Hurricane Milton

[TreefarmerNN]

I'm interested in a dual fuel conversion for a cheap HF generator... It'd be lovely to run a line from the house propane tank to a generator. Also, a good note to all to only power the essentials with the generator, not the whole house.

Glad you made it out, but it sounds like prepping for this sort of thing is pretty tough.

We don't get storms like that here but we have seen ice and wind storms knock out power for weeks. Living out in the semi-country I can survive with wood heat for quite a while if needed but the fridge and freezer are pretty important, and a good fuel supply. I feel like it'd be smart to build a fuel house somewhere and start stocking up. A new, full fuel can every paycheck may be smart.

We've had a couple of extended outages.  One was about 10 days, another was 12-13.  We don't run a generator continuously and cut it off at night when we go to sleep.  Fridge and freezer are fine for 8-10 hours if nobody is opening them.  We have a wood stove so in the winter the house gets a little chilly because the fan for the stove won't run without the generator but that's what blankets are for when we're asleep.  Our gen is tied into the propane tank for the furnace but when running a portable we were careful to limit use to what was needed.  Incidentally, a bit pot of water set where a generator exhaust will blow on it gets hot pretty quickly.  A bit smelly, but hey it gets hot and after cold water baths for several days a little warm water seems good.

[Old Greenhorn]

These 'learned lessons' comments are quite helpful because we have a bunch of smart folks here that think on their own and solve problems pretty dang well. I had never thought of heating water in front of the exhaust, pretty smart idea, that one. I'll use it. The comment about the woodstove fans hits home. The last time we lost power for more than 5 days in February and the biggest thing on my 'lessons learned' list was that danged blower on our woodstove. If I had that working we would have been fine, but we did not. So next storm I will have a deep cycle battery and an inverter to power it. We do not run a generator 24/7 during storm outages, just to keep things going and I don't even hook up the genset until 3-4 days in. Part of that is in protest of the idiot I have next door who runs his all day and night, and he uses these loud 4k units. They go stay someplace warm and leave the house with all that crap running all night until it runs out of fuel.  And he points the exhaust at my bedroom window. Many times I have eyed the sugar container in my kitchen as I contemplate his rudeness. But that's another thread for another time.

[Ljohnsaw]

If I had the need (lived in an area with annual outages) I would install a tankless propane water heater meant for camping. That's what I have on my bathhouse at my cabin build. Not great water temp control but it works. Runs on two D batteries. Plumb it in parallel with your existing water heater with isolation valves. They sell new in the $120-180 range but I pick them up at auction for $40.

[aigheadish]

gspren- I've researched how to fill grill tanks from the house tank before. It looks pretty simple but sketchy enough that I haven't tried it...

Now, I'll have to go research turning my generator into a propane version, if possible. That and a wood burning fireplace puts me in decent shape for almost anything disastrous, at least for a bit. That house tank for propane last for quite a while. Well, a very quick search suggests a kit for 187 bucks, and it looks pretty easy to do. Sounds like I need to pick one up and drill another hole in the side of my house to add some gas pipe. I like it!

[TreefarmerNN]

Be aware that the exhaust from the generator will cause the water to have an odor unless you use an ALMOST sealed container.  You can't totally seal it because the water expands as it heats.  But there's a lot of heat in the exhaust flow and you can play with the distance so you capture much of the heat without creating back pressure on the exhaust. 

[Raider Bill]

I asked Wild Bill last night where he got the parts to convert.
Amazon, who else.
He put in Predator motor conversion and the model number of the motor it's self, not the generator.
For example,
https://www.amazon.com/ALLMOST-Carburetor-Conversion-Compatible-Generator/dp/B08X7BV3XR/ref=sr_1_17?crid=3GVS36S23RKP2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.F11gDSOhT8-VaZdbf9MD3ZgbAqScz9n6nimoWZ-Ogebr9-NtZdyVtiBA9Gq34okOKXm6mf3Dk8GE9F5HNkxPNHRI5pgJQ8j_9fq1lxIGkUxSJSb4YCBvjIdVD7BfJMbimSon6IkVEBq5elgTATBXp-Vj_G9Pu1V56YG89-yfT_xwRvwmxN-LfSb2Ib9teK2EIGtocg6b30IaQK6ZyWRoNZ_7SwVjWcrugEe-sK1sW3EAoaVrk5rzA-yUrWY1km90YySj4fnnkLd3C2zaOXNk9tlCVElBZ1mzvlmSLbxXu48.6-eh0zJxYF92oElxhwVxXUvzAjjoIOulzhW9Asuzm0A&dib_tag=se&keywords=212+cc+predator+gas+motor+to+propane&qid=1729163539&sprefix=212+cc+predator+gas+motor+to+propane%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-17

Took him 30  minutes to do the conversion.

[Raider Bill]

Almost forgot..
Yesterday I saw 20-25 line trucks sitting at the corner church.
I stopped to thank the crews and asked where they were from.
Brunswick,
Brunswick?, figured they would have kept you guys in Georgia for repairs there.
Brunswick, Canada.
DanG, that's a long drive with 3 men in a single cab.

Gave out my number and said call me Saturday, tell me about how many and I'll have burgers, beer and football for your crews at my house Sunday.

[Hilltop366]

That would be New Brunswick, up in Swampdonkey territory.
Thats a very generous offer for you to make.

I heard that a lot of Canadian provinces sent trucks and crew, there were 35 from Nova Scotia sitting in Georgia before the hurricane got to Florida. 

[Raider Bill]

I had no idea. I knew they came from all over the states for our storms but didn't know they also came from Canada.

[aigheadish]

That's real nice of you Bill! 

Thanks for the link, I saw some from Motor Snorkel on Cramazon too, that's the info I found. I'll likely go through their website, as it appears to have exact models a little more clearly laid out, as you mentioned. We'll see. The wife likes the idea too...