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Getting fuel for your generator might be a challenge. Petrol stations tend to require electricity to operate their pumps. A less reactive and better long term

Getting fuel for your generator might be a challenge. Petrol stations tend to require electricity to operate their pumps. A less reactive and better long term plan would be investing in tech that simultaneously reduces your monthly electricity bills and makes you more resilient against grid failures: solar + battery. It's not a solution in the middle of a black out. But a great one for dealing with the next one. I have no idea how reliable the grid in Chile is. But even the southern tip is at -52 degrees latitude, which means their winters are about as dark as at +52 latitude, like Berlin, Germany where I live where solar power is very popular Anything in between (most of the US, except Alaska) gets enough sun hours to make solar panels a very useful fallback (with seasonal limitations obviously); and you can also keep your batteries topped up with grid power too using e.g. cheap off-peak power. A cheaper alternative could be to pick up a few portable batteries and solar panels from Amazon. You can get a nice plug and play setup that will power some essential things for a while for a few thousand dollar/euro. Running the AC off such a setup is not going to be a thing. But you could run a small fridge for a half a day or so, keep phones laptops charged, and keep the lights on. Some people buy generators just so they can top up their batteries when solar falls short and run completely off-grid otherwise.

asah 2y ago
there's fuel stabilizer you can buy to store fuel for a year+, just calendar a reminder to use/replace once a year (good idea for other reasons).
mindslight 2y ago
Batteries are great if you can use them all of the time - eg V2G, grid load shifting, or if your utility won't buy generated solar power. Otherwise the capital cost is too high to have significant storage batteries sitting around idle waiting for an emergency. > You can get a nice plug and play setup that will power some essential things for a while for a few thousand dollar/euro A petrol generator that will do this can be had for like $400.
- bdcravens 2y ago
  You can of course use your batteries on a regular basis even without solar, and even offset your expenses by filling them up during lower-cost times if your utility provides that. Additionally, a good tri-fuel generator is often less than $1000 so you have power even if you can't get petrol.
  - mindslight 2y ago
    Yes, that exception was the main dynamic I gave. But the cost of setting up a large enough system to have those options is at least one and half orders of magnitude more than the generator. I stayed away from discussing propane because it's adding another variable. I too thought that was the way to go, until I realized it doesn't work so well in the winter because the self-evaporation rate is too low. It my experience it takes 3x 20lb tanks teed together to run my small 2500 watt inverter generator, and the baseline load isn't even that much.
bdcravens 2y ago
A good hedge against not being to access petrol is a multi-fuel generator, that can use residential natural gas or propane tanks in addition to liquid fuel.
svachalek 2y ago
Note that just having solar doesn't necessarily protect you in a blackout. A lot of systems won't work without having power on the main line to sync to.
- thinkcontext 2y ago
  Most utilities require solar or any other generator isolate itself from the grid in the event of a blackout. This is to prevent line workers from being harmed. But you are right, before you accept the system from your electrician test isolating from the grid and running loads locally, then re-establishing a connection to the grid.

asah 2y ago

there's fuel stabilizer you can buy to store fuel for a year+, just calendar a reminder to use/replace once a year (good idea for other reasons).

mindslight 2y ago

Batteries are great if you can use them all of the time - eg V2G, grid load shifting, or if your utility won't buy generated solar power. Otherwise the capital cost is too high to have significant storage batteries sitting around idle waiting for an emergency. > You can get a nice plug and play setup that will power some essential things for a while for a few thousand dollar/euro A petrol generator that will do this can be had for like $400.

bdcravens 2y ago
You can of course use your batteries on a regular basis even without solar, and even offset your expenses by filling them up during lower-cost times if your utility provides that. Additionally, a good tri-fuel generator is often less than $1000 so you have power even if you can't get petrol.
- mindslight 2y ago
  Yes, that exception was the main dynamic I gave. But the cost of setting up a large enough system to have those options is at least one and half orders of magnitude more than the generator. I stayed away from discussing propane because it's adding another variable. I too thought that was the way to go, until I realized it doesn't work so well in the winter because the self-evaporation rate is too low. It my experience it takes 3x 20lb tanks teed together to run my small 2500 watt inverter generator, and the baseline load isn't even that much.

bdcravens 2y ago

A good hedge against not being to access petrol is a multi-fuel generator, that can use residential natural gas or propane tanks in addition to liquid fuel.

svachalek 2y ago

Note that just having solar doesn't necessarily protect you in a blackout. A lot of systems won't work without having power on the main line to sync to.

thinkcontext 2y ago
Most utilities require solar or any other generator isolate itself from the grid in the event of a blackout. This is to prevent line workers from being harmed. But you are right, before you accept the system from your electrician test isolating from the grid and running loads locally, then re-establishing a connection to the grid.