200G IM EXT (First tank ever)

[UncommonSense]

Real answer is likely I could call and electrician and get them to add one if it came done to it. Then simply go buy a bigger generator I guess but I don’t know how real that will be with all these outages

I looked at whole house but it’s just very expensive imo lol

Not a bad idea…

You technically wouldn’t strictly need the bigger generator if you had the house furnace powered to keep the home warm!

Yeah… automatic stationary generators get pretty eye-watering in price pretty fast! That’s the biggest disadvantage!

The major advantages you get are:

— fully automated backup power for the home

— essentially unlimited fuel supply

— maintains GFCI device functionality (most portable generator and UPS options have a floating neutral, meaning that a GFCI device cannot work as intended to protect you while on backup power!)

 

[vittpsu21]

Real answer is likely I could call and electrician and get them to add one if it came done to it. Then simply go buy a bigger generator I guess but I don’t know how real that will be with all these outages

I looked at whole house but it’s just very expensive imo lol

Not a bad idea…

You technically wouldn’t strictly need the bigger generator if you had the house furnace powered to keep the home warm!

Yeah… automatic stationary generators get pretty eye-watering in price pretty fast! That’s the biggest disadvantage!

The major advantages you get are:

— fully automated backup power for the home

— essentially unlimited fuel supply

— maintains GFCI device functionality (most portable generator and UPS options have a floating neutral, meaning that a GFCI device cannot work as intended to protect you while on backup power!)

So far the heaters in tank have kept up, I’m not sure how cold it will get here and thus lowering the house more and more. At the very least my prep has gotten me 8 hours in. I’m just hoping it’ll get me the rest of the way there, this is go figure, the longest outage we have ever had

 

[UncommonSense]

So far the heaters in tank have kept up, I’m not sure how cold it will get here and thus lowering the house more and more. At the very least my prep has gotten me 8 hours in. I’m just hoping it’ll get me the rest of the way there, this is go figure, the longest outage we have ever had

Well, if the system’s still at operating temp, I think you’ll be fine!

For context, a quick bit of Google-fu pulls up that the lowest temperature in PA tonight is 31F, and that’s on top of a mountain!

I’d lay an educated guess you’ll loose no more than 2 degrees off your system temp at most… after having forgotten to turn my fish room heater on for several nights when it’s been in the 30’s and seeing a drop of 1.8 degrees at most from my ~200G actual volume freshwater system!

(Remember how frustrating it was to wait a full day for the tank to get up to operating temp? You have all that thermal energy stored in it now!)

 

[vittpsu21]

So far the heaters in tank have kept up, I’m not sure how cold it will get here and thus lowering the house more and more. At the very least my prep has gotten me 8 hours in. I’m just hoping it’ll get me the rest of the way there, this is go figure, the longest outage we have ever had

Well, if the system’s still at operating temp, I think you’ll be fine!

For context, a quick bit of Google-fu pulls up that the lowest temperature in PA tonight is 31F, and that’s on top of a mountain!

I’d lay an educated guess you’ll loose no more than 2 degrees off your system temp at most… after having forgotten to turn my fish room heater on for several nights when it’s been in the 30’s and seeing a drop of 1.8 degrees at most from my ~200G actual volume freshwater system!

And that’s if the heaters can’t keep up so maybe I’m in a pretty good spot. I also have my mixing heater which is 200w I could plug into the pdu and throw in also if I had to without it being on an INKBIRD

 

[vittpsu21]

So far tho it’s doing ok

 

[UncommonSense]

And that’s if the heaters can’t keep up so maybe I’m in a pretty good spot. I also have my mixing heater which is 200w I could plug into the pdu and throw in also if I had to without it being on an INKBIRD

You can split an inkbird’s output plug to two heaters in this scenario! (They are rated for 10A [1,200W, 120V] at minimum)

And yeah my ~200-205g system has but the one heater… I think you’ll be just fine!

— it does make me realize how heavily reliant you are on the one generator right now though; the larger portable generator might be nice not just for the ability to run more stuff, but as a backup in case of a generator breakdown!

 

[vittpsu21]

And that’s if the heaters can’t keep up so maybe I’m in a pretty good spot. I also have my mixing heater which is 200w I could plug into the pdu and throw in also if I had to without it being on an INKBIRD

You can split an inkbird’s output plug to two heaters in this scenario! (They are rated for 10A [1,200W, 120V] at minimum)

And yeah my ~200-205g system has but the one heater… I think you’ll be just fine!

— it does make me realize how heavily reliant you are on the one generator right now though; the larger portable generator might be nice not just for the ability to run more stuff, but as a backup in case of a generator breakdown!

Yeah, brand new generator but I do agree. I didn’t expect such a long outage tho tbh, since we never had one so long before. It’s always while you go through stuff you realize the things you didn’t fully think through lol. My brother owns a real estate company and knows a ton of contractors so there’s a good chance I’m texting him at 6 am when he gets up lol. If I had the plug at the furnace then…I would have almost no worries outside of corals going without lights and even that if I had a second generator could probably get away with putting on. Not entirely sure what the ap9x pull though so maybe worth looking into

 

[vittpsu21]

These yellow dots are somewhat near me and have crews dispatched so hopefully they are getting closer though

 

[UncommonSense]

Not entirely sure what the ap9x pull though so maybe worth looking into

185W at full tilt according to Google, around the same as one heater! You’d be fine off the smaller generator as long as you aren’t also running 600w of heaters, and multiple other lights!

 

[vittpsu21]

22 hours and we finally have power, my biggest fear in the hobby! I was pretty prepared…really only had no lights for half of yesterday and today everything else the fish would have never noticed.

I will be calling an electrician to add a plug to my furnace and getting a bigger generator soon lol

 

[vittpsu21]

This with winter seal on the other side worked very well fwiw

 

[UncommonSense]

This with winter seal on the other side worked very well fwiw

It’s a very clever idea!

That’s one of the bigger challenges with this exact situation in a winter state; you can’t exactly close wherever you run generator cords through, and you’re trying to keep the tank warm!

 

[vittpsu21]

This with winter seal on the other side worked very well fwiw

It’s a very clever idea!

That’s one of the bigger challenges with this exact situation in a winter state; you can’t exactly close wherever you run generator cords through, and you’re trying to keep the tank warm!

I think a lot of my anxiety around the outages will go away now. Especially once my furnace is hooked up. But I will say 22 or whatever hours on a first outage I woulda lost everything if I hadn’t had a plan

 

[vittpsu21]

I also added this guys yesterday right before it all and he seems to be doing ok

 

[UncommonSense]

getting a bigger generator soon

I recommend looking into “dual fuel” options, these will typically be the likes of gas/propane!

Long story short: most modern gasoline contains ethanol (<=10%), which degrades over time…

— I spent WAY too many hours in my youth cleaning out carburetors clogged full of goo from ethanol laden fuel… now I just keep a handful of propane tanks around and rely on that for generator fuel!

(On that note, it would be wise to drain the gas tank on your current generator, then fire it up, and let it run its fuel line/carburetor dry before storing it; this will help to ensure it actually fires up readily next time it’s needed!)

 

[vittpsu21]

getting a bigger generator soon

I recommend looking into “dual fuel” options, these will typically be the likes of gas/propane!

Long story short: most modern gasoline contains ethanol (<=10%), which degrades over time…

— I spent WAY too many hours in my youth cleaning out carburetors clogged full of goo from ethanol laden fuel… now I just keep a handful of propane tanks around and rely on that for generator fuel!

(On that note, it would be wise to drain the gas tank on your current generator, then fire it up, and let it run its fuel line/carburetor dry before storing it; this will help to ensure it actually fires up readily next time it’s needed!)

Yeah I saw some yellow brand ones, champion I think, sorry I have only slept 2 hours so a little hazy.

They took both and also was gonna go mix stronger! I already had planned to build an enclosure when weather allowed and that very much high on my list. All and all it went pretty ok, but I can definitely improve. The furnace and the ability to use lights if I wanted with something way more powerful seems much better to me

 

[UncommonSense]

I already had planned to build an enclosure when weather allowed and that very much high on my list

I recently had good results with flexible metal generator exhaust ducting like this:

It allows you to really stick the generator anywhere, and even plumb an inline muffler!

 

[vittpsu21]

I already had planned to build an enclosure when weather allowed and that very much high on my list

I recently had good results with flexible metal generator exhaust ducting like this:

It allows you to really stick the generator anywhere, and even plumb an inline muffler!

Yeah I like this and maybe a grate on the other side, I did see someone enclose it on rockwool for noise and such and I think I like that idea also as its good against heat also

 

[UncommonSense]

Yeah I like this and maybe a grate on the other side, I did see someone enclose it on rockwool for noise and such and I think I like that idea also as its good against heat also

My buddy made a little “doghouse” for his; just a wood box with sloped/shingled roof; a few small air vents and foam interior insulation!

— any insulation really helps with sound, especially if you clad the interior over the insulation with some cheap particle board type “soundboard”, and paint that to prevent it from rotting so quickly!

— air intake vents can be relatively small, as these engines are around 1/10th the size of a automotive engine! (A single 2” hole for air intake is more than enough, it can be baffled for sound deadening)

 

[vittpsu21]

Yeah I like this and maybe a grate on the other side, I did see someone enclose it on rockwool for noise and such and I think I like that idea also as its good against heat also

My buddy made a little “doghouse” for his; just a wood box with sloped/shingled roof; a few small air vents and foam interior insulation!

— any insulation really helps with sound, especially if you clad the interior over the insulation with some cheap particle board type “soundboard”, and paint that to prevent it from rotting so quickly!

— air intake vents can be relatively small, as these engines are around 1/10th the size of a automotive engine! (A single 2” hole for air intake is more than enough, it can be baffled for sound deadening)

Yeah I’m also planning to concrete the base tbh too, like a pad. Then I can just leave it in there and over when I need it and open / deal with it