Storms, inconvenience, and redneck elektrissity.

[Kingcreek]

There are a lot of folks less fortunate than me right now and my thoughts and prayers go out to them.
That said, here things are sorta sucky.
My wife left yesterday to fly 1800 miles cause our daughter is having surgery tomorrow. My wife, the retired nurse would never dream of not being there to supervise and nurture. So, it's me and the dog here for 1 week. We got hit with rain and freezing rain and high winds and power lines and trees are down all around. I have to work and our road is blocked north and south by trees down. The freezing mess is becoming more snow and the power has been out since this morning.
I hillbilly rigged the 220 outlet for my welder to backfeed the generator to the Elec panel- something the power company and insurance companies really don't like- but I pulled the main breakers and said WTH. The fumes in the garage are horrible even with a couple of windows and side door open but if I open the overhead the freezing rain slush snow blows in and even I know that is bad conditions with a 5500w gen running. It might be 3-4 days before regular service is restored. 40% of households in our NW Illinois service area are out and checking the website on my phone shows a growing trend in the wrong direction. I was able to run some heat for awhile and repressure the tank for the well water. My brilliant wife reminded me by cell phone to GRIND COFFEE since 4 pounds of whole beans are like nothing. (I would file them beans down by hand with a rasp before going without).
I actually had some projects planned for my bachelor week but it's looking more like camping. I de iced the truck and got a chainsaw ready for tomorrow so I can hopefully get to town for work and some more gas for the genny.

[Nick1911]

Please, please be extremely careful running a generator in a garage...  in fact, with the "fumes in the garage are horrible" I'd suggest you change something.  Lot of people die doing exactly that.

[charby]

Please, please be extremely careful running a generator in a garage...  in fact, with the "fumes in the garage are horrible" I'd suggest you change something.  Lot of people die doing exactly that.

What he said.

[Kingcreek]

The attached garage faces the east and wind is hard out of the E/NE. I vented what I could but the exhaust fumes even permeated the house. I actually sheltered in the barn most of the time it was running. It's shut down for now. Atleast we aren't supposed to get the single digit temps for another couple days.
I fixed a cold bachelor gormet feast of canned sardines, deer sausage, cheese, crackers and a banana for desert.
I might have to get up and run that god awful loud Honda gen again in the middle of the night. For now, I've got a fire in the fireplace, a good book and an LED headlamp. Oh, and a glass of wine.
Yeah I'm feeling inconvenienced but I still have it better than some. I still have my house. And a yard full of tree limbs.

[charby]

You need to redneck engineer some more, vent the exhaust directly outside.

[Nick1911]

Ha, I like that, though I think it's use a bit more of a wall collar kinda like wood stoves have.

Kingcreek, I know you're a smart guy from your posts; do what you need to do, just stay safe.  Carbon monoxide will linger for a long time in a building, even after the particulates have fallen out.  And harmful quantities are measures in parts per million.  Do you do have a CO detector?

I don't mean to hassle you about that, I'd just hate to see you get hurt or worse. 

Otherwise, with a good book, a cozy fire, wine, and the company of a dog, it sounds like a you're making a relaxing evening out of it. 

[charby]

Ha, I like that, though I think it's use a bit more of a wall collar kinda like wood stoves have.

Kingcreek, I know you're a smart guy from your posts; do what you need to do, just stay safe.  Carbon monoxide will linger for a long time in a building, even after the particulates have fallen out.  And harmful quantities are measures in parts per million.  Do you do have a CO detector?

I don't mean to hassle you about that, I'd just hate to see you get hurt or worse. 

Otherwise, with a good book, a cozy fire, wine, and the company of a dog, it sounds like a you're making a relaxing evening out of it. 

Maytag washing machines used to be powered by a gasoline engines and there was a long exhaust hose accessory to vent to the outside.

[never_retreat]

I run mine in the garage with the exhaust pointed out but the door open. Just to keep it out of the rain.
I would open it up a foot or 2 at least.
Your dancing with the devil running it with the big door closed.

[Kingcreek]

Thanks for the concern and sympathy. I've got a CO detector. No alarms yet.
If I actually needed the gen more often than once every 6 or 8 or 10 years I would have a better rig. I suppose I should cave in and get a proper transfer switch. I actually went down to my reloading room and sized some brass but it was weird and boring sitting in my dark basement shop with no sound and just my led headlamp to work by.
My Honda gen has a muffler that doesn't seem to muffle worth a damn and also doesn't really provide for fitting an exhaust line.

[charby]

Thanks for the concern and sympathy. I've got a CO detector. No alarms yet.
If I actually needed the gen more often than once every 6 or 8 or 10 years I would have a better rig. I suppose I should cave in and get a proper transfer switch. I actually went down to my reloading room and sized some brass but it was weird and boring sitting in my dark basement shop with no sound and just my led headlamp to work by.
My Honda gen has a muffler that doesn't seem to muffle worth a damn and also doesn't really provide for fitting an exhaust line.

I'm not sure what model you have but you can use this in place of the muffler and put whatever exhaust you want on it.

[Kingcreek]

The rural electric coop went from 39 to 41 to now 54% outage on thier website. At Least the wind is calming down a little bit. Yay!
I think I'm really glad I don't work line crew for the electric coop. I just have to get to my inside job office work tomorrow. I started the loader tractor up so its online if I need it tomorrow to clear the road.

[Brad Johnson]

The fam (parents and brother) lost power in Crowell, TX over the weekend. Fortunate enough they have fireplaces, a couple trailers of mesquite stumps, and full propane tanks. Being farmers/ranchers they also have a trailer-mounted welders. Kept the freezers and critical electrics energized while the (God Bless Them!) rural electric association linemen are working on the 100+ miles of lines that went down Sat night and Sunday.

Meanwhile folks in Lubbock have gone Full Retard when it comes to dealing with significant snowfall. Me? I'm keeping my happy ass in the house for the couple days it'll take for the 2" of ice and 10" of snow to melt off.

Brad

[Daniel964]

We just had a power outage here this morning. Was planning on going deer hunting but will stay home now. Wood stove is cranking out some good heat. Brewing a cup of tea and will have a yogurt and banana for breakfast. Have a little electric from a few solar panels and 4 deep cycle batteries I have set up. Enough to run a fan to move the warm air around and some light. Love led bulbs that use very little power.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. 
Power back on already. Wasn't much of a test of the system here.

[K Frame]

My Grandfather ran his generator with a car muffler and pipes.

It really quieted it down and it also allowed him to push the exhaust where he wanted it.

[K Frame]

"Maytag washing machines used to be powered by a gasoline engines and there was a long exhaust hose accessory to vent to the outside."

I bet a lot of men did "women's work" just so they could play with that critter!

[K Frame]

I was listening to the news this morning and I heard the father of a family of 5 (3 small kids) saying how bad it was in his house because the power's been out and it's about as inside as out, and everyone was really feeling it in the family.

Then he said that the power was out at Thanksgiving for 5 days and pretty much the same.

At that point I thought to myself -- OK, not everyone has the money or ability to do some of the things that we've talked about here, but goddamn, if I had small kids and lived in an area where power could go out for days on end, I'd sure as hell have some sort of back up plan figured out other than his "we're not sure what we're gonna do"....


 

[lupinus]

I was listening to the news this morning and I heard the father of a family of 5 (3 small kids) saying how bad it was in his house because the power's been out and it's about as inside as out, and everyone was really feeling it in the family.

Then he said that the power was out at Thanksgiving for 5 days and pretty much the same.

At that point I thought to myself -- OK, not everyone has the money or ability to do some of the things that we've talked about here, but goddamn, if I had small kids and lived in an area where power could go out for days on end, I'd sure as hell have some sort of back up plan figured out other than his "we're not sure what we're gonna do"....


 

He does have a backup plan.

Uncle Sugar

[KD5NRH]

What would be really handy is to hook that exhaust to some sort of heat exchanger and use the waste heat from the engine, of course also cooling the exhaust to make venting even simpler.  (i.e. getting it below 200F should eliminate the need for serious heat shielding around the exit point.)

I wonder if an old large engine muffler shell with a couple dozen turns of copper pipe inside and a circulator pump would extract any significant amount of heat, or if you'd really need to go with a much longer path (remembering not to restrict flow too much for the sake of the engine) and a more serious counterflow setup.

[Brad Johnson]

If you're going to that much trouble then add plumbing and a radiator to harvest heat from the cooling system.

For the exhaust just make a longer exhaust pipe, coiled or looped small enough to fit inside a rudimentary air/air heat exchanger. Exit point would need to be below exhaust manifold height to drain condensation.

Brad

[RoadKingLarry]

"Maytag washing machines used to be powered by a gasoline engines and there was a long exhaust hose accessory to vent to the outside."

I bet a lot of men did "women's work" just so they could play with that critter!

I've got one of those engines and all the new parts to finish rebuilding it. Need to get busy and get it running then rig it up to run an old-fashioned ice cream maker.

[charby]

I've got one of those engines and all the new parts to finish rebuilding it. Need to get busy and get it running then rig it up to run an old-fashioned ice cream maker.

Maytag washer engines don't have enough power to finish the ice cream, you need to look at the 3hp sized engines to do it. The Maytag will stall when the mix starts to get thick in the freezer, but far from being done. My FIL is really big into small gas engines, so I learned this from him.

[Kingcreek]

Maytag washer engines don't have enough power to finish the ice cream, you need to look at the 3hp sized engines to do it. The Maytag will stall when the mix starts to get thick in the freezer, but far from being done. My FIL is really big into small gas engines, so I learned this from him.

add a transmission with an optional lower gear!
a childhood friend of mine once mounted a maytag gas WM motor on an old bicycle. He went on to become a very successful mechanical engineer.

[RoadKingLarry]

A little reduction gearing is all ya need, mechanical advantage for the win. I got the idea after seeing an Amish vendor set up with 3 of them at an antique tractor show a few years ago.

[charby]

All most all small stationary engines from that era used belts to drive the equipment, belts were easier to fix and caused less damage if the equipment bound up, well compared to gears. Belts would slip or roll off, where gears would bind and take out a crank shaft.

Might be endeavor to build a belt gear reduction transmission and still keep up enough speed to make the ice cream.

[Brad Johnson]

Might be endeavor to build a belt gear reduction transmission and still keep up enough speed to make the ice cream.

Used cement mixer.

Brad