Well Hurrican season is rolling around again and this year, I am considering getting the power generator to add to my supplies.

My question is this. How much power do I need to power my refridgerator and a few lights and fans?

My new fridge has a 652 kWh/year power rating (from the yellow tag)is 25.4 cubic foot side by side.

I'd also like to be able to power some lights and maybe some fans. If the cable modem has a connection, then I might even want to plug in the modem and router with a laptop.

I was looking at an inexpensive model at HomeDepot for about $400-$500, but am really not sure if it is enough power.

Any help is appreciated.

labman

The 652 kWh/year power rating is how much power it might use in a year. You need to know the rate it uses when running. Virtually everything has a plate on it somewhere giving that in amps or watts. My refrigerator has a plate hidden by door saying 7.5 amps. At 120 V, that would be 900 watts. Harbor freight lists a 5 1/2 horse one rated at 2200 watts for $400. That would plenty to run a bigger refrigerator than mine plus several 100 watt bulbs.

I keep thinking about one too. A freak wind blew down a pole by my neighbors house last night about 11 PM. My power came back on about 4 AM, but he didn't get his until this afternoon. I lose my electricity, I also lose my phone, heat, and water. I would be pushed up the scale to one that delivered 220V if I want water.

speedball1

Harlrey, I live a few miles inland from the Gulf in the Tampa Bay area and I rode out Donna when it came ashore. in 1960. NEVER AGAIN!!! Fort Myers Beach had a 16 foot storm surge. The next one that looks like its going to hit will find me, my dog and a lady friend that I'm rather fond of all shacked up in motel that's well inland and on high elevation. Generators, no matter what their power, aren't going to work under water and my elevation is well under 16 feet. If the "big one" hits your're gonna find me long gone and otta here. If you elect to ride out a hurricane that comes ashore north of you, good luck!! I guarantee that you'll have more to worry about that some spoiled food and power outages. Regards from Sarasota. Tom

harleyds

Sorry for the late reply Tom.

I ended up picking up a generater just before Frances hit. I live about 20 miles inland from Fort Lauderdale. Chances of a storm surge hitting my house are slim.

Out of shear desperation, I bought the only generater I could find 2 days before the storm hit. Its a Porter Cable 3,500 watt with a Honda engine and paid about $800. I was able to power my fridge, 2 laptops and a fan. Luckily I was only with out power for 26 hours.

labman

I am really getting serious about one. Last week 15,000 people in our county lost their power due to an ice storm. The electricity company is promising to have everybody back on by tomorrow. We were lucky to have only had the power on and off briefly.

What is your plan for fueling it if the service stations are out of service? My plan is to make sure my truck is full in bad weather. Unlike new cars, it is easy to get gas out of my truck. I also plan to look at natural gas conversions.

harleyds

The only thing I did when it looked like a hurricane was going to hit was to fill up my two 5 gallon tanks. I also topped off every gasoline item in my house. The generator, the lawn mower and all three of my cars were filled to the top.

Considering that my generater will run maxed out for 4 hours per tank fill, which is about a gallon, I had about 45 gallons, (from the 3 cars) another 10 gallons from the spare tanks, and a gallon in the generator and another gallon in the lawn mower, I have 57 gallons of gasoline in my house. That give me 228 hours of power!

I'm even thinking about buying a second cheaper model that can handle 220 so I can hook up my hot water heater or power an window AC unit.

tommytman

make sure you put stabilzer in the gas or it will go to pot on you.

harleyds

That is only if you let is sit for a while. The gas in the spare tanks went in to my cars for the weeks afterwards. Everything else, I used up.

:-)