Hurricane Irma

It ain't about me Steve. I was trying to let folks that ain't from around here know, what folks like you and your neighbors face in the coming months and years for that matter. Once all the reporters and their cameras go away the people are left to deal with the aftermath.

Like I said unless you have been through it you really can't understand what it is to deal with the leftover from a hurricane! In a few days the coverage on TV will be less and less and in a few months remarkably less. I cut a lot of the oak downed by the storms and I sold it that winter. Not for a lot but just enough to have spending money. I had a lady call me for a load. What wasn't firewood size had been split.

Were she lived was really out of the area for me and the address down on the water. When I got there she starts telling me they were just getting back into their home, after settling with the insurance company about what was flood and what was wind damage. Hurricane Ivan hit on September 24, 2004, this was three days before Christmas.

She asked if I would stack the wood by the side of the back of the house. As I backed into their and while stacking I got to see what the water had done as it flooded off of the Bay! When I came back around front she asked me in to pay me. As I walked in I saw there was nothing a bare room, with a decorated Christmas tree sitting in what I assumed had once been the living room, a couple of folding chairs and a hot plate in what used to be the kitchen, that the coffee was on. They had been using it too cook off of. She told me they had only been back for three days now.

The sheet rock 4' up had been cut out and it was in various stages of hanging and finishing. She asked me if I would like a cup of coffee which I agreed to! While sitting drinking my coffee she told me of living in hotels and relatives and they had lost their van for their handicapped son! How the insurance companies had fought with them. How they had burned up all their savings. And all she wanted was to spend Christmas in her house with her family. I am going to get my handicapped son tomorrow, (he had been staying with relatives) and thank the Lord we will get to spend Christmas together as a family.

I finished the coffee, she asked me how much did you tell me the wood was! I looked at her you know I hate to even take your money. She shoved $40.00 dollars in my hand, is that enough! I think your add said more . Naw thats fine! I hugged her neck and told her Merry Christmas and walked out. All the way home I once again thought about how blessed we had really been!
 
Yes, I've surely been blessed with as little damage as I've had over the years with all the hurricanes I've went thru - being on a boat really helped, because the boat just floated up with the storm surge.

Steve, that's a BIG tree, sure glad it didn't fall on ya'll. That would have smashed the house for sure. It sounds like ya'll came thru ok without too much damage? No water damage to the equip? None to house? You'll have a chance to use the NG generator now. BTW, do ya'll have water? I guess it's city water? Sure hope so.

You talking about wife sleeping thru the storm - my wife didn't understand the issue, the boat was NOT going to sink or anything, it would protect her. She had total confidence in that boat after the first storm, which was just a strong northern that caught us in Apalachicola Bay in Jan when bringing the boat home after purchase in Ft Lauderdale. That 40 ft boat was the biggest boat either of us had ever been on, so it was a real learning experience. When that northern came thru, boy did the winds blow, and Apalachicola Bay being such a shallow bay the waves get really rough..... not near has high as the wife swore they were (20+ ft!), but they were steep breaking waves. I was seasick big time. I remember drinking an orange soda, it feeling so good going down, and tasting the same orange soda taste when it came up! I put a bucket of upchuck in cockpit floor, next morning the contents were up in the seats. Not sure how they got up there, but we did take some nice rolls! The boat had an inside helm so we were steering from below out of weather.

After traveling all night in that weather and finally making landfall next day late, with just a compass (no radar, no GPS, or anything) we hit Pananana City Farewell buoy right on the nose - We had cut straight across from St Pete to Pananana City on a compass course.

Anyway, after surviving that night, the wife felt that boat would NEVER let us down and she felt safe in most anything.

Enough rambling of old memories - ya'll be safe down there in Fla.

Ken H>
 
Well the electricity came back on today around 4:00 pm. so my natural gas converted generator ran for 42 hours non stop.
No trying to find gasoline, hauling containers around town, topping off at night and morning, it worked great.
This was it's first real test, it had been sitting under my work bench for a couple years.

Tomorrow she gets a fresh quart of Mobile 1 and back under the bench she goes.
still a lot of people with out electric all around, major intersections have generators working the traffic lights.
I counted over 40 cars today in line at one station that had gas.

This same generator can run on propane by simply adjusting the needle valve.
 
Steve, I was talking with my neighbors about your generator setup and the genius of having it plumbed to the gas line. One neighbor who has been here the longest says that this area does in fact have gas lines, but not all of the houses were plumbed for it. I've looked everywhere around my house and I don't see a gas main anywhere. My house was built the same time as my neighbor who does have it. I'm going to contact the gas company to see what's involved with getting the gas hooked up to my house. If it's going to be crazy expensive I suppose I'll go the propane route.
 
John, you have Teco gas in your area, sometimes you can tell by old yellow paint marks, valve boxes or marker poles in the area.
In Clearwater we will run a main extension up to 600' to a customers house AND run a service line and install a meter for free, but it requires you get at least two appliances, like a water heater and range. I know Teco isn't the same with supplying lines or meters for free. we don't generally look at generators as a load because there hardly used. personally, If I were you I'd call Teco or try to catch a gas worker on the job and ask about requirements to get a gas service, he may be able to tell you some short cuts to avoid having to jump thru hoops or install new appliances....or you could set an LP tank and have several companys looking for your business, although LP cost quite a bit more, but...there's your fuel for the forge your going to build !
 
Glad things worked out for ya'll - sounds like ya'll survived ok. Now Steve - any idea how many gallon/cubic feet of gas you used in your generator in the 42 hrs? What was your load? Any AC load? That's the biggie for power usage.

Perhaps the best way to covert to LPG would be the amount of BTUs used? BTU should be about the same for NG vs LPG- isn't that correct? While NG would use more cubic ft, there are few BTU/cubic ft than in LPG.

Did I mention I ordered the conversion kit? Should be here Monday per UPS.

Ken H>
 
Ken, no...I'm kicking myself for not getting a reading on the meter but things were kind of frantic when I started it and never even thought about it when I disconnected it. but my gas bill is about the same every month so I'll figure out about how much it cost to run it 42 hours.
We have a filling station for vehicles where I fill my work truck, I never look at what it's going for but they price it to the equivalent of a gallon of gas and it's always way cheaper. I'm kind of figuring if I had to run gasoline it would have been close to twice the money, and avoiding the fist fights I've heard about at the pumps, and having to keep it topped off, that alone was worth it.

Plus it's better for the generator...no carbon deposits and the oil last longer
Also, my work truck is a 250 super duty with the 6.2 engine, and I think they finally got these natural gas engines set up right now. that truck is FAST ! it runs on regular gas too but I rarely use it.
 
Hope that kit works for you, I'm getting another for a smaller Honda 3000 I got too, heck, I've got a third generator at my place in the woods that I might get one for to run on propane. I have a few friends that just ordered them too off Amazon, they look like the same one I got, they were $125.00

One thing to watch for....I remember when I put that thing on...it included stud extenders because the air filter ends up moving out further, I think I had a problem with one of them wanting to strip out so be careful with them.

I also had to cut the frame to make room for the air filters new location, but it didn't weaken the rest of the machine, I just left it like that.
 
C Craft said:
It ain't about me Steve. I was trying to let folks that ain't from around here know, what folks like you and your neighbors face in the coming months and years for that matter. Once all the reporters and their cameras go away the people are left to deal with the aftermath.

Like I said unless you have been through it you really can't understand what it is to deal with the leftover from a hurricane! In a few days the coverage on TV will be less and less and in a few months remarkably less. I cut a lot of the oak downed by the storms and I sold it that winter. Not for a lot but just enough to have spending money. I had a lady call me for a load. What wasn't firewood size had been split.

Were she lived was really out of the area for me and the address down on the water. When I got there she starts telling me they were just getting back into their home, after settling with the insurance company about what was flood and what was wind damage. Hurricane Ivan hit on September 24, 2004, this was three days before Christmas.

She asked if I would stack the wood by the side of the back of the house. As I backed into their and while stacking I got to see what the water had done as it flooded off of the Bay! When I came back around front she asked me in to pay me. As I walked in I saw there was nothing a bare room, with a decorated Christmas tree sitting in what I assumed had once been the living room, a couple of folding chairs and a hot plate in what used to be the kitchen, that the coffee was on. They had been using it too cook off of. She told me they had only been back for three days now.

The sheet rock 4' up had been cut out and it was in various stages of hanging and finishing. She asked me if I would like a cup of coffee which I agreed to! While sitting drinking my coffee she told me of living in hotels and relatives and they had lost their van for their handicapped son! How the insurance companies had fought with them. How they had burned up all their savings. And all she wanted was to spend Christmas in her house with her family. I am going to get my handicapped son tomorrow, (he had been staying with relatives) and thank the Lord we will get to spend Christmas together as a family.

I finished the coffee, she asked me how much did you tell me the wood was! I looked at her you know I hate to even take your money. She shoved $40.00 dollars in my hand, is that enough! I think your add said more . Naw thats fine! I hugged her neck and told her Merry Christmas and walked out. All the way home I once again thought about how blessed we had really been!
Click to expand...
One of the neatest stories I've heard in a while!!
 
Steve, thanks for the info on the conversion - hopefully I'll be doing that conversion in the next week or so. I expect to use gasoline most of time simply because it's convenient when moving the generator around from place to place. BUT - in an emergency type situation, I'll be able to run it from my 50 gal propane tank if need to.

Ken H>
 
KenH said:
Steve, thanks for the info on the conversion - hopefully I'll be doing that conversion in the next week or so. I expect to use gasoline most of time simply because it's convenient when moving the generator around from place to place. BUT - in an emergency type situation, I'll be able to run it from my 50 gal propane tank if need to.

Ken H>
Click to expand...

Ken, I might be wrong here but, I went to the site and did some reading on some of the installations. It told on the one that I looked at step by step installation! This may be for something else but the first step was unscrew the fuel bowl and discard and then you drill and hook up their conversion. Blah, blah. The last instruction was if you want to ever run it on gasoline again you will have to buy another carburetor!
Not for sure about that but you may want to look at the installation instruction for you particular model of generator!!
 
I'll have to read the instructions again - there are some of types of conversions that do brag about running on either fuel after conversion, perhaps only requiring a carb adjustment. If the carb bowl has to be deleted, then it sure won't run on gas.

edit: This conversion kit says run on propane or gasoline either one after conversion. The following is from the Amazon page for kit.
  • Run on natural gas, low pressure propane or gasoline
We'll see if it actually does or not.

Ken H>
 
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I haven't seen the kit where you need to remove the bowl, I sure wouldn't want anything like that.
A friend at work just bought one on amazon and asked me if it's what I had, it was.
it had all the parts laid out in the picture, on ours there's what looks like a manifold spacer that attaches to the intake of the carb, the nat. gas is fed thru a port in the side of this. I'll see if I can find the picture.
 
Here's a pic of what I have the "adapter" part is what goes on the front of the carb. there is another style that has a feed tube incorporated into the carb gasket, that's supposed to be the new style and you don't have to cut the frame because the air filter sticks out farther with the spacer installed. upload_2017-9-15_19-16-56.png
 
I just bought a new 18" Echo chainsaw a few months ago and it's never going to see pump gas. all I'll run in it is the canned gas from home depot or lowes, it ain't cheap at $6.00 a quart or something but it's higher octane, no ethanol and has a shelf life of two years. other than my truck, it seems like this ethanol gas that's out there now want's to destroy everything if it's not used up in 30 days. I don't even trust non ethanol gas anymore past a couple months.
 
They have been pushing ethanol since I was a kid reading the Weekly Reader. Its been about 50 years or more since I read one of them, I doubt the kids today even know what that is! The wave of the future. Only problems are you can't run it through the pipeline with gas as it attracts moisture! Oh by the way it eats the rubber out of your entire system. They sold America a Pig in a poke, as far as I am concerned!! Any mechanic will tell you it is the death of 2 cycle engine and ruins your engine in your vehicle!!!

OK guys you had me thinking I had gone crazy. Which is highly possible!! o_O So I asked once in this thread about high pressure regulator and low pressure regulators. I think I even made the statement, (without going back and reading all I had to say), that I thought from my experience I thought a high pressure regulator was easier to fine tune!!!
So here is how I got to the part about throwing the bowl for the carb away. Soo beings as how I was sitting on my lazy assets I punched in from memory, their list of the different generators. Mine is a Coleman, from there it took me too this page, http://www.uscarburetion.com/coleman-generators.htm So if you look to the left on that page you will see a list. I clicked on the Type 1 Kits, dedicated high pressure propane. Which took me to this page, http://www.uscarburetion.com/type_1.htm

Here is what I was reading about: In the directions it tells you how to do the conversion!! Notice the parts I highlighted in blue. Now I am not even a 100% sure this is the kit for my generator. I was mainly looking to see how complicated the conversion was!!

​
Type 1 kits are high pressure propane only kits. The original gasoline carburetor is converted to meter the propane to the engine. This is the most common method of conversion and it is the least expensive. To make the modification, simply remove the carburetor from the engine. Unscrew the float bowl and discard it along with the float, needle and high speed jet that runs up through the center of the carburetor (shown below). The passage that the high speed jet ran up through is then enlarged to accept the new propane or natural gas jet. One other passage is drilled larger and all other passages are sealed with the sealant provided. That is basically it. An example of the new tube can be seen in the picture above.
​


This type of conversion will produce FULL power because the carburetor is now delivering fuel at the exact location that was engineered for the delivery of gasoline to the engine air stream. Even though most people never go back to gasoline, if gasoline operation is ever wanted in the future, a new carburetor would have to be purchased.



Click on the picture above to see an example of a complete conversion.


OK so now going back to the list again I am looking at the, Type 2 kits are bi-fuel High Pressure Propane and standard Gasoline. If I am reading it correctly with that kit you can keep the carb and it also allows for High Pressure Propane and standard gas or bi-fuel!!
Like I said I was more or less just looking to see how complicated the conversion was and an approximate price!! If I decide to do I will get all the info off of my generator and they also have a number to call. So I would go that route.
Ken, when I heard you saying you were looking to be able to run both, ............on what I had read first. Well I figured I might let you know you were going to have another carb on hand. However different kits are plumbed differently.

Makes me wish I had kept the 5KW generator that they could not find on an inventory list when I was working for Uncle Sam. Ah that is the kind of thing they put you in Federal Prison for. I never looked good in stripes!!! :D
 
C Craft, the kit I used is the C kit, that's got the manifold spacer between the carb and air filter. it says there it's for up to 12hp but mine is 13 and it runs great. I bought mine like 2-3 years ago so they probably changed the wording.
I remember when I ordered it, it was kind of confusing, they had what seemed like 100s of generators listed, even knockoff Chinese Honda's. it took a while to nail down the right one.
I wouldn't even consider one that you had to render the carb useless, that's the fuel to fall back on. or I might use it some other time when it's more convenient, but I'd be sure to run it empty then drain the fuel bowl.
 
Yep Steve, that looks like the same kit I ordered from Amazon, shipped by Century Fuel Products. I just checked and it's listed at $180 now, same price as on Century Fuel Products website. Hopefully things will go good on the installation. Looks like UPS has it scheduled for delivery Monday.

In talking with the tech this past week, the typical BBQ grill type regulator won't flow enough volume to run the generator, so they use a "high pressure" regulator which does the same thing the BBQ regulator does, drop the tank pressure down to the 8 oz range, but will flow sufficient volume to run the generator. This "high pressure" regulator connects to the tank (typically 20 or 40 lb tank ) to provide flow to the low pressure regulator mounted on generator.

Ken H>
 
Your going to like it, mine ran nice and smooth once I got the needle adjuster "3/8ths bolt" dialed in. let us know how it works.
Every sheep dog should have one at home.
 
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