Back up generators

[DrMark]

Wondering if anyone owns a backup generator. Living in Corpus with yearly threat of hurricanes and possible long term power outages has me concerned. Last year my tank was newly setup and I didnt worry. This year is different.

I have two tanks that I would need to power in event of outage. Would hate for everything to cook without A/C following a major storm.

So, I believe I will buy a portable generator and wanted to see if anyone had thoughts or input. I would be able to run the generator on front porch and run extension cords from it to the tanks.

Mark

[ErikH]

I am assuming that you have a chiller? You need to check the rating of your chiller (HP rating) and compare that with the rating for the generator. For shorter outages you could purchase some UPSs. Altex has a small fan for a pc, but it pushes 110 cfm that you could put on your tank if you think it would keep cool enough. That fan is loud for a fan, but if a chiller is not in the budget, I would experiment with that fan for cooling purposes.

[tiggamonsta]

We are moving out to the country and have the same concerns with power. I plan to get a whole house unit with a transfer switch. Home Depot sells some units that will run off of propane. Depending on how the wiring is run in your house this may be a simple installation, if you are familiar with electrical wiring. You can choose which circuits you want to have on backup. The unit runs self test automatically, and will automatically kick in should there be a power failure. They are a little more expensive ($3,500 for the one I am looking at), but I think the benefits out weigh the cost. Why should the fish be the only ones comfortable in a power outage? :bigsmile:

[DrMark]

I also considered a whole house unit, but i have a fairly large house requiring 4 A/C units. So, I think the portable of about 6000-7000 watts with two 20 amp circuits and one 30 amp circuit would be enough to run the two tanks. Display tank is 214 gal w a 1/2hp chiller, other tank is 34 gal nano that will likely have a 1/15-1/10 chiller (havent needed it yet, fan keeps it at 80 degrees as long as room temp is 75 degrees).
If I had smaller house and/or lived further from civilization, the whole house generator would be a for sure.
Mark

[JLiu]

We've never had a problem with our Honda gas powered generator other than the gas going bad in it from sitting too long may want to get an additive to preserve the gas in the generator.