jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Thu Oct 25 13:23:21 CDT 2007
Jim,
The one I got was 16Kw and was about $3750, delivered. They make smaller
ones but I figured that a lot of the cost was going to be in installation so
make it big enough to allow us to live through an emergency and long term
(several days) outage. I had to have a plumber do the propane line to it.
The house already has propane ("500 gallon") so even if I am getting low on
propane it can run for several days without worry. No gas cans to store or
go fill etc.
The generator has a sensor that senses that the electricity went off and
waits for 12 seconds. If the power stays off after that it starts. Waits
12 seconds (while the engine warms up and comes up to speed) and then
switches to the generator. If the power comes back, it waits (12 seconds I
believe) before disconnecting the generator and switching back to the grid,
then waits about 60 seconds to allow the engine to cool off before shutting
down. It actually starts up once a week and runs at half speed for 15
minutes just to keep the engine running and oiled etc.
These generators are sold in Home Depot and Lowes, different "house brands"
same company, although I don't think they actually have them in stock.
Generac is the company that actually builds them I think.
http://www.generac.com/Default.aspx
I bought it off the internet (in fact off of EBay) from Ziller Electric.
http://zillerelectric.com Delivered to my door. I HIGHLY recommend Ziller,
nice guy, knowledgeable about the generators and just a great experience.
The unit I bought was designed for residential use and comes with an entire
prewired circuit breaker panel. You hire an electrician to mount the panel,
then pull pairs of wires off of the existing panel and using wire nuts wire
them to the matching size circuit in the new breaker panel. The generator
breaker panel handles all of the switching of power between the original
panel and the generator panel, driven by signals from a controller
physically located in the generator box.
It will only handle X circuits of course, X being dependent on the size unit
you buy and which circuits you want to have powered. I got my office walls
(though not the lights), the water pump from the spring, and most of the
walls and lights for the front of the house including the freezer and refri,
one air conditioner / heat, etc. So there will be some circuits not powered
but you decide which are the ones most important to your situation. All
told about $4,300 wired and plumbed, and I can now last for at least a week
24/7 without power from the grid, more if I can get a propane delivery in
that time. Oh, and the same generator will work off of natural gas if that
is your fuel source, in fact it comes set up to run off of natural gas. I
had to remove the air cleaner holder from the top of the engine, reach down
and slide a little widget that essentially changes the size of the fuel
delivery tube, then replace the air cleaner assembly in order to make mine
run off of propane. All in the instruction manual.
The nice thing about having an automatic generator is that once you have
one, you will NEVER have severe enough weather to need it. Not only that,
my having one protects my entire neighborhood from that severe weather. ;-)
John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Hale, Jim
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 12:57 PM
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Corrupted Word file
Propane generator? That sounds interesting. Which one and how much?
Autostart meaning it comes on automatically when the electricity goes off?
How hard was it to connect to the house?
Jim Hale
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 11:32 AM
To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Corrupted Word file
LOL. Even that only lasts an hour or two though. My office is in my home
and I lost power for a full day. Lost a day's work in the process and even
worse had to admit to the client that I was down and unable to help them. I
bought a generator that starts when the power goes off. I am now back up
and running in 25 seconds supposedly, though the propane line has a tiny
leak I think, so it takes about 45 seconds and 4 tries for the autostart to
actually get the generator started.
Now... will the cable company supply me internet in a major blackout?
Probably not but at least I can tell my client "it isn't me".
John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 12:14 PM
To: dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Corrupted Word file
Hi Rusty
Or use a pc with built-in UPS:
pc + UPS = laptop
/gustav
>>> rustykh at yahoo.com 25-10-2007 18:03 >>>
Just to add to the UPS discussion. I've come across the Belkin UPS's at
Buy.com (search for Belkin UPS at buy.com's website). I just paid $145 for
a 1500va UPS. This is the second one I've purchased and both have been for
small business servers. The first one I setup has been put to good use
several times in the last year as the power where it is installed is down
quite a bit. From the reviews I've read about them, the length of time they
will provide power at full load is exaggerated but for the price they can
protect a good amount of equipment long enough to shut it down gracefully.
It even comes with a serial and usb cable to connect to your computer and a
$30 mail-in rebate.
----- Original Message ----
From: John Bartow <john at winhaven.net>
To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
<dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 10:09:14 AM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Corrupted Word file
About 8 years ago I lost 1/2 hours worth of work on a PowerPoint right
before I had to leave for a presentation. I've never had a power related
file problem again - because I went out and bought a UPS ;-)
-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Susan Harkins
=====Circuit breaker flipped. :( I have the text, so I'll just start
reformatting it. The file was saved, but it was open at the time.
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