Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Well the storm we had on the Saturday the 29th knocked out our power at 11:00 pm and we just got back on the grid about 3 hours ago. We got about 8" of heavy wet snow and several of the ornamental trees in my yard took a big hit (my wife was sick over that) and a big limb across the road took out a main power feed line. 1 or 2 days I can handle, but 5 days off the grid starts to get a bit old.

Monday morning I went out at 7:00 am to get coffee and bagels for the family (school was cancelled) and decided to go by the local Home Depot and see if by a stoke of luck they had any generators left. I decided to give this a shot after contacting National Grid that morning and was told to not expect any power until Thursday at 11:45 pm (seriously!).  I walked through the doors and saw quite a few snowblowers which I felt was a good sign as all the news reports leading up to the storm were stating that there was not a snowblower to be found due to the impending nor'easter. I headed to the hardware section in hopes of finding any generator I could find and at the first endcap was this little Ryobi i2000 power inverter generator. I looked at it a bit and said to myself, "self - you better put that in the carriage just in case there is nothing else". Sure enough, that was it! So $600.00 later I was filling it up with 10W30 oil, some fresh gas and getting some power to my home.

It's only 1600 continuous watts (2000 peak) but it was good enough to power the fans on my wood stove (plenty of heat for the whole house) and power up some small appliances and the TV. We did not have any cable or internet service but we could run DVD's and keep ourselves entertained and provide some relief from the toils of dealing with the little things in life we take for granted  I'm on a well pump and septic so having no electricity to power the water pump creates it's own set of obstacles to overcome. Flushing the toilets (a no flush unless needed rule took effect) can be become a challenge. I would skim the water off my pool cover with a small bucket and fill (2) 5 gallon buckets that I would use to fill the 3 toilet tanks. A "do number 2 in the first floor bathroom" rule was also mandated so I did not have to carry 5 gallon buckets upstairs to refill those toilet tanks more than once a day.

I learned my lesson after living here for the last 10 years or so to have an ample supply of emergency potable and non potable water on hand in case of a power failure. I always keep 50 gallons of drinking water stored in my cellar in used 2 liter Polar Springs Seltzer water bottles. I have a propane cook stove so I can heat water to do a "bums bath" (probably not a PC statement these days) and to cook with so it becomes fairly bearable once you get the hang of dealing without the flick of a switch or knob, etc... type of convenience. I have several types of battery operated lights that work quite well and are actually quite efficient at illuminating a room - you just have to bring the light along with you everywhere you go!

One of the biggest challenges was keeping morale high as this type of situation can become very old, very quickly. My kids (girl 14, boy 15) handled everything pretty well and adapted easily to their new set of circumstances. The wife on the other hand, began to grow tired of the conditions fairly quickly regardless of the fact that it was basically a "it is was it is" type of situation and it could be much worse. I think anyone that's been married for some time can attest to the usual demands of a husband/wife dynamic but throw this type of situation into the mix and WOW - it can really become interesting!

I think everyone should have to deal with this type of inconvenience occasionally so that they can appreciate what they have just a little bit more than they realize!

Hey, FrankMA.  Welcome back to the grid.  I too am in NE Mass.  I lost my power 10:30 Saturday night.  We could see the writing on the wall with flickering.  My wife was wise to do what she could in anticipation of a long period without power.  Batteries in the flashlights, bottled water, even made a pot of coffee and put it in an insulated carafe.  That sort of thing.  We have natural gas for stove top cooking and a gas fireplace that runs without electricity.  I was quite proud of how she prepared.  The power was back on just after midnight.  DOH!

Even though we were without power for a short period of time, it was a strange feeling being unable to check the weather on the iPad, watch a show, check the latest post at Abbysguide.com.

I enjoyed your account of events; I should consider a generator...5 days.  Yikes.

Wow, five days.  We were withoug for 3 days and that was two and a half too long.  Made me realize how woefully unprepared we are.  it was 48 degrees in the house, and the tea kettle on the stove was the only source of heat.  I went to home depot and the guy practically laughed in my face when I asked about kerosene heaters available.  I think the best long term solution is to look into a wood burning stove for the basement of our high ranch.  Any idea how much something like that would run installed?

Also, while I have been extremely pleased with the value of my little homelite 16" electric chainsaw thus far, it was of no use with the big tree across our driveway in front of our garage with no power.  Was out there with the axe sunday morning for a good two hours clearing a path for the cars, and boy was I sore.

Definitely have to make sure I have heat, water, and some food taken care of before something like this happens again. (am I missing anything?)  I just watched that movie The Road and I am worried about having to make it through a whole winter now.

-Dan

daniel wrote:

Some people use diesel generators but they do cost a small fortune the are designed for the long haul. We lost pwer here during he 2008 ice storm and that was down for 5 days as well. Temps here got down to 35 degrees, it was COLD! Thankfully we didn't lose the pipes. We had 2 trees that hit our roof so that had to be replaced. New England weather.....

There's a lot of talk about generators last several years, mostly around portable generators, the ones that you have to add fuel and wheel around.  Has anyone looked into or installed a house generator that is hooked up to natural gas?  Of course the costs is higher and it's a permanent install, but if you have extended power outage, fueling up or going to get fuel gets old pretty quick.

I am definitely getting a 6500 watt generator which will provide power for all my needs should (or rather when!) this happens again. I lost power for 4 days after Irene rolled through here and would never have imagined that this was going to happen AGAIN so soon. I've actually been considering this move for several years after a 3 day outage 3 years ago. I really like the Honda EM6500 even though it is a bit pricey but I value a quality product and especially like the fact that it is very quiet at about  75 dBA. My neighbor about 100 yards diagonally from me has a generator that is extremely loud and annoying so the sound level is a big factor in my decision. Honda has a no interest for 18 months promotion if paid in full before the end of the 18 month term so I may take advantage of that offer.

Costco sells a Honeywell generator with Honda GX340 engine for under $1000.  I have no clue how good this model is.  Many other brands sell their generators with Honda engines but the overall system quality is not the same.  Honda brand lawnmower and Honda engine equipped models are not the same.  Honda brand generators look sleek and well built - so you can't go wrong.

aa335 wrote:
This wouldn't provide power for the whole house but after my warranties are up on my two Honda EU2000i's I am going to add a tri-fuel kit to both of them.

http://www.generatorsales.com/order/Honda-EU2000i-Tri-fuel.asp?page=EU2000i_Tri_Fuel

http://www.generatorsales.com/order/Honda-EU2000i-Tri-Fuel-Kit.asp?page=Honda_EU2000i_Tri_Fuel_Kit

FrankMA wrote:
What brand/model of woodstove do you have?

I put in a Lopi Endeavor at my cabin last year.  That thing really heats the place up.  I used to have an old pre-90's smoke dragon but this EPA certified model with the burn tubes uses a lot less wood with the same amount of heat.



http://www.lopistoves.com/product_guide/detail.aspx?id=209

snowmachine: I have a Jotul C550 fireplace insert that keeps my whole house (2,200 sq. ft. - 2 floors) warm and toasty. I typically go through about 4 - 5 cords during the heating seasons (October - April) and it is very effiicent. It reburns everything with little waste going out the chimney.

daniel: I purchased my Jotul 3 years ago for a total cost (stove, stainless steel liner, cap, delivery and installation) for approximately $ 4,500.00. Figure out how much oil or natural gas you use throughout the year and you can determine when it has paid for itself. At say (using round numbers), $ 3.50/gallon for fuel oil x 1,000 gallons/year = $ 3,500.00 so your payback would be in less than 2 years. I use oil as an example as that it my secondary source of heat. I still use oil to heat my hot water so that's a figure that should be factored in as well by subtracting that usage from the total $$$.year when calculating your payback. As energy prices go higher, the payback period becomes less and less. One other factor is the cost of the wood you'll comsume during the heating seasons.

FrankMA wrote:

Jotul's are nice. Daniel: Make sure you get ahead on your dry/seasoned wood if you get a woodstove. These newer stoves really don't burn non-seasoned would very well at all. An inexpensive digital moisture meter is your friend on a freshly cut split if you aren't sure. A lot of wood that people sell as seasoned really is not. I highly recommend the Sooteater as well to clean your chimney. http://www.sooteater.com/

$4-5K seems like the going rate..especially if you need a new liner or pipe. Lots of models to choose from. If you want really long burn times look at catalytic models. This is useful for the shoulder season.

I'm in MA too. Near Foxboro. Our power went out at midnight on Saturday and cam back on Tuesday morning. After Irene it was out for 4-1/2 days. I already own a 4.2kW Craftsman (Generac rebrand). Just before Irene, I added an outside plugin to allow me to feed a breaker in my breaker panel. I just open the main then close the gen breaker. I know I might get a lot of flames for that practice. But it's safe as long as I follow the "procedural interlock". It does OK at feeding most of my house provided that we're careful with our usage. The well pump is the biggest thing. When it kicks on, the generator bogs badly. So I'm looking for a better solution. I've been pricing standby generators (Gillette specifically). Not cheap, but they have nice clean power and are built very well. I'm looking in the 12kW range. the unit itself is about $4400. Plus a $1300 ASCO transfer switch.

I used a ridgid portable generator for 10 consecutive days during hurricane Irene.It's rated at 6800 running watts and 8500 start up watts.It has a yamaha engine.I ran it 22hrs a day.I paid $900 .I have a 10 circuit manual transfer switch.It provided all the power I needed and had plenty in reserve.Honda,Yamaha,Winco and Gillette are great generators,but cant see why one would spend so much when my generator proved to be reliable at a much lower price.Also Honda's biggest gen is only 5500 running watts.I was quoted $30,000 for a 15,000W kohler standby generator.Thats the going rate up here in NY.It was going to be located about 100 ft from the house.So I figured a $900 portable was a better deal lol, since I will use it maybe once every couple of years.

mikiewest wrote:

Yeah. 30 large for 15kW is a bit steep. What does it run on? For that much it should run on water. Your $900 one is the winner there.

I don't mind spending a few $$$ to have power (especially water) during these frequent power outages but $ 30K is a lot of money. I've been doing some leg work on the generator, transfer switch and electrician to do the install and can probably get everything set up properly for about $ 4K. It would be nice to have one of those "3, 2, 1" and the power comes on automatically during an outage but can't justify the expense. I'll go out and fill four or five 5 gallon gas cans and store it in my shed just before a major storm just in case the whole grid goes down for an extended period of time and the gas stations can't pump any fuel. I can always put the fuel into my vehicles if it's not needed so it's not like I'll have to have it on hand for any length of time. One of my co-workers who lives in Connecticut is in that situation right now. He had to travel an hour to find a gas station that had electricity to power the pumps.

I was shocked at the price.But the price includes the 15k watt kohler stanby gen,auto transfer switch,plumber to hook it up to the natural gas,electrician ,putting it 150 ft from the house.Which adds to the price because they have to dig and refill.The concrete base to put the gen. on.In my town you have to file for a permit.Cant justify spending that much for something that happens so infrequently.So I'll stick with my portable for now.I keep the gen tank full(8 gallons) and I use marine stabil.Also I have a 4 five gallon containers full.After 12months I will put the gas in my car and refill them with fresh gas and use some for my snowblower.

FrankMA wrote:

Agreed!  We are becoming too isolated from the realities that Mother Nature can dish out. 

I really didn't appreciate having to milk 40 cows by hand  in a sub-zero blizzard back in the 70's before we got a PTO generator!

Now, I'm getting along just fine with my little 3.6kw propane generator.  Haven't needed it much here in the midwest, though.  It is enough to run the furnace fan, laptop, cable modem, TV, etc.