Hurricanes 2022

[budwom]

Gererac is the biggest supplier of home generators, mostly because they are less expensive (and sold by Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.). They're OK, but Kohler has better power quality and is what I would recommend. A 14 kW Kohler can start a 4 ton AC. Not all generators that size can. The AC's don't need nearly that much power to run, but they do need the starting surge capacity.

We don't need one in Greensboro, but if I were to buy one, I'd spend the extra $ to get a Kohler. Power quality is important if your stuff has microprocessors in it, and today refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, TV's, even thermostats have/run on chips. Bad voltage variations, (sine) wave forms and harmonics can ruin your stuff very quickly. I also recommend putting in a whole house surge protector on your main panel.

genial disagreement on Generac vs Kohler...looked at them both, went with Generac...

[Indoor66]

Basically over here in Pompano/Lighthouse Point/Deerfield Beach area. A good rain and now calm.

[BigWayne]

Due to city ordinances/safety regs, we aren't allowed to have a whole home generator. We can have (and likely will at some point) have an electrician wire up a box that we can plug into, but the generator itself has to be portable and sit in the yard.

Do this. It is so nice to be able to plug the generator into the house and run what you need without having to run cords everywhere. I added a 4 prong power inlet box to the side of my main service panel when I had a solar system installed.
I had this setup on my house in GA back 20 years ago also. That one was set up with a generator that could output 220V so I could run anything in the house up to the 4K limit of the generator. Now I have two quiet camping style inverter generators ganged up to get me 4K, but only at 110V. Just can't run the clothes dryer or the AC, but I don't need AC except a few weeks a year.

I did mine myself, but get an electrician if you don't understand the technical details. I had a friend that wired up a generator to his house in the aftermath of the fires we had near here in 2020. He almost got it wired correctly, but not quite. He ended up frying a big TV and other stuff in his house.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Do this. It is so nice to be able to plug the generator into the house and run what you need without having to run cords everywhere. I added a 4 prong power inlet box to the side of my main service panel when I had a solar system installed.
I had this setup on my house in GA back 20 years ago also. That one was set up with a generator that could output 220V so I could run anything in the house up to the 4K limit of the generator. Now I have two quiet camping style inverter generators ganged up to get me 4K, but only at 110V. Just can't run the clothes dryer or the AC, but I don't need AC except a few weeks a year.

I did mine myself, but get an electrician if you don't understand the technical details. I had a friend that wired up a generator to his house in the aftermath of the fires we had near here in 2020. He almost got it wired correctly, but not quite. He ended up frying a big TV and other stuff in his house.

Ouch to the TV! I'm a big fan of not electrocuting myself, so an electrician will be doing it for sure, ha!
I've got one of those inverter generators that you are talking about, and have always liked that they can be chained together, but hadn't thought about the 110 vs 220 output. I just have mine for our tailgates; my girlfriend has no plans to ever go camping where we can't plug right in.

Our home one is a "Predator" that we bought on sale at Harbor Freight. I was a little leery, but it has been very reliable and saved us during Florence. We bought it literally the day before she got named. Talk about lucky timing. We just happened to be driving around where a HF was, and decided it would be smart to get one since not having one during the last power outage sucked.

[Stray Gator]

genial disagreement on Generac vs Kohler...looked at them both, went with Generac...

Same here. We had a Generac installed at our house in Tampa and it worked great to power everything in our house -- including the three AC units -- whenever there was an outage. Best of all, it kept the hurricanes away for as long as we lived there!

[budwom]

Do this. It is so nice to be able to plug the generator into the house and run what you need without having to run cords everywhere. I added a 4 prong power inlet box to the side of my main service panel when I had a solar system installed.
I had this setup on my house in GA back 20 years ago also. That one was set up with a generator that could output 220V so I could run anything in the house up to the 4K limit of the generator. Now I have two quiet camping style inverter generators ganged up to get me 4K, but only at 110V. Just can't run the clothes dryer or the AC, but I don't need AC except a few weeks a year.

I did mine myself, but get an electrician if you don't understand the technical details. I had a friend that wired up a generator to his house in the aftermath of the fires we had near here in 2020. He almost got it wired correctly, but not quite. He ended up frying a big TV and other stuff in his house.

Yes. It is very dangerous to just plug a generator into a house without the proper electrical work.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I'd rather it not return to the ocean and come back in.

I hope this is clear, but me "wishing Ian away" from my neck of the woods isn't intended to wish it elsewhere.

Sincere positive thoughts for anyone it the storm's path. This looks like a doozy.

[BigWayne]

I hope this is clear, but me "wishing Ian away" from my neck of the woods isn't intended to wish it elsewhere.

Sincere positive thoughts for anyone it the storm's path. This looks like a doozy.

I am wishing it go inland as quick as possible so it starts to weaken before terrorizing more of the coast.

[BigWayne]

Ouch to the TV! I'm a big fan of not electrocuting myself, so an electrician will be doing it for sure, ha!
I've got one of those inverter generators that you are talking about, and have always liked that they can be chained together, but hadn't thought about the 110 vs 220 output. I just have mine for our tailgates; my girlfriend has no plans to ever go camping where we can't plug right in.

Our home one is a "Predator" that we bought on sale at Harbor Freight. I was a little leery, but it has been very reliable and saved us during Florence. We bought it literally the day before she got named. Talk about lucky timing. We just happened to be driving around where a HF was, and decided it would be smart to get one since not having one during the last power outage sucked.

If the Predator is the loud contractor type ones, it probably has a 220 3 or 4 prong plug on it that would be perfect for wiring up to your panel.
That's the style I had in GA and when we first moved out here. With that one, the generatorless neighbors would tell me when the power came back on because they wanted me to shut it off as soon as possible.

My camping ones are nice because they are much quieter and each one only weighs 48 pounds, so easy to carry out to put into action.

[BigWayne]

Yes. It is very dangerous to just plug a generator into a house without the proper electrical work.

My friend had a big noisy generator that he wanted to keep away from the house. So he had a long cord with only 3 wires. He hooked up the two hot legs and used the third wire for the return. He left the ground floating. If he would have connected the ground and the return together, he would have been OK. Because he left the ground floating, the generator didn't have proper feedback and generated excessive voltage.

[CameronBornAndBred]

If the Predator is the loud contractor type ones, it probably has a 220 3 or 4 prong plug on it that would be perfect for wiring up to your panel.
That's the style I had in GA and when we first moved out here. With that one, the generatorless neighbors would tell me when the power came back on because they wanted me to shut it off as soon as possible.

My camping ones are nice because they are much quieter and each one only weighs 48 pounds, so easy to carry out to put into action.

Yep to both. After Florence, you could probably hear New Bern from Durham with all of the generators running.

My 2k inverter is what you're talking about. Quiet and mobile. The one that we've used previously to this year at tailgate was a 1k, half the weight, and whisper quiet. I got the 2k one for if I ever choose to, I can run our camper (including AC and fridge) with it. But I'll never talk gf into even thinking about that possibility, ha!

Back to the subject at hand, I'm hoping that everyone has a better idea of what Ian will be doing this weekend by tomorrow afternoon.

[Bluedog]

Just don't be an idiot and get a "male to male extension cord" which apparently some people were using to "put the electricity back into the house " 🤦not that anybody on this site would. It does look like Amazon has taken them down at least or they've just been pushed down the algo considerably due to the fact that it's a dangerous product. But the Consumer Product Safety Commission had to actually make a statement about it.

[Kdogg]

Just don't be an idiot and get a "male to male extension cord" which apparently some people were using to "put the electricity back into the house " 🤦not that anybody on this site would. It does look like Amazon has taken them down at least or they've just been pushed down the algo considerably due to the fact that it's a dangerous product. But the Consumer Product Safety Commission had to actually make a statement about it.

They call them suicide cables for a reason.

[bundabergdevil]

J..."male to male extension cord"

They call them suicide cables for a reason.

Huh, I thought that was called the formal Touch Tips introduction

[BigWayne]

Just don't be an idiot and get a "male to male extension cord" which apparently some people were using to "put the electricity back into the house " 🤦not that anybody on this site would. It does look like Amazon has taken them down at least or they've just been pushed down the algo considerably due to the fact that it's a dangerous product. But the Consumer Product Safety Commission had to actually make a statement about it.

I made those up myself with 14/2 romex back before I had the 220V plug wired up. They work fine if you know what you are doing. Unfortunately, most people don't.

[SouthernDukie]

I hope this is clear, but me "wishing Ian away" from my neck of the woods isn't intended to wish it elsewhere.

Sincere positive thoughts for anyone it the storm's path. This looks like a doozy.

That’s absolutely understood. When it comes to hurricane tracks and shifts one person‘s good fortune ends up being another person‘s bad fortune.

The best thing that could’ve happened is if Ian had just gone due north till it reached the Panhandle. It would’ve been sheared down to a tropical storm by the time it hit land. Unfortunately this turn is going to allow it to come ashore as a Cat 4 or strong Cat 3 somewhere around Venice or Fort Myers.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The Carolina Hurricanes won their first pre-season game tonight, over Tampa Bay of all teams, 5-1. It's possible that TB had their focus elsewhere.

[dudog84]

OMG. Wind jumped 35 mph overnight. Now 155.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

OMG. Wind jumped 35 mph overnight. Now 155.

Yup and tracking much further west as it moves north. Good news for the NC coast I suppose.

[YmoBeThere]

The line of clouds running up the northeast(not all Ian) is quite impressive.

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