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Jewish World Review
How Stuff Works: How emergency power works
By
Marshall Brain
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
There can be a power failure any time of the year. During the winter, big snow storms and ice storms can knock down power lines. In the fall, hurricanes can inundate entire cities and shut down the grid. In the summer there are tornadoes and thunderstorms to worry about. And sometimes the power fails for random reasons. A car might run into a pole and take out the electricity in your neighborhood for a day.
Electrical power is essential for many parts of our lives. The batteries in cordless and cellular phones go dead without power, making communication impossible. Desktop computers are useless in a power failure, and laptop batteries only last an hour or two. A house can feel absolutely creepy at night if you don't have any lights. And the food in the refrigerator and freezer starts to spoil after several hours without power.
Therefore, you may want to consider having an emergency supply of electricity for your home.
If you own a car, you already have one inexpensive option. With a car charger for your cell phone, you can always recharge it there. It is also possible to take your car to the next level by buying something called an inverter (typically around $30 to $50). You plug an inverter into your car's cigarette lighter, and it will produce 120 volt power like you would find at a wall socket in your house.
With an inverter you can produce 200 to 400 watts of power, which is easily enough power to run things like fluorescent lamps, laptop computers, cell phone chargers, cordless phones, small TV sets and so on. You can run an extension cord from your inverter to any part of the house to plug something in.
You do have to keep two things in mind when using your car for emergency power. First, you can easily drain the car's battery to the point where you won't be able to start the car. That is something you can avoid by running the engine to recharge the battery. Which brings up the second point: You never want to start a car engine in a closed garage. The exhaust will kill you. Always run the car outside or with the garage door wide open.
Note that if you happen to own a Prius or a similar hybrid car with a big battery pack, you are in luck. A Prius can easily run a 1,000 watt inverter, and a Prius will automatically start the engine whenever the batteries need recharging. With a full tank of gas, a Prius can provide several days of emergency power. Just be sure to put the Prius outside or to open the garage door. See the Web for details on Prius power.
Your car, unfortunately, isn't a good way to power big appliances like refrigerators or freezers. For that you need to consider buying a portable gasoline generator. These generators are available at home improvement centers in sizes ranging from 1,000 watts to 5,000 watts or so. Prices range from $150 to $1,000. A 2,000 watt unit can handle a refrigerator or freezer along with fans, lights, computers, etc. A 5,000 watt unit can handle just about anything in your home (except central heat/AC or a heat pump).
If you are going to operate a gasoline generator, you need to keep three things in mind. First, you need plenty of hefty extension cords. The generator will be sitting in an open garage or outside, so you will need extension cords to reach the refrigerator, lamps, etc. in your house. Second, you will need a supply of gasoline to fuel the generator. You can store gas in the garage in 5 gallon cans, but you need to keep in mind that gasoline spoils. Fuel stabilizer helps, but you need to replace it gasoline ever 3 to 6 months even if it is stabilized. Third, if you are operating a generator, you need to ground it. The owner's manual will show you how to do this properly.
What if you want to take it to the limit and power your entire house? Then you will be looking at big permanent generators producing 10,000 watts or more. These units start themselves automatically when they detect a power failure and can run off of gasoline, diesel, natural gas or LPG. Prices start at several thousand dollars but can easily exceed $10,000 once you consider the costs of enclosures, wiring and fuel storage. With a big LPG tank in the yard, your generator can run for weeks.
The time to consider your options is before the power fails. So take stock of your power needs in an emergency, consider your budget, and pick an option that works best for you.
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Previously:
How aircraft carriers work
How antibiotics and vaccines work
How mucus works
How iron and steel work
How aspirin works
How igloos work
How the Predator UAV works
How retention ponds work
How water absorbers work
How melamine works
How digital music works
How coal mining works
How an economic depression works
How the liver works
How 3D movies work
How oil pipelines work
How jet packs work
How seismographs work
How Olympic technology works
How Personal Rapid Transit works
How 3G works
How the Global Position System (GPS) works
How octane works
How cruise missiles work
How submarines work
How miles work
How octane works
How food preservation works
How beer works
How holding your breath works
How smoke detectors work
How heat pumps work
How your night vision works
How concentrating solar collectors work
How your key fob works
How the common cold works
How the Large Hadron Collider Works
How making a TV show works
How dry cleaning works
How exoskeletons work
How an oil refinery works
How landfills work
How the Orion spacecraft works
The cutting edge in HDTV
Redefining the CD
How the HDMI cable scam works
How glow-in-the-dark toys work
How the subprime mortgage crisis works
How gift cards work
How Tasers work
How giant TV screens work
How foreclosure works
How Air Force One works
How wildfire fighting works
How vitamins work
How ejection seats work
How reattaching limbs works
How hot air balloons work
How paparazzi work
How counterfeiting works
How CDs work
How the Edsel worked
How Stinger missiles work
How hybrid cars work
How sharks work
How mosquitoes work
How diesel engines work
How water towers work
How the Dawn mission works
How Kassam rockets work
How the North American Eagle works
Why aren't we flying to work?
How tofu and soy milk work
How Colony Collapse Disorder works
How airbags work
How the U.S. income tax works
How gum works
How caffeine works
How Daylight Saving Time works
How a cruise missile works
How snow making works
© 2007, How Stuff Works Inc. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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