It goes without saying that an Emergency Power Generator without fuel is like a light bulb without electricity. If that light bulb has no electricity it doesn’t produce any light. If the generator doesn’t have any fuel, it WILL NOT produce any electricity. I realize that’s elementary. However, it becomes a serious issue when a person is facing an ice storm or a power outage and they are just about out of gas. The situation becomes critical if there is no access to gas stations. Now what? This is exactly what people face in real time.

During the ice storm that blanketed the eastern part of the nation in 2009, numerous people with emergency power generators ran out of gasoline. The primary reason why? They didn’t know the rule for storing fuel.

To be clear, this is a general rule, guideline or rule of thumb that we use to cover most scenarios. The standard emergency power generator has a five-gallon capacity. Based on that figure let’s do some math, which I hate incidentally. The average consumption rate for a generator hovers around 0.67 gallons per hour. That means that a five gallon tank will provide you with roughly a little over five hours of power.

The question is, “How many hours do you plan to operate your emergency power generator before needing to refuel?” To answer that question we’ve got to factor in variables such as inclement weather, gas stations closed, gas stations out of fuel, roads closed, vehicle immobile due to weather, etc., etc. There’s no way that we can say how long any of those variables will last or how long they will impact your community. What we can do is look at past history and come up with a rule of thumb.

That being said, we find that storing a thirty-two gallon supply of gas, in addition to the five gallons already in your emergency power generator, is a great rule of thumb to follow. That provides you with a total of roughly fifty-six hours of power. Incidents such as the 2009 ice storm, Hurricane Katrina, the blackouts in Florida and New York taught us an invaluable lesson: BE PREPARED! Assuming that you’re conserving fuel by only running the absolutely necessary appliances and devices, your fuel consumption may be a little better.

The next issue to address is the type of gasoline container to use. There are all types of gas cans on the market. Cheap ones. Medium range ones and expensive ones. They come in various types of materials such as metal, plastic and polyethylene. The issue here is threefold: (1) The size of the gas can and remember, we’re talking about thirty two gallons. (2) It’s ability to dispense gasoline safely. You don’t wont the type of gas can that you have to wrestle with the spout or it has known splashing issues. (3) Can it safely store gasoline in any element; hot or cold weather?

Taking those questions into consideration, there are a number of brands that can suit your needs. Some examples are, Justrite, Flo N’ Go DuraMax and Eagle and there are a few others. These manufacturers put out reliable products that will compliment your emergency power generator very well. The smart thing about storing gasoline for emergencies is this: keep recycling the gas if you have no outages. That means, use the stored gasoline for other outdoor power equipment and then replenish your storage container with fresh gas.

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So, what is electricity? Watt indeed! Even though we may not all be scientists or engineers, it’s safe to bet we know a bit about what happens when we turn on the light switch in our office and switch on the computer – the room lights up and the computer starts up. But, how exactly did that happen? We’ll do our best to explain the workings of electricity and its terminology.

Electricity – A Defining Moment

Here’s a short definition of what electricity is:

Electricity is the flow of electrons through a circuit. The force or pressure of moving electrons in a circuit is measured as voltage. The flow rate of electrons is measured as amperage. The power of a system is measured as watts.

And here’s a list of the various components that make up the above definition and help answer “What is electricity?”:

A volt is the unit of force (electrical pressure) that causes electrons to flow through a wire. Volts are abbreviated V, or expressed by the symbol E. Electrical pressure is sometimes referred to as the electromotive force (EMF). Some common voltages used in light-duty electrical systems include 12v, 24v, 48v. Most homes use 120v and 240v systems.

An ampere or amp is the unit of electrical current flowing through a wire. Amps are abbreviated A or expressed by the symbol I (for intensity of current). Just as pipe is sized by the rate of water passing through it, a wire is sized according to the rate of electrons (amps) flowing through it. One amp of current flowing for one hour is referred to as an amp-hour (Ah). The term amp-hour is commonly used when describing battery capacity.

What’s A Watt>

A watt is a unit of electrical power equivalent to a current of one ampere under a pressure of one volt. Watts indicate the rate at which an appliance uses electrical energy or the rate at which electrical energy is produced. Since consumers need to gauge how much electricity they use, the watt-hour, an electrical unit of energy, is an important measurement. An appliance that consumes electrical energy at a rate of one watt for one hour will have consumed a quantity of electricity equal to one watt-hour.

To calculate watt-hour, there are two things you’ll need to know:

* An appliance’s rated watts.

* The estimated duration of time the appliance will be operated.

The term watt-hours probably sounds familiar, since utility companies bill their customers for the number of kilowatt-hours consumed. Kilowatt-hours of electricity are equal to 1,000 watt-hours and are abbreviated kWh.

Types of Current

There are two types of electrical current. Alternating current (AC) is electric current in which direction of flow reverses at frequent, regular intervals. This type of current is produced by alternators. In an alternator, a magnetic field causes electrons to flow first in one direction, then in the reverse direction. Electric utility companies supply alternating current.

Direct current (DC) is electric current that flows in one direction. Direct Current is the type of current produced by PV modules and stored in batteries.

What is electricity? We’ve got an equation for that!

Here we’ll sum up what we’ve just discussed with an equation or two:

Power = Watts (W) = Volts (V) x Amps (A) 1,000W = 1 Kilowatt (kW)

Energy = Watt-hours (Wh) = Watts x Hours 1,000Wh = 1 Kilowatt-hour (kWh)

Amp-hours (Ah) = Amps x Hours

And just to round off – here’s an illustration of how watt-hours are calculated:

Problem: How much electrical energy is consumed if a 100-watt light bulb is used for 10 hours?

Solution: 100 watts X 10 hours = 1,000 watt-hours (or 1 kilowatt hour).

Electricity is a major part of most people’s everyday lives and is something we generally take for granted, like breathing or eating and sleeping, never really giving any thought to what an amazing thing it is or exactly how it works.

Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll be more aware of the miracle that’s taking place next time you walk into a dark room and switch the light on.

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