Thunderstorms

[KatieNBoyd]

As I sit here this morning appreciating the much needed rain and feel the rumble of the thunder. I watch as the lights flicker (remember we are in rural Montana).

It isn't "if" the power will go off but usually "when" will the power go off. I mention this because many of our new CALS and PALS friends may need to think about this.

I have heard we are suppose to have a hard winter for 2016 and in our neck of the world that means, check the generator now. "Does it work? Do I have enough gas and oil? Do I have extension cords?" These are those things you don't want to wait until you need it to find and get into place.

Right now my PALS only uses a trilogy that has a battery. We also have inverters in our vehicles. We don't like to wear down the battery incase we have to be somewhere that has no power. And as I write this, my PALS is coughing. Not so bad to need the cough assist, but that is something that I would have to consider along with the hospital bed.

Hope this note helps others. Hugs to you all today.

 

[starente15]

Thanks for thinking of this Katie. My family only thought of it once there was a threat of the power going out and it caused my father a lot of anxiety.

I had to get my parents to identify a plan of action as their power frequently went out even if it was just raining.

- I believe the Trilogy had a 6 hour battery backup. Double check.
- Call your power company and advise them of the situation. They can put you on list to get power back to you ahead of others. It happened once and was restored in 2 hours vs. 4.
- We didn't have a generator so I told them to be prepared to go to the hospital if there were a real threat of severe weather (tornadoes). The hospital will have back up power and a safe place to stay, well at least safer than their home.

One time we lost power and my father started to panic. It was an effort to keep him calm while we waited. A neighbor offered for us to come over because their power was working. It was a lovely thought but they didn't have a ramp and my father couldn't get in their home.

ALS really makes you think of every potential scenario.

 

[Diane H]

The worst thing for a generator is not being used. The carburetor will gum up from the fuel sitting in it and it won't start. In addition to the seasonal checks, run it briefly every month or so.

We have a small generator and I was rather touched that my husband was so concerned about making certain that it would start and run well and that he had fuel for it when thunderstorm season began this spring. With a vent, I really need to have it operational. Imagine my chagrin when I found out he was doing all that to make sure we would have power for the SUMP PUMP!

 

[Diane H]

- Call your power company and advise them of the situation. They can put you on list to get power back to you ahead of others. It happened once and was restored in 2 hours vs. 4.

The power company may be able to prioritize getting your neighborhood back on-line in a small area outage, but if the outage is widespread they won't be able to get to your section of the power grid until the larger grid is up. The best use for calling the power company is to insist on being notified of planned outages for maintenance so you can be be prepared.

Also, if you use a generator for your vent, it is best to use the generator to charge your back up battery and run the vent from that. I am sure generators are better than they used to be, but you don't want to risk running what they call dirty power to a machine using computerized controls. Ditto if a severe heat wave forces the power company into brown outs or rotating power supplies. I ran into this on vacation in Minnesota when the heat was causing the highway surfaces to buckle and power rotations to neighborhoods. My BiPAP went out in a puff of smoke. Coincidence?

 

[KatieNBoyd]

Yes to all. We have a plan in place I was just hoping to help those new to this to have some ideas on what to do and how to go about it.

You all are wonderful and full of amazing solutions.

 

[BlueandGold]

Had a strong storm a few days ago. We were without power for about six hours. We had a generator installed about two months ago. First time using it. Pretty darn cool.

Vince

 

[scaredwifetx]

Thanks for this thread Katie. It's given me such useful info

 

[Jocalyn8]

My trilogy provider told me they will supply me with a generator for this situation. I have not had to try this out yet. I just wanted share.��

Cheers,
Jocalyn

 

[Atsugi]

Normal gasoline in the USA will gum up a small engine if it's not used often. There is a way to prevent this, though.

Use Ethanol-free gasoline. Some gas stations have a special pump for it. Just call some gas stations nearby. I found that many of the WaWa stations around here have ethanol-free gas.

 

[swalker]

We are relatively new to generators, having purchased a pair to use with our trailer. We have about 250 hours on them.

I have learned that ethanol-free gas is very much preferred. It is almost impossible to find where we live, but readily available in the places where we camp with our trailer.

We also chose the Yamaha EF2000IS generators because they have a fuel valve that shuts off the flow of fuel from the gas tank to the carburetor. By manually shutting this valve we can allow the generator to continue to run until all the fuel is burned out of the carburetor. This greatly reduces the potential for gummed up stuff.

We installed a meter that shows how many hours the generator has run so that we can do the regularly-scheduled maintenance on schedule. These things need to have the oil changed, spark plugs cleaned/changed, air filters cleaned, and spark arrestors cleaned. The manual also recommend de-carbonizing the heads periodically.

The Yamaha EF2000IS generators will put out a sustained 1600 watts of power. Two of them can be connected in parallel to put out more power (necessary to run our trailer's air conditioner). They have a pure sine wave inverter, so can safely directly power sensitive electrical equipment. But, as Diane H. said, you are better off using the generator to charge a battery and then running the sensitive electronics off the battery. They weigh about 50 pounds each, so it is nice to have a small (or large) hand truck to move them around.

They are not weatherproof, so you need to make sure you have a sheltered place to run them if it is precipitating. They produce deadly carbon monoxide, so you need to make sure they do that in a place where it will not harm you.

It is comforting to know we have the generators in case of power failure.

Steve

 

[GilWest]

Every time you finish running your gasoline generator, turn the gas valve to the off position and let the generator run itself out of gas. That way the carb is dry as a bone and it will start on the first pull the next time. Also be sure to read your manual and see how often the oil needs to be changed...

 

[gooseberry]

A couple things...make sure you have battery packs for your trilogy, cough assist, etc. The internal battery plus one battery pack gives you 6 hrs. Our battery packs were interchangeable. I had a surge stopper installed which has greatly reduced the number of outages.

You can fill out a local power company form, the doctor signs it and you file with electric company. This does prioritize your return to service but it has no time guarantee...at least for us.

I have been told, and I havent verified it, that marine batteries can be used to run a breathing device. The private insurance we have recommended it to me.

If you are a vet, the hisa grant may cover it. If mot, the alsa chapters often have grants for this.