8 Days Living With a Generator In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Sandy
My family and I had 8 days of living with a generator in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I’d like to share some of my experiences.
I bought one of the last generators the Home Depot had coming to Long Island on the morning of Saturday 10/27. This was a stroke of luck for me, if I hadn’t gotten one after my wife had suggested one after Hurricane Irene last year I would be in “it” deep at home. I’m lucky enough to have a cousin who is a Licensed Electrician and he came over and made me a 240A cord with one of the twist ends and wired it directly to my panel through a new 30A breaker. We lost power at 3:30pm on Monday 10/29. We were just a few hours into the storm and already we were in the dark. I braved the weather, while keeping an eye on the trees for falling branches. We had power back in a few minutes, as I followed all of my cousins advice and powering up went off without a hitch. I had made the decision that for security reasons and for the sanity of my neighbors that I would shut off and lock up the generator each night. Some of the important things I learned were:
- Load Management– I bought a decent sized genny (6000watt/7500watt surge) but still didn’t want the thing wailing away for no reason. If we were going to be on generator power we were going to be as efficient about it as possible. I worked hard to keep my load low by using lamps with CFL’s in them instead of the Hi-Hats (600 watts), we made a pot of coffee (1200 watts) but didn’t leave it sitting and using juice, and I kept the oil burner off except for when we needed hot water.
- Gas Rationing– I had already committed to being tight with my generator and the gas shortages hitting 2 days after the Hurricane just made me work that much harder to keep my usage in check. We started running a schedule of 8am-12 noon and then 4pm-11pm. This let us cool down the fridge and freezers, cook breakfast with the modern conveniences, take hot showers, and catch up on the news and some Sesame Street for the boy. The down time during the day was for generator maintenance and general peace. At night we had power to make dinner, hot water for cleaning up, and some tv for the Mrs and I. I was surprised how well we were able to do on gas. We got down to the generator being full with gas and one 5 gallon can before I could find a station that had a cash and can only line.
- Generator Maintenance– I was a bit overboard with taking care of the generator. With the way the supply of them was limited, and the way the temperature was dropping, the generator became a very important part of our lives, and I wasn’t going to blow it up by neglecting it. I changed the oil after the first 20 hours, using fully synthetic Mobil 1 oil (10w30), and again after 40 more hours. Air cooled engines are hard on oil and a quality oil is very important. Mobil 1 is pricey but I’ve used it in my Hot Rods for years and feel it is worth the expense especially in something keeping my family warm and safe. It was this week that the stories of guys neglecting and blowing up their generators are starting to come out. The worst stories are the guys who take care of their stuff but lent them out to be “good guys”, and got that dreaded call “Dude, your genny isn’t working”, followed by “You have to change the oil?” This sucks.
- Security- After the rash of generator thefts during Hurricane Irene I committed to dragging the generator into the garage every night and back out every morning. I kept my gates padlocked and the few times we went out as a family I locked the genny to a big tree with a big chain! This gave me a bit of piece of mind.
What I would do differently:
- Name Brand Generator- If I hadn’t sat on my ass after Irene and bought a generator I would have done my research and shopped around for a name brand generator. My genny did the trick but going forward I’m seeing that parts are hard to get and I’d rather have something with a Honda, Onan, or a Briggs and Stratton engine. My current plans are to sell my genny after things calm down around here and use the money towards a name brand model.
- Natural Gas Conversion- Whatever genny I end up with I’ll be doing a Tri-Fuel conversion on it. This will let me run it on gasoline, propane, or natural gas. I’m really looking to the natural gas to solve a lot of problems for me. We cook with Natural Gas so putting a valve to the side of the house will be no problem and I’ll no longer have to keep an eye on a dwindling gasoline supply. Plus Natural Gas is easier on engines with less oil contamination from blow by.
- Transfer Switch- I’ll be putting in a transfer switch and a plug outside. It wasn’t a problem to throw the cord out the window each morning, but the basement was getting pretty cold!
There is my 8 days of generator living in a nutshell. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t a picnic either. It sure does beat the heck out of being cold, and in the dark, and I sure won’t be caught without a generator again.
Affiliate Disclosure: I am grateful to be of service and bring you content free of charge. In order to do this, please note that when you click links and purchase items, in most (not all) cases I will receive a referral commission. Your support in purchasing through these links enables me to keep the content train rolling
More from my site
Incorporating The Lessons Learned From Hurricane Sandy Into Future Preps
Super Storm Sandy-12 Days Without Power: What Worked and What Didn’t
Hurricane Sandy, Five Days Without Power, Three Weeks Later, and the Gear That Made My Life Easier
The Backyard Pioneer on The Survival Podcast
Ideas for Generator Security in a SHTF Scenario
This is great information, thanks so much for sharing. So going forward how much gas would you keep on hand regularly…just in case?
How much gas in total did you use over the 8 days?
Dana,
If I was going to stay with only gasoline I would keep 15 gallons on hand and 3 empty 5 gallon cans. The empties I would fill at the drop of a hat or the rumor of bad weather. I’d pour them into the cars when the weather had passed. I’m a suburb dweller so keeping 30 gallons on hand all the time would be challenging.
I figure I used 40 gallons in the 8 days I had the generator going.
Excellent information. A generator is on my wish list but I had so many unanswered questions. This article was very helpful and the first hand account gave so much insight. Thanks!
Glad I could help! Thanks for stopping by and the comment.
I had no idea that there was a conversion for the generator. We bought ours a few years ago after Ivan came through and we had to do without power for a week. My husband was in Louisiana helping with the aftermath of Katrina and I was “holding down the fort” here. As soon as he was back, first thing we did was buy a generator. One of the best things we have done. We live out of town and on the end of a line so we are almost always one of the last ones to get our power back. Wasn’t long ago that we were without power for 8 days when the storms came through Ohio. The cost of gasoline is definitely a draw back, that and keeping enough on hand if gasoline should become a little scarce. And alas, when hubby gets back from Sandy cleanup I am definitely going to have him look into the conversion. Thanks so much for the info. God bless to you and yours.
I’m glad you found the info useful. Just Google “Tri Fuel Conversion” and you’ll find plenty of information on the conversion. Jack Spriko at The Survival Podcast did some excellent shows with Steven Harris about generators right before Sandy hit. They provided so much useful information you might want to check them out.
Just curious, what does your husband do? I’m a Lineman but a hand injury has me sitting this storm clean up out (much to my bank accounts dismay)!
Hubby is Ohio National Guard. We do get around. 🙂 And thanks again for the additional info. Definitely on my to do list.
Please thank him for me, for his service. As a Lineman I get around to my share of Storm clean-up too!
I got ours from USCarburetor,It was under $200 and it Installed pretty easily . We Love it , we have a Hook up on the Natural Gas and two 100lb tanks of Propane , The great thing being is that Propane will not go bad , So no having to Rotate it AND at alot of stores you can get FULL 25lb tanks ,Good luck with that ….Jim
Thanks Jim. We actually heat and cook with propane so this is a plus. That was my first thought when I saw this blog that gosh it would be great if we could run our generator on propane. Actually excited to learn all this. Although, I can just see my husband roll his eyes when I spring this on him. LOL.
Great Info, I learned alot from what has happened back East and have made a few modifications to my Genny, The tri fuel conversion being the best ,We Have 5 Days of propane , as well as a Natural gas hook up, I also installed a RPM/HR. meter (also from US carborator), as well and a petcock type valve replacing the oil Drain plug to make oil changes easier,we keep enough oil for a month , I also assembled a small kit with spare parts , Filters, sperk plug etc and tools so we won’t be searching for them in the dark , Next we want a good transfer switch , anyway Thanks again for the info …Jim
Thanks for the great ideas, Jim. I wish I had been able to do the conversion before the storm hit, now all I can do is be ready for the next one.
We were left without power after Hurricane Bob nearly three weeks back in 1991. We had four small children and lived in the country. Without a generator, we were bringing water home from the hospital we worked at to drink, used pond water to flush our toilet, cooked on the grill, and I learned that I could take a bird bath AND wash and condition my hair in a gallon of water… cold water. Yes, we got by but it was really tough to see our vegetable gardens still producing and not be able to process it all. We lost most of what we’d frozen and couldn’t freeze anything else. Our grill wasn’t big enough to can on. A few people from work had generators and I said if I ever had the money I would get one too. Once we moved to our own house in another part of the state we realized we had moved to an area that lost power if the sun shone too hard! We lost power in nearly every thunderstorm, ice event or in high winds. Still didn’t get a generator until 2000- a 5500 watt Wheelhorse. We power the house with it and are very careful with surge and sustained usage. It’s not the light bulbs that draw the most from a gennie, it’s the surge from appliances, most notably the coffee pot and the microwave. Water pumps for wells and furnaces heating hot water also surge but have higher running wattage needs. Keeping things refrigerated properly along with running water was so important once we moved. We also had livestock needing lots of water. We learned that we could run a load of wash if we turned everything else off and used cold water. We could also use one burner on the stove. We never did try to run air conditioners but we did run a couple of fans. I still store water for the horses in case the gennie fails and we have pool water we could use for flushing the toilet. Thanks for you emphasis on maintenance! It’s important! Security was a problem in nearby areas last year during Irene when several people reported stolen generators. We simply couldn’t afford a non=portable model but think we’re probably better off with a smaller one anyway- perhaps we use less fuel. Anyway, thanks so much for your post!
Awesome comment, Debbie. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’m by no means an expert on generator living but I’m getting the hang out it.
You’re welcome! We had to find out the hard way to be careful with surge- we nearly burned out our well pump because we overloaded the generator. We didn’t know a daughter had decided that ‘oh, we have power! I’m taking a nice hot bath!’ and did just that but left hot water trickling into the tub to keep it hot- meanwhile we didn’t know, tried to make a pot of coffee and had the refrigerator on! We browned out and the water pump had to be reset- scared us pretty bad. We thought we lost it! Lesson learned for good! While we’re happy we bought the gennie there is one thing I’d like to add- even with perfect maintenance a generator can break down. You still have to prepare for life without one just for the reasons you mentioned in your post under General Maintenance. Thanks so much. You gave us something to think about regarding propane/gas generation and management.
Great article and very helpful. I posted it to my blog for others to learn from.
I live in OK (tornado alley) and want to get a generator for our challenging times with weather that might hit us. Any info on the Tri Fuel that you can post would be helpful. I’m clueless on it so anything at all is appreciated. I have natural gas to the house now running water heater, fireplace and furnace burners. Generator would help with the blowers and other appliances. Would you go bigger on the generator size and if yes, why?
Bud,
Thanks for the kind words. I will document my experiences with the Tri-Fuel Conversion when I do it. Through my research I have read a generator makes less power on Natural Gas by about 15-20%. For that reason I will be going a bit bigger on my new generator, I also figure since I’ll have a darn near unlimited fuel supply having the power to run the washer and dryer might not be a bad thing. Jack Spirko at The Survival Podcast did 2 great episodes on generators with Steven Harris last month and it is worth a listen.
I live in Dixie Alley. Everyone in the state of AL is afraid of our town. We regularly get hit by a tornado. Until April 2011 I had never lost power. After I saw the town and heard that the power would be off for 10 days, I bought a generator–Honda 2500 for $1000. People laughed because I spent so much money.
Actually, I stood in line for one of the Hondas in a truck about 50 miles from here from far away. I got the thing going with a bit of help from a female neighbor. I ran the generator for the first 24 hours to make sure the freezer that had been off for 28 hours could cool properly. Everything was still frozen. I had to run all over town to get everything else. I had to buy gas cans, two five-gallon ones; the proper weight and length extension cords. My refrigerator is in the kitchen at the back of the house. The freezer is in my sewing room at the front of the house, a very long house.
I turned the generator off at night about 10 pm and on at 8 am or later the next morning. There were no gas stations, so I had to get donations from agencies in town.
The way I kept bugs out of the house in the living room where I put the extension cords was to use a towel or two. I lowered the window as far as needed on towels and cords. That could help keep out cold, too. No one steals anything in this Historic Neighborhood. My generator has no wheels, so I am glad I can leave it in one place. Outside is the best I can do. It still has five gallons of gas and Stabil in it, so it is heavy.
Very interesting article. Used my old Genny 2 days straight when out of power but didn’t think about maintenance. Great Tips. Since then I purchased a GENERAC 14K system that runs on Natural gas and have a transfer switch to my electrical panel. What peace of mind to have now and I plan to get a backup for propane operation someday.
I had a small 1500 watt generator that I picked up as the remnants of Hurricane Ivan came rolling in. It was the last one on the shelf. I used the heck out of it for 7 days and it was great. This year we had a storm which not only knocked out my entire Neighborhood for 2 days, it knocked out my electric service coming to my house. So the Power company did a cut and run and left me without power for 3 more days. Again that little Genny kept the food cold and powered some CFL’s and was just enough to run a small air conditioner so I could sleep at night. I was thinking about getting a larger one, but I bartered for a small 1200 watt 2 cycle Genny on Craigslist. I actually like having the two smaller ones. I can run just one and use half the fuel and only fire the other one up when I have to. I can have some lights if one goes down and I need light to repair it. I have a backup if one is unrepairable. I can have still have power during maintenance. Also, the 2 cycle ones are cheap new, like $139, they don’t need oil changes, and they are very quiet. Also 10W30 isn’t usually the right oil for an air cooled engine. Normally they take a single weight, like SAE30. Also you should buy and appropriate Transfer switch before you electrocute a lineman, the Main breakers are not considered an appropriate disconnect, but in a pinch I would do it if I had to. I simply run extension cords through the house though. Both of mine are cheap “Made in China” ones, but they work great and I called the 800 number in the manual and got parts for them really cheap and they arrived in 2 days via priority mail. Both of mine are models sold by Harbor Freight.
Hey, Tom thanks for the comment!
For my generator 10w30 is actually the right oil but it needs to be a specific “4 Cycle Air Cooled” blend, Mobil 1 as a full synthetic qualifies for use. I was surprised too!
A Transfer switch is on the “to-do” list for the next storm! I’m a Lineman and don’t want to take any chances.
Good article, but if you had acted sooner you could have had a name brand generator, with all the features you wanted. I also like the knives on the main page, I hope you do some reviews on them, glad to hear the family is safe. Keep up the good work.
hello. just found this web site. about 11 years ago we were without el for 21 days. ice storm in nny. we were one of the last people to get the el back. we too found lots of ways to conserve el. on the reverse side we worked harder to maintain a “normal” life style. no staying in bed, checking fires, washing globes for lanterns, heating water on the stove (gas). however found we could “do it” if needed. thanks for your tips
I love hearing about these Sandy stories.. Not for the tragedy but for the people that thought it was the end of the world because they were without power for a week. I understand there was actual damage and lives lost.. thats not taken lightly at all. That being said I went through Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and we lived on a generator for may weeks.. actually months. My father borrowed it from his job so durring the day we didnt have it but at night we did. There are a lot of advantages to having a generator at home but I feel having alternate power all together would be entirely more helpful durring this time. After a while it gets really hard to get access to fuel.. not to mention how polluting gas generators are.
For those short term disasters a genny is hard to beat. Long Term I’d love to do something with solar or wind but the buy in is so expensive.
I live in NJ. I went another route instead of a transfer switch I went with an interlock kit with a generator inlet box mounted on the side of my house. What an interlock does is it locks out the main breaker. You have to slide up a steel plate after you shut off the main to put on the generator breaker. Lots of good videos on youtube interlock VS transfer switches With the interlock kit I can pick and choose which circuits I want to power. My house is Natural gas for heat, hot water, stove, and clothes dryer. All of my lights are CF bulbs. That takes a lot off the generator. My Generator is a Honda EU6500 inverter. It can backup most of my home, all but the central A/C. I was getting during Sandy around 12 hours per tank full 4.5 gallons. Being its and inverter generator it doesn’t have to run at 3,600 RPM’s. Its very quiet too. Good story Mike.
I have lived without power and water for weeks before when a typhoon destroyed all power and water making facilities when I lived overseas. I was a little kid then and ate C and K rations for weeks, bathed in the street when it rained, etc. When I was in Ohio for work (I was stationed in Florida and still own a home in Ohio)the fall of 2009 they got straight line winds that knocked power out for 8 1/2 days while I was there. I decided I needed to start to get generators for both Florida and Ohio and integrate both into the residential grid (fuse box). I am an engineer and pilot by trade so I started tinkering with some 5500 watts gens for both places. I rebuilt the generator parts of two of them caused by neglect ( capacitor excited generators having bad caps or brush generators having worn out brushes). I wanted to be able to run my entire home in Ohio on a generator as well as my place in Florida. I picked up a non operating EXL 10000 Generac in Ohio which is a fantastic machine and a 5500 watt diesel generator for Florida. I planned to use a Reliance transfer panel to my fuse box in Ohio but changed to an interlock system because of the flexibility to run what circuits you wish and not be tied to what the transfer panel has hooked up. I also used a watt load meter so that on each winding of the generator I can balance the load which is very important to keeping from burning a winding up pulling max power. All of these generators should not run over 80% power because they are not designed as such. I have a Reliance PB50 transfer box to my fuse panel and the system works well. I am able to run the entire house including 3 1/2 ton AC with this setup. I don’t run the dryer or stove at the same time either since they are both electric. My load is around 6000 watts max so my gen is not being used up.
The diesel in Florida is the best choice because when there are hurricanes you can get all the diesel you want but before a hurricane hits down here all the gas stations are sucked dry because of hording. I keep 3 5 gal fuel cans ready and have one fuel can full of diesel just in case. I rotate that out with my diesel truck so it will never get stale. I am building a house in Florida so I have not integrated the diesel to power the house via interlock or transfer panel.
One really important note is that if you use this generator to power you house through the fuse panel you need to disconnect the neutral to ground on the generator (bonded neutral) and use only the house neutral to ground. See NEC Article 250 for details. If you run a floating neutral (neutral and ground not bonded at the generator) be sure to not use that for portable power unless you do reconnect or jumper the neutral back to the ground so that there is no shock hazard.
I have learned a lot once I started to get educated in what a Separately Derived System is from Portable Power.
Tri-fuel is an excellent way to be empowered and not be held hostage to power outages. I have not done that yet but do have natural gas at both home locations…
All great advice, thanks for sharing!
I know this is an “old” post, but for my two cents worth, honest by my experiences with Gloria in ’85, Hugo in ’90 and Wilma in 2005. Two- 4 hour runs per day should keep hour refrig and freezer cold and your house cool, at bed time, if in a hot climate. Hint: keep the freezer full, Freeze water and at night, put it in frige, around milk and Rx if needed. Eat the freezer food first, You do not know how long your outage will be. Put stabil in gas cans at hint of trouble and fill up cans early. Left over gas goes into cars. I have whole house gen now, but chain portable gen whenever outside. Final thought-but any part for your generator, that you can fix yourself. You can still use professional help-provided they have the parts needed..