melev

In my neighborhood, power goes out from time to time. It may be a few minutes, or an hour. About two or three times a year, it will go out for a longer period of time, which is precisely why I own a generator. I've written about how it is used, as well as good maintenance tips for long term use. Here's the full write up: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...tect-your-reef

There are a few drawbacks to using a generator. Fumes are a big one, noise comes second, and finally security issues since cords are run through a window or door. You can't lock up your house and the noise actually draws attention to you as a person with resources others may not have.

I'm in a good neighborhood, so crime isn't a major concern. My neighbors across the street are on a different power grid, so often while our side is dead, theirs is just fine. However, why make myself a target whatsoever? With my previous reef tank, I had a couple of extension cords run through the wall from the garage side to the fishroom. Two outlets were wired up, and after the generator was running, those outlets were powered and could accept any equipment necessary to run.

When I built the new fishroom, I decided I wanted a better easier method. I wanted to leave my cords plugged into the wall, and provide generator power. A large breaker from the main circuit panel feeds power to a subpanel. The subpanel has a fused box to provide the option to switch over when needed.

Here's the 50 amp breaker. Bottom left. When the power goes out, the first thing I'll do is turn off this breaker.

Here is the subpanel with the six circuits and the add-on box. You very likely have one of these next to the outside A/C unit on your house. It's a safety switch box. When you yank out the black handle at the top, no power goes to the item from the source.

I keep the fused plugin on top of the box when not in use.

You can see the fuses in the handle, which is pressed into a waiting socket at the top section of the opened electrical box.

A cord runs down from that box with a 15' cable. The end looks like this.

The cord has four wires running inside of it, which plugs into a specific round outlet on the generator.

The generator is gasoline powered. It holds 10 gallons of gas, and runs 12 hours straight.

Yesterday, I tested the system to make sure the circuits would work as they should, and everything ran perfectly. The exterior door was closed, and all the outlets in the fishroom provided power to run everything including the lights.

Here's the punch list to run this setup safely:

1) Turn off the main 50amp breaker. (When power resumes, it would damage the generator.)
2) Turn off the subpanel breakers.
3) Plug in the fused handle into the socket.
4) Plug the cord into the generator.
5) Turn on the generator.
6) Turn on the desired circuits.

When power resumes, various items in my home will chirp, the ceiling fan will start to spin, the HVAC will come to life, and any lights switched on will provide some visual cues. I usually wait about 15 minutes to make sure power stays on, and then I'll switch the generator off. In this case, I can unplug the round cord, pull the fuses, and flip on the 50 amp breaker again. That's it.

Additional benefits to having some inside plugs in the house powered up lets me get turn on a few lights, plug in the router, tv, and computer. I can plug in my phone's charger in the fishroom in one of the many empty outlets. When running emergency power, it's best to run only what the tank needs to survive rather than run everything including all lighting. I also have to keep in mind that I don't want to run too many items off this power cord since it's a 20amp circuit. There are additional plugs on the generator, and I can always run a few cords through the garage wall to provide more usable dedicated circuits. The fridge and a roll-around A/C unit would both draw significant power for example, but the generator can handle those easily. The key is running items that don't pull a lot of power, basically. And if something needs more power, what other item can be left off in the meantime. Make a game plan, thinking ahead at what you want to accomplish.

Since the generator has been used about nine times, I'll change the oil, air filter and spark plug soon. I want to keep it in tip top shape.

The next phase of this project is to connect the exhaust of the generator to a pipe leading out of the garage to vent the exhaust completely outdoors. That way the generator will be secure within the closed garage, and the fumes won't be.

Yesterday during a Google search, I found a website that has a conversion kit to allow the generator to run on propane, the type of tank used for a BBQ grill. That burns cleaner, has less fumes, runs longer and costs less in fuel. The kit has the option to run it with propane, gasoline, or natural gas. My neighborhood doesn't have natural gas, and I never wanted a huge propane tank on the side of my home. I do keep the smaller propane tanks for my grill, so this is a very nice option I'm considering.

And before you ask, a whole house generator with automatic switch isn't an option for me. This plan works well since I work from home.