What can homeowners do to provide electrical power to their homes...?

Question

in the event that there's a blackout or, even worse, electrical service has been disrupted for several months because of a natural disaster or something else equally as unforeseeable?

Answer 1

Purchase a backup generator and have a transfer switch installed on your breaker panel.

There are several different generators available depending on your needs and desires.

A "whole house" or permanent generator is powered from Natural Gas or propane and generally is configured to turn on as soon as utility power is disconnected, and keep running until power us restored (assuming that you have sufficient fuel supply)  Generac is probably the most well known manufacturer: http://www.generac.com/Products/Resident...

A portable generator is best for emergency power for a few "critical" circuits (a few lights, refrigerator, sump pump, well pump etc.)  These run off of standard gasoline, so if there is a widespread natural disaster that renders your local gas stations inoperable, you will not be able to run your generator when your fuel supply runs low (A trick that I use is to fill up all of my vehicles with fuel prior to a known natural disaster, and I can then siphon fuel from the vehicle if need be).  Portable generators generally can run about 1.5 - 2 hours on a gallon of gas).  Also, make sure to keep the generator away from open windows and doors, and do not use them in a garage or basement as Carbon monoxide poisioning is possible.

Hire a licensed electrician to instal a transfer switch to desired circuits.  This will connect the generator to your house wiring, and is much safer (and more convenient) than using extension cords.  Do not use an electric dryer or stove "cheater plug" to connect the generator to the wouse wiring system.  This is very dangerous and can injur or kill electrical repairmen working to restore electrical service to your home, and it can damage your generator when power is restored.

You can calculate the size of generator you will need by visiting http://www.dom.com/products/generators/o...

Answer 2

If you have an eletric dryer you can hook up the generator through that outlet.  Make sure you turn off the main breaker in case the power comes back on.  The dryer outlet would act as the main feed of eletric to your home.  Just make sure the generator is powerful enough to run every thing.  Usually only lights and a refrig or freezer.

Answer 3

Home generator is your first choice.

The plus side is

A) They are fairly inexpensive on the whole.  You can get one that will keep the refrigerator, the phone, and couple of light bulbs running fairly cheaply.  Ones that will keep the whole house up and running...including the air conditioning, heater, etc. cost a LOT more.

B) They are fairly idiot proof.  Now, as Edward Tellar said "Nothing is foolproof if you have a sufficently foolish fool" BUT if you are willing to pay for it, you can even get them rigged up so they will come on automatically in the event of a power outage...and some (again we are talking expensive here) can be rigged to run off of natural gas line, so you don't have to store a lot of fuel for them.   (Of course if your natural gas line goes down too....)

C) To the best of my knowlege you don't need any permits or permissions to get them.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stor...

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stor...

The downsides are

A) You have to store the fuel... you may not want to have 20 or 40 gallons of gasoline (or desel) sitting around your garage all the time...and when that runs out you will need to go get more...which could be easier said than done.

B) They have to be properly vented...these things are a gasoline engine, so if you run one in the garage with the door closed you get the same Carbon Monoxide problems that you would get if you ran your car in the garage with the door closed...you can kill everyone in the whole house from the exhaust.

C) They are LOUD.. If you run one, everyone in the neighborhood will know that you are home, you have power, and you have a portable  generator.  This could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the situation.  In some areas that would mean everyone would come over to your house, bum some ice and cold water off you,   have a picnic and hang out and wait for the power to come back on... in others it would mean everyone would come over to your house, beat you up, and take all your stuff.

Other options are

Solar.... this is EXPENSIVE  (which is why nobody does it in real life...solar power sounds like a great idea if you are a policy wonk in Washington who lives in an apartment, or a teenage enviornmentalist who lives with Mommie in a suburb of Seattle...but once you sit down and look at the costs you see why nobody does it in real life).  This is why the Government has to throw tax dollars at people just to make it semi-affordable.

http://www.bp.com/modularhome.do?categor...

Now to be fair, Solar has gotten to the point that if you own the house, and you set the panels up in the right way, and you just want to use it as a way to cut down your power usage...(and not go totally off the grid) and you have the right tax incentives and you can get a loan to cover the cost of installing it...well then it WILL pay for itself several years down the line.   Beyond that...well there are pretty good reasons why you don't see more people doing it.

B) Solar don't work when the sun don't shine... this may seem to be a big DUH but you would be suprised.... without some sort of large battery energy storage system your solar power panels don't work when it is dark.....(or raining...or overcast...or if the sun is behind the neighbor's giant pine tree....or if there is snow on the panels...) and considering that what you probably want the power for is LIGHTS...when it is DARK that is sort of a drawback...that is a big part of the expense of solar.  If you just want to put up a panel or two to help cut down on what you buy from the power company, that is one thing...if you are looking to be able to take yourself off the grid entirely that is another thing entirely.

NOTE: Pretty much the same thing is true of wind power. The technology for wind generated electricity has been around for over 100 years. Hippolyte Pixii developed a hand cranked Electric Generator around 1840, (building on work by Michael Faraday) and windmills have been around since the middle ages.  The reason nobody has ever built huge windfarms of generators before is that they only give you power when the wind is blowing....and what good is electricity that comes on and off at random intervals for random periods of time?  You want the lights to come on when you flip the switch, right, Not only when the wind is just right or the sun is out.

3) Solar makes your home look ugly and the neighbors get annoyed. This is a serious problem... most zoning laws prohibit solar, at least where it can be seen from the street. This can be a huge problem as solar panels have to face the sun...(again with the duh...) and  that limits where you can put them... and if the zoning board has another set of rules on where you can put them (so they can't be seen from the street) then you may not be able to put solar in at all.  If your house is facing the wrong way, or your neighbor has big trees in his yard, or they put up a 4 story townhome behind you...your stuck.  Incidentally, unless you live on a farm out in the middle of West Texas, this applies even more so to Wind power and windmills.  Suburban Homeowners Assocations are NOT going to let you put a windmill up in your back yard, and CERTIANLY not one big enough to run your house.

One thing you can do...(warning it is EXPENSIVE) is a home geothermal system.  This won't give you power, but it will run a heat pump, and if you live up in Yankee-land it can work out pretty well. Again it is a "pay for itself over time, with cost savings and tax credits sort of thing" but it is quiet, idiot proof, and since you literally burry it in the backyard the neighborhood can't whine about it.

http://www.geothermaldiy.com/

http://www.waterfurnace.com/?gclid=CKXY0...

If you had the money, you could do a geothermal system, and pop a couple of solar panels on the roof, and that might put you in a pretty good situation.

Then the alternative is to just move out to a farm in the country where you have the space to make a lot of these things work.

Good luck.

P.S. one last note... ALL of these things will have to be professionally installed when they are hooked up to your house's power grid.  IF you don't do it right you can fry your house's electrical system, start a fire, or kill yourself.

Answer 4

Your local utility is actually more reliable than any kind of home generation.  I have seen time and time again where home backup systems don't work when they are supposed to because they have been neglected and not maintained.  Battery systems are the worst.

That being said if you still want electrical generation at your house, the least expensive option is a gasoline powered generator.  (Plan on using a few gallons of gas per day for normal house loads.)  You can also get a natural gas powered generator such as a Best UBS, if you rely on a utility natural gas supply.  These options can either be permanently installed or hooked up as needed.  Solar photovoltaics or wind generators are dropping in price to near the cost of utility power and I recommend them to supply 50% of normal usage.  Do not get battery backups.  Solar hot water heating is more cost effective than photovoltaics.  There are also fancy system such as ground source heat pumps if you want to get fancy.  Obviously, your particular situation should dictate the desired option.

Answer 5

We have a back up generator.  Another solution might be a home windmill.  My friends father installed one because he could not get electric to his place.  Neighbors would not sign off to let it run across their property.

Answer 6

look on google for "back up electric power"

Answer 7

You would need a generator.  They do need to be maintained in the event you do need them.  I'm not sure what kinds they make but I do know there are ones that run on gas, which might not help in the event of a natural disaster.  My friend in Maine has one because of the rural area he lives in and the cold temps in the winter.

Perhaps installing solar panels to run your house would work, barring damage to them in a disaster.

Answer 8

I was reading an article about solar power. It costs anywhere between $9500 - $12,000 depending how much power you need. Instead of you paying the utility company,they pay you because you're adding to the grid. And the panels last a good fiftty years or so.

Answer 9

get a generator at a hardware store.