Lesson #10 Cash is king in a power outage. Carry some spare cash on your person or in your car. I simply keep $50 in $1 dollar bills in a sandwich baggie in the center console in my car, and I feed off that as required - $1s are useful exchange at the weekly farmer's market, and cash is an absolute after a power outage takes out the cash register, credit / debit card readers etc. Try it: when getting home, take any dollar bills and put them in a drawer, do that for a few weeks and see how many you have. Then put those in the baggie, and put that in your car, or keep them in the drawer for a rainy day. I like to keep them in my car because I'm often out and need a few bucks for lunch, the farmer's market, parking meters, etc etc.

Lesson #11 Keep your flexibility, patience, and a sense of humor. And maybe a calculator. The guy behind the check out counter is not your enemy. True story: my brother went into a store during an outage to buy some food. The check out clerk said I'm sorry, the register is down, we aren't selling anything. My brother offered cash, rounding up to the nearest dollar or two (the store would get their prices and may be a just a little more). I'm sorry, there's no way to verify the amount of your sale. My brother tallied up the prices marked *on the items* he wanted to buy, and added 10% (for local sales tax). I'm sorry the clerk said, I can't trust your totals. My brother pulled out his phone, and did the necessary calculations, with the clerk watching. Yes, I'll take your money - but it will mess up my register at the end of the day. At this point an exasperated octogenarian watching the entire exchange said something to the effect, 'oh for f*ck's sake, have you lost the ability to add, or were you never able to? Give him his crackers and cheese!" At which point the clerk gave in, accepted payment, and my brother went on his way.

You might find this old thread informative.

My response is still the same as back then--you don't have a whole lot of options in an apartment beyond trying to create a small space that you can try to keep insulated and warm. I think it's best for an apartment dweller to have a secondary place they can bug out to for an extended cold scenario, if that's possible.

Since apartment dwellers have fewer practical heating options, they can resort to dangerous methods if they get desperate about the cold. I'd hate to die of CO poisoning or a fire because residents in another apartment are doing something dangerous.

Good to know, thank you Paul.

Just to clarify, that still doesn't mean one should leave fuel sitting in the lines, carb, ect, if they can help it. It's always best to completely drain all the fuel out before placing something motorized into storage for an indeterminate amount of time. Gasoline, regardless of additives, does nasty things as it gets old.

Besides completely draining out the fuel, I also like to do the following before placing equipment with gas engines into storage:
1. Change the oil or completely drain the oil (if it requires oil)
2. Squirt just a little WD-40 into the cylinder(s)
3. Change the spark plug(s)

If I do that, rarely do I ever have trouble getting the engine started again, regardless of how long it sat.

BRILLIANT idea!

That would upset me more than being surrounded by the simply unprepared.

Do you guys run your generator every month or so regardless ????

I've recently moved down to the Hollywood area, and was wondering where I could get ahold of said map?

Thanks

MarkO...I'm new to generator ownership, but plan on starting mine once a year... about a month ahead of hurricane season... my older Honda 3500es has a carb bowl drain, so I do run mine dry... my fuel supply is a bulb start siphon line from a 6 gal can, so don't have a separate fuel tank...I start to use the stored hurricane season gas (about 15 gallons) about a month after the season, then refill... I do run a good synthetic oil in the crankcase, and spin it over without the fuel line attached to pre lube it ...small float charger for the battery

I'm pretty new to gen ownership too but I plan on firing mine once a month.