Power outage with a 3 month old

[leoskee]

The power went out last night around 7pm in my town in Jerzy. My wife and I decided to bounce to my mother's apt in the BX because we have a 3 month old. Long story short, didnt sleep because the baby was out of it, returned home to find a flooded basement. I forgot that I had my RODI running since 3pm. We got back this morn at 11am. According to neighbors lights came back on at 9am. Luckily my two fish made it without any extra O in the water. They are troopers regardless: tomato clown and 6 line.

My next investment: a generator. Im even considering getting a whole house generator that is directly hooked up to the main power. But that will cost big bucks. Then again, anything for my baby.

 

[marki24]

which baby? your tank or your new born? :jk:

 

[cb747]

Glad everyone made it
This is what i do in event of outage. I have a 5500 watt generator. I have a 220 line run out to the garage. The power goes out i shut the main off and go to the garage and plug my generator into the 220 line which now feeds the breaker box. That will run my tanks and all the other essentials. The only draw back is you dont know when the power comes back on. Just another option for you to consider

 

[leoskee]

Thanks for the info cb747. Im not sure what I am going to do. I just want to make sure that if the power goes out my baby is okay. Meaning: If its cold, she has heat...if its hot she can stay cool. I'm slowly working my way towards setting up my 180. But even if I do set it up my priority is my baby. The tank will always come next.

What exactly do you run in your house with the generator? You mentioned the draw back of not knowing when the power comes on. Will that create a problem if it does and you dont know it?

 

[cb747]

No it wont because i turn the main breaker to the house off. This way you dsont try to supply your whole block with power LOL Its sufficient to run my house with all the essentials. Tank, tv, fridge, heat/ac etc. I have a 4 year old so my worries and priorities are the same as yours If you realize the power is back on just shut off and unplug the generator and flip the main breaker back on.

 

[nyfireman3097]

Man Leo I hear ya I just finshed talkingto my wife about a unit for the house also no morew then 5 minutes ago. Home depot has one 17000w shipped for like $3200

 

[leoskee]

cb747, how many watts is your generator?

Nick, how much is installation? I priced one that was 13000w and it came out to over $5000 installed. Thats a lot of $$ for something that will not get that much use. But then again the peace of mind that it brings is well worth it.

My wife's uncle has an industrial generator he took with him after he sold his aerospace engineering plant to NASA. His house was the only one with power during the 02 blackout. He was able to power EVERYTHING in his house and even light up his front and back yard for the neighbors to gather with power to spare. I would love something like that but it took up 1/4 of his garage.

 

[nyfireman3097]

Yeah most likely thats the same one I was talking about. Just my price was not installed. My wife said the same thing. I said yeah well when there is a blackout and theres no power for a even a few hours and its 90 something degrees out and WE have AC your gonna love that $5 grand we spent lol

 

[caad3]

I had the same problem this weekend on Long Island. I have two small children and realized this could be a problem, having lived through the blackout in Manhattan a few years back. Here is what I did, and it didn't break the bank. I think I got a 5500 kw generator at HD for around $600(waited for one of those 10% coupons). Added an portable circuit breaker box and linked in which breakers I wanted to have juice when need. (I think it was around $250)for the box, had an licensed electrician hook everything up and it was done. I thought I would not have to use this often, but suprised I have had to start it a couple of times. I can tell you that I can run my 125 tank, plus my QT tanks, TV's and and some lights with no problem. I guess the most important thing that it runs is the electricty for my oil burner, which was really helpful on Sunday morning. I think the total cost was around $1,200 - $1,500 bucks. Just have a licensed electrician work on setting up the portable circuit breaker. You can get at least 6-12 hours on a full tank gas on the generator depending on the load. When you power kicks on you switch off from gen to line and your in business. I hope that helps.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Please keep the following in mind. If you are using a gas generator, it must be a sufficient distance from your living space because of the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning due to the exhaust.

Fire escapes and back decks are not safe distances.

 

[Tim]

As long as you have a window or door that you can shut and point the exhaust away from the house you should be fine.I ran my generator outside my garage with the door shut and extension cord into the house....

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Tim, where was you nearest CO detector.

It's becoming more and more problematic we have found more people doing this and having to respond to them due to problems with co symptoms.

Remember the wind shifts, Houses have drafts, and I have a CO detector and several run sheets to prove it.

 

[ming]

I think you need to invest in a float valve and auto shut off valve first. Not that expensive and it'll stop once it gets full automatically

 

[nyfireman3097]

Bren I can safely say I know Tim is fully up on all CO things going on That setup is a cheap way to go and sounds like a good way also BUT dont you have to be there to start it when youhave the blackout ? If so then what about when your not around ? I have to figure out how many watts im gonna need to do what I want done. Basically my house. Tank really is not much besides the lights. all my oher equipment is very low wattage.

 

[Tim]

Nick unless you go with a generator that automaticaly shift`s on when you lose power then you are going to have to set up and start the generator yourself. Brendan my co det. is right outside my boiler room which lead`s to the garage. I have never had a problem with it running the generator the way I do......

 

[nyfireman3097]

Yeah Tim I know that lol. But thats what Im saying What IF yur not home then what ? Do you have something set up for that what if ? Also need your address to send that maxi jet back to you

 

[Tim]

I don`t, I`ll cross that bridge when I get to it Nick don`t worry about the power head it`s your`s....

 

[cb747]

My Generator is 5500 Watts and is more than enough to power what you need in the house. Obviously you wouldnt want to use your microwave and have to watch what you have on. Figure youll maybe use 1000 watts on your setup and have the rest for whatever else you need. My garage is unattached to plugging it in there is fine for my purposes. No CO2 issues.

 

[leoskee]

I think you need to invest in a float valve and auto shut off valve first. Not that expensive and it'll stop once it gets full automatically

Nice one. lol. Your right! That should be my first investment.


I just spoke to my neighbor and she told me that Sat.'s power outage was the first in 15 years. The question now is: would it make more sense to get a small, transportable unit or invest in a larger home unit. Does having a home generator add value to a property?

 

[cb747]

Id go with the small portable unit. Basically 500 bucks versus 5 thousand bucks! Thats alot of frags! If the power goes out the fish will be ok for several hours and if your really concerned you could just put a powerhead on a battery backup to buy more time till you can get back home.