Friday, May 31, 2024

More lessons about electricity from the Houston storms

 

I've been in contact with friends and acquaintances in the Houston area since major storms hit that city a couple of weeks ago.  Most of the "lessons learned" in coping with a disaster are ones we've already discussed in these pages.  However, a number of folks had bought or installed power stations, whether stand-alone or "whole home" solutions, and they had interesting things to report.

First of all, these things are expensive.  A minimal setup to run a small home would be something like Bluetti's AC500, coupled with two B300S battery packs (that's just an example - there are equivalent systems from many other manufacturers and vendors).  That can produce up to 5,000 watts of power (double that for a startup load), and supply up to 6,144 watt-hours of power - enough to run most common electrical appliances for a couple of days, if one is judicious about not running too many of them at once.  Such a system typically costs $4,000 to $5,000, or a bit less if one looks for the frequent sales offered by such vendors.  That's far more expensive than a generator.

However, despite their cost, power stations offer advantages.

  • The system can plug into a main electrical switchboard, using a connector that shuts off mains power when the backup is in use and vice versa.  That means one doesn't need extension cords running all over the place to be plugged in at a central location.  One can simply use the house's existing wiring and plugs.
  • One doesn't have the constant noise, fuel consumption and inconvenience of a generator that requires relatively constant attention.  A small- to medium-size generator can be run once a day to charge the power station, and/or one can plug in solar panels (if necessary, together with the generator) to do the same thing.  I'm informed that 3-6 hours of generator use per day was enough to keep such power stations running.
  • The relative lack of generator use meant that the house was not so noisy (and therefore noticeable to thieves and looters).  There was the usual rash of low-lifes trying to steal generators from homes that announced (by the noise) that they were running one.  Without that noise, there was less to alert them.  In a longer-term disaster, one could make sure that one's windows were "blacked out" so as not to reveal light at night, making it even safer.  (If one used solar panels exclusively, not running a generator at all, that would be even quieter.)
  • Some of my contacts didn't have large power stations, but had one or two smaller ones, 500W to 2,000W (the sort one can take on a day trip, or camping, or to run a travel trailer's electrics).  They reported that while their smaller units could not run the whole house, they were nevertheless very useful.  One took a 550W unit into his garage, where he had two freezers, and ran them for an hour or two twice a day, which was enough to keep the food inside them safely frozen.  He recharged the small power station with a portable solar panel.  Others used them at night to power CPAP machines and the like.
  • On the other hand, some people with large, immovable power stations (such as the Tesla Powerwall) reported that as the waters rose, they came up to the big battery packs mounted on the wall.  For fear of electrocution and other problems, they switched off their installations and did without power for as long as it took for the water to recede.  I know Tesla claims its installation is proof against up to two feet of water, but if I were in those owners' shoes, I'd also be wary of trusting that completely.  Those with more portable power stations simply wheeled them out of harm's way (losing power in the process, of course, but preserving them against future need).
Overall, those with such systems reported that they made life much easier - at least, easier than the generators they previously used.  A power station backup is still much more expensive than a stand-alone generator, but compared to the cost of a whole-house backup generator (e.g. Generac), it can be much cheaper (or as expensive, depending on the size you need).  Worth considering, at any rate.  I won't be surprised to find such power stations becoming a default solution over time.

Peter


15 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my experience, each option mentioned here has more variations then discussed.
A couple of notes:
- Generator noise varies massively between models. Some of the quiet inverter units are inaudible 50 ft away. On the flip side, some require hearing protection at 50 ft.
- A transfer switch can be used with any power supply, generator, solar, etc. Using a generator doesn't mean you have to use extra cords if you planned ahead.
- I'd like to see more data on how long battery packs last under what loads. The numbers given for max draw and max duration don't add up to me.
I agree that battery packs are coming along and am curious to see future improvement in the area.
Jonathan

Michael said...

Secondary benefit of solar "generators" is WHEN no If "Climate Change" brown outs occur in your area. You can charge them both with unreliable grid power and solar panels.

Thus, with careful use, help keep the ever-increasing prices of groceries from spoiling in your fridge and even a fan or two for you.

Also, quiet vs gasoline gensets. Might keep not so happy neighbors from realizing you have a little electricity.

Sad that Americans have to think like 3rd worlders about this.

Hightecrebel said...

Anyone willing for a less pretty but very functional battery backup situation can pick up 12-48v batteries and an all in one charger/inverter for relatively cheap, and then just expand the battery bank over time. I've turned quite a few people up here in Maine on to the idea with the way winter and wind have been causing outages.


A $500 charger/inverter and a pair of 12v 100 amp hour lithium batteries (as low as $320 for a pair of you catch them on sale) runs a fridge, lights, and a small a/c or heater for a couple days on their own. And you can expand it out over time, add another set of batteries next year, or when you have a bit of extra money coming in, add a second charger/inverter in parallel to power 240v appliances (well pump, anyone? Or even with more batteries a heat pump or water heater) and before long you've got a system that makes a storm outage or blackout a blip at the most, and it'll run with little to no maintenance on your end for decades.

Anonymous said...

I use my Bluetti to save money on the electric bill. Doesn't make sense to me to use the ac off the grid to charge it. I use solar panels except when the power goes out and then I use a generator I'm using anyway. It takes about an hour or two to charge depending on how low the battery is.

Old NFO said...

Lots of options, and yes, all have up AND downsides. There is no one size fits all answer.

Peteforester said...

When California went full 3rd world with its arbitrary "power safety shutoffs" during fire season, I invested in a whole house generator. It's about as noisy as a lawn tractor. Indeed it actually USES the SAME ENGINE as many lawn tractors; a Briggs & Stratton air-cooled horizontal V-twin. It does a self-test once a week for 20 minutes. Otherwise, unless the power goes out, it makes no noise at all.

I'm not a big fan of battery-only ANYTHING. For one, there's a limitation on how long these units will provide power. For another, batteries deteriorate over time, and are usually the most expensive components of the systems. These batteries are going to deteriorate whether they run the inverter for a few hours a month or a few minutes a year. Obsolescence is baked into the cake. That being said, they CAN serve as a SECONDARY power source for smaller loads in your house and, as "Hightecrebel" alluded to, adds some stealth for your power needs in a SHTF situation. Again, I agree with Hightecrebel, preferring to use a kluged inverter system made up of "bolt-on" inverters connected to one or more deep cycle batteries. This option is WAY cheaper than a Bluetti or Tesla solution. Another upside is the scalability of both the battery bank and the inverter. Inverters are parasitic. They use a part of the electricity they consume to run themselves. The larger the inverter, the more juice is wasted running it. With a hombrew system you can decide for yourself how big an inverter you want to use. You can even use MULTIPLE smaller inverters if you wish.

...As "Michael" said, It's a shame that Americans have to think like 3rd Worlders now...

Orvan Taurus said...

Even quiet, light indicates. I can see using the quiet backup for critical items (fridge, furnace fan, CPAP..) and kero lamps for light so as to look "down."

Anonymous said...

Anybody connecting any auxiliary prime mover, generator or power station, supplying alternating current electricity should be very careful to ensure that the load "neutral" or grounded conductor cannot be connected to the utility neutral and the auxiliary source neutral at the same time. This is for safety of utility workers as well as the homeowner. It's separate and different from the grounding conductor, commonly called the ground wire. That's why I like the 120/240v four wire receptacle on my generators and a pigtail that I wire personally, lots of people can't afford a transfer switch and electrician and permit for a couple of days' use every couple of years in hurricane country. Grounding and neutral is the most misunderstood part of electrical work.
Traditionally constructed Air conditioning compressor motors usually are rated for six times the running amperage at startup. It's only for a few cycles and many new efficient units have soft start technology that reduces startup current. But it would be prudent to specify a generator or power station that can accommodate momentary overloading without hurting it's electronics or downstream loads.
rick m

Aesop said...

I would think a small "power shed", elevated but garden-shed sized, would be a sensible solution. Something up off the ground and sitting at roof height is immune to flooding, harder to hijack, the roof could sport solar panels (an 8'x8' roof can accomodate 2400W (8x300W) worth of solar panels, and panel capacity increases annually), and the exterior walls soundproofed such that the noise from a generator co-located with the power station battery(ies) was vastly decreased or eliminated, and what there was went upward rather than outward. The ground level walls could be 6" solid concrete with a bombproof steel door, and an interior ladder and hatch to access the power apparatus.

For the HOA ninnies, exterior camouflage could be applied - just like is done with cell towers currently - that would make the outside look like a deciduous tree from 7' height to the power shed roof level, thus blending more in suburban locations, without impinging any solar collection ability. Provision could even be made to hide TV antennae and dishes within the same faux tree camo.

More reliable power, off-grid even while on-grid, prettier and more secure equipment housing, and no eyesores.

Think of it like a rural water tower, except for suburban or rural power. For bonus points, put it in a couple of feet from any rural location with a water well and pump, to power that too.

Public domain, kids. Knock yourselves out.

Zaphod said...

Oops... it's 'That Kind of Expat' again as some Boomer who thinks it's still 1985 and Morning in America called me yesterday.

"Bluetti is the brand branch of the company, Maxoak, that has operations bases set up all around the globe, and Maxoak itself is a branch of parent company, Shenzhen Poweroak Newener co. LTD, headquartered in Guangdong, China"

Better not buy Bluetti then, eh? Probably going to blow up or burn your house down. Must be assembled by slave labourers when they're not being used for biowarfare experiments, no? Serpentza said so on YouTube, so you can tae that to the bank.

It's not Turtles all the way down. It's Pandas. Sorry, just the facts, Ma'am.

John V said...

Or just don't live in a place that floods and tolerates looters.

Dan said...

Just installed a solar system with 10.5 Kw of panels with 20 KwH of battery storage. Im having the existing well pump changed to a soft start pump so that the system can keep water available. Cost...$75K. Am looking at adding wind generation for winter. The system will allow for refrigeration to run and lighting. The stove runs on propane as does the tankless water heater which is on the solar circuit. Keep a 1000 gallon propane tank and have it topped off every September. Heat with wood and have 15+ cords onsite. Keep spare fuel and months worth of food. Am prepared to defend the keep with help from trusted people. I'm better prepared than most....and I'm still not fully ready. Time's short for anyone starting to prep. Best get hopping.

Anonymous said...

The rural property we bought and moved to a year ago included a 1 year old Generac and an extremely large propane tank. The Generac was professionally installed and we had it serviced (primarily an oil change) over the summer. It has saved our bacon (literally!) quite a few times and we are enormously thankful to have it. We've considered ways of muffling the sound (which is still not at all bad inside the house), but we live way out in the country and cannot even hear the generator halfway up our driveway. Our nearest neighbor is half a mile away.

Obviously in a long-term grid-down situation, there would be different concerns. We have a few smaller solar 'generators' (largest 2000 kw) and they, too, have come in hand (especially their portability). When finances permit, we hope to be able to get both larger solar generators and/or a permanent solar system - but both tend to be quite costly. Obviously, any redundancy is good in a country with an aging grid as well as a declining IQ and crisis of competency.

Our neighbor has a gas-powered generator he has to hook up himself, and recently needed to avail himself of extra gasoline to run it, because all the local gas stations (still minimum 25 minutes away) had no power. We were happy to help and glad share the Pri-G treated non-ethanol gas we keep in our garage. I'm not certain what wattage his generator produces, but I know it's insufficient to run his a/c. That would be a deal breaker for my husband. Our 22kW Generac runs our 2 fridges, a chest freezer, 2 mini-splits, all lights, and both our computers without a hitch for days on end. While I've read plenty of critiques of this manufacturer, we have had zero issues and its installation at our property was one of the many reasons we bought our home.

lynn said...

I have a Generac 38 kW liquid cooled generator that Generator Supercenter installed for $25K three years ago. I got the liquid cooled generator since they are much quieter than a lawnmower in a box. It runs on natural gas with $3,000 of the cost from installing a 200 foot pipe from my meter to the generator behind the garage. I live on 1.2 acres so things are fairly spread out. As long as I have natural gas at the meter, I have power. And we cannot hear the generator from the front of the garage when it is running.

ErisGuy said...

I’ve been look at the same are what we around here call “snowmaggedon” (February 2021) when the power and gas went off simultaneously.

My distant neighbor went for Generac, as his gas line stayed on.

I’m think solar + batteries since I don’t want a 40°f house again (that week was the second winter time that had happened to me).

But solar + batteries—it will never have an ROI. Batteries don’t last long enough. Roof top solar panels might have survived this May’s hailstorms.

And: where goes the battery stack. My next door neighbor opted for garage. I suppose that OK eight months of the year, but during a summer power failure, I wouldn’t want a 12kwh battery stack in a 100°+ garage for days and nights for a week or more. Indoors where the stack can be climate protected could be better, but that adds more problems. A solar roof increases insurance rates. Can I disconnect damaged panels should the need arise? Can’t have the whole thing go down after loss of a critical panel in the array.

Since I already have a gasoline generator, I can live with the suggestion above run the gas generator to power the batteries should the solar be inadequate. Despite the attention it might draw from unsavory elements.

The neighbors and I aren’t certain what kind of power failure for which we’re planning. I think summer/winter brown/blackout lasting a week at most. They’re think civil unrest for a month or more. And few want to survive one day. Well, OK.