POWER OUTAGE NOTICE - Need to prepare for my tanks' inhabitants' safety

[Doug]

Originally Posted by mseepman

I used to sell Whole-home Generators when I was with an Electrical firm...the cost was huge (especially for the transfer switch). Now the market has really dropped the pricing. I bought my 8kw Generac for dirt cheap from KMS tools...it's natural gas and it powers my entire tank setup (fish room and tank) plus fridges, freezers, furnace, lights, fireplace starter, bathrooms and ceiling fans. Gotta service it once per year, but the kit costs $16 from Home Depot and a little elbow grease.

I love that idea. Can it go on my mobile?

[zhasan]

Hi All,

So I called home depot the other day to make a reservation and the gentleman there told me that the generator they have will end up frying most of my equipment as it fluctuates a lot and causes surges in current. He suggested I rent an inverter generator that provides constant level of power and will be better for use with component electrical equipment.

I'm wondering if any of have had some experience in running a normal (standard) generator to power up your tank or other electrical equipment other than saws and misc tools.

He also mentioned that the inverter generators are was the production companies use for their lights and camera and stuff and thats what I'd need to use on my tank equipment.

Anyone know where I can rent one of those from?

[Palmer]

I don't know about the kind of generator they were talking about but for sensitive equipment what they are saying makes sense. For me Ina power outage I am mainly looking at heaters and pumps if 24 to 48 hours so I am not worried about it. I have used portable heaters and lights and battery chargers on mine without issue beyond tools. I could see not having a controller or ecotech pump etc on it.

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by zhasan

Hi All,

So I called home depot the other day to make a reservation and the gentleman there told me that the generator they have will end up frying most of my equipment as it fluctuates a lot and causes surges in current. He suggested I rent an inverter generator that provides constant level of power and will be better for use with component electrical equipment.

I'm wondering if any of have had some experience in running a normal (standard) generator to power up your tank or other electrical equipment other than saws and misc tools.

He also mentioned that the inverter generators are was the production companies use for their lights and camera and stuff and thats what I'd need to use on my tank equipment.

Anyone know where I can rent one of those from?

Sounds like a crock to me. Any half decent generator should run your gear no problem. Most of them have protective circuits to minimize any problems due to overcurrent, voltage etc. Should also have a governor of sorts to keep the AC frequency within reasonable range of 60 Hz. I've heard of these 'inverter' generators but not sure what that's about. A good quality, standard generator will produce a nice sine wave 115 VAC 60 Hz signal that won't harm any of your equipment. Some AC motors don't do well with modified (clipped) sine waves which is what many cheap inverters produce. Most other gear rectifies the AC into DC, so modified sine wave isn't an issue. Heaters & other resistive components don't care about modified sine waves, they soldier on regardless.

[zhasan]

Hi All!!!

Thanks for everyones helpful tips/suggestions/ideas.

In the end, I ended up borrowing a generator from a friend's friend and leave it on standby the even of the power outage day. I had my brother as the go to guy to turn the power on from the generator once the outage happens.

The power outage was scheduled for 9:30 am on wednesday and it turned out that the power never went out. I don't know what the heck happened but BC hydro sure as hell stressed the crap out of me. I'm happy that I didn't have to resort to generator power and potentially risk my equipment but nonetheless it was a pain to think about things and get that generator home and set it up in the cold!

I guess all is well that ends well.

I'm finally finding a bit of time to start posting on the forum and stuff and hoping to revive my build thread again!!