Storm and Disaster Preparedness, and what emergency supplies to have is a running theme on GardenFork. Today Rick and Will take over the podcast to what to be prepared for and how to create a simple plan. This is National Preparedness Month, after all.
What kind of storms and natural disasters happen in your area? The most common of these should be the focus of your emergency prep. Keep these items dry, you may want to put them in zipper plastic bags. You can pretty large zipper bags, btw.
Duracell batteries now last 10 years, according to the manufacturer, so I buy a large pack of D and AA batteries. Keep these batteries in their packaging. If loose in a bag, they can contact each other and possibly drain power.
Will has some good points for keeping kids busy during power outages, with a pack of fun items that are only allowed to be used during a blackout. Smart of Will to have this.
3 must have tools to prepare for power outages.
For more on what items to have in an emergency what Eric in this video.
If you like to play with fire, and get your kids learning about how to make do with what you got, here’s a fun vid:
You usually think about storm preparedness just before the lights flicker out, right? To help you be more prepared, here are 3 things you should have before the power outage.
Storm Preparedness Tools I Have
Whether you have a generator or not, a solar powered radio, that also charges mobile devices, is the first thing I tell everyone to buy. I have this Eton radio that has AM, FM, and 7 pre-programmed weather stations dialed in. This radio has a USB charger plug, and you can power up devices either by turning the crank or using solar power. The solar cell can take all day to charge up a device, however, the hand crank works faster.
I have gone through many cheap LED headlamps, then I finally decided to stop buying whatever was at teh store and upgrade to a better quality one. This Eveready LED Headlamp has 7 LEDs and several functions. I used it last weekend to do some electrical work, so you can also use it for your DIY projects as well.
A quality waterproof flashlight is our 3rd must have tool, because the power goes out when its raining or snowing, not when the sun is shining. We tested this Dorcy LED Flashlight and it works great. I also like that it uses AA batteries, not larger cells. This means we can just use our existing AA batteries.
As you can see in the video, this flashlight floats and can be used a Labrador toy. This may sound like fun, but it also proved to me that your dog can chew on it and it will still be waterproof and function.
We do use a generator for power outages, but its loud and I’d rather not run it day and night. Instead, we power up our headlamps and listen to the radio. I occasionally run generator to heat the house and keep the fridge cold.
How to pick a generator is the first step in hooking up a generator to your house. Here’s my experience in figuring out what kind and size portable generator you need to power your home during a power outage.
Our generator is plenty powerful to power the house.
Figuring out how what size or wattage generator to buy a is the first step in the how to pick a generator process. To determine the size of the generator you need, you have to figure out what you want to power in your house during a power outage. This power number, or watts, also will determine the size transfer panel you will need. In addition to buying a generator you will need generator transfer switch. Here is a link to our post about transfer switch installation.
Based On My Experiences…
This post is about portable generators, the kind on wheels that you pull outside, connect to your manual transfer panel, and power your home. Standby generators, the kinds that sit on a cement slab next to your house, are not covered here. This is based on my experience as a homeowner, I am not a licensed electrician.
First, buy a name brand generator. Cheap generators will cause you problems if you ever need to service it. This came back to burn a friend of mine when he needed to replace a carburetor.
Second, perform regular maintenance on your generator. I run mine for about 15 minutes every month.
Third, use gas stabilizer. Add this to all the gasoline you use for engines around the house. It will save you a lot of headaches and repairs.
Start by going through the house and think about what you and your family want to be able to use in a power outage. Then re-think about what you really need, and what you can live without.
Why? Because the average portable generator/transfer switch setup will not run everything in your house. It will run the essentials, however I think you’ll find that you don’t need to power your whole house.
Your portable generator will probably not run your 240 volt appliances. These include electric clothes dryer, electric stove, electric furnace, electric baseboards. It will run your deep freezer, refrigerator, and microwave oven and most of the lights in your house. It all depends on how the house is wired and the size of your generator transfer panel.
After making a list of of what is essential in your home, find out the amps or watts that each appliance uses. Don’t forget the furnace, well pump, etc. This is usually on a label somewhere. Now convert amps into watts with this equation:
amps x 120 = watts
I imagine you will get a number ranging from 3,000 – 6,000 unless you have lots of large TVs.
How To Pick A Generator, Watts & Amps:
A typical home can use a generator in the 3,000 to 6,000 watt range. Because you will probably not be running all the appliances at once, you don’t need a generator that exactly matches how many watts all the appliances require. The biggest draw on the generator will be the well pump, if you have one, second comes the furnace. Rarely would all of your appliances need power at once.
The question of whether to get a gas or propane powered portable generator depends on your location and preference. The small 20 gallon propane tanks are easier to deal with than carrying around gasoline, but if you run out of propane, how far do you have to drive to get more tanks? You could also get larger propane tanks, as some generators have a gas line hookup. I have a gasoline powered generator, and have been happy with it.
The downside of the gasoline generator is you can splash gas when filling the tank, and you must put gas stabilizer in the fuel. But you should treat all the gas you use for small engines with stabilizer, in my opinion.
You will need to buy and install a manual transfer panel that matches how many circuits you plan on using in the house. That is, how many of the circuit breakers on your panel need to be fed power from the generator. If you need to power 6 circuit breakers of your house panel, you will need a transfer panel with 6 breakers. Most household manual transfer panels have 6 to 10 breakers. If you have to power more than 10 circuits in a power outage, its time for a standby generator. Here is a link to our post about generator transfer panel installation.
You might think, how can I get by using only use 6 circuits in my house? You’d be surprised at how you can. Your family will be happy that they can take hot showers and charge their devices, and the food in the freezer isn’t melting.
I have a 6,500 watt portable generator, and it runs my entire house with power to spare. The generator surges when the well pump kicks in or the furnace turns on, but that’s about it. The power meters on our transfer panel rarely move past 25%.
My point here is you probably don’t need a large generator to survive a power outage, so save some money and buy a less powerful generator. My house would do fine with a 3,000 – 4,000 watt generator.
Below is video about transfer panels and generators, here is the link again to our post about transfer panels. I hope this has answered some of your questions about how to pick generator.
Emergency Preparedness, installing a generator in your home, hooking up generator transfer panels, and how to safely hook up your generator to your house is the subject of GardenFork Radio. We want to thank Barry for his viewer mail that started us off on our Emergency Preparedness show today. more cool stuff on www.GardenFork.TV
