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5 reasons why you shouldn’t count on a generator when T-SHTF.
Saturday, March 15, 2014 22:00
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Generators are great for short term power outages. They are relatively cheap and can be sourced from most home improvement stores. If the grid goes down for a few days after a major storm generators help to keep the food in the fridge from spoiling, keep the sump pump running and make sure a few lights stay on inside the home. However for long term grid down (SHTF) outages, generators should not be counted on to provide life sustaining support, and here’s why…
- Fuel Availability. With the exception of solar powered generators, all generators run on some sort of fuel (gasoline, diesel, propane, natural gas). After Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast fuel shortages were immediate and widespread, how much more if a large scale power outage occurs over a prolonged period of time? Gasoline and diesel will not be available for purchase from local stations and any that happens to be on hand will most likely go to emergency vehicles first. Propane will be long gone at the local hardware store (it was all sold out prior to Hurricane Sandy hitting in some areas). Generators powered by natural gas will initially be immune to this but will soon face their own shortcomings.
- Fuel Storage Considerations. Most portable generators use between 8 to 22 gallons of gasoline per day, compared to 4 to 8 twenty pound propane tanks (propane generators). That’s quite a bit of fuel just for one day’s usage and it’s simply not realistic to assume that the average person will be able to store enough fuel on site to keep the generator running for weeks on end. At 15 gallons of gasoline per day, that equates to keeping 42 five gallon gas containers on hand to power the generator for 2 weeks. Even a large 250 gallon propane tank only has a 3 to 4 weeks worth of fuel, if that. Hardly enough to keep the lights on during a long term grid down scenario.
Oh, you are so full of it.
You should read all the listings on the survivalists boards. One fellow dismisses everything that isn’t diesel because he can “allegedly” run his diesel generator on everything. Including rendered animal fat.
If he wants to play World of Warcraft, he is going to slaughter a herd of animals and render their fat to run his generator.
I’ve been pushing people to small scale solar systems for years. 300 watts or less and you can do fine if you really plan ahead.
BTW, if nuclear bombs fall out of the sky and ruin your solar panels, World of Warcraft and tweeting or facebooking is going to be the least of your worries.
BTW again, I wasn’t kidding about the guy going to slaughter herd of animals just to run his generator.