Hurricane Florence (merge of several Hurricane Florence Threads)

[DavidBo]

Originally Posted by KFX450RXC

I don't mean to make light of this and I'm thankful its been easy here.

But this "storm of the century" and the "1000 year rain" our governor spoke of is turning into less than Hurricane Matthew just two years ago.

Again, I feel for those impacted the worst but to watch the media constantly trying to make this an Armageddon, its ridiculous. Half the water rescues they've shown on TV could have been done with my wife's Kia. People in shoe-deep water being loaded into the back of military trucks. Lots of resources and manpower so people don't get their feet wet.

And just FYI, I'm a full-time firefighter so I do have a little bit of credibility in what I'm talking about. And I'm just pointing out.

Before everyone accuses KFX of Monday morning quarterbacking, I see his/her point. It's impossible not to notice the disappointment on the face of a Weather Channel guy all decked out in his Lands' End battle gear and safety goggles only to be standing around in a spring shower while trying to act relevant. Unfortunately it requires disaster and fatalities to bring the numbers up.
Those of us down here in East Texas are dealing with a huge and wet tropical wave and we're grateful it didn't come with a name, been there done that. Good luck to all of those in Flo's path...stay safe.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by spock123

What kind of generator do you have. I'm interested something like that

Get Generic, they have them at HD. But get a local contractor to put it in, mine was like 2000.00 less then me buying it from them and using there contractors. But you can see them there, I think mine is like 8kw runs off propane , they also have natural gas. They will ask you what you want on it then size it that way, will come with an automatic transfer switch, so when you lose power it will start about 2 mins later, when the power is restored it will shut off. Cost me about 6000.00 installed, I have it doing 3/4 of my house, which is enough for us.

[K2Kevin]

I also have a Generac that runs on Natural Gas. It runs great, good clean power for PC and other electronics including battery backups. Many battery backups (UPS) require clean power or they won’t continue to charge. I run almost the entire house including AC and furnace. Honda also makes a very good whole house model, but I had issue with it after only a year, the Generac has been great for ten years now!

[5er_tom]

It is a Generac. I called a local electrical contractor and they did a full turnkey job for me. About $3,800 in 2004. It runs on natural gas and is fully automatic. The electrical company comes once a year to service the unit. Oil change annually and the battery normally goes 3 years. The generator automatically runs for 12 minutes every week during a time when I can hear it so I know all is good. It runs all the 110v in the house, no 220. So, we can run everything except the A/C, oven and dryer. It has saved the contents of the refer and freezer twice, so I am happy with the investment. Plus during a snow event two years ago power was off for 12 hours. We were warm and all the lights worked. We have a gas heater, gas water heater and gas range so we are all set. The gas company changed the meter to a larger size so we need not worry about using all the gas stuff at one time. No charge for the larger meter.

[spock123]

I heard someone around my house was $8,000.00. I hate to spend that much but it would work great for DW if I wasn’t around. We like to take long trips

[rskeans]

We have the same system as 5er Tom. Put it in around 2006 after a 26 hour power failure. I've replaced the starting battery twice. It's an AutoZone battery. I change the oil every couple years or so. Starts every Friday and runs. We have many power failures here in the mountains. It's been great. I have the TV and DTV RX on backup power supply to keep things going until the generator kicks in. Maybe 20 seconds or so.

The only problem we had was a mandatory evacuation for fire in 2007 that lasted 10 days. It seems that it used engine oil and it got below the safety threshold. It shut off. I knew it had stopped because I couldn't check the answering machine. Our security company sent a guy out and saw the low oil light. He added some more and it fired right up. Never had another problem. Ours is a 15KW natural gas unit.

[rskeans]

Originally Posted by spock123

I heard someone around my house was $8,000.00. I hate to spend that much but it would work great for DW if I wasn’t around. We like to take long trips

I had the generator drop shipped to my house for about $3k. Then had a electrical contractor wire it in for another $1200.

[5er_tom]

Son in law spent mega bucks for a generator and had to get an underground propane tanks installed also. Not sure exactly what he had but it would run everything in the big house including two heat pumps. Then he sold the house.

[spock123]

I’m going to talk to a electrician that installs this kind of unit

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by KFX450RXC

But this "storm of the century" and the "1000 year rain" our governor spoke of is turning into less than Hurricane Matthew just two years ago.

I hope you are right.

Hurricane Harvey hit 200 miles south of us and a lot of the flooding did not happen immediately. The landfall was on Aug. 25, and flooding in Houston started on Aug. 27. The 4-5 feet of rain we got filled empty reservoirs in two days and overfilled lakes north of the city. They had to release water on Aug. 28th and for several days afterwards which resulted in further flooding of homes. And some of that water stayed around in homes for weeks.

They don't want people wading through that dirty water. Not because they don't want them to get their feet wet, but because there are all sorts of contaminants in that water and a tetanus shot might be required after wading.

We're all hoping that they are wrong and you don't get that 1,000 year flooding.

[asquared]

As of right now, we have had on and off light to steady rain and light winds so far. It was actually really nice sitting on the front porch this afternoon. We are currently showing to get the outskirts of everything on the maps so I am not expecting much issues here. I have seen where they are reporting 5 deaths already. Sadly two were a mother and infant when a tree fell on their house. A man died when he went out side to check on his hunting dogs and fell. A person died having a heart attack and the rescuers were unable to reach her in time. The other death was an elderly gentleman trying to plug in an electrical cord and managed to get electrocuted. They have reported over 200 "rescued" and at least another 150 awaiting rescue. Some have been the simple ones as described in another post, some have been sitting on the second floor after their first floor flooded. I also saw a video of 2 dogs being rescued. Sorry but I will not leave my dog behind, my DD considers him her brother. Local shelters in my area had made arrangements with our local animal shelter to house pets for those seeking refuge from the storm.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by asquared

As of right now, we have had on and off light to steady rain and light winds so far. It was actually really nice sitting on the front porch this afternoon. We are currently showing to get the outskirts of everything on the maps so I am not expecting much issues here. I have seen where they are reporting 5 deaths already. Sadly two were a mother and infant when a tree fell on their house. A man died when he went out side to check on his hunting dogs and fell. A person died having a heart attack and the rescuers were unable to reach her in time. The other death was an elderly gentleman trying to plug in an electrical cord and managed to get electrocuted. They have reported over 200 "rescued" and at least another 150 awaiting rescue. Some have been the simple ones as described in another post, some have been sitting on the second floor after their first floor flooded. I also saw a video of 2 dogs being rescued. Sorry but I will not leave my dog behind, my DD considers him her brother. Local shelters in my area had made arrangements with our local animal shelter to house pets for those seeking refuge from the storm.

Thanks for the report.

[Beachbourbon]

Originally Posted by 5er_tom

It is a Generac. I called a local electrical contractor and they did a full turnkey job for me. About $3,800 in 2004. It runs on natural gas and is fully automatic. The electrical company comes once a year to service the unit. Oil change annually and the battery normally goes 3 years. The generator automatically runs for 12 minutes every week during a time when I can hear it so I know all is good. It runs all the 110v in the house, no 220. So, we can run everything except the A/C, oven and dryer. It has saved the contents of the refer and freezer twice, so I am happy with the investment. Plus during a snow event two years ago power was off for 12 hours. We were warm and all the lights worked. We have a gas heater, gas water heater and gas range so we are all set. The gas company changed the meter to a larger size so we need not worry about using all the gas stuff at one time. No charge for the larger meter.

Do you always have uninterrupted gas service in a natural disaster?

[rskeans]

Originally Posted by Beachbourbon

Do you always have uninterrupted gas service in a natural disaster?

I have never had gas service interrupted.

[timfromma]

Originally Posted by rskeans

I have never had gas service interrupted.

Take a look at Massachusetts headlines from a couple days ago.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by spock123

What kind of generator do you have. I'm interested something like that

Spock, I have a 22kw whole house generator. Runs everything in our house including all 3 ac’s if we choose. Cost ~$8K installed, that included all wiring, contacting FPL to disconnect meter and the gas man to plumb the gas line. It is a Generac generator.

Obviously you do t need to go with that much capacity if you don’t want and it will cost you less.

I originally went to Lowes for a quote. They sent out an electrical contractor who only wanted to do the gen install but not mess with the gas. I ended up going with the local electrical contractor who was a certified Generac installer and maintenance provider. They gave me a better quote plus they now come out 2 times a year to service the unit at about $150 a year for this contracted agreement.

I would suggest you call Generac to find the authorized dealer in your area to install this for you. When I did it they had a special for a 5 year warranty on the generator.

Last year when Irma came thru Florida we were fortunate that we were only without power for 3 days but the Generac kept us comfortable. I would suggest you get a unit big enough to run an ac. After a hurricane it is usually very muggy not to mention during the storm your house is locked down like Fort Knox and it becomes an oven in there. You will sleep well at night unless you feel guilty about the neighbors.
The unit I have has 2, 120vav outlets on the side and I was able to supply some power to my neighbor to run their fridge and a couple of fans.

Check it out, you will be glad you did. But realize it is like buying insurance, you may never need to use it but when you do, you will be glad you did.

[spock123]

This would not have been so bad if I had kept the camper here. DW could have stayed cool plus all my tools are in the camper plus my coffee pot that I plug in is in the camper. It seems like anything I need is in the camper, we keep the camper ready to go all the time. As soon as this storm is over I’m calling Generac, I already sent for information.

[B and B]

In my experience natural gas never goes out.Booster pumping station up here are diesel driven compressors. They do not rely on utility power. I would use Natural gas in a heartbeat for a generator at my home. Many in our community have these.

[Oaklevel]

In a way wish that I could afford a whole house generator but it is out of the question. But even at that, in the past 27 years we lost power for a week once due to an ice storm. Other than that is has been a couple hours here and there, even that is rare and not every year.

Back to the hurricane, we see that the doubters are wrong this is shaping up to be the Carolina's worst in recent history and its not going away any time soon. Hope everyone is safe. !!!

[Kirk S]

Originally Posted by 5er_tom

Installed by a licensed electrical and all up to code. The concern is if power is out for several days. It would run 24/7.

Our Generac has run 24/7 for several days during Matthew and Irma with no issues. It's quieter than I imagined it would be. We share an extension cord with any neighbor that needs one.

It's recommended to shut it down and check the oil every few days during an extended run. I've done that but it never needed any. I change the oil after an extended run or annually as well as check the electrolyte in the battery.

Ours will run on natural gas or propane and can be changed from one to the other by turning a valve and changing a setting. I've thought about getting a propane tank as a backup but figure if the natural gas fails then we probably have bigger issues going on.

At current natural gas prices I figure it costs 50 cents per hour or 12 dollars per day to operate. The one time power was out 5 days it cost just a few cents less than 60 dollars over our normal usage. Worth it to keep DW cool.