Genmon plugin for XTension (was Re: Whole House Generators)

Tue Feb 8 16:28:41 EST 2022

Ouch!   That cut is going to be a "gift that keeps on giving.”   It’s going to tear open, time and time again, unless you wear something that limits your movement.

Yeah, this whole power situation really has me perplexed.   We (my wife and I) really would rather just go solar, rather than relying on gas lines.   I think that the longest that *our* power was out was about 12 hours when a major transformer was hit during a storm.  My worst case scenario is an earthquake or more topical, civil unrest that causes long term outages of power, water and natural gas supplies.  Maybe the best solution would be to just move to the Caribbean and live off of fish and coconuts?

On your recommendation of the 3K Inverter Generator… Wouldn’t you end up stockpiling gasoline in your garage or something?  I know that if this were a short-tern outage, just having a gas can filled with fuel on-hand would be nice.  But that fuel can’t just sit in the generator waiting for a disaster to happen.  

Or, am I just looking at the “half empty” angle on all of this?

—Jerry

> On Feb 8, 2022, at 11:13 AM, james at sentman.com wrote:
> 
> some more info, but first some complaining that is unrelated.  I’m typing slow and less accurately this morning as a few hours ago I sliced my hand real good and can’t oppose my right thumb without it opening up again, sigh. No it wasnt a knife fight (I always do well with those) nor a power tool accident. I am so careful around those I’ve only had one minor injury in the shop in 25 years. The worst things I’ve done to myself were with a folding clothes hanger some years ago, and this morning the little knife I keep on my keychain came loose in my pocket and actually stuck out through my jeans just a bit. And so when I swept my hands past them I got sliced. At least the knife pocked out from the pocket rather than inwards. Though I would have noticed that sooner and I dont need my thigh to type with. That little knife thing is great and lets you load exacto blades into it, but the thumbscrew that holds it in the open or closed position comes loose and lets it slide between the two. It got me less seriously a few months ago but I did ’t learn my lesson. That device is no longer allowed on my keychain. Sorry for venting ;)
> 
> Here we have hurricanes, there were rumors 20 years ago that someone in local power would turn off the gas to force people to evacuate. We've have 2 or 3 evacuations since then and 2 real storms and even with the entire island being cut off for 2 weeks in the worst of it the gas stayed on. So we went with the natural gas option. If that does fail in an extended outage I still have the 2 gas powered generators I used previous to that. Before the whole house transfer switch I put in a smaller one for just some vital circuits. That is still there. That generator is big and noisy and I should really go change its oil and give it an exercize right now but that isn’t going to happen today. It is big enough to run the main AC unit here and the fridges and microwave and such, though not at the same time. So if the natural gas fails I can switch to it assuming there is some gas.
> 
> If gas is running out I have a smaller 3k watt inverter generator that really just sips gas. It can’t run the real house AC but we really did have to use it for 3 days after a storm some years ago and it happily ran both fridges and a window AC unit to keep us alive until the power came back on. Thats a briggs and stratton inverter and I love it. 
> 
> I also have natural gas/propane conversion kits for the two smaller generators but haven’t gotten around to installing them yet. So either could run for a while off a regular propane tank or the natural gas line should the 22k whole house generator give up the ghost for whatever reason. I wanted to get out of the business of small engine repair but then decided that it was worth while to keep them around to eliminate a single point of failure. Also I could garner good will by loaning to a neighbor or something if necessary. 
> 
> So multiple options are better than a single one. I wouldn’t pay hugely more for a propane system if that single event is the only reason you’d need it. I’d plan for the more mundane events that will happen more often and thenlay in a nice inverter generator that if everything else fails will need only a sip of gas to keep the fridge running and your computers charged. 
> 
> Also all the generac units of that size can run on either NG or Propane. There is a little lever on the engine that you turn to set it to one or the other. There is nothing stopping you from putting it in as a natural gas generator now and having the propane tanks put in later. You would not have to replace the generator as far as I know. You could probably have a system built that would let you switch between the 2 if needed. Keep using the NG until it stops then switch to propane. It can’t be automatic as you have to properly shut down and turn that internal adjustment, but it really should be possible if you can find a plumber or installer willing to set that up.
> 
> Regardless of that I would lay in a 2 or 3k inverter generator to backup all the other backups. 
> 
> And now I need to stop typing as every time I forget and try to use my thumb to press the spacebar it hurts… :( 
> 
>> On Feb 8, 2022, at 11:33 AM, James Sentman <james at sentman.com <mailto:james at sentman.com>> wrote:
>> 
>>> What type of fuel did you choose for your generator and why?
>>> Do you limit your activities and lighting while the generator is being used?  Can you detect the generator is being used and set a pseudo in XTension to change the behavior of your home’s electrical use?  Does it even matter?
>>> If you’re ever in a disaster area, do you think that the fuel supply will be unavailable?  Will liquid fuel be tough to find?  Will the natural gas supply be interrupted by the plant going offline?   
>> 
> 
> Thanks,
>  James
> 
> 
> James Sentman                       http://www.PlanetaryGear.org <http://www.planetarygear.org/>		http://MacHomeAutomation.com <http://machomeautomation.com/>
> 
> 
> 
> 
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