The article doesn’t mention home generators. Does the wildfire concerns extend to there use?
https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/10/09/us/pge-power-outage-wednesday/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F
If you mean “their” use, not “there” use, why not? How could a power company prevent you from generating your own power for private use?
They could legally prevent you from feeding the power back into the grid, for obvious safety reasons. What if a lineman for the county was working on the line?
Yes. Sales of generators have been booming. The concern is not the use of electricity, but the fire hazard caused by high-voltage, long-distance transmission lines in conditions windy enough to potentially knock them down, short them out, whatever.
I wasn’t sure if they were worried about any electrical spark or just the transmission lines.
I’m so thankful my mom’s house and my house are protected with natural gas generators. It’s the best investment we’ve ever made. They come on several times a year during short outages.
Our installation never back feeds power to the main line. There’s a transfer switch that isolates the house.
I imagine this will give a big boost to home batteries (e.g. Powerwalls) in the coming year. Some, no doubt, will combine them with solar panels and be able to stay off the grid for extended periods of time.
Yeah, it’s the transmission lines. They’re not worried about fires in the areas being served, at the end of the lines, so generators in the blacked out areas are no problem. It’s the areas that the big lines run across that are being protected.
People will be surprised at the rise in their natural gas bill.
My generator was on for 5 days and the utility bill rose by over $60. It can add up quickly. It’s about 3 times more expensive than electricity from the utility.
So what is the chance of the natural gas supply getting cut at the same time the power is cut?
Do natural gas pumping stations need grid power to run?
I suspect they have generators. And the pumping stations may be outside the area of the shutdown.
Very high in the event of a major earthquake.
A lot of houses affected are not in the middle of the woods or something, and not in areas where generators are typically needed. I’m not affected, but part of my town is a few miles away, in the hills, but highly residential.
But given the ads for generators on TV, there will be a lot more houses with them this time next year.
The danger isn’t that the gas goes out, it’s that the lines are ruptured. We all have wrenches tied to the shutoff valve so that we can shut the gas off in the event of an earthquake first thing.
Did not hear that gas was a problem during the fire, but I think it was dangerous in burned out houses.
And good old PG&E managed to blow up a neighborhood with gas without a fire.
So instead of buying Generac natural gas generators, wouldn’t one of those propane fueled generators be more practical? Wired up with a single 30 amp external plug and an interlock kit? Stored in an outdoor storage shed with a battery tender on the starter battery and at least one spare battery somewhere? (even if the “spare” is just to buy and have in a bag near the generator the wrenches needed to pull a battery from one of your cars)
I suspect some are surprised at generator output levels. Most being sold at the big box stores may power a frig and a couple of lights, but not much more. More powerful units get expensive and larger. A related issue is fuel. When power goes out it does so for gas station gas pumps as well. Making matters worse is what homeowners here in California are being told…power could be out for a few days. Generators consume fuel and you’ll need a lot of it for several days. Storage of large amounts can be problematic on several levels.
So I looked at this, briefly, when I used to live in a hurricane zone. The thing to do was to pair a 7500 watt generator: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A0TLE5U/ref=emc_b_5_t
With an interlock kit and external 30 amp receptacle on my breaker panel.
With 7500 watts to play with, the fridge is ~1000 watts, starting. Less when running. All the lights in the entire house on at the same time = ~40 * 10 = 400 watts.
Computer + TV + internet stuff = 300 watts.
My house used mini splits for A/C. Each one was 700-1200 watts. There were 3. 3*1200 = 3600 watts.
So far just 5300 watts/7500. Microwave oven is about 1500 watts when running.
Basically everything but an electric hot water heater or the stove or oven could be running at almost the same time.
Yes, fuel is a problem. What I figured you’d have to do is buy some of the larger outdoor propane bottles, like these: https://www.amazon.com/Flame-King-YSN100a-Propane-Cylinder/dp/B07Q47ZGK4/, and store them in a roofed but outdoor area on elevated concrete pads. (so they never sit in water and rust.)
At 50% load, it’s 20 lbs of propane per 5.5 hours. So 87 pounds of propane per day.
So 3 tanks would be enough for a 3-4 day power outage. For longer than that, you need a solar/battery system. (like a powerwall)
I suspect that’s already illegal (as well as massively stupid) everywhere.
Which at typical prices equates to a bit more than $2 per hour.
A multi-day outage could get expensive.
Yep. Gasoline isn’t any cheaper. About a gallon an hour for this generator at half load. So out of 33 kwh in that gallon you get 3. Inverter generators are more efficient but are about 3k for a similar wattage.
Out of curiosity, what level of usage does this represent? Are you just keeping the fridge and one or two lights on, or does $12 per day buy you enough fuel to power a typical home life?
I think you are underestimating them; I have one of those and it powers the entire house, including a 15000 BTU A/C in the summer which is the largest one that can still be powered before needing to go to 220V wiring, and also a very deep well pump. Though for that home I also have gas for heat, hot water, drying & cooking - any one of those things, if electric, would have required a larger generator or not to use that appliance. It’s the smaller 5250 Watt type with something like 6500 surge and never had a issue or had to conserve power. I did get that with running the numbers and saw that this unit should handle the load of that house, I was not mistaken.
The missing link in your comment I feel is people don’t prepare their home to run on the generator and run extension cords and can only power a few items and only using the 110 V (standard) plugs on the generator which typically only tapps into half of the generator’s power to start with, and limits that to a max of 15A, so about 2000 Watts max from a 5000 Watt generator.
Additionally I have a gas station nearby which has a backup generator for just such emergencies. I also have IIRC 7, 5 gallon gas cans plus 8 gal capacity in the generator which are most of the time empty, but easy to fill especially if the storm is predicted. So lets say 40 gal is possible, as for how long that lasts, I don’t use the generator 24/7 in such situations so I can go several days just fine, I can recharge devices, run heat, and fill the well pressure tank while the generator is running, Then shut it off for typically several hours, or even (and typically) all night. It really has been a cost effective solution for me that is going on 15 years, with several multi day power outages.