Hurricane Season Considerations: Generator Edition

Last week, we answered the question; What do people need to know about hurricane season?

In responding to that question, it occurred to me that there is more to the answer and I want to focus on the question of power.

For most of us most of the time, a power outage is relatively rare and short-lived.

But during a hurricane, all bets are off. A power outage that would normally take a couple of hours to fix could take three days to get to during a hurricane because

• It may not be safe to deploy restoration crews.
• Some crews may not be able to leave their own homes.
• Your line may not be in a high-priority area.

So that leaves us with the question, how do I provide power at my home when the grid is down. Life is better if you think about this question well before the storm begins to show up on the evening news, your tik tok feed, or YouTube. Like, think about this now.

There are three high-end ways to make sure that you have power when the grid is down. You could invest in solar panels and since you’re already in that far, make sure that they install the battery backup so that you can store a few days’ worth of power. You could also buy an electric vehicle if you’re a fan of those. They can be your battery backup if you lose power. Just make sure that you keep that EV charged because they can’t charge without power. You could also have a whole home generator installed at your house. These may run on gasoline, natural gas, or propane, and are designed to kick in automatically if the power goes down.

Now that we have that crowd out of the way, let me talk to the rest of us, who are looking for some way to have power just in case the grid goes down, and we don’t have the bankroll for the other solutions.

For those who want power, but don’t want much in the way of maintenance or fuel cost, there are several types of power stations that are relatively small and can power anything from a couple of phone chargers and fans to operating small kitchen appliances. These power stations can be charged by plugging into the house (before you need them) and many include a solar panel or can be connected to a portable solar panel.

Maybe you’re thinking about a more traditional generator. So let’s talk about those. A portable generator is usually small enough to be moved by one or two people and they can normally power much of your house, although pay attention to the running wattage, not the crank wattage, and make sure that you don’t exceed your generator’s ability to provide power. That’s why they have fuses, and they can go out on you if you’re not careful.

If you get a generator, take the following precautions.

• Use it outdoors in a well-ventilated area. I don’t care if you think someone might steal it, keep it outside. It’s burning gas and creating carbon monoxide. If you don’t know why that’s bad, just search the internet.
• Get a plug professionally installed. That way, when your neighbor comes over for the next cookout, you can show it off and humble brag that you’re ready for the next storm.
• Run it on the manufacturer’s recommended schedule. Put gas in, crank it up, and plug something in. Run it for a little while, and then shut it down and put it away. Not only can you flex on the neighbors who don’t have a generator, but it keeps the mud daubers from building a nest in your carburetor.

One more thing, if you get a generator that you hook into your home at all, no matter how you do it, or how big it is, this last point is the most important for you.

Turn off your main power shut off before you hook up, or turn on your generator. If you don’t do that, you will feed at least some of your power into the powerlines. It may not be enough to provide juice to your neighbor for their freezer, but it could be enough to injure or kill a power restoration crew member and you don’t want that. Their jobs are too hard without us adding a surprise level of difficulty to them.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Hurricane