Its severe winter weather time again. What is your Outage plan?

[vetteguy53081]

As many states are facing winter weather warnings and watches, its time to again revisit an action plan or perhaps incorporate one in place.
We are expecting up to 14" of snow today with 45mph winds with potential for outages.
I have a Generator and just filled two 5 gal cans of gas on standby, I also have heat packs to tape to tank glass if needed and fireplace for added room heat and 3 battery operated air pumps.

How many have a plan or never thought of one?
What is your emergency plan and what can you share with others to best prepare for sudden weather?

 

[riche]

We invested in a Whole house generator 2 years ago and I tell you the peace of mind of having it is great.

Power goes out and less then 30 seconds the power is back on as we have the auto transfer switch

It was pricey but one of the best investments We have made.

 

[randomfishdude]

Generator. Start it and go.

 

[mattdg]

Here is mine.

 

[braaap]

-30 here. No plans. Pretty normal winter stuff for us.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here is mine.

Impressive to say the least
Hopefully gives many ideas.

 

[mfinn]

I learned years ago there is nothing greater than being able to fire up the generator, ( I suppose a auto start one would actually be greater) and have power in excess to run all functions of your tank.
I also learned it's really nice to have power in the house too.

I have a generator that runs most of my house ( no oven or washer and dryer), and is wired into its own circuit box. I keep a couple 5 gallon cans of gas around most of the time during the winter. Swap them out once a month or so.

I also have a small very quiet one I run from midnight to 6 am to give the neighbors a break from the noise of the big one.

 

[Evil1]

Generator with extra gasoline on hand just in case. It can run all tanks and fridges.

 

[Luckki]

Anyone have experience with ATP uninterruptible power supplies? I have a few that would not program from work, but should work for short outages. I was thinking that it should work for a few hours. If longer I have a back up generator and few 5 gallon gas cans full.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Anyone have experience with ATP uninterruptible power supplies? I have a few that would not program from work, but should work for short outages. I was thinking that it should work for a few hours. If longer I have a back up generator and few 5 gallon gas cans full.

I tried an APC and they work short term as they drain quickly from the pumps alone

 

[Luckki]

I tried an APC and they work short term as they drain quickly from the pumps alone

Thanks for the heads up. I will look into some solutions. These were free so I am not going to complain.

 

[GARRIGA]

Living in South Florida means having to deal with heat during power outrages. No room for a generator and based on past experiences. No assurances I’ll be able to fuel it past a few days. Therefore seeking battery solutions to keep flow and possibly a chiller going.

Another option would be something like a Tesla Wall to keep the entire house going. Wife not going to appreciate my only being concerned with life in my box. Yet those are extremely expensive and at some point requiring replacement.

Fact is until this solution found I’m not ordering my main. Although I’m researching how reefs recover post heat event as a plausible means of just providing flow until power restored. Seems the reason why corals expel their inhabitants due to photosynthesis during high heat stress yet if cooling returns quick enough. They will acquire that they just tossed. Which means no water change. No actions that might remove that expelled yet still needed later once favorable conditions return.

Theory I have. No clue if accurate yet if backup systems not plausible then I might have no choice but risk it and hope I’m right.

 

[Uncle99]

8D cell batteries and two battery bubblers.
Good for at least, 3 days, maybe more, hope I don’t have too.

Even with no power, the house stays above 70 degrees.

So just flow for me.

 

[Koleswrath]

-30 here. No plans. Pretty normal winter stuff for us.

Yep, this morning was -42C. Little complaining here and there but business as usual. Banff got a couple feet of snow over the last week so we'll be hitting the slopes next weekend! Can't remember the last time power went out.

 

[Luckki]

Living in South Florida means having to deal with heat during power outrages. No room for a generator and based on past experiences. No assurances I’ll be able to fuel it past a few days. Therefore seeking battery solutions to keep flow and possibly a chiller going.

Another option would be something like a Tesla Wall to keep the entire house going. Wife not going to appreciate my only being concerned with life in my box. Yet those are extremely expensive and at some point requiring replacement.

Fact is until this solution found I’m not ordering my main. Although I’m researching how reefs recover post heat event as a plausible means of just providing flow until power restored. Seems the reason why corals expel their inhabitants due to photosynthesis during high heat stress yet if cooling returns quick enough. They will acquire that they just tossed. Which means no water change. No actions that might remove that expelled yet still needed later once favorable conditions return.

Theory I have. No clue if accurate yet if backup systems not plausible then I might have no choice but risk it and hope I’m right.

Just a thought you can get a battery powered fan, point it at the surface with a bubbler to help with evaporative cooling and top of with some RODI water as needed.

 

[GARRIGA]

Just a thought you can get a battery powered fan, point it at the surface with a bubbler to help with evaporative cooling and top of with some RODI water as needed.

I’ve considered that yet would require a ton of replacement water and since house humidity will naturally rise once the AC goes to 65% plus I don’t know how efficient will evaporation be. Tends to be slower when high humidity exists and I’d be replacing evaporated water with same room temperature 88 plus degree. Does this actually work with my circumstances.

Reason I expect lower evaporation because I collect and breed boa constructors. Their water bowls will last a week plus when humidity at our natural levels of 65 yet fully evaporated when kept under AC and humidity below 45 during the day when heat is on.

 

[braaap]

Yep, this morning was -42C. Little complaining here and there but business as usual. Banff got a couple feet of snow over the last week so we'll be hitting the slopes next weekend! Can't remember the last time power went out.

I’m down in Whitefish but will be up in Banff/Calgary in 3 weeks!

 

[ThaBeast]

Had my whole house generator fully serviced last fall, including a fresh starting battery. It runs every week for 15 min. When I had it installed my wife thought it was nice but unnecessary as we rarely had outages. Now it runs at least 6 times a year although usually just a couple hours at a time. My house is small (2000 sq ft) so it wasnt too painful to buy one big enough to power absolutely everything, AC, oven, dryer, tank, etc.

Since we rarely go single digits/below zero I also have both the fresh water and saltwater tanks over 150 gallons as the R/O unit drains to the backyard, worried the line to the outside would freeze instantly at the foundation exit point

 

[fish farmer]

Generator the past week, borrowed from work and used it for a few hours. The power shut off at 1:30 am and was restored about 12 hours later. The house dropped to 60 degrees from 68. The tank was upper 60s when I hooked up the Genny at 11:30 in the morning.

The same scenario is happening tomorrow morning, Genny is still home, but I'm the only one working tomorrow so I'll be likely at work when the power goes out.

 

[apb03]

I have a 100ah battery hooked up to my MP40s and Vectra M2. I really should look into a generator.