Spokane, Washington hit 109 degrees

[Marcus]

We have a propane-fueled generator, and the only problem we've had occurred after a subcontractor moved it and messed up the wiring that kept the battery charged and caused it to automatically start during outages. Aside from that, maintenance has been a breeze if only because I'm really good at not thinking about the damn thing until I need it.

I just my home services guys a msg! I think I’ll look at a natural gas whole house one. Thanks again for weighing in along with Jersey Girl!

- Doc

Let us know how it goes, we're looking into something like that too.

[Doctor Steuss]

We had a new "official" high of 120 degrees this month. I put the ole "official" in quotes because they use a specifically located thermometer (I believe at McCarren). There are parts of the valley that can be up to 5-6 degrees hotter than the airport's temp.

Both of my parents' AC units died. They were fortunately able to temporarily repair one, so the house was about 89 degrees for a few days, while waiting on the new units. At least two Facebook acquaintances have had their AC units crap out on them too this month. One of them took two weeks before new units were available.

With work (new home construction) we've been seeing a supply chain bump with units as well, as I'm guessing most of them are being diverted to replacing existing home units that are crapping out.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I just my home services guys a msg! I think I’ll look at a natural gas whole house one. Thanks again for weighing in along with Jersey Girl!

- Doc

Let us know how it goes, we're looking into something like that too.

I will! We just placed an inquiry through Lowes this morning.


- Doc

[Jersey Girl]

Cam I still didn't ask my live-in HVAC expert (that's real, he's an expert) about the maintenance on the gen. I will say a couple of things as an onlooker. We store 5 gallon containers of gas on the property for a variety of uses. Mainly winter supplies. He fills the gen from one of those. Rolls it outside of the garage and runs it from there. And as I said, we use it to power up certain zones in the house...not the whole house. It's noisy as heck but it's music to your ears when you don't have heat or running water because the power went down. We have it on intermittently during a blizzard...don't run it for hours on end. Just enough to get heat and showers. After that it's pull the furniture up to the gas fireplace and cook on the gas stove top to get by.

I'll find out about maintenance on it. I can't imagine there is much of any of that task-wise.

We also have emergency lights if you need to know about those. Big lights so he can see to rig up the gen or bring the snow plow closer to the house in blizzard conditions when it's hard to see anything outside. Also headlight lamps you wear on your head.

Recall we live out in the literal sticks. Things we wouldn't live without now that we've acquired them over the years: swamp cooler, generator, plow, rechargeable emergency lights, LED battery operated candles.

[Jersey Girl]

ETA: Saw your post about a whole house generator inquiry. I'd kill for one of those! Let us know how that goes.

[Jersey Girl]

Okay here it is and I want you to know I just had to listen to a good 30 minutes of theory and reasoning.

What we have:

4,000 Watts
Maintenance: oil change/utilization hours, clean the air filter.
Cost: $1,000 7-8 years ago (guessing Harbor Freight)

Highest volume of usage: Ran 3 days, 20 hours of usage.

Something about a pigtail on the furnace he hooks the heavy duty extension cord to that makes the furnace come on.
Heavy duty extension cord that goes to the freezers as well.

We use those separately depending on which area we run the other heavy duty extension cord to...have mercy on me I'm trying to translate here.

Recommendation:

Get a 6K watt electric start from Harbor Freight. It will cover every need. Generators are rarely used and wouldn't invest more money in a whole house.

Why not whole house: A whole house generator is overkill with regard to how much a homeowner actually uses it each year. How many times does your power go down in a year or a period of years? "If you have money to throw away, get one."

The portable generator is simple to use, covers your needs with just a couple or more heavy duty extension cords vs "setting up transfers (I don't know what those are) and crap".

Direct quote: "Bottom line. When you complicate the system, the “F” up factor starts to kick in. "

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