1 week w/o power and came out ok

[trivan]

I'm truly sorry to hear about peoples losses this past weekend. My family and I just got out Saturday morning before Irene hit to go to Disney for a week. Needless to say I was nervous about a power outage as those of you who remember from a previous post, my home gets blackout pretty regularly. As soon as I landed, I ordered a portable generator from Amazon, had it shipped to my folks. Power when out on Sunday evening and luckily I just put on a battery back up on the MP10. Wednesday came around and my Dad got the generator, hooked up the tank and ran it for 6 hours a day. When i got home, still no power, but only lost 2 Acans, all the fish survived.

I'm so glad that I didn't restock my tank after my crash a few months ago, I think I would have lost more. Since, I ordered a Honda Generator and it should be delivered next week. I'll be setting up a transfer switch and I'll be ready next time. The wife and I just spent the day clearing out 2 smelly refrigerators of food. I just learned of a new use for activated charcoal, I put a layer in a baking tray and into the fridge, works as a really good odor remover, some say better then Arm&Hammer.

On a happier note, I booked the DiveQuest tour at Epcot. Its a 40 min dive inside the ~6 million gallon tank. It was incredible to be inside such a huge aquarium. For all divers going to Disney, it was worth the price. I got to see all these people, including my family watching me from the otherside of the glass. Now I know what it feels like to be a fish When I get a chance, I'll see if I can post the video.

 

[Daniel]

You are very lucky and I" am glade you had a good time in Disney.

 

[discordipinna]

You are so lucky, I'm glad you managed to lose so little. I need to get myself a generator.

I'm in the process of planning a trip to Disney and just saw their tank. I've never dived, so I'll have to stick to snorkling, but it looks really cool. I'm looking forward to seeing your video.

 

[trivan]

Yes, I do count my blessings. I was just lucky to be able to get my hands in a generator and a retired Dad who always looks for something to do around my house. Btw, home depot in Watchung has at least 10 generators for sale today. I saw at least 3 people returning ones as well.

If you need any tips on planning Disney, pm me. It's a 2nd job.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Glad things worked out fairly well for you and I can imagine that would detract from your vacation just knowing what might be happening at home. You were very lucky that your dad was available to hook everything up.

Cool pic, I'll have to try that next time I'm in Disney. Can't wait to see the video.

 

[Hawkeye]

cool thread. Great to hear that everything was ok and it is cool that dad is willing to help out. If it were my dad he would have insisted on going to disney with us....hahaha. I should have talked to you last year when we went to disney.


So home depot sells honda generators? or did you order that from someplace else? Any brand name suggestions? I was concerned about the decibel level of some of these things.

 

[magic]

Hawk

I just ordered a Stanley generator (good reviews). This generator will run for 24 hours (12 gal tank), its' quiet (70 db) and it can run in the rain! The actual outlets are attached to a 15ft, 10 gauge cord.

Bob

 

[Hawkeye]

Hawk

I just ordered a Stanley generator (good reviews). This generator will run for 24 hours (12 gal tank), its' quiet (70 db) and it can run in the rain! The actual outlets are attached to a 15ft, 10 gauge cord.

Bob

ha! 70 is quiet? I dunno - in jersey 70 db at night has got to be loud and annoying for neighbors.

Passenger car at 65 mph at 25 ft (77 dB); freeway at 50 ft from pavement edge 10 a.m. (76 dB). Living room music (76 dB); radio or TV-audio, vacuum cleaner (70 dB).​

So basically you'll have a vacuum cleaner on for hours in the middle of the night.

samples: http://www.industrialnoisecontrol.com/comparative-noise-examples.htm

 

[trivan]

Honda's are not cheep probably 3x's the cost of a comp one from HD, but I read they are considered some of the best. I ordered the 6500 which runs at 59 dbs. The quietest out there from my research. Home depot does not sell Hondas, I ordered mine from http://www.powerequipmentdirect.com. They seem to deal directly with the manufacture and seem pretty decent.

Another thing to consider is some generators have inverter technology to clean the power getting supplied to the components it's suppose to be safer for electronics. Not sure if it's just marketing hype, my guess is Oliver would know if it's true. With the amount of electronics running my tank and in my house it made sense for me to invest in a generator with it. Seems everything these days have computers in them.

 

[Hawkeye]

There is a Sport Honda dealer in my town - right off of bridge street/middlesex, supposedly they have generators in stock. So if you need service - you can consider them. Right now i think a 6500 is out of my league/budget but i was thinking of at least something to keep the fridge powered.

http://www.sporthonda.net/new_vehic...&Category=22&CatDesc=Power+Equipment&show=all

 

[trivan]

yeah the smaller ones are really good as well. When I got back, I saw a bunch of the smaller honda ones sitting on top of the transformer boxes on the power line poles, not sure what they were running. Maybe the fios lines...

There is a feature where you can chain them together to get more power. I went big as I have 2 refrigerators and wanted to be able to power the furnace in the winter. I've been waiting to pull the trigger for some time now, so this event did it for me.

 

[magic]

Correction, the sounds level is 68db not as quiet as the Honda (my neighbor has a 2200w one that you could barely hear) but compared to the generator I borrowed (78db) it's a lot quieter. It will only be run during the day. The selling point for me was the ability to operate in the rain and run 24hrs. The price was $799 the Honda Quite model of the same wattage is $3250 and yes it has inverter technology.

Bob