Personal computing discussed
Moderators: askfranklin, renee, emkubed, Captain Ned
JohnC wrote:
BIF wrote:superjawes wrote:just brew it! wrote:Speaking of things that don't like being submerged in salt water, I wonder how many vehicles were wrecked by the storm surge?
Plenty, I am sure. I've seen a few pictures from NYC where water was up near the roofs of cars left on the street.
This is a problem after any major flooding event. Those cars will always have problems now, from musty, mildewy stink to rust in weird places or electronic gremlins popping up without warning.
Many will be refurbished and some will attempt to be sold in non-flood locations without proper disclosure. Always get the CarFax!
vargis14 wrote:If NY's subways that are now flooded are fixed within 2 weeks i will be surprised.
Captain Ned wrote:Depends on the threat. For me it's suicidal trees taking out power lines, so a whole-house NG-powered gennie makes sense. If surface water makes it to me, Noah ain't getting me off the hook.
vargis14 wrote:Finally the power that was knocked out down the street is back up. Was getting tired of that genny noise coming from a pretty large portable system....7000 watts i believe. I plan on going down there today to ask him how much fuel and oil it used since he ran if for 5 days.
My new generator was pretty loud, I fixed that problem though with a small strip of steel wool I stuffed into the muffler. It cut the sound in half. but i wonder if it will melt over time with a heavy load? Mine is a single cylinder 3500 watt unit. No idea on what motor or anything. But it would be nice if they incorporated a catalytic converter into the muffler....that would quiet down most generators and clean u p the exhaust a bit.
mnecaise wrote:I understand the convenience; but, it's difficult to store a 3 to 5 days worth of gasoline safely. I've personally seen this kind of thing happen twice; people lining up with gas cans, forming long lines, waiting to buy fuel for their generator. Seems like a justification for a gas or diesel powered machine.
JohnC wrote:Not really difficult. First of all, people should NOT purchase an oversized generator (the smaller it is = less fuel it consumes).
ludi wrote:JohnC wrote:Not really difficult. First of all, people should NOT purchase an oversized generator (the smaller it is = less fuel it consumes).
Depends on what is meant by "oversized."
First, most construction-site and residential standby generators really do mean "standby," as in "occasional duty." They are not really intended to run more than a few hours at a time, on an intermittent basis. The harder they're run, the quicker they burn out. Second, single-phase 120/240V units are normally rated for kW output at unity power factor, thus gen kVA=KW, but common residential loads may be pulling kW at 0.85-0.95 pf, so load kVA=kW/pf. Many amateurs don't realize this when estimating a size. Third, the smaller the unit, the worse the voltage regulation (unless operating through an inverter, and good inverters have a high investment cost).
What this means in practice is that for end-of-the-world, don't-know-when-it's-coming-back operation, sure: economize fuel by purchasing a smaller unit and planning to support only the critical loads. But for longer-duty applications including medical life-support equipment, it's better to buy an appropriately large, or even slightly oversized unit, and make appropriate fuel provisions.
JohnC wrote:I believe that you've underestimated the power of the water and waves to float or smash entire buildings.Eh... The worst thing that could've happened is that our first floor would get flooded and we would move up.