Generator

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Me, too. The full spectrum of the electric generation there was not built to operate in the temps that Texas is experiencing. Natural gas pipelines froze, gas and coal generation plants could not function fully, switching at substations failed.

All those things do not happen in places where cold weather is normal and the grid is built properly to handle them.

Wind and solar power operate successfully in places where it does get very cold, when built to meet the conditions.

Texas only supplies 10 percent of her power from green tech. Far more generation capacity than that has failed.
 
I wonder what a fireplace+insert costs in new construction? That's something I'd want anyway, cause of course I would, but for people not so interested in burning wood, it might be worth it just for insurance, and a couple ambient ambiance burns around Christmas or something. For a house I planned on staying at, I don't think $10k extra is out of line for not freezing your ass off when things go tits up.
 
Burnham said:
Me, too. The full spectrum of the electric generation there was not built to operate in the temps that Texas is experiencing. Natural gas pipelines froze, gas and coal generation plants could not function fully, switching at substations failed.*****
The larger issue is that Texas de-regulated it’s energy and are on an island so to speak. Here in NY should we lose capacity we have the option to BUY electricity from a neighboring state - Texas does not have this luxury and it was self-inflicted *****
All those things do not happen in places where cold weather is normal and the grid is built properly to handle them.

Wind and solar power operate successfully in places where it does get very cold, when built to meet the conditions.

Texas only supplies 10 percent of her power from green tech. Far more generation capacity than that has failed.
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lxskllr said:
I wonder what a fireplace+insert costs in new construction? That's something I'd want anyway, cause of course I would, but for people not so interested in burning wood, it might be worth it just for insurance, and a couple ambient ambiance burns around Christmas or something. For a house I planned on staying at, I don't think $10k extra is out of line for not freezing your ass off when things go tits up.
Click to expand...
Ventless gas inserts are cheap to install and have been around for quite a while. Hard to understand why it is safe but a friend has one he uses to heat a room all the time with no problem.

They range in price from a few hundred to a couple thousand.

To vent one would cost a lot more for the install.
 
So Frankie...whatever became of the "big flaw" in the green energy push you railed about? Lost interest? Now it's deregulation that's the boogie man?
 
Big flaw is no wind no power , no sun no power - too cold no power - should be quite obvious to those who have done their research sir . In Germany the weather did the same , cold knocked out every green energy generator in the country - but ahhh those clever Germans ... They kept fossil fuel generators as a backup 😎
 
It's hilarious when anti government types realize that laissez-faire capitalism and deregulation means whatever the big corporations want to sell you is all you get with no 3rd party looking out for your interest as the consumer. I worked as a union millwright and I will preach up and down the importance of a 3rd party regulatory body for something as vital as our power distribution "grid". I think anyone that worked clearing lines too will agree that the power companies should be held to a higher standard of maintenance too.
 
When it comes to high voltage transmission there is a lot to consider .For example the actual source can change perhaps 20 times a second .Here in the east it might be coming from Port Clinton Ohio or upstate New York .It changes so fast ,in like a fraction of a cycle second it doesn't even dim the lights . Then on occasion in over load conditions you can get a thing called a cascade where sources go into to over load then it's a runaway train .That is exactly what happened in Texas .Those wind generators had nothing to do with it .Corporate greed is what caused that .No back up plan . Remember what part of the country you are dealing with .
 
Here's what happens .Huge million mega watt generators are most efficient when ran at 100 percent capacity .We are talking like a million horsepower .It they are running at like 90 percent they might have 7 -8 percent they can sell leaving a little extra for them selves .On the other end another user might be getting to 98 percent and it's cheaper buy it than start up a "peaker unit " .The price is negotiated and can vary . That part of the lone star state was not connected to the grid and they were screwed ,simple as that .Actually the end users took it on the chin ,the owners just had egg on their face and are pointing fingers now after the fact .
 
Old story ,maybe 25 years ago or longer there was massive black out on the eastern grid which was traced to a tree falling through a transmission line in eastern Ohio .It got them clear to New York state .Strangely about 273 day later there was a huge surge of hospital births of babies .Imagine that . ;)
 
Another outage, power went down 7pm last night, came back on 16 hours later. I cannot figure what the problem was...power company said cause was "inclement weather". If 29 degrees, a tiny skiff of snow, and no wind to speak of qualifies for that description...wtf.

The little WEN genny earned it's keep...I have no complaints at all.
 
I have a little update on the WEN genny I selected. This might be especially useful to @lxskllr, as John also bought one of these. But it could apply to any number of other similar products, perhaps.

Anyway, the last time I used the generator, I had a bit of trouble getting it to start...well, to start and continue to run. It would fire up, but almost immediately die. After several attempts, it finally kept running.

So after that use, I took it down to my workbench and started going through the fuel system...seemed the most likely culprit. No problems there that I could identify. Then a thought occurred to me...I knew that the Yamaha engine that WEN uses in these units has a low engine oil sensor that shuts the engine down if there is too little oil in the crankcase.

I had checked the oil before this use and noted that it was down a very small amount...not unexpected as I've got over 50 hours on it now. But it was not down much at all...at least that was the way it seemed to me. Not down enough to make me even consider adding oil then.

Anyway, I added just a couple of tablespoons of oil, maybe not even as much as an ounce (the capacity is about 10 ounces, off the top of my head). Sure enough, problem solved.

Conclusion: the low oil sensor is very sensitive to a relatively minor low oil condition. Just a heads up.
 
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I had a Honda engine that the low oil switch was defective. Put a little more oil in-nothing. Unhooked the switch-good to go. Then the flywheel got rusty-no spark-sanded it-good again. Now no spark again. I think the coil is shot. Have to take it off and go through the tests. I though Hondas were bullet proof. Guess not.
 
(Sort of on topic, but a Treehouse derail none the less!)

My current power washer is one a neighbor, Ramos, was tossing out, as he couldn't get it to run.
He'd already bought a replacement. Cleaned out the carb on it, fresh gas, and topped up the oil, and it fired right up.
Offered it back to Ramos, but he was just happy for me to have it. Now when it starts sputtering I top up the oil and it goes right back to cleaning.

My previous power washer was a Rigid with a fuel-injected Subaru/Robin engine that never really ran correctly. Home Depot purchase, and it got used for maybe three years and would just quit on occasion. Turns out they only made that model for less than a year and then went back to a carburetor version. Got tired of it, though it had a nice CAT pump on it, so I gave it away to a friend who was cursed with the same machine.
 
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Generac iQ3500 - 3000 Watt Ultra-Quiet Electric Start Portable Inverter Generator CARB

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This is what I ended up getting. No problems so far. I’ve put about 130 hours on it since I got it early 2021. Runs my camper great and I can run other things at the same time. Problem I have is it’s so quiet that I forget to turn it off or don’t notice when it runs out of fuel.
 
treesmith said:
When I’m done with it, I pull the fuel line and drain it back into a gas jug, then run the carb dry.
Click to expand...

I probably should have done that. I got mine running a few months ago after putting in a new carb because it had sat around for so long. Just tried to start it and no joy.
 
I need to drain my genny. The one me and Burnham have has a switch that runs the runs the carb dry before you shut it down. I like that feature.
 
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