AyersTG:

If your dad is miles away from a water source in case of power failure, wouldn't it be a good idea for him to have a windmill powered pump for water and it could also power a generator?

What is the deepest a handle powered pump can bring water up from and what manually operated style of pump would reach the deepest to extract water from the ground?

Bountyhunter

AyersTG,

I don't have big rig diesels. Both my trucks are either 2500 or 2500HD Chevrolets. As equipped, they range in gross weight of between 8600 and 9000 pounds. I had to wait a year for Auragen to made an adapter for the Duramax Diesel.

It is no longer on their web site, but Auragen has units up to 12KV.

In some of the rural areas, the local codes requires that the new home owner build a large pond to permanently store water to allow the rural fire department to have a source of water to fight a home fire. This also puts the home owner into a different risk class for insurance costs. Some home owners have utilized these ponds for fish and as swimming areas for their families enjoyment. In dry times, these ponds become an oasis for wild life.

Your information regarding these Auragens has peaked my interest. Do they provide "clean" power for computers like the inverter-type Hondas? And are they strictly diesel power?

Regards, Vince

Auragens sound like DTO (direct take off) generators, i.e. they are mechanically attached to the truck engine driveshaft and are powered by it. They don't have their own motor so they don't care what kind of fuel the truck uses. I agree, that's an interesting approach, and $350 is an amazingly good price. I don't see any on ebay right now. Of course to use one, you need a DTO-equipped truck.

I still think most of these applications (well pump where there's a well with enough water to put out forest fires? $800 worth of food in the freezer?!) are if not in the .01%, then maybe in the 1% or 2%. If you want to keep that much food around the house, try nonperishables.

I agree that having a light in a room is psychologically comforting, but it doesn't have to be full powered. A white LED bounced off the ceiling is plenty to see around the room and that's easy to do on battery power.

As for starting a furnace, would a computer UPS do it? Those are fairly inexpensive and compact compared with a generator. Anyway, have some warm blankets around.

I think for most properly equipped people, even an extended power failure with no generator, as long as the building itself is still intact so you have a roof over your head, should be no more than an inconvenience. The whole city of Auckland, NZ had no power for several months in 1998 and got by just fine.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/misc/mercury.txt

.. " just fine" ... ???!!!.... <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Frenchy:

You have to understand that those New Zealanders are tough.

In my younger days, I have gone out with American born women who, if they don't get their electrically powered facial humidification in the morning could tear any highly trained Military platoon apart from shear frustration. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

If you ever have such a woman, buy the generator!

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Paulr,

The Auragens can be powered four basic ways, through an adapter attached to the front of the vehicle’s engine and powered by a belt, through a power-take-off or hydraulic pump attached to the vehicle, or from a stationary engine of at least 9 HP for the 5 KW version or a 15 HP for the 8.5 KW version. As long as the engine is adapted to be throttled by the Auragen’s computer control, any engine of sufficient HP can run the Auragen. All engines can be adapted. And as you can see, most vehicles have enough power to run the Auragens. The Auragen generator is not very big so most vehicle’s engine compartments have room for it. The generator weights 65 pounds.

When I was still slaving for a living, one of my coworkers decided to build a retirement home on the Southeast Slopes of Mount Adams in Washington State. I have owned land there since the ‘70s. It is a private ranchers association and the association owns and maintains the roads. I was trying to convince my coworker to plan for power outages in the design of his proposed home. The nearest power at that time was one half a mile away. We would have to build a power line to him the next spring.

We built the barn / work shop first. The snow load there is 80 pounds per square foot and on occasion can be ten feet in depth. So, it is a well built barn. We were finishing the barn on alternate weekends during the winter since the house was to be started the following spring. A large snow storm came through. We, being busy in Portland, Oregon, the swamp, did not pay much attention to the weather reports. With both our trucks full of supplies and tools, we headed up there. Everything was going fine, the association had cleared all the roads. All the roads until we got to the infamous “Hell Hill.” That was the next to the last leg for us. It was just too steep for the normal snow plow. It was so steep that when I was hauling up the power utility poles on a long trailer the following spring, I had to place a heavy boulder on the tongue of the trailer to keep the weight of the poles from lifting my truck’s back wheels and losing traction. We “procured” a front end loader and a cat. We pushed and hauled snow for half the day. When we finally finished at the top of the hill, there was a long line of vehicles waiting to go down. We went on an did our work. We did not find out until the next trip that these people had been without power and telephone for seven days. There was no cell service up there.

These people were newcomers and had never experienced a harsh winter up there. The prior winters had been unusually mild. When they had their homes built, they went all electric. They had no heat, hot water, cooking facilities, or water from their wells. Some families contained three generations, from very young to elderly. The local old timers were unaware of their plight since power outages were a common occurrence and it had always been a part of their normal life. A few people had barbecued in their out buildings but were running out of fuel. It was a very cold week! Even though frozen food was fine they had no way to cook it. Their can goods burst. They were in a panicked rush when we cleared Hell Hill. Some never came back. One family abandon their home forever and it went back to the bank. No one suffered injury however many homes were for sale the following spring.

I had no problem convincing my coworker to”Be Prepared” and build his home for his family to survive in that environment. He has lived up there for close to ten years now and has been through many storms and power outages and loves it.

yeah, yeah, yeah.....

I know you like to live dangerously ........ <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As we're in the the midst of (another) massive flood, I can tell you that a generator is a small investment that will pay for itself with only one use, if it keeps your home from flooding and food from rotting. Any inter-tied system should use a proper transfer switch. Honda engines last forever, that's what we use at the fire department. Be careful using electronic gear on cheap generators, they don't have good voltage and freqeuncy control.

ive seen some generator sites that advertise models that can be used indoors ( specifically apartments / duplexes) does anyone have any experience with those or some suggestions about buying or even avoiding them?