Just to clarify for anybody that uses this chat and commentary to do their own research, you mean "natural gas" not "gasoline"? I have a gasoline generator that I can use to run my well pump, fridge and a couple outlets or two. I usually have plenty of gasoline on hand, or can get it close by. But, as everyone starts moving to electric outdoor power equipment, there may be a can of gasoline that sits unused for a while and goes bad when it's needed for a generator. Propane won't go bad like gasoline, so if somebody is shopping for a new generator, they make dual fuel gasoline or propane ones.
@Nettdata what kind of blower and battery backup do you have running with your gas fireplace? Our upstairs gas fireplace insert needs a blower. That would be step one to increasing functionality. It has some other issues but that would be a good first step. @Rush-O-Matic probably natural gas. Something like this? It's about the price range Nett quoted too. https://norwall.com/categories/stan...EBi6zjcNGfTaWFbYre33rAdvnq_VqUVEaAiEAEALw_wcB
Yeah I went back and edited it for clarity. Natural gas is what I'm referring to... a nice continual supply already comes into the house, so why not use it to create some power when needed?
It's built into the frame of the natural gas fireplace insert. It's a really small squirrel cage fan that is tied into a heat sensor so that once the fireplace insert gets up to temp the fan kicks on, and it'll run while the thing is off and cooling down. It's a variable speed fan, and all it really does is circulate air around the fireplace frame to transfer a shit-ton more of the heat into the air and then kick it back out into the room. Because the fireplace is downstairs and I have a split level house, the heat naturally heads up the stairs and bakes out the top level, where we live most of the time.
I'm in that boat right now... I have 2 small Honda generators (the crazy quiet i2000's that can run in series) that I can use to generate 30amps, that get about 8 hours of runtime per tank, but I haven't even fired them up in a year, and I have 2 big 10 gallon gerry cans of gas that seem to be more fuel stabilizer than fuel right now. And it's damn near impossible to get rid of bad gas. Where do you go to dump 20 gallons of gas? It's not like the normal oil recovery places take it.
Ah I gotcha. That was kind of my idea about putting a wood stove downstairs. We are also in a split level and the dissipation of heat would be ideal from that point below.
Yeah... that's pretty well the exact Generac unit I was looking at. I was initially quoted $5k for that and the switch, and then another $1k or so for installation. Even if you call it $8k it's a hell of a deal compared to the other solutions I was looking at (Powerwall solution came in at about $25k, mains upgrade and power run increase from my current 100amp service to something beefier was $18k, and this was $6k). Basically have it set up to provide automatic whole house/garage replacement/backup power when the grid goes out, and then have it on-demand just for the shop when I need it. Basically run a feed to the shop with a few 220v outlets from it, and then have a remote control start/stop that I'd use to start it up when it was time to use it, kill it when I was done. That would then feed 100amp power to the shaper, table saw, and dust extractor outside of the normal household circuits, which would be used to still run the smaller 120v power tools (sanders, grinders, chop saw, etc). I could also run another feed into the garage to drive my welders if I ever need some higher amps than I currently use. I also think that somewhat regular use to power the shop would keep it well maintained rather than have to do occasional spin-ups to keep things working/tested.
If it's in a Jerry can, you can loosen the cap, stand it up on your truck tailgate, drive slowly until you hit a dirt road . . . punch it! Can falls over and slowly drains onto the dirt as you drive down the road before you realize you "forgot" the can was on your tailgate. The solution to pollution is dilution! Haha, of course I'm kidding! No one would ever do that!
I remember the old Popular Mechanics articles that recommended digging a hole in the back yard, filling it with gravel, then pouring old oil/gas in it and just letting it leech away into the soil. Insane. As it was I used to have a burn barrel for garbage and stuff when I lived at my old lake property in the middle of nowhere... I set up a drip feeder into it that I'd pour used motor oil and gas into, and holy shit did that thing ever burn crazy hot. Melted the first barrel down to slag. But it was hot enough that there was zero black smoke coming off it, just crazy amounts of heat. I followed a YouTube rabbit hole for a while of guys that made oil drip heaters for their shops, etc, that seemed to be incredibly efficient and clean burning... never got to building one myself, but it kind of makes sense.
I've heard my dad say that one, too. "The solution to pollution is dilution." He has lots of gas powered tools and engines so I doubt he ever had any fuel go bad, but I know for certain it isn't just a fuel source. He also uses it to kill yellow jackets.
This is the whole house generator we have, but 20kW. Runs (nearly) the whole house, including furnace, kitchen appliances, our sewer pump, and pretty much every room in the house. We had it installed in 2013, the year after superstorm Sandy, and gotten plenty of use out of it. Unfortunately, our power goes out frequently, occasionally for days at a time. Ours is tied to the natural gas line into our home, and kicks on automatically when power goes out for more than 30 seconds. Once a week it activates automatically for 15 minutes, to ensure everything works properly. It cost us $7k for the generator, install, breaker box, etc, but that was 10 years ago. Worth every penny.
Yeah, a few years ago I switched from all Stihl gas powered landscaping gear to their battery powered stuff... it's so much better and easier to deal with, and the lawn mower is insanely powerful compared to the gas one... it mows through 3' grass without slowing down, which would kill the gas powered mower. Sure, it chews through batteries faster, but those batteries are big, powerful, and long lasting... I have 4, and they charge in about 10 mins with the fast charger. That means that the only gas powered things I have left are my high powered pressure washer and 2 small portable generators.
I used to go without power for up to a week at a time living on the remote lake in BC (any wind storm that came through would knock 500 trees into the power lines that would take forever to fix), but here it's not so bad. I think we've gone maybe 5 times with power loss last year, at most for 4 hours... so really, the shop would be the primary motivator with the full-house backup being secondary. Still, in the day and age of work from home, having that power backup is a life saver sometimes. I have battery backups on all my computer/tv/cable/internet stuff so I can go for about an hour with full service without power, and internet for about 6 (keep that wifi running for access), but still... it's not like the electrical grid is getting better over time. Last night we had power fluctuations and the street lights blew out (massive electrical explosion a street over) just from some wind and snow.
North of San Antonio here. Austin always gets fucked with storms. If it's gonna rain, y'all get hail. If it's gonna be windy, you get a derecho. If it's gonna ice, you get the apocalypse. People in Austin don't know how to drive in general. 15 years ago I used to be able to go from the Y, to mopac and 183 in 20 minutes. Population way overgrew the infrastructure, and now you're paying for it. I have a bunch of space blankets from running, and the plan is to cover shit with those and stuff them with towels and stuff if it gets real cold. I'm not sure how bad we'll get it or not. It's those sustained temps below freezing which get really bad. Over a foot of snow and negative temps during the big one a few years ago though. Did a half marathon in comfort this morning and it was 28 at the 8 am start. Took like an hour to get above freezing. Shit ain't right.
News reported that there were 440 accidents in the last 24 hours here... in the middle of the snow belt, where people are supposed to be used to shit weather. Ideal time to stay at home and cook, drink, and watch movies in front of a fire.
Wood pellet stoves are pretty good too IIRC. If you've got enough to last the winter, chances of you feezing out are pretty close to zero.
Gasoline evaporates pretty quickly. Start pouring it in a bucket, a few gallons at a time, it will just disappear. It will evaporate faster out of the bucket than just opening your gas can, something about surface area, science shit.