power outage

[countrykat]

Just went through my first power outage with a reef tank. It lasted about 5 hours. I told the wife I was starting to get nervous and about 30 minutes later the power came on.
Well, needless to say the skimmer went nuts and the tank looked like crap with all the crap flowing through it. I have mentioned to her in the past about outages can be a disaster in a very short amount of time.
Question at hand, do I mention the fact about a gas generator? They start at about 5 grand for a 20k watt. I'm thinking I may be able to swing it next year sometime because we have had a outage in the past and lost about $600 in meat that ended up thawing because we lost power for 6 days due to an ice storm.

I guess I'm looking at how do I get into the conversation?

Any ladies have an idea?

[Luck_of_the_Dra]

If your wanting to hard wire it into your existing panel, I suggest consulting a master electrician in your area.

If your not doing a whole house generater you'll put in a sub panel and pull the circuits you'll want to stay on into the new panel. I'd put your tank, freezer, a couple of outlets and maybe some lighting circuits.

[rogerwilco357]

well if your talking about a regular gas generator it can be done for alot less than 5k but if your talking about the whole house natural gas running generator then simply say this way we won't loose any more food and it will boost the price on our house equity...if the latter tell her you want to go camping to spend more one on one time you get the idea good luck ...we get power outages alot here in the summer and winter so it is a must have item ..no explaining needed just bought it and said aren't you nice and cool in the summer lol ..and nice and warm in the winter oh the tank is ok too lol..
good luck buddy

[countrykat]

The natural gas generator has been approved from the mrs. I let her start the conversation about the reef tank and then added that she would have heat or ac and we would never lose a freezer full of meat again. I was told to look into it for a next summer project.

Ya gotta let them think their in charge sometimes. :lolspin:

[fishgate]

The natural gas generator has been approved from the mrs. I let her start the conversation about the reef tank and then added that she would have heat or ac and we would never lose a freezer full of meat again. I was told to look into it for a next summer project.

Ya gotta let them think their in charge sometimes. :lolspin:

Wow! Sweet! Does she know how much these cost?

[atreis]

I have been through several multi-day power outages (and am in day 2 now)... I use a little 2KW inverter gas generator. It's enough to run the freezer, fridge, everything associated with the tank, TV, household lights, and a few other minor things.

I wired the essential circuits through a subpanel with manual transfer switches for each circuit and installed an outside plug for the generator.

It works well, and cost less than a thousand dollars. An NG generator large enough for the whole house (AC, etc..) is going to cost big bucks...

[countrykat]

Wow! Sweet! Does she know how much these cost?

Yes she does. She told me it would be worth it for the convenience and piece of mind.


Day 2 with no power. That was quite the storm that went through here.