Re: Damn hurricanes

[miskairal]

kryppy wrote:
> Well, just got my power back after seventeen days.
>
> I have been on the generator and inverters for so long, I am thinking
> of disconnecting from the stupid weak grid. :)
>
> I never realized just how much power these tanks consume!
> Anyway, kept a 180 full of corals and a bunch of fish in perfect
> condition. My eleven year old grouper in his nasty 55 didn't even
> notice, and my two 29 grow out tanks seem better now. Weird.
>
> I ran my generator about 8 hrs a day for the first seven days and went
> to 12 - 24 hours when the fuel started flowing freely again and the
> days dragged on.
> I ran battery bubblers when the genset was off, and I think i could
> have got by without them.
>
> All in all, my 5250 watt generator I bought for $300 a week before the
> storm made my hurricane experience an ok vacation.
>
>
>
>
Ok, you've got me thinking....
How do you determine what size generator you need to run an aquarium? We
will shortly be in a position to be able to afford a generator,
something we've always wanted as we live on a farm and water to the
house is all via pressure pumps from tanks.

We were dairy farming for the last 12 years and never missed milking
twice a day so our power is fairly reliable and we don't get
hurricanes/cyclones. The longest our power has been out in the last 22
years is 11 hours but there is always a first time.

Any advice?

Thankyou.

[Linspire User]

Well just start adding the wattage and little extra.. ie: 2x250watt =500
heater (maybe)
pumps powerheads etc...

miskairal wrote:
> kryppy wrote:
> Ok, you've got me thinking....
> How do you determine what size generator you need to run an aquarium? We
> will shortly be in a position to be able to afford a generator,
> something we've always wanted as we live on a farm and water to the
> house is all via pressure pumps from tanks.
>
> We were dairy farming for the last 12 years and never missed milking
> twice a day so our power is fairly reliable and we don't get
> hurricanes/cyclones. The longest our power has been out in the last 22
> years is 11 hours but there is always a first time.
>
> Any advice?
>
> Thankyou.

[miskairal]

Well I thought about that but it sounds too simple.

Linspire User wrote:
> Well just start adding the wattage and little extra.. ie: 2x250watt =500
> heater (maybe)
> pumps powerheads etc...
>
> miskairal wrote:
>
>> kryppy wrote:
>> Ok, you've got me thinking....
>> How do you determine what size generator you need to run an aquarium?
>> We will shortly be in a position to be able to afford a generator,
>> something we've always wanted as we live on a farm and water to the
>> house is all via pressure pumps from tanks.
>>
>> We were dairy farming for the last 12 years and never missed milking
>> twice a day so our power is fairly reliable and we don't get
>> hurricanes/cyclones. The longest our power has been out in the last 22
>> years is 11 hours but there is always a first time.
>>
>> Any advice?
>>
>> Thankyou.

[Wayne Sallee]

Generators are a hot item down here with so many crooks
stealing them. And the police, of course don't do anything
about it.

kryppy wrote on 11/12/2005 7:33 PM:

> I am hopping to find one cheap when this wears off everyone
> around here and they get sick of them taking up space.
>
>
>

[George Patterson]

kryppy wrote:

> I don't have any idea how to calculate how much you need beyond the
> tanks, because the other stuff doesn't have any numbers on it,

If you don't know the exact amount of an item, allow 1,175 watts for each
electrical outlet. If you want to do an entire house, add up the amperage values
of all the breakers in the panel. Count each double-pole breaker as two
breakers. Calculate 80% of the total. Then multiply that by 110. The result is
the maximum total wattage under normal usage.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

[miskairal]

George Patterson wrote:
> kryppy wrote:
>
>> I don't have any idea how to calculate how much you need beyond the
>> tanks, because the other stuff doesn't have any numbers on it,
>
>
> If you don't know the exact amount of an item, allow 1,175 watts for
> each electrical outlet. If you want to do an entire house, add up the
> amperage values of all the breakers in the panel. Count each double-pole
> breaker as two breakers. Calculate 80% of the total. Then multiply that
> by 110. The result is the maximum total wattage under normal usage.
>
> George Patterson
> Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your
> neighbor.
> It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

Thanks everyone!

[George Patterson]

kryppy wrote:

> So simple, thanks. Now I just need a 45,000 watt generator to make
> every single thing work at one time. :)

Right. What I would do is to buy something large enough to handle the central
air and one or two additional circuits. Put in an automatic switching box to
those circuits and make sure one of the circuits is the aquarium. The other
probably should be the fridge.

I could do my house that way with a 10 kilowatt unit. Got something to cool the
tank that pulls less power? You can get by with a smaller generator.

George Patterson
If a tank is out of ammunition, what you have is a sixty ton portable
radio.