Hurricane Irene

[jchuzi]

We bit the bullet and contracted to have a 10 KW Briggs&Stratton generator installed, powered by propane. We would have preferred natural gas but that's not available in our neighborhood. Hopefully, the installation will take place in about two weeks and we won't have any more outages in the interim.

[jcarter]

Some of our friends have these, plenty of power. We dont have nat gas on our street either.
But we need our generators to be portable, so we have the 2 of them, one a 4 and the other a 5 KW, gasoline powered.
We do take ours in our pickup to friends and family houses, thus the long thick extension cord.

[Xairbusdriver]

Make sure you cover the tank with lots of heavy stuff so it won't float or blow away!

You realize, of course, that after the thing is installed, you won't have another storm of any kind for at least 20 years...  

[krissel]

Jon, my folks had a whole house generator installed when the media was scaring everyone about the Y2K situation. My Mom was convinced that they would be without power for weeks.

Theirs is run on propane also and is supposed to last at least two weeks running everything except the main air conditioning. They have had power go out on occasion but never for more than 24 hours. The generator comes on about two seconds after it senses no electricity. It goes through an automatic test run every two weeks for about 5 minutes to be sure all is OK. You can set the time for the test so you are there to see if it goes on.

One thing we want to change however is the actual physical positioning of the generator.  It was situated next to the house with the gas line running from the tank located about 60 feet away. The generator is very loud when it comes on and there is a smell from the motor that is quite obnoxious if the house windows are open.  We intend to move the generator away from the house and run the electrical underground to the house instead of the gas line. I don't know why they didn't do it that way in the first place, makes much more sense to me.  Do consider that when you decide on where it will go, though you may not have much of a choice due to town restrictions.

Anyway, good luck with it.  If I weren't going to be moving I'd be doing the same thing.

[jchuzi]

Krissel,

The gas and electric connections will be underground and the generator will be about 20 feet from the house. Local code requires that the dedicated 100 gallon propane tank be located 10 feet from the generator. Even if it is loud (and Briggs&Stratton say that it has a muffler and sound-deadening material), it should be quieter than my gasoline generator, which is right next to the house. The gasoline fumes are not pleasant so propane ought to be better. Besides, the sound and smell will be very pleasant if we experience extended outages!

[jcarter]

For the gasoline powered generators, you can buy an after-market muffler which will be a lot quieter.
For the propane or nat-gas ones, I dont know.  As it would have to fit inside the housing.
Take the cover off and look. Ask the company you bought it from, or hit the 'net, or auto parts store.

We ran a heavy duty cable underground to our shed, so that we can run one of them way out there, and not listen to noise. The other little 4KW one we use on the back porch, porch has a roof.
Thats why we prefer the gasoline ones, they are a bit heavy, but you can use a ramp to get them into the back of the pickup, and take them around to friends and family.

[chriskleeman]

An updated gallery, posted Sept. 12: More Pictures of Irene in Vermont

Again, High Resolution. FYI, the pictures of the damage in Cavendish are ones of the town just next door to where I live.

CK

[jcarter]

Amazing pictures!  Thank you for the link, Im sending it to a cousin who used to live up there.
Jane

[Gary S]

We are even felling the repercussions here in Wisconsin. There isn't a bottle of distilled water to be found.

My wife and I are supposing it all went to those who needed it after Irene.