How to prepare for power outages

I thought that turning your petrol generator into natural gas is quite brilliant because you never have to worry about not being able to find gas when the pumps are empty. Which always happens for evacuations. We have never had to worry about it much because we keep our boat full with 150-300 gallons of petrol that we can siphon. Also if you are evacuating and cannot afford something like a Generac you can hook up the natural gas generator with a ATS and it will run your tank and refrigerators/freezers when you aren't there or i guess if you get snowed in, but I have zero experience with blizzards lol

 

Good read, thanks Grim!

 

Great info.

Any recommendations on what type/brand of generator/battery powered equipment to buy? I have a 90g tank. I see the link for the battery powered air pump. Do you think I would need to purchase multiple pumps? If so how many?

 

we have a cheap 7500 watt generator that the plastic tank started cracking in random places the only thing we can think of that the ethanol in the gas is breaking down the plastic. If you are smart pay a little extra and get a Honda or some other good unit. Remember generators may only be used once a year so you want something that will start when the time comes. Also if you use natural gas you loose around 20% of power output. Diesel is another option that is a good choice. We have some Bass Pro air pumps that work quite well for a 55gal we only needed 2

 

I would purchase 2 of them. And keep some extra stones on hand in case they become junked up. On brand of generators, Honda and Generac generators are both great choices. I'm sure there are others, but they are the best thought of in my area.

 

I have a "cheap" Champion 3500W (4000 peak) that will do more than enough whenever the time comes. It was around $300 and will power the fridge, boiler, tanks, TV and lights no problem.

 

yeah we can power 2 refrigerator/freezers,2 freezers, 2 lamps, 1 window unit A/C, and our powerheads. We can probably power more, but we try to put as little on it as possible because none of the freezers operate at full strength

 

Wow these options seem to be a bit above my price range. Are there any cheaper options? I do not plan on powering a fridge/freezer, water boiler, etc. I only plan to use this generator to power my powerheads, two pumps, two heaters, apex (for the pH probe only), and a fuge light. We very rarely have long term power outages where I live. I can remember only one time that power was out for more than a few hours. Additionally, we have backup gas baseboard heating in our apartment, so heating would probably not be critical in our case. My major concerns would be O2 and pH (due to lack of light). It is possible that I would have to power a fan if it were summer time.

 

In that case, pick up some AZOO battery operated air pumps. They are like $3/each through Drs. Fosters & Smith. And make sure you have the right batteries in stock for them That will take care of O2. Then, you can get a UPS (uninterpretable power supply) and plug a powerhead into that. PH's only use a few watts, so that should last quite a while. It would not do a heater though. I wouldn't worry about pH, you could manually test as needed.

 

The reason I worry about pH is because of a recent issue we had. We went on vacation for four days a few weeks ago. We have an apex that will email us if there is a problem. The day before we returned, something caused a fuse to blow. This has never happened before, and we are unaware of the cause of this issue. The power to the tank was lost for approximately 25 to 30 hours. Two major problems occurred.

The first problem is that the pH was very low, it was about 7.1. The most reasonable explaination for this is the lack of light. In sum, low light --> less photosynthesis --> high CO2/Low O2 --> altered pH. Thus no power --> no light --> altered pH. Additionally, the pH liquid test kit is inaccurate and unreliable.

The second problem still boggles my mind. The temperature was very low. It was approximately 71 degrees. The thermostat for the apartment was set at 78 degrees. Bear in mind that the power to the apartment was not out, just that one fuse. I believe the temperature that day (outside) was at least in the upper 80's (if not 90's). We came home around 9 PM, and it was still warm outside. Why was the temperature so low? No idea. I am actually going to check if the thermostat is accurate right now. I know it wasn't the temperature probe, because we also used a thermometer to confirm the value..

I will look into the UPS. To clarify, you said the UPS would not do the heater? Thanks.