EMP - Is what I'm reading a Joke or something?

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Back to the EMP subject with the added genny to the conversation. I believe we all understand EMP is a possible long term event, generators that we laymen can afford are for short term less than 6 months (fuel dependent) With a propane genny and bulk tank maybe a year? In the North for a lot of us the genny would be a matter of convenience for the majority given it's far easier to keep warm than cool. Gasoline can store two years (treated) that's a lot of fuel to store and makes for a volatile environment and out of the question for the majority including a propane bulk tank not to mention the majority of consumer generators are not designed for continuous operations and the maintenance that needs to be performed after 50-80hrs of operations meaning additional stored oil and plugs!

Generally speaking, after an EMP strike far nastier events take place shortly after the attack! I would be more concerned about living in a sealed house (taped doors, windows etc..) with very little air movement if any when it's 90 or so degrees outside with high humidity (even with low humidity) for 14 days or longer. Even if one was able to use a generator in way of remote start the majority of air conditioners need to be vented outside giving an easy conduit for contamination entering the home, unless one has a really good budget the cost would be prohibited to do it right. One may be able to use solar powered fans but even that would have it's limitations, without fresh cool air the tempers are going to be high due to diminished mental state and probably not survivable for a great number of people if the sweatbox don't kill them first.

Lets just hope to hell we don't ever find ourselves in that situation, I would rather worry about hurricanes and short term power backup.
 
@
Maverick

That was a great, sensible, informative, post.
I can't store enough gasoline for the long term
The genny is only as good as it's fuel supply.
I bought mine for short term use.
I live in the country where power outages aren't exactly rare.
I learned a long time ago the power company will service communities
first, country people last.
My genny powers the refrigerator, a couple of lights, and the t-v for
news updates and such.
I really would like to get a good citizen band short wave radio to
listen for emergency messages.
I don't really want or need to communicate, just listen.
C.B. clubs abound in my area and many are part of disaster management
services.
I recall decades ago when my area was pounded by a rare blizzard
and 2 feet of snow in 24 hours.
Our road crews simply could not cope.
Police cars were stuck and officers walked back to the station.
The local Nat'l Guard used personnel carriers for emergency transport.
 
On the subject of Gennies do you guys have Gasolene Gennies or Diesel Gennies. I believe where possible for RELIABILITY, DURABILITY, EFFICIENCY and SAFETY that Diesel Gennies are superior, especially as they dont need an ignition system, and they are much less volatile around homes. I dont know the availability of diesel gennies in the US but they make up about a third of the UK market.

Diesel fuel is the stuff that makes America move, All your Frieght Locos are diesel as are your Trailer Hauler Trucks, Its safer to store and has a much longer shelf life than gas ( untreated) .
 
On the subject of Gennies do you guys have Gasolene Gennies or Diesel Gennies. I believe where possible for RELIABILITY, DURABILITY, EFFICIENCY and SAFETY that Diesel Gennies are superior, especially as they dont need an ignition system, and they are much less volatile around homes. I dont know the availability of diesel gennies in the US but they make up about a third of the UK market.

Diesel fuel is the stuff that makes America move, All your Frieght Locos are diesel as are your Trailer Hauler Trucks, Its safer to store and has a much longer shelf life than gas ( untreated) .
I currently have 3 gasoline generators and 1 diesel, with another diesel on order. The gas gensets are; 6.5 kw, 8.7 kw and 10 kw. The diesel is 12 kw and the one on order is 8 kw. These are running watts, not surge watts. Once I get the second diesel on line I'll sell all 3 of the gas units and buy a little portable gas 3.5 kw for jobs in remote areas of the ranch. Next year I'll set up a 500 gallon diesel tank and fill it with off road diesel (no tax) for the tractor and generators. Both diesel generators are Perkins Diesel and are equipped with auto-start. With proper care and maintenance they should out live me. Service intervals on the diesel units are every 250 hours. And 50 hours on the gasoline generators. The Perkins generators are made to run 24/7, consumer generators are designed to run a few hours occasionally. Most of my electric needs will come from solar and a battery bank. I'm guessing that in summer the generator may not fire up very often.
 
Artic dude can I ask does the Diesel in your part of the world have extra anti waxing protection because of the cold compared to the 48 states?, Ours in the UK is rated down to minus 15 if I remember right so if it gets colder I tended to add a shot of Acetone or Gasolene to a tank of diesel.
 
Artic dude can I ask does the Diesel in your part of the world have extra anti waxing protection because of the cold compared to the 48 states?, Ours in the UK is rated down to minus 15 if I remember right so if it gets colder I tended to add a shot of Acetone or Gasolene to a tank of diesel.

One can purchase AE diesel (winter diesel) here though generally not available in most lower 48 states, primarily sold in Alaska. For the majority lower 48 one can add an AE additive here. Anymore I run full synthetic oil in all my diesel engines now including the generators, made a big difference in starting especially cold weather.
 
Artic dude can I ask does the Diesel in your part of the world have extra anti waxing protection because of the cold compared to the 48 states?, Ours in the UK is rated down to minus 15 if I remember right so if it gets colder I tended to add a shot of Acetone or Gasolene to a tank of diesel.

Oops, just seen that was addresed to Artic :-/
 
Oops, just seen that was addresed to Artic :-/
No prob Mav. It's always good to get multiple answer's and opinions. While the stations around here claim to switch over to winter grade in the Fall they can't be trusted. Diesel still gels up at around zero. Every time I fill up with diesel in winter I add some anti gel to the tank. It saves a lot of headaches. Personally I've never been a big fan of synetic oils. My theroy is; if you use the proper weight of oil for the expected temperatures, and you change the oil when recommend, why pay the extra cost for synthetic oil.
 
It doesn’t get cold enough here to worry about diesel gelling.

For synthetic oil, the 7.3 liter super duty I used to have ran on synthetic. Changed it every 7500 miles and the only time I ever had to add oil was before the first change. Kept it for 180k....

Edit to add something totally irrelevant to this conversation: ford in all that wisdom is about to have a new trim level that pushes a loaded up F450 to $97k. And I thought I’d seen about everything.

Wonder how many of them they’ll sell? I bet there are some suckers out there....
 
Diesel generators seem hard to find. Easy to find gas ones though. For our storm needs, regular gas will be fine...at least until I can go the whole house generator route.
 

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