Powering your home during power outages

Ray Clark said:

We have a 22KW generator that supplies power to one of our two house breaker panels. The generator is propane fueled since we do not have natural gas service. Heat pump over propane aux burner is how we heat the house in the winter (Iowa climate). We have a 1000 gallon propane tank.

With care, we can operate as normal (AC or heat as the season dictates, well water, most lighting circuits, refrigerators and freezer, and the shop does have power to keep it heated in the winter).

We had several outages this year with all of the severe weather. The longest outage was 21 hours. I'm glad I don't have to mess with gasoline. The automated nature of the backup generator means I don't have to be concerned about my wife dealing with it if I'm not home when the outage occurs.

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Still Afloat said:

When I first moved to Washington there was a huge ice and wind storm in the Pacific Northwest. Power was out in several states. Being in a rural area our house had no power for three weeks and intermittent power for another six weeks.

I installed a 240V outlet at the panel, shut off the main breakers and back fed the house with a 6kW generator. It wasn’t ideal but we could run the fridge, a few lights and watch TV. Fortunately the furnace was propane.

I had similar incidents at my remote log cabin in California. No power for two weeks.

Funny that this topic came up. The power is out right now. I’m out for a bourbon and a sandwich. Cheers!

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lckstckn2smknbrls said:

I don't how long my generator will really run on it's 7-gallon tank. Knowing that will tell me how long my 18-gallon auxiliary tank will last. Between the 2 tank I'll have 25 gallons. I have to count all of my gas cans. I will report back.

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Pianobluz said:

I have a 9400 w gas generator that I back feed into my electrical panel. I have a separate breaker for this generator and it will theoretically power the whole house including HVAC. In the event of a power outage, I have to shut off the main breaker in the house to avoid backfeeding electrical power to the grid. I had this box installed so I can plug directly into the house via a 40-ft electrical connection. As long as I have gas, I can power my home for as long as I need.
For a shorter power outage duration, I had this Bluetti 3000 W Inverter with 2 3000 watt lithium ion batteries.
With this I can power essentials for a few days.
If needed, I can recharge with 2 800 watt solar panels.
I hope to never have to use any of it.View attachment 123026View attachment 123027

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Crazyboat said:

I've read that some of the battery back up systems (the smaller ones) will recharge from a wall outlet in 1.2 hours or so. All I need is a small 2,500 watt inverter and run it to charge the batteries. Again, per the battery makers they can run the fridge for about 24 hours. Charging a laptop or two intermittently and a few cell phones won't be much of a draw. I don't see why this "plan" won't work, please if someone thinks it won't let me know why so I can alter it.

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LDUBS said:

This is all way over my head. When it comes to essential power demands, I would also want enough juice to power the wifi router (or whatever it is called).

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Crazyboat said:

In an emergency situation (where I am in NJ) power has never in my life gone out more then 24 hours at a time.

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Ray Clark said:

We have a 22KW generator that supplies power to one of our two house breaker panels. The generator is propane fueled since we do not have natural gas service. Heat pump over propane aux burner is how we heat the house in the winter (Iowa climate). We have a 1000 gallon propane tank.

With care, we can operate as normal (AC or heat as the season dictates, well water, most lighting circuits, refrigerators and freezer, and the shop does have power to keep it heated in the winter).

We had several outages this year with all of the severe weather. The longest outage was 21 hours. I'm glad I don't have to mess with gasoline. The automated nature of the backup generator means I don't have to be concerned about my wife dealing with it if I'm not home when the outage occurs.

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Crazyboat said:

I neglected to add that in this post, but yes, it is in my previous post. In an emergency situation (where I am in NJ) power has never in my life gone out more then 24 hours at a time. So whole house genset and having all the luxury items some have also aren't needed. I just want to keep the food from spoiling, have a light or 2 on as needed and be able to watch a movie on a laptop.

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airshot said:

Years back, some friends in Florida were involved in a hurricane and went without power for almost 5 days. They have a big propane powered emergency generator that runs their entire home. After 5 days of constant service it hardly made a dent in there propane supply from their 500 gallon tank.

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Ray Clark said:

I think my generator consumes between 1.7 and 3.2 gallons of propane per hour depending on the load. It's hard to tell because the gauge on the propane tank is very "iffy" in terms of accuracy. Right now, my gauge is showing about 63% full. However, based on experience, the tank is probably only about 50-51% full.

If I had to run 120 hours (5 days) while using the AC, I would expect to consume about 240-300 gallons. I haven't had to do that to this point, so maybe if a long outage like that happens to me, then I'll find out better info.

One thing to keep in mind is that propane tanks are only filled to about 80% of their stated capacity. So my 1000 gallon tank is "full" at 800 gallons. Sometimes, depending on ambient temperature, my propane guy will fill it to 82%, but 80% is the standard fill.

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airshot said:

If it is late fall where the temp stays below 50 degrees or so they will push 85% but if the temp gets to high the excess pressure bleeds of the gas and becomes money wasted. I bought my own tanks and can store enough propane to last a full year with ease. Getting my tanks filled in the fall allows me to get the max amount of propane for the year. I also get a volume discount by getting over 1000 gallons at a time. Our prior home was NG, so I have some real comparisons of propane to NG....propane has been the better option as I can shop to get the best price and propane is far more efficient in my opinion.

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airshot said:

If it is late fall where the temp stays below 50 degrees or so they will push 85% but if the temp gets to high the excess pressure bleeds of the gas and becomes money wasted. I bought my own tanks and can store enough propane to last a full year with ease. Getting my tanks filled in the fall allows me to get the max amount of propane for the year. I also get a volume discount by getting over 1000 gallons at a time. Our prior home was NG, so I have some real comparisons of propane to NG....propane has been the better option as I can shop to get the best price and propane is far more efficient in my opinion.

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moedelawn said:

I’ve heard of many problems with natural gas being supplied either by leaks or too many generators on line trying to run. A friend who has one said he couldn’t use his gas stove during peak hours because it would not keep a flame. Definitely an advantage with propane which is more efficient than NG. My neighbor is looking at getting a propane standby and was quoted $4000 for a 500 gallon tank filled to 85 percent including connecting the generator to the house. Not including the price of the generator. They wanted him to put a 26 kw. I told him to do his research and find out what they burn and how much to refill. I don’t think he needs near that much and we lost power for 2 weeks after Ida. That would get expensive

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Ray Clark said:

I don't know where you are located, and that makes a big difference in propane prices. For example, the average price for propane here in Iowa in September was $1.52/gallon. In Florida, the average price for propane is running above $4.70/gallon.

Florida is ALWAYS very high priced for propane. It has consistently been above $4/gallon for the last 10 years, according the Gubmint.

My 1000 gallon tank was installed in August 2014. It was a new tank at the time, and I traded in a 250 gallon tank. Cost of the new tank, fully installed, was $2500. That included running the lines to the shop building and the house and installing appropriate regulators.

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Ray Clark said:

I don't know where you are located, and that makes a big difference in propane prices. For example, the average price for propane here in Iowa in September was $1.52/gallon. In Florida, the average price for propane is running above $4.70/gallon.

Florida is ALWAYS very high priced for propane. It has consistently been above $4/gallon for the last 10 years, according the Gubmint.

My 1000 gallon tank was installed in August 2014. It was a new tank at the time, and I traded in a 250 gallon tank. Cost of the new tank, fully installed, was $2500. That included running the lines to the shop building and the house and installing appropriate regulators.

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Ray Clark said:

...If I had to run 120 hours (5 days) while using the AC, I would expect to consume about 240-300 gallons.

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thill said:

300 gallons a WEEK? How much is a gallon of propane? That sounds expensive.

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