A laptop in a storm

Instapundit has an interesting discussion about recharging your laptop or smart phone after a power blackout. Is is OK to use outlets at McDonalds, etc? But what really caught me eye was a comment by Johan Bakker who installs home generators:

there are still serious issues with generators and UPS [Universal Power Supply] units. Except for the largest and most-sophisticated generators, these two devices do not play well together... UPS makers have set very-narrow boundaries on the frequency input that their devices will tolerate before calling a fault. ... UPS makers use the disruption in frequency as a warning that utility power is going out [and switch to battery backup]

Most home generators cannot keep the power frequency stable to ± 0.5 Hz as required by UPS (and circuit breakers?). Bakker recommends inverters instead

for low-level charging needs, like phones and laptops, the best solution is a 12V auto battery and a miniature inverter. The battery can be charged in so many different ways (from a car, from a charger running off a generator, from a lawnmower, from a solar panel, the possible ways are endless) and even a small lead-acid battery (like a lawn-tractor battery) has more-than-enough capacity to charge many cell-phones and laptops before requiring a fresh charge.

Back-up Power

"Marriage has no guarantees. If that's what you're looking for, go live with a car battery."
-Erma Bombeck

One of the items on my to-do list is to get a backup power generator. But there are so many issues and questions. What size, how does it work? And there are dangers: it must be used outdoors, gasoline must be stored, etc.

A good starting point is an How Emergency Power Systems Work from HowStuffWorks.com. There are 6+ pages in the series so be sure to read each:

1. Introduction to How Emergency Power Systems Work
2. Emergency Power Options and Goals
3. Understanding Your Power Needs
4. Choosing Between an Inverter and a Generator
5. Hooking the Power into Your House
6. Lots More Information

Some of the things I learned:
- add a gas stabilizer for gas stored more than one month
- know the peak pull of an appliance. A fridge may not pull much juice while idling but when the compressor turns out, power pull will spike. Many sites on efficient energy usage only report the average power used.
- consider alternating appliances. Run the fridge to cool it down, then unplug it and let the well pump increase the water pressure. Both won't work at the same time but you can stagger usage.

Bottom Line

There's an alternative to gas powered generators now, power inverters. Inverters attach to large batteries (like a car battery) and convert the direct current to alternating current for appliances. There are quiet and safe and affordable in small sizes. Sadly not so cheap for 5000 watt sizes and they may only last for a few hours to a day at best.

Kerosene

Kilometers are shorter than miles.  Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers. 
~George Carlin

For the past ten years my wife has been a tour guide at Kykuit, the summer home of J.D Rockefeller. Perhaps you know that by most accounts, JDR is the wealthiest man in modern history. His fortune at his death (1937) was equal to nearly 2% of all the wealth in the nation. And you may recall that he made his money in Oil and created the Standard Oil Company (the world's first and largest multinational corporation until it was broken up by the Supreme Court in 1911.)

What you may not know is that Standard Oil's initial wealth was built not upon gasoline but kerosene which was used in oil lamps before the invention of the light bulb (1879) and the availability of electricity in homes (1905-1925). Before 1900, gasoline was considered a waste byproduct of oil refinement. JDR was very lucky. While the market for kerosene vanished in the early 20th century, a new market for gasoline powered cars was created and flourished and kept Standard Oil in business.

If you're like me, you may be clueless on what the difference is between kerosene and gasoline. So here's what I found...

Crude oil pumped out­ of the ground is a black liquid called petroleum which is composed of hydrocarbon molecules of different lengths. The length affects the molecular properties. The shortest chains are gases: CH₄ (methane), C₂H₆ (ethane), C₃H₈ (propane) and C₄H₁₀ (butane). The chains above C₁₉ are solid at room temperature while the chains in the middle are liquids. If you deduce from this that molecule length changes the boiling temperature, you're right!

According to HowStuffWorks.com,

The chains from C₇H₁₆ through C₁₁H₂₄ are blended together and used for gasoline. All of them vaporize at temperatures below the boiling point of water. That's why if you spill gasoline on the ground it evaporates very quickly.
Next is kerosene, in the C₁₂ to C₁₅ range, followed by diesel fuel and heavier fuel oils (like heating oil for houses).
Next come the lubricating oils. These oils no longer vaporize in any way at normal temperatures. For example, engine oil can run all day at 250 degrees F (121 degrees C) without vaporizing at all. Oils go from very light (like 3-in-1 oil) through various thicknesses of motor oil through very thick gear oils and then semi-solid greases. Vasoline falls in there as well.
Chains above the C₂₀ range form solids, starting with paraffin wax, then tar and finally asphaltic bitumen, which is used to make asphalt roads.

The boiling point of hydrocarbons also impacts its flammability. A lit match tossed onto gasoline will burn aggressively. If you drop a match into diesel or kerosene, the match will go out. For this reason kerosene is safer than gasoline in the home and Diesel fuel is safer for trucks with giant gas tanks and for military vehicles. It takes a very high pressure for Diesel to burn. 

Bottom Line

Kerosene is typically (and in some jurisdictions legally required to be) stored in a blue container in order to avoid it getting confused with the much more flammable gasoline, which is typically kept in a red container. Diesel fuel is generally stored in yellow containers.

Today kerosene is used as a cooking fuel in less developed countries and for portable stoves for backpackers. There are also kerosene space heaters for use during power failures. (Not recommended for closed indoor areas without a chimney due to the danger of build-up of carbon monoxide gas.)

The Amish, who abstain from electricity, still rely on kerosene for lighting at night.

Living without power

"CenterPoint Energy has said that it expects some places to be without power for
at least two weeks." - Houston Chronicle, Sept 14 following hurricane Ike

The Houston Chronicle has several excellent tips for surviving without electrical power. I'll present these as a top 10 count down list...

10. Eat the perishable food first.
Save the canned goods for later. Cook meat on a gas stove or barbecue grill and start eating it right away.

9. Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible.
When you do open the fridge, take out everything you'll need for the the current meal and next few hours. Keep these items in a cooler and don't touch the fridge again until the next meal.

8. The best light comes from the sun.
Read and work during the daylight hours. Catch up on your sleep at night. If you use candles, cover them with hurricane globes. The Red Cross opposes candles completely - candles cause accidental fires.

7. Use electrical generators with care.
Use it outdoors only! See Gas Generator Warning for more details

6. Treat all lines on the ground as if they were live power line.
High power lines can arc electricity several feet. Stay away.

5. Call your power company - maybe.
The Houston power company recommends not calling them on day one. They know when huge neighborhoods are dark. But if your neighbors have power and you don't or if it's been a few days, then call your local power company so they know your house is still in the dark.

4. Remember those old-fashioned family values
What! No gameboy or iTunes? Try a family sing-along, cards, charades, story-telling.

3. Remember the children!
Kids and elderly are easily stressed and frightened. Make sure they have activities be it work or play to pass the time away without worrying.

2. Smile!
Be kind to everyone during an emergency. Everyone is having a very bad day. Don't make it worse by turning on each other or by being rude.

And finally...

1. Won't you be my neighbor?
Move in with someone who does have power. Or visit occasionally for a cool drink or to cool down with air conditioning. Perhaps they can store some of your food in their freezer?

Bottom Line

Don't have a friendly neighbor with power? In some areas the Red Cross will provide cool down shelters - you don't have to spend the night but can drop by to pick up water, cleaning supplies and a hot meal. The Red Cross might also send an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) through your neighborhood when the roads are safe to travel. The ERV provides foods, drinks, and supplies to neighborhoods. Listen to the radio or call the Red Cross to find out if these services are available.

See also www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5998723.html for a nice article covering the topics of this blog.

Gas Generator Warning

Portable gas generators, often used by consumers to restore power to their homes and businesses in the aftermath of a storm, produce high levels of deadly carbon monoxide (CO). CPSC warns consumers that generators should be used outdoors only, far from doors, windows, and vents that could allow CO to come indoors. “Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless poison gas. It is an invisible killer,” said CPSC Acting Chairman Nancy Nord. “While generators can come in handy after a storm, using one indoors can kill you and your family in minutes." - U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Spotted on the Consumerist, Try Not To Kill Yourself By Using A Gas Generator Inside A Building, in the wake of Hurricane Fay some Florida residents used Gas Generators in unsafe ways.

A survey of more than 10,000 adults found dangerous misconceptions about generator safety. Most respondents (62 percent) believe it is safe to run a generator in a garage as long as the garage door is open. Many (47 percent) also believe it is safe to run a generator in a basement as long as a window is open. But both scenarios caused nearly 100 deaths in 2005.

Bottom Line

The Commission provides these important life-saving tips:

• If you start to feel sick, dizzy or weak while using a generator, get to fresh air right away.
• Keep generators dry and wait for the rain to pass before using a generator. Consumer-grade generators are not weatherproof and can pose the risk of electrocution and shock.
• Do not connect the generator directly into your home's electrical system through a receptacle outlet – this is an extremely dangerous practice that poses a fire hazard and an electrocution hazard to utility workers and neighbors served by the same transformer.
• If using a generator, plug individual appliances into heavy duty, outdoor-rated extension cords and plug cords into the generator.
• Check that the extension cords have a wire gauge adequate for the appliance loads and have all three prongs, including a grounding pin.
• Check to make sure your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms have batteries and are working.