battery backup?

[Victor1046]

We have far tooo many power outages in the summer and I was
wondering if one of the battery backups (used in the office for computer) would be helpful

Anyone use one?

Thanks

[snulma1]

Some people use those, and some use car battery's hooked up to inverters. Each has its benefit, the UPS's benefit is that it will run as soon as the power goes out, the only downfall is that it won't last very long, depending on what you have hooked up to it! There are a bunch of threads on this if you search for it!

[Victor1046]

thanks snulma1 I found one on marine depot that lasts for 30 hours.

I will keep looking

[cowboyswife]

Gotta love FL hurricane season! Our last outage lasted 8 hours. We used the battery backup for the computer, after using it on the computer for the outage for a few hours, and it ran 1 pump for 2 tanks for about 4 hours. Then we used the power inverter for the car, and ran the same pumps for the two tanks for the last 4 hours of the outage. The inverter worked great, but our car was just a big expensive generator. In the long run, a generator is more useful. Atleast we would be able to run the fridge, some fans, and the tanks if we get pummeled by a hurricane. We are getting one within the next few weeks. Hurricane Charlie made me all paranoid, and I insisted that my husband look into getting one. :)

[jbarone]

A generator will pay for itself very quickly. One long outage will cost you a fridge full of food and everything in your tank too. Well worth the money.

[meco65]

IF you have natural gas you can get a house size generator for about $3000 that will run most of your house in a outage AC included. If you have a lot of outages it might be worth it.

[jbarone]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10073721#post10073721 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by meco65
IF you have natural gas you can get a house size generator for about $3000 that will run most of your house in a outage AC included. If you have a lot of outages it might be worth it.

I agree. Our next home will have one.

[fatdaddy]

I'm looking into a house generator now. I travel a lot, so I'm not sure my house sitter could get a gas generator running with all the aquarium stuff plugged in. I'm planning to write it off as a business expense as I work from home when not traveling.

Most systems will use either LP or natural gas. I'm planning on LP.

There are plenty of DIY solutions using a solenoid, car battery, rectifier, and 12 Volt charger. Battery is the expensive part at up to $100, but the rest would run $50.