a rumor going round ```

[valley ranch]

This box is in place to remove the cramp of the old box and in the process ```

Hooches and picky snits are on almost every forum ~ they do a good service ~ serving as a bad example ```

 

[valley ranch]

Haven't been out yet Looks like over 6' maybe 7 ``` The sun is out everything looks magical ```

 

[Collector]

View attachment 24782 View attachment 24783 View attachment 24784

Well ~ I patched in a temporary Transfer Switch & have the cable ready to tie into the generator ``` It was/will ~ God willing ~ go into that sub panel ~ later ~ I have hooked up the pump house and the furnace ~ I'll hook the fridge and light in the kitchen and front room ~ and we can use lamps~ for the rest ~ we've lots of them ``````View attachment 24785

Here at our house we had a generator bypass switch installed.

Had to have a licensed electrician do it but totally worth it. When power goes out I just turn main breaker off and slide that plate up and hit the generator breaker and boom back in business. There is a weatherproof receptical on side of house for generator. Our currant generator is 8.5 kw. It good enough to run our whole house including the well, but not the hot water and range. My dream is getting a 15-20 Kw diesel generator that will run everything in house and out buildings including workshop area. I really am not willing to pony up dough for it though so stick with what I have for now. For me being cheap is way easier than having all the money to act on all my side adventures.

 

[valley ranch]

Very nice Collector ``` I was in the process of upgrading when I got busy at the Nevada site ``` Just got a renter at a place ~ a mile from our high desert spread ~ lots of little things still to do there ```

 

[ducks4you]

Somebody called "Julie" soon after we moved into this house, some 17 years ago and we saw that there was a natural gas line that nobody told us about. I had just had an overflow of fuel oil bc we hadn't screwed one of the caps on tight enough and was none too pleased about using fuel oil for our boiler ANYway, so we switched it over to natural gas.
DH also had a NG line run to the basement room where there was an old but hardly used generator. We now have a deep marine battery that we trickle charge hooked up to the generator. In order to start it we have to switch it on, it pulls from the battery, then we switch on the NG, flip the (existing) switch to run power from the generator and we have power. It doesn't run everything, but it keeps the boiler going and runs a lot of lights, especially since I have replacing my light bulbs with LED's. I don't know how you handle a generator that needs to be refilled with gasoline.
Last power outage was in February and we were a sea of lights among a pitch black town. We had forgotten to put a flashlight on our table between our tv watching chairs, but, ya know, when you need to you can feel you way through a familiar room in the dark. I also keep two oil lamps in the kitchen for such a purpose, and when you put one of those lit in your kitchen sink and a glass contained candle in the sink of the bathroom, you can see where you need to go. I think I hit the bathroom with the candle First bc I keep matches there all year, and an available candle. Needless to say, ALL flashlights now have new batteries and there is one in the remote caddy ready to grab. We lose power 3-5x/year bc we are rural and our local electric chooses to use the cheapest lines. Most of the power outages are ironically in the summer.

 

[valley ranch]

We lose power here and down in Nevada as well ~ good you have generator ~ I've been lax ~ not getting this one back on line ```

Power didn't go out ~ this storm group ~ the winds were not too bad ~ no trees took out the power lines ```

 

[valley ranch]

I hooked up to natural gas ~ up here ~ when the gas line was put in years back ~ still have propane in Nevada ~ not cheap ``` Did install ~ Tankless water heaters ~ up here and there ```

 

[majorcatfish]

Here at our house we had a generator bypass switch installed.
View attachment 24844
Had to have a licensed electrician do it but totally worth it. When power goes out I just turn main breaker off and slide that plate up and hit the generator breaker and boom back in business. There is a weatherproof receptical on side of house for generator. Our currant generator is 8.5 kw. It good enough to run our whole house including the well, but not the hot water and range. My dream is getting a 15-20 Kw diesel generator that will run everything in house and out buildings including workshop area. I really am not willing to pony up dough for it though so stick with what I have for now. For me being cheap is way easier than having all the money to act on all my side adventures.

yup those electricians are expensive..like you said well worth it.... it does suck when the power goes out and your on a well... being thinking about getting a small gen to just run the well and fridge....

 

[Collector]

@valley ranch
Yes life gets in the way of a lot of things I want to do also. What I did at our old house was wired a dryer plug onto the end off generator cable. When the power would go out I would turn off the main breaker out to power lines and plug the dryer plug into the dryer socket and fire up generator up. I would charge the electric panel through the dryer line. Now look this is absolutely dangerous and nobody should do it ever. I will say it worked well for me though, you just have to make sure the dryer end is plugged in before you start generator. It’s called the back feed method do t try it unless you are aware of the dangers and accept what could happen. Really the only thing that could go wrong is shocking the crud out of yourself or starting a fire in you house. That why it important to have it plugged in and main breaker off before starting generator.

@ducks4you
I have kind of been lazy about having some emergency supplies close at hand. Think I’m gonna get some stuff together and all in one spot. We have only had one power outage this winter that lasted about 6 hrs so not bad. Last winter though we lost power several times adding up to about 5 days.

 

[Collector]

@majorcatfish
Generators are really handy to have around when the power goes out. That usually during the worst weather conditions.