Who else is getting ready for superstorm sandy!

[ludi]

Eh... The worst thing that could've happened is that our first floor would get flooded and we would move up.

I believe that you've underestimated the power of the water and waves to float or smash entire buildings.

Indeed...and here is the moneyshot.

Although #15-17 would also be an unpleasant way to die.

[Captain Ned]

Agreed. Once the water gets in all bets are off and it's more likely than not that water will win.

[JohnC]

Guys, please don't start the second "round"... I know perfectly about all the potential dangers of ocean flooding (and I've seen plenty of damage to other houses with my own eyes), however I still believe what I did was the right decision in current situation and your personal opinions won't have any effect on that.
For the record, I didn't "hold" any other family members by force - everyone here (I don't have children) can drive the cars and can use any of them (we have 2) at any time of the day for whatever purpose necessary, and even if I left - someone (who didn't want to leave anywhere) would be still left in the house, and I'd rather not leave anyone behind. So please, let's just drop all the "you should've left" advices.

[mnecaise]

Not really difficult. First of all, people should NOT purchase an oversized generator

I guess my goal is a bit... different. So, my thinking is if you're going to buy a generator, plan for the worst case, a week of no power during winter with temperatures well below freezing. Having lights, communications, heat and hot water means I need a generator capable of sourcing something in the 8kW range, based on my calculations.

Edit: realized I was being an ass.

Guys, please don't start the second "round"...

Wasn't trying to be that person.

[JohnC]

based on my calculations.

Well, at least you do calculations (even if they are not very precise)... A lot of people don't, and they just buy whatever is available to power their small single-family house which doesn't even have a proper inlet box, even if it's a "construction-grade" 15kw unit. Of course, it's still better than nothing, but it will eat up gasoline like crazy with its huge 10-gallon tank which only allows a 10 hour runtime at partial load.

[mnecaise]

based on my calculations.

Well, at least you do calculations (even if they are not very precise)... A lot of people don't, and they just buy whatever is available to power their small single-family house which doesn't even have a proper inlet box, even if it's a "construction-grade" 15kw unit. Of course, it's still better than nothing, but it will eat up gasoline like crazy with its huge 10-gallon tank which only allows a 10 hour runtime at partial load.

And this problem takes us back to my original recommendation -- a natural gas or propane powered generator designed for residential backup use. It'll be quieter, produce cleaner power, lower emissions, and run forever without having to refill it twice a day and make daily trips to the gas station.

[Captain Ned]

And this problem takes us back to my original recommendation -- a natural gas or propane powered generator designed for residential backup use. It'll be quieter, produce cleaner power, lower emissions, and run forever without having to refill it twice a day and make daily trips to the gas station.

Same place I lead to as well. After all, with NG already to the house (furnace, stove, clothes dryer) it'd be stupid not to use NG for backup power.

Look at it this way. NG suppliers are the only ones whose own product allows them to remain up in any environment (assuming no line breaks).

[JustAnEngineer]

We've got one of these at work and a couple of others less than half that size.

[JohnC]

based on my calculations.

Well, at least you do calculations (even if they are not very precise)... A lot of people don't, and they just buy whatever is available to power their small single-family house which doesn't even have a proper inlet box, even if it's a "construction-grade" 15kw unit. Of course, it's still better than nothing, but it will eat up gasoline like crazy with its huge 10-gallon tank which only allows a 10 hour runtime at partial load.

And this problem takes us back to my original recommendation -- a natural gas or propane powered generator designed for residential backup use. It'll be quieter, produce cleaner power, lower emissions, and run forever without having to refill it twice a day and make daily trips to the gas station.

Well, for people who have no risk of flooding - it makes sense to purchase the large standby natural gas generator, for us it doesn't. We can't really raise it to a second floor level safely like we can do with portable gasoline one (and there are no snorkel kits for them), and we can't take it with us to other locations (for example to our office in NJ, which needs to have at least a sump pump running because of huge basement filled with archived documents, and which does have a stand-by generator but such generators might fail any time, like they did in NYU Medical Center hospital which had to evacuate all of their patients because of that).

[Captain Ned]

Well, for people who have no risk of flooding - it makes sense to purchase the large standby natural gas generator, for us it doesn't. We can't really raise it to a second floor level safely like we can do with portable gasoline one (and there are no snorkel kits for them), and we can't take it with us to other locations (for example to our office in NJ, which needs to have at least a sump pump running because of huge basement filled with archived documents, and which does have a stand-by generator but such generators might fail any time, like they did in NYU Medical Center hospital which had to evacuate all of their patients because of that).

Again, horses for courses. My problem is trees. I'm at 300' ASL and on top of a ravine on both sides. If surface water (MSL of Lake Champlain is 95') takes me out, it's unsurvivable. Given where you are a portable gennie makes perfect sense though gasoline burn rates, even with load-following RPMs and the like, will still substantially exceed NG or LPG burn rates. As for noise I could easily sleep with the noise knowing my entire house has power just like the electric company delivers.

[JohnC]

Well, yea... For you it is perhaps better to use NG standby generator. I recommend getting one of the KOHLER units - they are just as "quiet" as Generac ones, have 5-year warranty, some have remote control and monitoring abilities (similar to UPS units, using built-in Ethernet port) and they seem to be more reliable and with much better support than Generac units (from all reviews I've seen so far).

[BIF]

...here is the moneyshot...

Wow. Words fail.