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As a homeowner, one reason you might buy a generator is to provide backup power for your
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home when the electrical grid goes down. After all, who wouldn't want the lights to stay on and the internet to keep working and
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the coffee pot to still operate even during a blackout. Now that's simple enough to understand but what's not so simple is the situation you may face
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during your next actual blackout if it turns out to last longer than a short time
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How will you find fuel for your generator if the outage continues for more than a few days say
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What has to happen to keep your generator operational for say a week or even a month
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In this video I'll explain how to prepare yourself ahead of time
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to power through outages that last longer than a day or two. What you'll get in this video is the most important information that I've found vital
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over the last 35 years of owning and using generators. These include the three things that any well-prepared generator owner
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should have sorted out ahead of any outage. Get these details in place right now and you'll enjoy a generator that lives up to its potential
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able to power you through most outages even ones that last for a long time
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The details for long-term generator output and working life include three features
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Feature number one, a multi-fuel design. Feature number two, a supply of stabilized gasoline and engine oil
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plus access to propane or natural gas if your generator can use these
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And finally feature number three, a safe legal and convenient way of delivering generator electricity to the important circuits within your home
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Now for the details. Feature number one, a multi-fuel generator. Most portable generators burn gasoline only and this is fine as far as it goes
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but what if you run out of stored gasoline and can't get out to buy
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because the roads are blocked with downed trees or snow? Or what if you can get to the gas station but none of the local places
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are equipped with generators so the gas pumps can operate when the grid is down
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Very few urban gas stations have outage-proof pumping capacity to keep fuel flowing during a blackout, but even if they did
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really how long will gas stations have fuel to sell if delivery trucks can't get into the city with more gasoline
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As the name suggests, multi-fuel generators are made to run on more than one type of fuel
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and this means more options for keeping things working at your home
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all with less work and uncertainty on your part. Dual fuel generators typically burn gasoline via a carburetor in the usual way
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but they also have a hose and a regulator that allows a 20 or 30 pound propane cylinder
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to connect to the machine, bypassing the carburetor and the need for gasoline of course
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With other adapters, a dual fuel generator can be connected to propane tanks as large as a
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thousand gallons, allowing many days of continuous operation with no need to refuel
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The propane replaces the gasoline and its tendency to go stale during storage
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That's important. In fact, some people prefer propane to gasoline for generators precisely because it never goes bad
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The carburetor is completely bypassed when running on propane, so plugged carburetor jets are really a non-issue
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Just remember that propane does deliver somewhat lower power output than gasoline
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especially in winter as internal propane tank pressures are lower with the colder temperatures
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Now tri-fuel generators are even better than dual fuel models for resilience because
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they can use three kinds of fuel, not just two. While tri-fuel models can run on gasoline or compressed propane from a large tank or
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portable tank, just like dual fuel units can, tri-fuel generators can also run on natural gas
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delivered via the supply that your home may already have. You'll need some fittings and a shut-off valve to connect your generator to a gas outlet
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of course, but the result is complete freedom from having to obtain fuel in any kind of tank
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Natural gas is also a lot cheaper than gasoline and propane for a given runtime of generator
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At the time I'm making this video, propane costs roughly four times as much as natural gas
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for a given output of electricity. Natural gas also never goes stale
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It needs no space to store tanks and it never requires you to shut off the engine and refuel
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The only time you'll have to shut off a natural gas ready portable generator
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is for maintenance and oil changes and things like that. Now imagine you have a supply of gasoline for your generator but after
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say, a four-day outage following a freak ice storm, all your gas cans are empty
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Gasoline supplies at local service stations are also gone or soon to be gone
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This scenario is a problem for anyone with a single fuel gasoline-powered generator
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but no problem at all if you've got some propane tanks for a barbecue grill on hand
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It's even less of a problem if you have natural gas at your house and you own a tri-fuel generator
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A quick-release hose can connect a tri-fuel unit to your household gas supply
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and this is a huge advantage, if you can do it. Why is it an advantage
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Well, even during extended electrical power failures, natural gas supplies generally keep on flowing because they're underground
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They're not aerial like wires are. With your tri-fuel generator running on natural gas, the only reason you need to shut down
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is to change engine oil after every 100 hours or so of operation
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Feature number two, a supply of fresh fuel and engine oil. Freedom from the hassles of running your generator on gasoline
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are some of the reasons people prefer to operate with propane or natural gas
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So, what are these hassles of gasoline? Well, there are two main ones
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First, you need enough fuel to keep you going for at least a few days
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Longer is better, of course. An 8,000 watt generator, for instance, operating at half load
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burns about three quarters of a gallon of gasoline per hour. If you ran your generator all the time, then this translates to 18 gallons of fuel per day
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or roughly three large gas cans. And that's a fair amount. Then there's the age-old problem of gasoline going stale
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Without taking precautions, today's regular gasoline loses its ability to burn cleanly
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after just about six months or less of storage. So, even if you do have enough gasoline stored at your place
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to power your generator for the long haul, will that fuel be any good when you need it
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One excellent option to keep gasoline in reasonable shape during storage is to add
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gasoline preservative as you fill gas cans at the station. A big jug of preservative lasts a long time because gasoline generally only needs
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one ounce of stabilizer for every two and a half gallons of fuel
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That's 30 milliliters for every 10 liters of fuel, if you're a metric person
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Gasoline treated like this keeps fresh for a couple of years, so it's well worth doing
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Next thing to remember is the type of gasoline you buy. Ethanol is in most regular grades of gasoline these days
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and even some premium fuels contain ethanol. The thing is, ethanol makes gasoline go bad faster
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That's why the best gas for storage is premium and ethanol-free. Some brands offer high-test premium gasoline with no ethanol
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so check out the website pure-gas.org for a constantly updated list of ethanol-free gasolines
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The next thing you need to do is rotate your gas supply, and that's another reason why some people prefer propane or natural gas
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Fuel stabilizer and ethanol-free premium gasoline will greatly extend the freshness of your generator fuel supply, but this gas will still go stale in time
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even if you did add stabilizer. So that's why you should purchase some labels to stick on your gas cans
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and mark the date that they were filled. Use this fuel in your vehicles as a regular course of events after 12 to 18 months or so
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and then replace the gas in the cans with fresh as you've used them. Feature number three, safe legal generator connections to your home
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The longer the duration of a power outage, the more important it is to have generator power
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delivered to actual circuits in your home and not just extension cords leading to the toaster and TV
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To make this sort of thing happen legally and safely, you need hardware installed in your home
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The main safety issue is that it must be impossible for your generator to back-feed power
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through the service cables supplying your home and then out to the grid
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Grid cables that are inadvertently energized because of power from a private generator
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back-feeding through the overhead lines can actually kill workers working on those lines
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So this is why laws around generator connections were created. A transfer switch is one option for safely and legally connecting your
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generator to your household electrical panel. It provides power to whichever circuits in your home you want energized at that time
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Another connection option is a device called a GenerLink. That's actually what we have here at my house
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This is a piece of proprietary hardware that's installed between your electrical meter and the
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meter base, allowing your generator to connect to the GenerLink via a cable
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A GenerLink is fast and easy for any electrician to install, and that's why people like them
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Now I have to say that the GenerLink does cost about as much as the hardware needed for a
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transfer switch system, and that's a pretty steep price. Though the GenerLink installation is much faster, easier, and simpler
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There's no disruption to your existing wiring system. Besides the practical advantages of being prepared for a long-term outage, it's satisfying too
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Simply knowing that you've got what it takes to keep everyone in the family warm
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dry, illuminated, fed, and safe is a big part of being prepared
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for the unpredictability of the world these days. More than ever, smart people prepare ahead of time
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especially when it comes to the energy they need
