Shopsmith Forums

I don't want to hijack the storm and tree thread so I"ll start over here.
They say that (all global warming arguments aside) we are in a cycle of more unstable weather patterns. They also say that the weather we have been having for the last hundred years or so was actually an unusually calm period in long term weather history.
That and the fact that our power grid is waaay under capacity and badly deteriorated has me re-thinking a lot of things. Most of my life we had very few power outages and most were quite local and quickly repaired. That is no longer the case. Power outages are more and more frequent and are involving huge numbers of people and sometimes taking days to restore power. We used to have a lot of local power company (Duke) workers and response time was often minutes. Now we call a center maybe 50 miles away and they dispatch someone or a crew from who knows where. They are all nice guys and work quickly and effectively but the time to get them here or where ever the problem is located is the big problem. That and at times there just is not enough of them available.
More power generation capacity is now fairly high on my priority list. I can run my furnace off of my power inverter or a few fans etc. but it won't run the AC or refrigerator or pump water.
I can hand pump water from an extra unused well in the strong room in the basement but I don't want to have to carry water to a big bunch of horses like that. Especially so if something happens during an ice storm or in triple digit temps like now. I can still handle all of that manual stuff but common sense says that I cannot count on always being able to.
My son has a good sized portable generator but he is always busy helping other people when something happens. The last big power outage he spent a lot of time carting it around (including here) running peoples refrigerators and freezers several times a day to save their food from spoiling. If I set up my own systems it will be one less place to worry about.
I have about a 12' x 16' strong room in the southwest corner of the basement that is pretty strong but I may beef it up a little more. I might even split the room part way with a wall made of 12" concrete block and maybe beef the ceiling up a bit more too. The floor above was built with double joist laminated together with the subfloor put down with construction adhesive and screw shank nails. Then the 3/4" floor above that was installed troweling white wood glue (this was about 1972) bought in gallons down then nailing the beejeebers out of it with ring shank nails while still wet. In addition to those items I am considering adding a number of extra anchors from the joist to well down the walls to help prevent floor lifting. It is already anchored better than most and the outside wall above the basement wall is stone. Still, we have had more local tornadoes in the last few years than I remember all of the rest of my life. Might as well get a little more ready for them.
That is all fine if we are at the house and I do have a well pit at the barns down the road where 2 people or 3 very good friends could ride out a storm a little better off than standing out on a hill holding up a metal golf club.
We have a place almost a half mile from the house where we are building a small camping / picnic area in a Scotch pine plantation about 25 years old and I am giving thought to building a small storm shelter there even if it is nothing more than an earth bermed "U" shaped wall about 3' high to lay down behind. Hardly ideal but still better than the above mentioned hill and golf club. This location is up on a hill and has nothing to break the wind before it. I am the only thing that breaks wind there.


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If I was in your situation with the power thing, I would consider installing a permanent generator. Prices have come down in recent years. The problem with a portable is that someone always needs it worse than you. Case in point...Five or so years ago a tornado made its way through my yard. Took down the 9 trees I had in my city lot dropping one on the house. My end of town severely damaged. Electricity out for 24 hours. People accross the street had health concerns so they used my generator. 15 years ago in northwest Indiana a March ice storm took out every power pole between us and the generating system. Out of power for a little over a week. Church took my kerosene heaters to heat the elderly's homes. Church also took my generator to help those in need...Consequently, I'm not in favor of portable generators for power outages.

A local electrician friend of mine has installed a few GENERAC brand systems.

they make regulator portable units, and the enclosed units. prewired panel so system does not feed back into the power grid....we were just out of power for 00 hours a couple of weeks ago. Windstorm blew down the main feeder line to our stystem.

We have lost power for a few hours maybe two or three times a year lately.

I have researched the Generac system. Made in Wisconsin, and have been in bussiness for over fifty years.

all these units are now available with propane as a fuel... most of us rural people have propane tank at our places..... with gasoline, it is tough to keep 15 to 20 gallons around and keep it fresh........

lost power for 21 hours...... typo, plus no proof reader...........

We have a generac system where I work for back-up power, it is natural gas fueled. It has saved the corporate bacon more than once. I'd love to have one at home. The only problem I see is sufficient fuel should the Natural Gas infrastructure be affected (A very real possibility here in So. Cal). Contemplating portable Gasoline model for the house. Just for refrigeration and emergency lighting.

I have one Craftsman 3,500 watt (4375 starting) and one 5500 watts (8250 starting) Storm Responder generators from Sears. The 5500 watt version has 1 120-240 30 amp outlet and 4 120 20 amp outlets. I use the 3,500 unit to run my frige, 2 floor fans, 2 floor lamps, two laptop computers, and a chargers for 2 cell phones and 1 hotspot tablet for internet access. I use the 5500 unit to run my 12,000 btu roll around air conditioner from Lowes which has two flex tubes that connect to a panel that fits in the window and can be moved from room to room to bring in fresh air and exhaust hot air for the condenser. I use it in the den during the day and in the bedroom at night to keep cool during power failures, which we have often. We were without power for 3 weeks after one storm two years ago. I also use the 5500 unit to power our coffee maker and microwave and hairdriers. I watched tv on my laptop via the internet using the hotspot service on my tablet computer since cable was out but Verizon was up after one day. I position the generators at the edge of the garage and bring the garage door down far enough to keep the rain out but high enough for the exhaust fumes to blow outward.

Yeah.. It is surprising how dependent we have become on electricty. It becomes very evident when we run into situations like this. Plus, like Robinson said, our power grid is way under powered and badly deteriated (aging old antiquated systems that were not designed to handle the demands of the day). We have really noticed this in our major cities where not only the grid is out of date but all other forms of public services (gas, water, waste water, etc).

Robinson, do you have any streams or ponds on your place? If you do, I would almost recommend having a back up plan or fenced in area around a water source for the horses during these times. Here in the Chesapeake Watershed they are pushing legislation/rules for all stock owners to fence animals out of streams, ponds, wetlands, etc (has to do with sediment loads in the bay). But, in emergency situations there have to be considerations.

Emergency generators have become a high demand product here in the last few days. My neighbor told me there was a line a mile long at the local Harbor Freight with folks all looking to purchase one. They are handy to have but they are also one more thing that needs to be used and maintained. You can't just stick it in the back corner and for get about it until it is needed. Chances are if you do it is not going to work or do you any good. Kind of a hard lesson leaned because just a couple of weeks ago I finished rebuilding the genset in my parents motorhome. Hardly ever used and sat unused for about five years. And now with the ethanol required in our fuel, you can't store that very long either.