WE had to re-purpose some camping gear this week

[Fred762]

More severe thunderstorms Sun and again Monday night very nearby (south of Nashville). Tornadoes Sunday night apparently too. WE were w/o power about 20+ hours... til late Monday. We fortunately live dowm in a narrow valley area. Several neighbors higher up on the ridges [of our area] lost alot of trees and some had home damage. No injuries we know of.
Camped out at home in the basement, and were able to break out some camping gear to make things bearable. 3 rechargeable battery lanterns, a couple of flashlites, the battery 'weather alert' radio and then.. ;-)
Fired up the 2200W camping trailer generator, hooked up a couple of the camper's extension cords and ran it some to save 2 full freezers we keep. Well worth a few $$ worth of gasoline!
Reminds me of the old slogan I read awhile back..
"Campers make good Preppers".

[GregandTeresa]

We live about an hour south of you, and that wind on Sunday evening was about the worst I've ever seen. And it truly came out of nowhere.

Fortunately we only lost power for a couple of hours that evening. A friend of ours in Columbia lost power Sunday and only got it back this morning.

[Rzrbrn]

I live just east of Nashville, TN. Power out for about 10 hours due to the same straight line wind storm. Used our camping gear to muddle through. Trailer still at the RV service shop.

[Spongelander]

Well played! You guys get real weather back there! Glad you are safe.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by Fred762

More severe thunderstorms Sun and again Monday night very nearby (south of Nashville). Tornadoes Sunday night apparently too. WE were w/o power about 20+ hours... til late Monday. We fortunately live dowm in a narrow valley area. Several neighbors higher up on the ridges [of our area] lost alot of trees and some had home damage. No injuries we know of.
Camped out at home in the basement, and were able to break out some camping gear to make things bearable. 3 rechargeable battery lanterns, a couple of flashlites, the battery 'weather alert' radio and then.. ;-)
Fired up the 2200W camping trailer generator, hooked up a couple of the camper's extension cords and ran it some to save 2 full freezers we keep. Well worth a few $$ worth of gasoline!
Reminds me of the old slogan I read awhile back..
"Campers make good Preppers".

Obviously you had gasoline for your generator. This is a great time to remind people to keep gas around for that purpose. If the generator won't keep 2 freezers running that is ok. They only need ran once in a while. Glad all are safe.

[Fred762]

Originally Posted by Jann Todd

Obviously you had gasoline for your generator. This is a great time to remind people to keep gas around for that purpose. If the generator won't keep 2 freezers running that is ok. They only need ran once in a while. Glad all are safe.

Yeah..we try to fire up the gen at least once a month when not camping..just to keep the gas in the lines. I always use (hard-to find) ethanol-free gasoline w a bit of gas-saver in it for effect. Filled the 2 5 gallon spare tanks up this week too. We only had to run the thing about 2 hrs x 4 during the power outage..an hour for each freezer every 6 hrs and ...we didn't need to even open them..have plenty of stuff to eat w/o using the freezers or frig for one day anyways. I figured the 2 freezers full of food were worth a few dollars worth of gas..esp in these weird Beer Flu times of half-empty store shelves.
I always run and re-charge the camping battery lanterns on a monthly basis..to have them ready to "camp" but they were handy too.

[Rzrbrn]

Great thread Fred. You stated "Fired up the 2200W camping trailer generator, hooked up a couple of the camper's extension cords and ran it some to save 2 full freezers we keep..."

I have a Cummins Onan 2700LP gen permanently attached to my travel trailer. If I ran 50' of heavy gauge wire from my trailer to my bench style freezer, do you think it would power the single freezer without burning out the freezer motor?

My understanding is that N LP gen does not provide quite the same power as a gas gen, so take this into consideration.

[Jon Vermilye]

Due to poor line maintenance by National Grid (since mostly fixed) and my late wife's dependance on an oxygen concentrator, I had a whole house (15K natural gas) generator added to the house. While current outages are usually only a couple of hours, we have had 4-5 day outages in the middle of winter. I have a wood stove for emergency heating, but the generator has been well worth the cost.

[Fred762]

Originally Posted by Rzrbrn

Great thread Fred. You stated "Fired up the 2200W camping trailer generator, hooked up a couple of the camper's extension cords and ran it some to save 2 full freezers we keep..."

I have a Cummins Onan 2700LP gen permanently attached to my travel trailer. If I ran 50' of heavy gauge wire from my trailer to my bench style freezer, do you think it would power the single freezer without burning out the freezer motor?

My understanding is that N LP gen does not provide quite the same power as a gas gen, so take this into consideration.

/////////////////////////////////////
No way to tell from afar. We have a B&S 2200W portable gen/inverter which was ok to power up the lights, fans, heat battery charge, MW etc in the 17' Casita we had and should be ok for same in the new Escape-21 we're going to get next month. Might not be powerful enuf for AC....but we rarely use AC anyways. I simply carried it from the barn to the garage door and set it on the tailgate of the pickup and fired her up. Used two std 100' heavy duty, [outdoor extention cords]...and ran one upstairs to the kitchen frig/feeezer and another cord to the freezer in the basement..ran one at a time, simply by switching out the plugs an hour each every 6 hours...and kept the doors shut unless the frig was hooked to power. Worked for us. Only onw time did the overload light weven flicker, and that was only for 1/2 second when I switched the cords the second time. Otherwise no problemo..and our 'lock-down' frozen food was safe for the 20 hour blackout.

[Fred762]

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

Due to poor line maintenance by National Grid (since mostly fixed) and my late wife's dependance on an oxygen concentrator, I had a whole house (15K natural gas) generator added to the house. While current outages are usually only a couple of hours, we have had 4-5 day outages in the middle of winter. I have a wood stove for emergency heating, but the generator has been well worth the cost.

Jon, you are only about 40 miles from my old hometown..Born and lived 5 yrs in Auburn NY many yrs ago...and used to vacation at my step-dad/mom's lake -side home on Long Point of Owasco Lake til they up and moved to FL 25 ytr ago. Beautiful area...in summer ;-) If you Google map(satellite)Owasco L., you can still see the old "homestead" on the shore at that J point of Long Point Rd at the lakeside..where it jogs to the right..w several additions wh were not there when we visited.
Beautiful lakes area..in summer.

[Rzrbrn]

Thank you for your detailed reply, Fred. I bet my gen will do the job if needed, based on your comments.

[IMJ in FLA]

Originally Posted by Fred762

/////////////////////////////////////
No way to tell from afar. We have a B&S 2200W portable gen/inverter which was ok to power up the lights, fans, heat battery charge, MW etc in the 17' Casita we had and should be ok for same in the new Escape-21 we're going to get next month. Might not be powerful enuf for AC....but we rarely use AC anyways. I simply carried it from the barn to the garage door and set it on the tailgate of the pickup and fired her up. Used two std 100' heavy duty, [outdoor extention cords]...and ran one upstairs to the kitchen frig/feeezer and another cord to the freezer in the basement..ran one at a time, simply by switching out the plugs an hour each every 6 hours...and kept the doors shut unless the frig was hooked to power. Worked for us. Only onw time did the overload light weven flicker, and that was only for 1/2 second when I switched the cords the second time. Otherwise no problemo..and our 'lock-down' frozen food was safe for the 20 hour blackout.

I just added a propane conversion kit (Hutch Mtn) to our new Honda EU2200 inverter generator. I was anxious to learn if it would power the A/C in our 2019 Escape 21. The only issue I encountered is the power distribution panel did not like the unbonded neutral coming from the generator. Placing the distribution panel in bypass mode resolved that issue. (I'm not sure I care to use a bonding plug with the generator.) The other interesting fact about my test was the fact the propane in the tank I was using is about 15 years old - I love the long shelf life for propane!
Now we don't have to hassle with carrying a separate gasoline tank for generator use in the Escape or our truck.

[jgilliam1955]

Having a propane for fuel is great. I have a Champion 2000 watt dual fuel generator. I haven't had any problems powering my Casita. You are right about having the choice is nice. It is nice to be able to move the generator around. I do have a whole house Generator. It's about 10 years old. We do not lose power that often. Before I retired, my job required me to be at work during bad weather. So I got it for peace of mind for my family. My wife loves it. A lot of storms out that way this year.