stop the process if the power plant fails to start with-in a preset time of cranking, usually one minute, or if oil pressure is too low, or if overheating occurs or for some other reason that could damage the engine. Most are designed to restore power within ten seconds of commercial power failure. This option can be expensive and is available only on selected models.
In addition to this information, I would suggest, if possible, that a dual generator installation be considered. One where two generators, each capable of producing approximately 75% of maximum need are coupled together through a synchronizer. This will allow for the lowest fuel use for moderate use, but when full power is necessary, the second generator can kick in and provide the extra power, plus some surge capacity when needed.
You would probably have to consult an electrical supply house for the synchronizer, as they are not as common as things like transfer switches.
Just my opinion.
Sound travel factors
Be aware of some sound travel factors:
1) Sounds travel further, and hold their volume, if directed with the wind.
2) A person in or near a noise generating area cannot hear more distant noises very well.
3) A person that is away from a noise generating area can often hear talking and other sounds beside the actual noise as well as, and in some cases even better than they can when the other person is not near a noise source. Has something to do with the human sounds ‘riding’ the noise sounds.
4) Single sounds can be very difficult to locate. Multiple sounds can be located fairly quickly, but it does take a bit of head turning (or microphone direction changes). So if a person can otherwise silently move from one point to another, limiting any sound release to one at each point, it will be more difficult to be located. However, this only works for a few moves. The brain can process those sound signals and get the pattern of movement with only a few repetitions of the sound.
5) Muffling a cough with fabric can change the sound enough to make it harder to discern. Muffle, do not try to suppress the cough physically.
6) Sounds can be very directional. Remember megaphones? A vocal sound director can be made, rather like a combination of a hearing tube and a megaphone. A padded opening large enough to surround the mouth, at the end of a curving tube increasing is size slowly, to straight up. The sound will go upwards, with very little going outwards.
One of the things that works somewhat for me is to clench my teeth firmly, but not really hard, and spread my lips as much as I can. This turns the cough into more of a huff, which does not seem to be as loud, or travel as far as an unrestricted cough. This does get tiresome if I am coughing constantly.
Just my opinion.
My Thoughts On: Genset Quieting
By Jerry D Young
I believe there are quite a few things that can be done to reduce not only the sound signature of a generator, but air consumption, exhaust, and cooling air signatures. Plus, I will probably add a few things to reduce the chances of discovery through other means, too.
1) Since the genset does need to be protected from the weather, and barring an adequate isolated place in the shelter, a moderate size enclosure or a small building makes sense to house the generator. However, I do think there are a couple of alternate ways to provide that protection, and begin the task of mitigating the genset’s signature.
2) If a shed is already in place, and has some space to build in a sound insulated air cooling and sound reduction room, that might be enough for some of the small, already fairly quiet gensets. Running the exhaust through the wall or roof, with large screened and baffled engine cooling and combustion air intakes and exhausts to make sure it is both safe, and does not overheat would still be required.
3) An alternative to an actual shed with an air cooling/sound reduction room section, would be closer to a doghouse than a shed in size, all-be-it a very large doghouse. The doghouse needs to be on skids, and it can have a floor or not. If it does have a floor, have heavy cross members across the floor joists to spread the weight of the genset over as much space as possible should be added. Even if it is not very heavy.
4) You will probably want to go ahead and mount the genset on skids, too. Even if it has its own. You want higher ones, (4″ x 4″ treated lumber) than normally come on all but huge generators, so you can add a spring mounted platform, even if the genset is spring mounted on its frame. You want maximum vibration reduction. Plus, if the oil must be changed by draining it from the bottom of the oil pan, it will be much easier to have space under it for an automotive oil collection container than cobbling something up that probably will not work nearly as well.
5) Since the genset will be on springs to cut down on ground vibrations, you will need to use flex joints on fuel lines, exhaust lines, and electrical connections. And, depending on how many of the other things I recommend you decide to do, you may need some flexible ductwork connections. Okay. Vibration handled.
6) Exhaust first. I very highly recommend you pick up a spare muffler or two. A third one if you want to make what I am about to suggest and keep the original in reserve. The original muffler type and style needs to be on the engine, since the engine has been tuned to run best with it, and the muffler has been tuned to quieten the sound a reasonable amount and let the engine run efficiently.
That does not mean, however, that you cannot do additional quieting with additional mufflers. One in particular will be discussed below. Whether a secondary muffler is added or not, discharge the exhaust gasses into a large area that is sound deadened and opened to the sky.
7) This works in a couple of ways. One, the more compact the exhaust stream is, the louder it will be when it is discharged into the open air. By letting the muffler exhaust into a good sized room, that sound will be reduced by the sound insulated walls. Also, since the air is moving much more slowly, and upward, to boot, the remaining sound, already at a lower volume, will be going straight up, not out horizontally, making it very much more difficult to hear from any distance at ground level.
8) In order to reduce the mechanical noise of the engine running, of the fan blowing air, of the generator whine, and such, the cooling air flow around the genset needs to be handled much the same way as the exhaust. If the room is well insulated, just a screen between it and a separate chamber in the expansion room will work to control those sounds. And again, open to the sky to direct that sound up, rather than out.
9) If you make arrangements for adequate cooling air flow, you can make a simple shroud to go over the genset and use large HVAC ductwork to move the hot, noisy air to the second expansion room for a bit more efficiency.
10) All good things. Now, if you add an aftermarket muffler, preferably a Super Trapp Quiet Muffler ( https://www.jackssmallengines.com/Products/Super-Trapp/Quiet-Mufflers ) or a home built muffler, for which there are designs on the internet, after the original muffler located in the exhaust expansion room, you can greatly reduce the final sound level even more. And get away with a smaller exhaust expansion room. A few tutorials from the internet or books from the library will give you the information to buy or build a second stage muffler if you do not want to buy one.
11) The old standby of running the exhaust into a drum of water. Fairly effective, but messy. And water may be a precious asset. Definitely a back up plan.
12) While not quite a muffler, if you use a shroud around the genset and ductwork to the second expansion chamber, you can use some sound absorbing baffles inside to reduce the amount of sound traveling with the air. The ductwork will need to be a bit bigger to compensate for the flow losses, but that will not be much.
13) With these changes, rather than a room size insulated room open to the sky, you can make another doghouse size room at one side or the rear of the genset doghouse, or just combine it with the heat and sound insulated wall between the two rooms, as well as the outer walls. It would be a good idea to insulate the entire building the same way, to reduce the signatures from the genset itself, too. Run the dividing wall between the two expansion rooms up, too. It can run all the way up, or be stopped somewhere in the lower area of the chimney. Once the ‘airs’ get some distance away from the sources, it will not make much difference if they are mixed.
14) Even with the walls well insulated, you will still want to build an additional wall all the way around the building, a couple inches away from the outside of the inner wall, with this outside wall being what is finished to get the particular look wanted to match the house or other outbuildings. However, this wall will be as holy as the holiest monk that ever lived. It will be your screened air intake for the engine combustion air, as well as the cooling air. Use wide overhangs on the roof with soffit screens to provide additional means of air flow.
And not only can it provide a very low speed, high volume, air intake system for the genset, it can be one of several supplying the shelter(s) with air. Some sound baffled ductwork from the cavity the width of the room, with a right angle turn near the opposite wall, from both walls, of course, will lower the sounds going out the intakes. When the air is flowing not much will escape anyway, but it might be necessary to run the genset when the intakes are open.
15) Run 4” – 6” PVC pipe from a collection point midway up one of the cavities and lay a pipeline to the shelter air intake room. Same precautions I always suggest. A sump leading to an absorption pit, a cut off valve, blast valves if at all possible.
You can also run a second PVC pipe from the shelter to the doghouse, and up the inside of the “chimney’ as part of the air exhaust of the shelter.
16) Too add a bit of ‘cute’ camouflage to the system, and since the expansion room needs to be well more than head height anyway, you can slope the roof quite a bit, bringing it down to 12″ or so inside, again well insulated, and build it several feet into the air. Add a chimney cap to it to keep rain and pests out, and you have a luxury doghouse that does not only conceal and isolate a genset, but with good aforethought, planning, and building, several other things already mentioned can be accomplished.
17) Another pair of alternatives. If the cooling and combustion air intake and engine exhaust and engine cooling air ducts have tees in them, with closing valves, medium diameter culvert can be run from the doghouse to a couple of rock features, water feature or two, playground equipment, patio set up, and probably some other things that would work well to camouflage the open ends of the air pipes and air ducts.
18) Rock cribs, in the form of decorative yard features, can be carefully, and artfully, arranged to allow air flow either in or out. Rock gabions using woven or welded wire fence, or even chain link fence, can be used as either decorations, or as actual fence posts. With the rocks stacked with air gaps, the screened intake or exhaust pipes can collect air or allow exhaust to escape.
19) By using PVC, ABS (for exhaust), or steel pipe as parts of various structures or elements of the place, many different possibilities present themselves to allow clandestine pulling in and blowing out air.
Not to mention, the Gabions might be used to support yard lights. Or antenna poles. Or security system poles or risers. Or intercom boxes. Or be used as fighting positions (but only if provisions are made so they cannot be used by an aggressor to harm you)
20) Besides the rock features, water features, playground construction and equipment, and patio construction and features, there are many more things that can be used to camouflage air movement infrastructure. Certain kinds of fences. Some types of fence posts. Guttering (which should be on every building), the very walls and roofs themselves.
21) ‘Decorative’ cupolas, functional attic roof wind turbines and functional gable end ventilation screens. ‘Abandoned’ power poles. Just think outside the box and push the envelope. Oh. Often times while creating air handling infrastructure, the means to locate communications antennas and run communications wire will present themselves, so go ahead and get those elements installed during the building, even if not to be used right away.
22) If nothing else, use some sound insulation board and simply build a ‘chimney’ around the genset, large enough to be able to access it, as tall as is practical. Directing the sound upwards will go a very long way to preventing its spread outward. If the genset is set up on a solid stand a foot or too off the ground, not only will it be easier to work on, start, and service, but it will help prevent sound escaping the narrow slots at the very bottom of the ‘chimney’ required for air flow for the genset.
Sound insulating board:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-2-in-x-48-in-x-96-in-Acoustic-Insulation-Sound-Board-BSNAT85US/207168829
23) There are quite a few more ways to accomplish genset quieting, so if anyone needs more, just PM me.
24) A recommended adjunct to having an auxiliary power system, be it a generator, solar, wind, micro-hydro, or even just candles for lighting, light discipline should be part of the overall plan. If others know you have power, and they do not, it will eventually be a problem during any major disaster or other situation, even many minor ones.
25) So having a blackout curtain system, whether it is actual curtains or not, and a plan and procedures to avoid light getting out when going from and to lighted areas from un-lighted areas should be a part of the overall plan and installation. This could simply be always turning off the lights before leaving or entering the lighted area, to a light lock (like an air lock, only set up to prevent light escaping) entry/exit.
If there are any questions feel free to ask.
Just my opinion.
I apologize for the run-on, single paragraph above. I wrote it in Word for fear of losing it online, and the formatting did not copy through. I do not know how to fix it.
Sorry.
Jerry
Don’t forget the trickle charge to monitor and charge the battery. Last thing you need is to go to start it up and you have yourself a dead battery.
One of the items not mentioned is that a lot of Generac home generators are dual fuel…propane and natural gas. Switching involves flipping hoses in the carburetor. If the worst possible happens and it looks like power will not be restored for years due to lack of transformers, my thoughts are to hook up a wood gassifer to my generator. It would be similar to using natural gas. If it comes to having to do this I figure the warranty is useless…so why not? If it works I have energy. Also have a Harbor Freight battery pack/car jumper with a 110 plug/USB ports as well as a inverter that hooks up to a car battery.
I was working on a job years ago at a ranch while the owner was away, the power went out and their generac generator kicked on . They had multiple pond pumps and yard lights gloriously beaming the whole week for all to see. When they got back 5 days later their 1000 gallon propane tank was empty. That’s why I will never get a generator that you can’t control.
Couldn’t you have controlled it at the breaker panel by selectively shutting down loads and staggering their on/off running?
With storing unleaded fuel fuel I believe a way to stop it from aging would be to use propane cylinders and then put small amount of propane in too. Unleaded fuel evaporates off parts of the fuel etc, but if it had propane cylinder pressure always on it I think it would last more or less indefinitely. what do other people think?
for small gasoline engines, white gas can be an option, expensive option but has a long shelf life (5+ years in an unopened can)
I have a NorthStar Gas/LP dual fuel 6500 watt generator. Has served my purpose well for several days in a row day and night. I use LP out of a 500 gal dedicated tank. I have a gas furnace, water heater and stove cook top on another tank. Haven’t tried using electric oven but it runs the rest of the house fine. You can monitor your load by having a voltage meter running all the time. When voltage starts to drop you are pushing the generator to hard.
I run one or another of my generators monthly so each averages every 3 months. 1400w pull start, 9k battery start, welder generator. All gas.. so ofcourse i keep some on hand and have additives as needed. Gas cans are used in my car and truck and refilled every 4 to 6 months. My main house power is of off grid solar but the array has been down 15 months so 0 house power. I use the 1400w to run a lamp, tv, and fridge 3 hours each evening. 1/4 gallons of gas last about three days this way. Food is cold. I try not to open the fridge through the heat of the day. I set an old ice chest without a lid upside down on top of the generator. Not over it, just on it. It absorbs a lot of the sound. A 30 ft heavy duty extension cord comes in from outside. It is actually cheaper than an extension cord from a shop with commercial power.
I’m getting ready to rebuild the array. I have almost all the new equipment and panels. Instead of one array for the home I’ll do several. The bedroom and bathroom will be large enough for lights, ceiling fan, small heater, laptop, printer, and a lamp. The kitchen will do for a refrigerator, microwave, 2 burner hot plate, instant pot,the ignitor for a propane stove, an external power socket, and front porch light. The livingroom will be a ceiling fan, a large evaporative cooler, a TV, electronic keyboard, and a small fan, the laundryroom has a washing machine, propane dryer, electric waterheater or on demand waterheater, ceiling light, external plug, and back porch light. The well house will include a 1/2 horse pump, a light, and and external power socket. Three sheds will be on 2 arrays for lights and power tools for different types of projects. In the case of an EMP the 9k generator is in a no contact metal container. But if copper or aluminum wire melts nothing will be needed anyway except for assorted radios, two way radio sets, a CB radio and antenna, batteries, solar battery chargers, and an old cd player and a stack of cds in another no contact metal box. The rest including buildings may be fried ashes id one commentary is right.
Questions for speculation…In the case of an EMP, would a motorhome on rubber tires with nothing running also be totaled. Why any vehicles? You can hit a car with lightening and usually it will run afterwards and most often any occupants are ok. Is it proven or speculation about vehicles, turned off laptops ect. I have a lot of wire put back including a spool of #2 underground.
Worse case I get it. But is it possible it is over estimated? In a past EMP it was wires with power going through that burned. Nothing was said about spools of wire ect.
Are you for real on that solar system? That’s a lot of charge controllers, inverters, and wiring to do all that, not to mention batteries. Just the 3500 watt surge to start a 1/2 horse well pump is going to smoke a dozen deep cycle batteries on a cloudy day.
Full extravagant usage at our house is around 1600 kWh a month, solar generates close to 3/4 of that but we’re on grid sending the power downstream, our electric coop buys all of our solar so we don’t have to store it. Battery storage is a killer for solar, unless you have a trust fund to fill a barn with 100AH lithium batteries. An EMP would destroy the whole system.
I have had a propane whole house generator since 2008. It exercises each week. However, I know that in an EMP it will not work. Twice my generator has failed due to lightning striking on my property. I’ve had to replace the same part twice. (My neighborhood is a magnet to lightning.)
Debbie in MA
Debbie in MA: EMP SHIELD has a device to protect generators. Call them. They are very helpful.
Kay, Thank you I will look into that.
Debbie in MA
Thank you for the section on the extra muffler. This is something I have thought about, especially owning a Loud generac.
Already dedicated circuits in the home for it as well, both fridges and freezers being priority 1 as well as, trigger warning to the snowflakes, master bedroom and a portable ac system to keep one room nice in temp.
We have also added solar as well and some of those portable battery packs with the built in inverters, I forget their names, but you see them on the rv living video’s, the orange ones.
We got grit power and we added some solar which we use everyday. We do not have a generator. I can put jumper cables on my car and charge the solar batteries in case the batteries go low. I had to do this before and my car can run 12 hours on 2 gallons.
Also I have a UPS with external batteries for more capacity that run my electronics while the solar runs lights and fans and a fridge.
Many of the small power tool & generator companies in Australia state that most fuel needs additives if you are keeping it more than a few weeks. A lot different to our older fuels. Fuel with ethanol also absorbs moisture which is a problem.
When I first saw advice about the additives, I asked around several service agents & they stated the same – 4 to 6 weeks is the longest our fuels can be expected to last & most even recommend additives for even just 4 to 6 weeks storage. Tropical Queensland conditions may make it worse, but the advice was the same everywhere I asked.
Fuel additives are available fairly economically in larger containers & one of our auto repair shops – supercheap auto – is a good supplier. Just look the additives up online & then look for local suppliers.
Never fill your fuel tanks while they are sitting in or on a vehicle. Always take them out & sit them on the ground. Vehicle tyres are very good insulators & the fuel moving in the hoses etc can generate a large static electricity charge which can ignite the vapours. If you are brave enough, & haven’t spilt fuel in shock at the sight of a fire, then putting the cap back on the fuel container may be enough to stop the fire.
Run your generator dry to stop the fuel in the carburetor becoming a sticky varnish. I hadn’t done that & our genset carby was stuck solid when I needed it after a storm.
Make sure that you run your genset where it can’t fill your living area with carbon monoxide. People die all the time from their gensets. You may be trying to keep warm with the genset but CO is silent & deadly. CO alarms are readily available but the detector element has a set life expectancy before either just the element or the complete alarm must be replaced.
It helps to get a funnel with a filter that blocks water. They aren’t cheap but they last forever & even commercial fuel supplies get water & other contaminants so you may as well improve your fuel if you are going to use a funnel anyway.
Some gensets have commercially available accessories to make refuelling easier or changing the oil easier & less messy. Sump plugs with magnets help to keep any metal filings out of circulation.
A jiggler syphon hose is cheap & makes it easy to take fuel from a large container. These have a ball in them so that you don’t need to use the old unsafe unsafe practice of using your mouth to suck the fuel up to start a flow. Just put the hose in, pull it out a bit, push it back in…
When you buy a jiggler syphon hose try it with a bit of water to make sure that the ball actually works. I bought one that had such a poor fit that it didn’t work at all. If you test it with water then it is a lot easier to take back for a refund.
Don’t forget to put a spares kit together. Air filters, spark plugs, oil & perhaps even a spare plug spanner.
Some of the new “inverter” gensets are very quiet & extremely fuel efficient. Inverter sets are safer for your electronics. Having a quiet genset could be a real advantage when other people are without power. You may wish to consider just how much lighting etc you are showing when everyone is without power. There are some simple hacks online for covers to further quiet your genset. There are also some designs online for knock down designs to weatherproof a genset that needs to be used with inadequate shelter in an emergency.
Don’t forget generator security. One person online complained that every genset at a large camp site was stolen except for one or two that had good security. If you fit a securing cable or chain through a plastic handle then it is easy to cut the handle. Some security kits for popular gensets armour the handles for that reason. If you use a trolley, then make sure it is secured as well so you aren’t helping a thief to take your property.
There are alarm sensors that have a reed switch in a housing that is fitted to your property & the other part has a magnet on the end of the alarm cable that just slides in & out of the housing. Pulling the cable out sets off the alarm. Some use just a plastic cable but others use a metal armoured cable. Do a search on the images for the words magnet pull contact to see examples.
Think about transport. A trolley or wheels may be very handy. You may be fit & healthy now but a slip or fall may make things very different for you. An awkward size & weight genset could be what causes that fall…
Check the surge, peak, or starting load your genset can handle when buying one. Many motors draw a lot of extra power when starting. Some gensets can handle a large load for a short period to allow for that while others can’t. It can make a big difference to the size genset you need.
Many suppliers have helpful “calculators” to help you work out the size genset you need or want.
Buy a socket tester or power point tester. Use it to make sure that your leads are wired correctly & physically inspect your leads. The best inspection is to wrap your hand around the lead & pull it through. You will often feel small cuts or nicks that you would miss seeing.
I have seen brand new leads that have been wired incorrectly. One caravan I went to had a brand new lead reverse polarity so the whole caravan was live. Hold on to the van as you got in & you were toast. An inexpensive tester will show the lead is wired correctly. Always test the outlet first to ensure it is wired correctly, then test the leads & any other power boards etc.
If a power cord has been pulled too tight then it may have little humps on it. The internal wiring cores are slightly twisted inside & when the cord is pulled too tightly these can be straightened out which makes a sort of hernia in the wire. These can cause a local heating problem or the insulation can wear through exposing the core. Throw the lead away after cutting the ends off & cutting it in a few bits to stop someone else using it. Always use the plug to unplug a lead, don’t just grab the cable.
Some gensets can be easily set up for “extended run” fueling & you can use boat fuel tanks for quick changeover. You need to make sure that you don’t forget to change the oil at the correct intervals when doing extended run.
Changing the oil on time is important & can easily be overlooked in an extended emergency but it can lead to expensive repairs being necessary or the genset failing just when you need it most. Repairs may be impossible in an emergency. Little runtime units can be got from eBay so that you can see the time that the genset has been in use.
If you are using low voltage equipment, solar panels etc then think about spares for critical leads.
The big grey Anderson PowerPole connectors have become the standard for many people. These are a big connector but they are hermaphrodite connector meaning that there is no separate male or female just one connector which makes connections a lot easier. They are big but reliable & accessories of all types are available premade or can be made up. Note that the different colours do not interchange, only the same colour will fit. Flexible plastic dust covers & spring loaded covers are available, shrouds to fit on the cable side for dust & water proofing, panel mounting options, tee handles to make disconnecting easier, & waterproof housings for use on trailers or tow bars.
The DC power plug commonly used with a 5.5mm outer & either a 2.1mm or 2.5mm centre pin can be bought in versions with either screw terminals or push button connections to make emergency repairs or custom lead making faster & easier. eBay often lists these as CCTV Jack Plugs.
I am an electrician by trade & I use the special Wago 221 series connector for joining wiring. It has a spring loaded connection system with a little lever. This connector comes in 2, 3 or 5 way versions. They are rated for mains electricity use but work well for smaller low voltage use as well. You just strip the wire, lift the lever, insert it into the tunnel & then close the lever down. Different size wires can be fitted into adjacent tunnels. The wire will not come loose & has an extremely good electrical connection rated at over 30 amps. You will often break a wire off before you can pull it out with the lever down but just lift the lever for easy maintenance. I used the earlier grey 222 series but the 221 series are smaller & transparent making inspections easier. Make sure that you buy actual WAGO brand & not “Wago Type” or “For Wago” – often the Chinese replicas are not fire rated so if they should get overheated then they may burn. One of the levers on a Wago 221 should have the Wago brand label on it. If you buy from eBay then check the listings because some listings can be 5 or 10 times the price of others.
If you need to repair wiring then heat shrink tubing is your friend. It shrinks down when heated to cover the connection. A special meltable inner wall heat shrink has an inside layer of hot melt glue that waterproofs as it shrinks down. Crimp connectors are available with the same system to waterproof the connection area where the wire is crimped to prevent corrosion. A heat gun works best but a cigarette lighter can be used in a pinch. Heat shrink is also fabulous for the ends of ropes to stop unravelling – it is just like the end of a bootlace.
If you do not need to cut the wire & need to insulate a damaged wire or a join in wires then liquid electrical tape works well. It is a liquid plastic compound in red, green, or black that comes in a tin or a tube & when applied the solvent evaporates to leave a flexible plastic covering. It has a lot of approvals & is even used in harsh environments.
Regards,
Brian.
Lived in Florida, went through 3 hurricanes in 7 weeks in 2004. First – Charlie, 8/13 – killed our power for 6 days, 2nd – Francis, no power for 30 hours, 3rd – Jean – no power for 18 hours. I used a Honda EU3000i, ran fridge on a 3 on/6 off schedule (test your fridge now to find your “schedule” – set freezer to max cold, fridge to max cold without freezing stuff, let it run for 24 hours to stablilize, then unplug. Use wireless fridge and freezer thermometers (Amazon, $38, but, again, shop around). I doubt your freezer will get above 15-20F before the fridge gets to 47-48F and needs to be fired up again, but test and find out. FYI, when you re-power it inside temp will continue to rise 1-2 degrees before dropping. Hard rule: fridge does not get opened until re-cooling cycle completes. Period.
Daytime ran a 6000 CFM industrial fan, drew 380 watts (since replaced with two Air King 20 inch “whole house” window fans – 3100 cfm each, 175 watts each, Amazon $170, but shop around). Used oscillating 16″ fans to circulate air. Nighttime, windows closed and locked for security, 5K BTU window AC in one bedroom. Ran fridge and window AC all night (7 hours) on generator.
EU 3000i is 120 volts only, distributed by 10 gauge extension cord to two Belkin 15 amp 10-outlet boxes, one at each end of house (Amazon $35, but shop around, Amazon prices can be beat, the internet is your friend) Belkin and Tripp-Lite also have 120 volt 20 amp multi-outlet boxes. Ran individual cords (all 12 gauge) from 10-outlet box to fridge, fans, AC. Buy LOTS of high quality large gauge extension cords (solid copper, NOT copper clad aluminum from China), couple 100 ft, 3-5 50 ft, 3-5 25 ft and name brand high quality multi-outlet boxes (NOT $6.95 units from big box home centers). Yes, high quality large gauge all copper cords will be expensive. Buy once, cry once. Kept security system battery charged at night, easily lasted all the next day. Used 2.5 gallons/day of non-ethanol regular gas (inverter generators are more fuel efficient, they’ll automatically reduce speed under low and very low load conditions, the “$695 big box home center” generators won’t. To store gas used genuine NATO steel cans (get extra spouts, nothing else fits NATO cans). They’re expensive but worth it. Again, buy once, cry once.
Install an hour meter on your gen. The Honda 3000 holds more oil than the 2000s but changes every 25-30 hours is still recommended (I went 50 hours between changes, but I use ONLY Amsoil in everything). Keep plenty of oil on hand, you will need it, keep clean, fresh oil quality in any gasoline engine it’ll last nearly forever.
Lots of flashlights and lanterns. Maglite 3-D LED flashlights (Maglite didn’t have LED in 2004, they do now), install wall brackets, point flashlight up so turned on in bracket light bounces off ceiling, provides general illumination, it it’s in the bracket you always know where it is. I have brackets next to each exterior door, and in other strategic locations (14 3-D maglites in all, including the cars). Order Energizer Alkaline D batts through amazon “subscribe and save”, one 8-pack/month, replace batteries in Maglites annually, label your Maglites so Jan you replace #1, 2,, Feb #3, 4, Mar #5, 6, etc. Keep the old batts if you want, but they never get used in place of new ones.
Cooking was on a propane grill and a 2-burner Coleman white gas camping stove. Took a meal or two to learn time/temps just right, but worked well after that. Buy some bargain stainless cookware (look in Walmart) so you don’t grunge up your super-good cookware. Stock LOTS of disposable plates, cups and utensils. If water is in short supply you won’t want to spend it washing stuff. Fortunately, we did not lose county water at any time, and all of our neighbors had swimming pools we could have gotten water from if we needed (it was Florida, remember, almost EVERYONE has a pool). Since we had cold running water toilets kept working fine. I had a 5 gallon bucket of lime and a post hole digger for “emergency use” if we had lost water, plus the means to carry and store water (15 gallon drums, any bigger weighs too much, and 2 would fit just right into our 4-wheel heavy duty garden wagon (A tip – if you have a garden wagon, or wheel barrow, that uses pneumatic tires, replace them with the “never go flat” versions. It’ s a few dollars to do, but saves huge amounts of aggravation and tire pumpint.
The Zodi units burn propane so it’s outdoor only; for privacy we used the back porch and hung a 6 ft wide section of green “tennis court privacy mesh” from a rope across the porch.
Showers/dish washing was hot (105F) water from a Zodi camping water heater. A Zodi works fine, available in 1-burner and 2-burner models, they will add about 30F to water temp, if that’s not enough put the outlet in the bucket it’s drawing from and keep recirculating the water until it’s hot enough.
Aladdin kerosene lamps, very expensive but worth it. Lots of light from the same amount of kerosene cheaper lanterns use. Keep plenty of extra mantles on hand, several extra chimneys, couple spare wicks. Aladdins run hot, so don’t put one close to the ceiling. A few Dietz “railroad” lanterns will be handy; not a lot of light, but enough to read by, and moving one around won’t break a mantle like it will on an Aladdin.
Avoid candles. Unprotected flames are a fire hazard. The camping-style UCO candle lanterns can be handy, they keep the candle flame shielded inside th elantern, but the candles are more expensive.
Get plenty of fire extinguishers, and the right type. I keep 1 each 2.5 gallon pressurized water, 5 lb ABC dry chem, 5 lb CO2 at each end of the house, a 5 LB ABC in each closet, 10 LB ABC and 10 lb CO2 in the garage, 5 lb ABC and 5 lb CO2 in each vehicle. Always use wall brackets, floor or shelf placement leads to blocking in or hiding th eextinguisher. It has to be chest height for fast “grab and use”. (As a side note, K Class extinguishers are “wet chemical” extinguishers specifically for kitchen fires, mine is 6 liter).
For security the grownups were discretely armed all the time, long guns readily quickly available. Never had a problem.
Entertainment was card games, board games, reading, talking. Sitting in driveways talking with neighbors was a very popular pastime. Stock up on reading material, board games, decks of cards, puzzles, whenever you find them on sale.
Stock up on bug spray, being out at night the mosquitoes will be out, too. We suffered no siginifcant damage (lost some shingles, but no water leaks), all window screens were intact but I had a couple rolls of window screen material, some 1X2 furring strips, nails, staples, etc. on hand just in case.
Don’t let important tasks fester; Florida ha s2 seasons, both 6 months long – hurricane season and not-hurricane season. Major prepping stuff is done during not-hurricane season, during hurricane season everything becomes “continuous flow” rather than “batch processing.” Keep up with the laundry daily and if something happens you’re only 1 day behind, wait to do it weekly (or longer) and you may be washing everything by hand or walking around naked.
Do a SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats – BEFORE stuff starts hitting the fan. No one who’s not a millionaire can cover every eventuality, but some good planning and resource management (meaning: money) can do a pretty good job on the most critical stuff.
In a shtf I think I rather have solar panels than a generator. Generators wear out and use fuel that may be hard to get in a shtf. On the other hand using solar the sun is only out so many hours a day and the battery eventually will go bad but the fuel the sun for the panels will be there.
The muffler got to be tuned to the engine or it will not quiet the sound and may even damage the engine in the long run.
Weird that they never mentioned engine oil while some generators require to change that oil every 12 hours run time. So storing some engine oil and filters is a must.
Cooking and heating can be done without a generator including lighting.
Generators make noise and that is another reason I do not like them much.. Eons when Hugo hit us folks run generators and many woke up to find out that their generator was stolen and replaced with an old lawnmower for the noise. Just a simple box over the generator would reduce a lot of noise.
Good points. As far as stealing goes, that’s why we have shotguns!
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Good info people. But ditch the gas generators. Get a diesel and you will have many alternatives of fuel besides diesel if it ever comes to that. A diesel can burn, vegetable oil, car oil, and most any other oils you can muster up. And diesel last for a longgggggggggggggggg time.
I have dual-fuel generators, propane and gasoline, with my primary and stocked fuel being propane. Does not produce as much power as gasoline, but propane stores for a very long time and is safer to store, IMO.
I use my generators for small a/c unit, to recharge my 7800kwh batteries when extended periods of low sunlight during winter, and for freezer/fridge power back-up as needed.
I can connect my generators together to double the output if needed, but I like having two of the more critical equipment items for redundancy.