• A generator isn't just an option - it's a must to protect your reef



    With my recent blogs, you've read about how the power has been going out due to the snowfall in Fort Worth, Tx:

    Snow - my favorite topic; & a power outage to deal with

    No Power Again

    Let me describe how I run the generator when an emergency strikes. If the power doesn't resume within one hour, the generator is used.

    The generator is stored in the garage, safe from the environment. Gasoline is also stored, and has a stabilizing additive to keep it fresh and viable. About once a month, I try to remember to turn on the generator and let it run for 15 or 20 minutes. This is a good way to keep it running smoothly. Even better, hook it up to something so it has to carry a load. A very important rule: When shutting off the generator, don't flip the switch to off. Close the valve in the fuel line so the carburetor uses up that fuel completely, otherwise the stagnant gasoline can coagulate and gum up the line which will make it nearly impossible to start up the engine in the future. Within a couple of minutes, it will turn off.

    Here's my generator in action. Note the two power cords plugged in. There are a few receptacles available still. It was moved into position to the opening of my garage with the exhaust pointed toward the street.


    This generator can produce up to 6250 watts of power, but runs 5000 watts on demand. The rest is for the initial surge to start up various items. With it running, I can power the needs of my reef, the television, the fridge, and my computer.


    When a generator is running, the main reason is because there is no power in the area. It makes a lot of noise, since it is a engine similar to what a lawnmower uses. The neighborhood is dead silent because nothing is on, making your generator a topic of interest. I've always opted to lock mine up to something immobile to prevent someone from stealing it. So far, so good. In the picture above, I put some saw horses in front of it, and the driveway has vehicles in it. Anything to take away the element of an easy score. If I end up moving it to the backyard one day, it'll go in a small brick enclosure that is locked tightly to thwart a would-be thief. Because of the carbon monoxide exhaust, a generator can not be run indoors or in a closed garage. It's too dangerous, and thus must be run in a ventilated area. Keeping it right at the garage's perimeter, I bring the garage door down as much as possible to again avoid personal loss. It isn't a perfect option, but you do what you can.

    Normally, the power cords are run via an open door or window to where they are needed. There are two problems with this: 1) You can't lock up your home because of the cords, and 2) You can't keep out the weather, nor the exhaust that may travel in if the breeze flows in the wrong direction. Since both of those are of a concern to me, I decided to install something more permanent.

    In the following pictures, you'll see how I ran some extension cords through the sheetrocked walls in my garage, feeding power to the fishroom as well as the entry closet in the living area.


    To the fishroom:


    To the hall closet:


    On the opposite side of those walls, I installed an electrical box and outlet with coverplate. This first one allows me to plug in a few essentials indoors, like the tv (gotta find out what is going on via the news, right?), the fridge, a lamp or two, and my computer. The plumbing you see is the SpaFlex-type that runs from the angled tank in my foyer to the 280g's sump. This closet has become a drygoods storage closet between the two areas.






    This other one is loaded up with plugs to run equipment in the fishroom. It may look overloaded, but it really isn't pulling a lot of power. It simply allows me to flip on and off any items as I see fit using the DJ Power Stations in the fishroom. I unplugged the three black cords from the normal outlet and plugged them into the emergency outlet that is plugged into the generator. The last orange cord runs over to the quarantine tank to keep the circulation going and the heater on if need be.


    This is the normal outlet they were in before the power outage. After the power resumes, I'll move the three black cords back to this one:


    To help keep the fishroom warm with the temperature in the garage dipping to 28F, I used some push pins to secure this heavy blanket over the door leading to the garage to add a little more insulation. It definitely helped, and is something I can remove again when things are back to normal.


    With the generator running, I was able to use everything on my system including the skimmer, the calcium reactor, refugium lighting, MH & VHO lighting, the return pump and Dart (manifold) pump, as well as the Vortechs, heaters, and more. It helps that I don't run a lot of power hogging gear.

    However, I still smelled some exhaust in the fishroom and that concerned me. The skimmer pulls air in via venturi, and I didn't feel comfortable with the possible risk to my livestock. So I decided to extend the venturi tubing to draw in air from the living area of my home.






    I may even change this over to draw in air from the attic or perhaps from one of the eaves under the roof line to bring in fresh air to my reef, now that I've seen how well this worked. The skimmer didn't seem affected at all by the longer tubing, which was some red RO/DI tubing I had on hand. (One of the perks of selling RO/DI systems. )

    With the generator running and my home sealed up tightly, I've been able to keep my reef running smoothly for the past couple of days. The fishroom is closed tightly, and the reef temperature stabilized at 80F while my home's temperature has dipped to 60F. With an all-electric home, no natural gas and no fireplace, it's imperative that I make sure my reef is safe when the power goes out. This generator cost $660 at Home Depot, and has come in handy about three times a year every year. In the past, the longest it ran was 19 hours straight, but this month I'm going to exceed that easily. At the time of this writing, it has been on 20.5 hours and there's no clue when we'll have power again. With a full fuel tank which holds about 5g of gas, it will run 12 hours. I keep a couple of 5g jugs of gasoline on hand to replenish it as it is consumed, which can be done while it is running.

    Oh, and if we get hungry, a propane camping stove can be a useful option as well. Spaghetti anyone?

    This article was originally published in blog: A generator isn't just an option - it's a must to protect your reef started by melev
    Comments 18 Comments
    1. Blennymower's Avatar
      Blennymower -
      Awesome write up!
    1. tommysreef's Avatar
      tommysreef -
      man i tell you this is the one thing i keep holding off and i know its gonna come and sneak up on my one day, all i have are those computer back up power towers that only give about 90 min. if that after the power goes out, I NEED A GEN. how much did that gen go for?
    1. Jessy's Avatar
      Jessy -
      Quote Originally Posted by tommysreef View Post
      man i tell you this is the one thing i keep holding off and i know its gonna come and sneak up on my one day, all i have are those computer back up power towers that only give about 90 min. if that after the power goes out, I NEED A GEN. how much did that gen go for?
      He said it costed $660 in the article
    1. tommysreef's Avatar
      tommysreef -
      really didnt think it was that cheap and for some reason i didnt see him mention the price, i must be loosing it lol
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      You can pick up a generator for as little as $279 on sale but it will only run some equipment. I'd rather be able to run more than only my tank in a power outage because it gets boring really fast without the normal items like television, satellite and internet connectivity. It can even run a space heater in a small room during a cold weather event, or the window unit to my fishroom during a hot summer month. In the past, I've gone in there to cool off because the house was getting uncomfortably warm.

      When shopping for one, consider wattage, engine brand, and fuel tank volume. Do some research and see if the product got good reviews and what kind of warranty it has. Once you have it, keep it clean and well cared for.
    1. Davo's Avatar
      Davo -
      I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a deal on a generator, but noise could be an issue w/ neighbors, so I've been leaning towards a honda, which isn't cheap.
      I wonder how this generator compares in noise level?
      I've seen one where someone added a motorcycle muffler, was thinking that might help as long as it didn't add any weird kind of back pressure or restriction.
      Man, I would have a chain and lock on that sucker!
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      I've seriously thought about taking mine up to a muffler shop to see what they can fabricate or install that helps lessen the noise factor.

      It was locked up tightly. No-one was going to walk away with it unless they came prepared to steal it.
    1. Snakebyt's Avatar
      Snakebyt -
      since you are great at DIY
      http://www.alpharubicon.com/altenergy/gensetquiet.htm

      great writeup by the way
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      Great find! I'll give that some thought and see if I can make it work for next time.
    1. UkSweeney's Avatar
      UkSweeney -
      In the uk, most of our power lines are under ground, so the longest "black out" i have had in my hole life, is 2 and half hours, so i know no one with a generator.

      http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/th...can_power.html
    1. landlord's Avatar
      landlord -
      Anthony Calfo made a statement that I keep thinking about in reference to getting a generator. The statement went something like...

      < Speaking to a client regarding power outages and generator costs >

      "After losing all livestock from a power outage, would you be willing to pay $500.00 to get it all back, how about a thousand dollars?" The typical response to this is always "Well, Yes, of course."

      so....

      Be prepared (I sure am)

      Kurt
    1. Pescaiolo's Avatar
      Pescaiolo -
      Marc,

      I was just thinking that maybe you could vent the exhaust out the side of the garage through a wall and keep the generator in your garage. I have no idea if you have thought about this already and if you have I apologize and please disregard this comment...but I know for a fact from an old Reefcast episode that you are paranoid of someone stealing your generator. Using a dryer duct you can probably fashion something to vent the exhaust out like an old wood burning furnace. If the sound of the motor running is too loud for you you can try sound insulating material on the wall that is shared with the house. This should cut it down to a bearable level. Don't know if you thought about this(probably have), if you have then just ignore me.
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      Running it in the garage and venting out the exhaust seems doable, but what I don't know is if the engine would get enough fresh air on the intake side. It probably does, but I don't know that for a fact.

      I've always considering a strong exterior structure like a little brick building that has the inner walls lined with acoustic ceiling tiles to absorb the sound. When I worked in trim carpentry, we had to sound proof a room that was going to be used for band practice, and once all the walls and ceiling were covered with those 2' x 4' panels, it was uncomfortably silent - my ears were rushing due to the lack of sound. I don't see why that couldn't work for a generator housing. I'd like it to have a steel door and deadbolt to keep it safe.
    1. rEd86's Avatar
      rEd86 -
      I think I have the same generator. The cost also depends on when you purchase it. I was lucky in that I purchased mine in the off season - mid-summer when it was on sale for something like $450 at Home Depot. Try to purchase one now and you'll pay full price.

      A buddy of mine actually also purchased a high-end spitter that hooked up right before his fuse box, so he just plugs the generator directly to that and switches the power off the grid and to the generator. That way he doesn't have to run power cords all over the place. They turn off all non-essential items and run the house off the generator. When the power comes back on, he just flips the switch off backup and back to the main lines. I'll see if I can get a picture of it.

      --Ed
    1. DRW94's Avatar
      DRW94 -
      Instead of getting a splitter for the panel. You can have a heavy duty 220 cord made up with 2 male connections on it. You plug one into the generator and the other into any 220 outlet in the house ie electric dryer or stove outlet. You also have to flip the main circuit breaker as not to feed into the system and electrocuting a lineman.
    1. Sev's Avatar
      Sev -
      Quote Originally Posted by melev View Post
      Running it in the garage and venting out the exhaust seems doable, but what I don't know is if the engine would get enough fresh air on the intake side. It probably does, but I don't know that for a fact.
      It definitely would. Not a problem at all unless the room it's in is hermetically sealed or something. PLenty of air would leak around the doors and through the walls to supply the generator, and if you were really paranoid, you could essentially pipe it like a closed loop to the outside with the genny as a pump. I would consult with someone who knows something about this before running either, since I'm not sure what the best materials and engineering requirements would be.

      I've always considering a strong exterior structure like a little brick building that has the inner walls lined with acoustic ceiling tiles to absorb the sound. When I worked in trim carpentry, we had to sound proof a room that was going to be used for band practice, and once all the walls and ceiling were covered with those 2' x 4' panels, it was uncomfortably silent - my ears were rushing due to the lack of sound. I don't see why that couldn't work for a generator housing. I'd like it to have a steel door and deadbolt to keep it safe.
      That's quite doable so long as you have a remote intake and exhaust.
    1. BigAl07's Avatar
      BigAl07 -
      Yes I'm pulling up and older topic but I'm NEW here


      I know from experience that if you're willing to look around you can get a heavy duty (may be louder) generator for a good price. My company orders them for contractors and such and I think we have gotten the 10K (not a typo) for less than $1k and that's shipped to our company.


      This year several of our local reefers lost EVERYTHING due to some freak snow storms. It was terrible and worse of all avoidable.
    1. Midnight's Avatar
      Midnight -
      two other options, you can actually get a natural gas generator and hool it up to come on after you lose power for a min.By the way, diesel generators are much quieter than gas ones of the same size.