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> Electricity isn't even a market where people can 'panic buy' like toilet paper. People can "panic buy" generators, and have been doing so for a while. With s

> Electricity isn't even a market where people can 'panic buy' like toilet paper. People can "panic buy" generators, and have been doing so for a while. With solar panels on the roof for when the sun is available and some alternative source like your generator (cheap to buy, expensive to use) or batteries (expensive to buy, cheap to use) for when it is not and power has failed you can be mostly energy independent.

sacnoradhq 3y ago
That happened in NorCal in 2019. There were no generators to be had south of Chico, CA that summer. Had to go halfway to Redding to a random Home Depot that didn't have a large customer base. When you need a generator because PG&E decided to have a PSPS for a week or 2 without warning, then you need it immediately. It's not a panic purchase when it's an emergency purchase of inelastic necessity, not hoarding of 4000 rolls of toilet paper. Gasoline generators are a PITA. Most of them require frequent oil changes. And floating neutral generators generally won't work well with GFI circuits because they easily see an imbalance in current across neutral and to the ground path. If you want your generator to be safe and work with GFI, you'll have to use a bonded one and ground it. Most residential solar sets in California lack battery backup capacity and do not generate power in the absence of grid power "for safety". This is because most homeowners are uninformed consumers and don't know what options they need. It's worth getting a subpanel, moving critical loads to them, and having a 3-way ATS with solar-batteries-inverter, grid tie, and an autostart natural gas generator.
- WalterBright 3y ago
  The trick with a gas generator is to have an electrician install an interlock on your electric panel along with a hookup to your generator. Then it's a snap to switch over to the generator, and start it. The only trouble is that gives no indication when the power comes back on. So there you are, generator blasting away, while power is restored. Leave a couple circuits always connected to the line power, and hook those to a radio or a light so you know when the line is back up. P.S. if you get a generator with an electric starter, odds are good the battery will be dead. The trick is to add a couple power posts to it, so you can jump start it with your car.
  - rsync 3y ago
    I use a mechanical interlock like you have described and I actually prefer it to a more complex ATS. I like simple systems. But you can, in fact, see when utility power comes back on if you have a "smart meter" - the LCD panel readout is dead/blank during the outage but is active and displaying once the power comes back on. So we just peek at the meter every once in a while to see if PG&E is back ...

sacnoradhq 3y ago

That happened in NorCal in 2019. There were no generators to be had south of Chico, CA that summer. Had to go halfway to Redding to a random Home Depot that didn't have a large customer base. When you need a generator because PG&E decided to have a PSPS for a week or 2 without warning, then you need it immediately. It's not a panic purchase when it's an emergency purchase of inelastic necessity, not hoarding of 4000 rolls of toilet paper. Gasoline generators are a PITA. Most of them require frequent oil changes. And floating neutral generators generally won't work well with GFI circuits because they easily see an imbalance in current across neutral and to the ground path. If you want your generator to be safe and work with GFI, you'll have to use a bonded one and ground it. Most residential solar sets in California lack battery backup capacity and do not generate power in the absence of grid power "for safety". This is because most homeowners are uninformed consumers and don't know what options they need. It's worth getting a subpanel, moving critical loads to them, and having a 3-way ATS with solar-batteries-inverter, grid tie, and an autostart natural gas generator.

WalterBright 3y ago
The trick with a gas generator is to have an electrician install an interlock on your electric panel along with a hookup to your generator. Then it's a snap to switch over to the generator, and start it. The only trouble is that gives no indication when the power comes back on. So there you are, generator blasting away, while power is restored. Leave a couple circuits always connected to the line power, and hook those to a radio or a light so you know when the line is back up. P.S. if you get a generator with an electric starter, odds are good the battery will be dead. The trick is to add a couple power posts to it, so you can jump start it with your car.
- rsync 3y ago
  I use a mechanical interlock like you have described and I actually prefer it to a more complex ATS. I like simple systems. But you can, in fact, see when utility power comes back on if you have a "smart meter" - the LCD panel readout is dead/blank during the outage but is active and displaying once the power comes back on. So we just peek at the meter every once in a while to see if PG&E is back ...