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OMG i havent had power for 5 days now! NO more humid hot nights, rotten food, or cold showers. Yes it finally back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Neighbors shot fireworks off.
I almost cried of happiness. just thought i share this w/ everyone.
I'm happy for you Chris. I know what it's like to be wthout power. My wife thinks I am crazy but I tell her that whenever we settle down I am putting in a diesel generator somewhere by the house.
After 2 ice storms in 10 years, and a local power company that's about as reliable as a Daewoo dealer, I got a generator. For all you folks that do the same and get a GASOLINE-powered unit, do yourselves a favor:
DON'T LEAVE GAS IN THE TANK!!!!
Local small-engine repair shops are making a fortune by cleaning out the old gas that sat in there for a year, turning to varnish. If you're not gonna use it for a while, just start it up and let it run dry. You can't hurt it, and you'll do yourself a big favor in the long run!
PS: glad you got your power back. It sure makes you realized how spoiled we are compared with our ancestors!
Well we had a 5000 watt generator but the thing would run for about 15 minutes then shutoff, I bet it was because of old gas. Its a friends. Colemen brand name.
We were without power for 12 hours and I had serious FTE withdrawal problems. I can't imagine what it would be like for 5 days with no power.
When I stored my motorcycle for the winter up in Illinois I always put fuel stabilizer in it and it cranked up pretty good next spring. Couldn't you put a little of that in your generator?
From: I'm lost somewhere in NJ -- can someone please find me?!?!?!?
Powerrrrr
Originally posted by 1956MarkII ......I got a generator. For all you folks that do the same and get a GASOLINE-powered unit, do yourselves a favor:
DON'T LEAVE GAS IN THE TANK!!!!
Local small-engine repair shops are making a fortune by cleaning out the old gas that sat in there for a year, turning to varnish. If you're not gonna use it for a while, just start it up and let it run dry. You can't hurt it, and you'll do yourself a big favor in the long run! ......
Actually, there's another school of thought for all your fuel-consuming products. Use the recommended amount of fuel stabilizer, and keep the tank about half full. By running the tank dry, you have no protection from harmful moisture (i.e. water) that occurrs naturally through condensation, humidity in the air, trapped water, etc. This moisture can then lead to internal rusting and otherwise damage the internal mechanics. That's why I run stabilizier in all my gear. Snowblower, generator, etc. I've had my snowblower go a year+ with the same gas in the tank (snow stopped early one year, started late the next) and not have problems. Topped the tank off with fresh gas and ran most of the next season with just that gas (mild winter).
I've spoken with a few people in the business of repairing/servicing these items, asking for advice on this topic. Everyone just has their own preference as to which system they follow of these two. One guy even said he's not sure which is better, but as long as you do one or the other (run dry or add stabilizer) you're better of than leaving untreated gas in the system.
crj900, those Colemans are junk. When I met my wife they didn't have the power run to the house yet and they had spent a year running on a generator. She went through 4 Colemans in that year. All of them just self destructed. They only ran about 3 hours a day. I realize they weren't designed for a primary power source but you get what you pay for. We also have a Generec on one of our work trucks and it isn't much better. I recomend coughing up the dough for a Honda power unit. I have one that is 5500 watt and it has been a good one but cost about double of the Coleman or Generec.
Where I work we use small Honda generators in the aircraft to power fuel pumps when on the ground and to light the plane ect. They can't be beat for quality.
I wouldn't mind having a diesel generator since my house will run off heating oil, my truck is diesel ect.
Also never leave a tank dry. Haroutd is right. The last thing you do when you're done flying is to fill the tanks. Keeps out condensation. Use a fuel stabilizer.
you can get natural gas or propane generators that hook up to the gas line coming to your house and they can be wired to kick on the second the power goes out. on the house my dad just built they had a kohler generator put in that has a chevy v-8 powerplant with a 2" natural gas line hooked up to it. when the power goes out theres an automatic switch that starts the generator up. its probably enought power to light up the whole neighborhood.
They don't have all the bells and whistles but you can't beat a Lister for simplicity and reliability. I had a neighbor that used an 8 kw for a primary power source for years. He said it had 10,000 hours on it when he got it.