Finding the holes in our preps

[JamesY]

well first it was the covid scare/lockdown, then we had to quarantine, and now we had the most brutal winter storm to hit Texas in decades. so far we have came through it all relatively unscathed. the winter storm with lows of -4°f AND the rolling black outs was scary for sure. we are all electric and I never got around to prepping much for no power or heat. luckily we never lost power, just drinking water for a couple days and I was prepped for that.


if I was gonna have another heart attack it would have been then. with 4 kids in bed and super crazy temps coming and the threat of no power...I was on edge to say the least. every kid had 5 blankets on the bed and I was checking on things hourly. the house dropped to 60 degrees but that's ok. much better than 0 or -4. anyway I said never again . and now I'm filling the gaps.

picked up a 6500 watt generator used for a couple hundred bucks. runs like a champ and I'm gonna set it up to plug in the house electric system soon. it won't run heat or the oven but it will keep the icebox and deep freezer going and a few lights. we picked up a few more gas cans and filled them with stabilized fuel. then I ordered a 30000 btu propane heater and an adapter hose to ru it off a propane bottle. we picked up a buddy heater, a 1 lb bottle adapter to refill 1 lb bottles with a 20lb bottle and we have some cook tops and lanterns. it's a start.

 

[JamesY]

 

[JamesY]

 

[JamesY]

 

[JamesY]

still waiting on my 30k btu heater from Amazon but I got the buddy heater in. also picked up a few more reliance aquatainers. we used 14 gallons in the storm and had 7 left before the boil order was lifted. now we have 6 jugs and 3 on the way.

 

[JamesY]

how do you guys treat gas for storage and prep you generators?

 

[Haertig]

the house dropped to 60 degrees

That's where ours drops to every night (the low setting on our setback thermostat). During the day, we set it to go up to 65.

We are lucky to have gas heat. Gas rarely goes out. As a matter of fact, I've never seen it go out in my life. You do need electricity to run our furnace (electronic ignition and controller, and the blower fan). But those draw little current and our small/medium sized generator can easily handle that if needed.

During an extended power outage I would power the furnace, the water heater (gas also, but electronic ignition and various controls and fans), the refrigerator, the freezer, a few LED lamps, and probably the TV to see what news I could pull in (if they were still broadcasting). Oh, and my electronics chargers so I'd have cellphone (if service was available), a portable ham radio, plenty of charged NiMH and lithium ion batteries, etc.

The hot tub would be right out (as pleasing as it may be during a big freeze!) - the circuit is 220volts at 100amps - but if it got cold enough to where freezing the thing was a real possibility, I'd drop a portable sump pump in there and power that. The water circulation combined with the pumps heat are good enough to keep a hot tub above freezing (they are heavily insulated).

 

[elkhound]

good job of moving forward and up a level...keep up the good job !

 

[Aerindel]

how do you guys treat gas for storage and prep you generators?

I use a propane generator, the fuel lasts forever.

 

[Amish Heart]

We keep stabil in our gas preps. Run your generator every few months, or have it serviced once a year if you get lazy. The buddy heaters are good and we use them lots. But you'll run through a can of propane a night of those little green cans. It'll heat a small room though if you lose heat. Our new generator is not in yet, but will be propane. We have three portable gas ones. We don't have a problem with heat, with our woodburning stove, and we got down to negative 13. Bundle up at bedtime!
My oops was leaving our 20 or so plus 5 gallon water bottles in the milkhouse. They cracked and broke. Had intended to move them into a new basement section, but the builders are running two months behind on our add on.

 

[Tootsie]

If the generator is not being used, run the gas out completely. Store with no gas. Like all small engines, marine gas or ethanol free is the choice for fuel.. if ever you can acquire metal gas cans (vintage), they store gas better. We bought a generator many moons ago, and haven’t had to use it since a massive ice storm and power out 20-30 years ago, but it’s good insurance to have. Good work!

 

[The Lazy L]

how do you guys treat gas for storage and prep you generators?

How do I treat my gas? I don't.

I have three, five gallon gas cans that I rotate by filling the lawn mower and the mule. So in theory I should alway have at least 10 gallons of gas on hand. In realty, too often, I'm down to the last 5 gallons before I refiled the other two cans.

So I converted my generator to LP. I buy 20 pound LP tanks for $5 and garage sales. LP doesn't go sour like gasoline and doesn't gum up (varnish) the generator's carburetor like gasoline. I use a RV Automatic Changeover so when one 20 pound tank is empty the Automatic Changerover switches to the other tank. Worst comes to worst the LP conversation still allows generator to run on gasoline.

Same company that fills my home 500 gallon LP tank fills the 20 pounders. Backup fill plan a local tractor supply can fill or is I want to $pend, Wal-mart has a tank exchange fill.

My theory is that there are a lot more easier sources for 20 pound LP tanks (like barbecue grills) during a SHTF then trying to syphon questionable gasoline.

P.S. The old style LP tank (non-OPD) is no longer approved for use by your Federal government. If you happen to have any just take it to Wal-mart and exchange it for a Federal blessed full tank. My theory is it's a non-OPD then is close to or pass the 12 year certification period. Or if you want for $25 you can buy a OPD value to replace the non-OPD valve.

P.S.S. Regular gasoline has Ethanol. Ethanol is hard on small engines and rubber fuel lines. So I was buying the next grade of ga$oline. $$$$ ouch. Now all grades of gasoline in my neck of the country has Ethanol in it. Another good reason (IMHO) to switch LP.

 

[angie_nrs]

There's nothing like a good scare to find holes in the preps, eh? The whole CV thing put a spotlight on my 'pandemic' preps, even though I didn't really use much. Still, if I thought it was a real threat, I really don't have enough PPE. Due to the shortage of PPE now, I still don't have that hole filled. I still have some tyvek gowns and N-95 and other masks, but it's clear that it's not enough should a real threat present itself. Around here, there still are not any N-95 masks to be found as I found out when we installed some insulation recently, so I was glad to have some in my stash.

Congrats on your recent purchases. One thing I would agree with previous posters is to use your generator every now and again. Rodents and insects can wreak havoc on the wiring. We had infestations with both our buddy heater AND our small generator. During the off season, we start them up and check for critter nests.

I'm no generator expert, but make sure if you hook your gene up to a house that you know what you're doing. A few years back, someone hooked up their gene to their house and created a backfeed though their electrical lines. When a line worker came to repair the line, he was blown off the line and ended up dying. It was so sad. Hubs knows quite a bit about this kind of stuff, but if we were to do something like that, we'd hire it out to a licensed electrician.

 

[Spikedriver]

Sounds like you got a good plan going.

I might add, there are conversions to power everything from farm tractors to pickup trucks with LP. It's not a bad idea to have that capability. I personally don't, but I've got experience with LP powered farm equipment, and it's viable, if you can stand the smell...

 

[SheepDog]

When you convert a gasoline fuel system to propane you lose between 25 and 30% of your power. If you convert the engine to run on propane you can get the power back but you can never run gasoline without converting it back because the conversion to propane raises the compression to 13 to 14 to 1. Gasoline will detonate at that compression and destroy the engine.
The same is true of engines converted to run on alcohol. The compression is just too high for operating on gasoline.

 

[kd4ulw]

@JamesY if you are going to use the hoses on your Mr Heater Portable Buddy read up on using other brand hoses and the oils leaching out of the hose and clogging the heaters. They do sell a fuel filter that you can install for this problem, or use Mr Heater brand hoses. Didn’t want you to ruin the heater!

Will the 30,000 BTU propane heater you’re waiting on give off CO?

 

[hashbrown]

I guess I'm a little different, I keep a little chainsaw gas and a 5 gallon can sitting around. I don't want or need a generator. Most generally in my part of the world if the power goes out for any length of time its going to be in the winter and my freezer stuff can go outside. During the last cold snap it was -17 here and was easily able to keep a 3600 square foot home 70 degrees without our furnace ever kicking on. I would much rather have a wood stove or two than a generator. If the shtf really hits the fan a extra 5 of gas isn't really going to do much good anyway.

 

[JamesY]

@JamesY if you are going to use the hoses on your Mr Heater Portable Buddy read up on using other brand hoses and the oils leaching out of the hose and clogging the heaters. They do sell a fuel filter that you can install for this problem, or use Mr Heater brand hoses. Didn’t want you to ruin the heater!

Will the 30,000 BTU propane heater you’re waiting on give off CO?

well it's rated for indoor use. simple answer no, but its possible. if combustion has inadequate oxygen you get carbon monoxide instead of carbon dioxide.

that being said I habe a CO detector.

 

[The Lazy L]

When you convert a gasoline fuel system to propane you lose between 25 and 30% of your power. If you convert the engine to run on propane you can get the power back but you can never run gasoline without converting it back because the conversion to propane raises the compression to 13 to 14 to 1. Gasoline will detonate at that compression and destroy the engine.
The same is true of engines converted to run on alcohol. The compression is just too high for operating on gasoline.

Interesting. Kit I used replace the gasket between air filter and carb. No engine compression ratio change.

 

[Supervisor42]

Interesting. Kit I used replace the gasket between air filter and carb. No engine compression ratio change.

He was talking about keeping the same horsepower output after the conversion to propane.
He's right about converted gasoline engines produce only about 80% of the power they made on gasoline with a bolt-on conversion to propane.
Little known fact: purpose-built propane engines can easily exceed the power output of their low C/R 87-octane gasoline counterparts of the same displacement.
How?
The octane rating of propane is 110.
Remember those monster-horsepower engines we had in the old days that had to have 100-octane premium?
Puny ol' propane is much higher than that.

 

[Supervisor42]

View attachment 60187

Keeping plenty of generator gasoline on hand without it getting old is easy.
Forget additives.
You don't want to be without power and wondering if the 2-year-old gasoline in those plastic jugs is still good. Here's what we hurricane people do:

How To Keep Plenty Of Good Gasoline On Hand:
1. When the jugs have been sitting about 5 months and your pickup truck is below 1/2 tank (important), empty the jugs into the truck.
2. The jug gas mixes with the gas in the truck tank and the truck never knows any difference.
3. Put the empty jugs in the back of the pickup truck. Drive to the station, fill up the jugs and top off the truck tank.
4. Return home and put the jugs back in the garage. All too easy!

 

[The Lazy L]

He was talking about keeping the same horsepower output after the conversion to propane.
He's right about converted gasoline engines produce only about 80% of the power they made on gasoline with a bolt-on conversion to propane....

I understand now.

Good thing I bought a oversized generator. It powers the basics plus some lights.

 

[hiwall]

how do you guys treat gas for storage and prep you generators?

All my stored gas has Seafoam added to it. I've had zero issues even with two-year old gas. Generator is gas and of course has the Seafoam in too. I start the generator every couple months or as I remember. When I do these test runs I always plug in a skilsaw or something to give a load on the electric part of the generator (both poles).
No problems so far at all and the generator always starts on the first pull though I might invest in a battery for the electric start on it (because I am lazy).
Our heating that we normally use is non-electric propane with a 2+ year supply of fuel always on hand. We do have two kitchen electric circuits that are always run by our solar power (for freezer and refrigerator).
The generator is mainly to run the deep-well water pump.

 

[joel]

 

[Bacpacker]

Good job starting to fill holes in the preps. Thats the most important part of the exercise once you get thru the event.
I store 30-40 gallons of 100% gas, no ethonal, and 40 of deisel. It all get treated, for gas I used Stabil. I also rotate thru all the fuel every fall and like Super said, just run it thru your vehicles. At 1 year and treated you will have no problems. It takes me a couple tanks to rotate it all and cost a bunch when I fill back up. But having that one hand will allow me time to clear out my freezers. With my generator, Honda Eu2000, I can run several hours per day on 1 gallon. Highly likely I could stretch that to 2 months.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Generators can be a very dangerous thing if the crisis drags on longer than you expected or longer than you prepared generator fuel for.

A key thing for those using gasoline/diesel generators for backup power is this - set aside the fuel you will use through your generator from the fuel for your vehicles and other machinery.

During a crisis, once the generator fuel is consumed, don't refuel it with your other fuels. Don't siphon vehicles to refuel your generator.

Fuel for your transport (and other machinery) is just too valuable to burn trying to keep things "normal" for a few more days/weeks.

The above takes discipline/determination to implement.

Make sure everyone in your household knows/understands that generator will not and cannot ever burn fuel set aside for other purposes.

If they ask why, ask them how much fun it would be carrying a sick/injured family member to town/medical care on foot.

When a very severe crisis hits the US, it is certain that many, many people will burn all their vehicle fuel in their generators just so they can keep watching TV for a week longer at the very beginning of the crisis. Loss of mobility will get many of them killed.

Don't be one of them.

 

[Aerindel]

My SHTF power system is designed this way:

Solar power to charge headlamps, radio's, computers, and household water pump.

Dual fuel generator to run the water well to fill the storage tank and power heavy tools if needed such as my welder, drill press, etc.

With this system I only need to run the generator two hours a month. And I only need the well for water nine months a year. In this manner, a fairly small amount of propane can represent many years of well water. (and in shtf, I could have water year round with the use of a bolt cutter)

It also preserves OPSEC since I only need the loud generator to run two hours a month, I can run it at a time of my choosing when there is cover, such as 4 am during a windstorm when its' not likely to be heard. (Helps that the nearest neighbor is a half mile away, and the next nearest is a couple of miles)

 

[Neb]

My SHTF power system is designed this way:

Solar power to charge headlamps, radio's, computers, and household water pump.

Dual fuel generator to run the water well to fill the storage tank and power heavy tools if needed such as my welder, drill press, etc.

With this system I only need to run the generator two hours a month. And I only need the well for water nine months a year. In this manner, a fairly small amount of propane can represent many years of well water. (and in shtf, I could have water year round with the use of a bolt cutter)

It also preserves OPSEC since I only need the loud generator to run two hours a month, I can run it at a time of my choosing when there is cover, such as 4 am during a windstorm when its' not likely to be heard. (Helps that the nearest neighbor is a half mile away, and the next nearest is a couple of miles)

Bolt cutter...

Tell me more, tell me more (Grease the musical)

Ben

 

[JamesY]

Keeping plenty of generator gasoline on hand without it getting old is easy.
Forget additives.
You don't want to be without power and wondering if the 2-year-old gasoline in those plastic jugs is still good. Here's what we hurricane people do:

How To Keep Plenty Of Good Gasoline On Hand:
1. When the jugs have been sitting about 5 months and your pickup truck is below 1/2 tank (important), empty the jugs into the truck.
2. The jug gas mixes with the gas in the truck tank and the truck never knows any difference.
3. Put the empty jugs in the back of the pickup truck. Drive to the station, fill up the jugs and top off the truck tank.
4. Return home and put the jugs back in the garage. All too easy!View attachment 60248

that sounds like a great plan!

 

[JamesY]

My SHTF power system is designed this way:

Solar power to charge headlamps, radio's, computers, and household water pump.

Dual fuel generator to run the water well to fill the storage tank and power heavy tools if needed such as my welder, drill press, etc.

With this system I only need to run the generator two hours a month. And I only need the well for water nine months a year. In this manner, a fairly small amount of propane can represent many years of well water. (and in shtf, I could have water year round with the use of a bolt cutter)

It also preserves OPSEC since I only need the loud generator to run two hours a month, I can run it at a time of my choosing when there is cover, such as 4 am during a windstorm when its' not likely to be heard. (Helps that the nearest neighbor is a half mile away, and the next nearest is a couple of miles)

I'm not prepping for that kinda thing. I'm preparing for the next crazy storm that hits Texas and makes us lose power and water for days on end while dumping feet of snow and blowing crazy record breaking cold in.


there was a young boy who died south of us. his family all hunkered down in the living room together with blankets and went to sleep for the night. the kid froze to death before morning. 10°f in the house is dangerous stuff. that's just heart breaking