Sad Sad Day Without Power

Tom R · #1 12-17-2006, 03:31 PM

I do not have a voltage meter to measure the spikes. If someone has a meter we can easily set it up and see what voltage spikes it puts out. I spoke to an electrician and his asvice was that the Ampmaster was a simple electrical motor and it should not have any problems with the power from the generator.

The generator was a bit loud. It is reported to be around 60 ds. It sounds a lot like a small dirt bike at idle. I am not sure it a different muffler would help.

Tom

MDG3 · #2 12-17-2006, 08:10 PM

Well, the worst is over. Without power for 31 hours.
Think fast, MAN.
OOH yea I have a Coleman Powermate ULTRA 2500 watt Gennie.

It was quite the ordeal, started the gennie at 7:30am friday morning (neighbours were pleased about that ) and had to fill it every hour til 9:30pm that night. If the fish lasted through the night, I would still be in the hobby, if not who knows.

The next morning fish looked GASPING for air but OK, so here go's the gennie again.

Moral of this experience is "at least have a back up plan i.e. battery backup, gennies, or what ever you can do to minimize your loses.

Diana · #3 12-17-2006, 11:53 PM

yeahm we got the Coleman Powermate 3570watt. It had big wheels to make it very portable, fit in my Mazda3 with no problems. It runs up to 2 hours on 3quarts of gas at 50% capacity. We loved it, but it is a LOUD mf!

lol

Chin_Lee · #4 12-18-2006, 02:35 AM

I'm assuming that these generators are placed outside and power is brought in via extension cords?

cprowler · #5 12-18-2006, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

I'm assuming that these generators are placed outside and power is brought in via extension cords?

I picked one up at Costco in the summer for around $300, it was the last day of $100 off so I grabbed one. I've only lost power once (knock on wood) for 1 1/2 hours and that was back during the first storm. I set it up in the doorway of my shed with the exhaust pointing out. It is fairly loud and would probably not go over well with the neighbors if I ran it all night. The muffler has a spot that an extension can be added and I want to put a pipe through the side of the shed and close the door and that might make the noise level acceptable.

Mag 9 - Return
Dart - CL
G2 - Skimmer
150W - Heater
4x48" - VHO Lighting
2x48" - T5 Lighting

Were all running of the Gen and I was just about to plug in the fridge but the power came back on.

MDG3 · #6 12-18-2006, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

I'm assuming that these generators are placed outside and power is brought in via extension cords?

AN ABSOLUTE MUST DO!!!! Did you see the News about the senior couple who died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a gennie.

fishface · #7 12-23-2006, 05:16 PM

here's a good read on the whole disaster management subject:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...02/feature.htm

Chin_Lee · #8 12-23-2006, 06:35 PM

in summary: for about $200-300, most of us can buy a generator that will be able to sustain most of our aquariums during a power outage for an extended period of time - our neighbors may not be appreciative of the noise levels generated by these devices nevertheless our investments in this hobby is worth the occasional dirty look by our neighbors.