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Came through Irma with no damage or injuries, just a big mess to clean up. But I have a question about siphoning gasoline.
I made sure my vehicles had plenty of gasoline prior to the storm so I could siphon from them to feed my generators. No problems getting gas out of the '67 but I could not get the tube down into the tanks of our 2012 C6 or or 2014 Honda CRV. Do newer vehicles have some kind of one-way valve or anti-siphoning device in the filler tube? Any way to bypass that?
As a note, I've had them for several years but this is the first time I've used my little Honda 2000 Watt suitcase generators. They performed like champs. Found that I could run the refrigerator, freezer, fan, a couple of lights, coffee pot, and microwave on 1 generator (20 amps). I have the wiring harness to connect both generators in parallel but didn't need to do that so I loaned one generator to a neighbor. Quiet operation, only 53 db in ECO mode, and it would run for 10 hours on 1 gallon of fuel. The only time it kicked out of ECO mode was when we ran the microwave or the coffee pot. So, we're ready for those other half dozen storms brewing up out in the Atlantic.
Steve, I would have thought the gas stations would have gas by now? I like that Honda set up. I have a 20 year old 5000 Honda and it is very loud. If it ever craps out I am going to look at a set like yours. My wife wants a whole house gen which may happen too. I live in an above ground neighborhood with lots of trees so we loose power several times a year.
Steve, I would have thought the gas stations would have gas by now? I like that Honda set up. I have a 20 year old 5000 Honda and it is very loud. If it ever craps out I am going to look at a set like yours. My wife wants a whole house gen which may happen too. I live in an above ground neighborhood with lots of trees so we loose power several times a year.
Hey Mark - Yes, we have gas and we have electricity back on so no need for siphoning now. Just looking ahead to that string of storms coming off the African coast.
Whole house gens are nice. Kind of pricey, though, and not really cost-effective unless you have lots of power outages. I'm amazed at how quiet these Honda units are. You can actually stand next to them and have a conversation. We have them on the back porch and with the French doors closed, we can barely hear them.
After hurricane season is over, I'm going to get an electrician out to see about getting a transfer switch installed so I can plug my generators into the house wiring. I think (but not certain), with a transfer switch, you can plug the generator into a wall receptacle in your home and power whatever is on that circuit. Apparently, if you do that without a transfer switch, you can kill a lineman if he's working on the wiring for your neighborhood. It would be nice to plug into the house circuit and eliminate all the power cords running through the house.
Steve, I have the transfer switch and you can manage where the power goes with the flick of a breaker. I have a couple of window a/c units you can also run off the Honda. It takes me 5 minutes to set it up so bad. You need to do a good job in labeling the breakers and that will save you some time.
Back in 2003 we lost power for 11 days in Isabell. The Honda burned 88 gallons of gas while the power was out. That's the worst outage we have had since I have been here.
After Charlie I put in a whole house generator. It has a transfer switch and starts up after 10 seconds. During Irma we did not lose power at all. When built, our subdivision buried all of the power lines. All of the neighborhoods around us lost power for a number of days. For those with natural gas, this is a great option. I installed a 500 gallon propane tank under my lawn to power the generator, stove and tankless hot water heater. I hope all in our Florida community faired as well as I did. Jerry
In a word, yes. In fact my 2006 Durango had a factory recall for a bad anti-siphon valve.
I am going to hazard a guess that the anti siphon valve is between the tank and the FI. Not something in the filler neck, though there may be a spring laoded valve there to prevent fuel spills during an upset, and that may be what was recalled... I do not know either way for sure.
I do believe there is something, a screen, or such in the filler neck of new vehicles that prevent siphon hoses, or other debris from getting shoved into the tank. i remember reading on the C7 forum some time ago about some guy that got a siphon hose stuck and then broken off in the C7 filler neck because he need some gas for his lawnmower, or something equally inane reason.
There is a disconnect you can get that has both line power and gen power feeds. You throw the handle to select which one you want. This protects lineman from back current, as you can just use one source at a time and disconnects the non selected source. Common on farm applications and usually installed on the service pole.
I would think if you went this route, you could park the generator next to the disconnect outside. Those Hondas are nice, but at 13.5 amps each there pretty small for any meaningful use i.e. Sump pumps and refrigerators.
Doug - my siphon hits some kind of obstruction about 12" into the filler neck in both my CRV and C6. With the C6, the siphon catches on something down there, maybe the same as the guy you mentioned with his C7. I had to wiggle the siphon and work it around a little to get it to release. Didn't try it again.
A C2 convertible has to be the ultimate vehicle for siphoning out gas. Take off the filler cap and the gas is right there. You can even see. how much is in there. It's my "go to" emergency fuel supply depot now.
I feel your pain. After Super Storm Sandy here in the north, we were without power for 11 days. Most gas stations were not able to pump either as they had no back up generators. I filled my 2004 Silverado before the storm hit and used it as a tanker to keep the generator running for several days.
A normal siphon is useless in the new baffled tanks with internal fuel cannister pumps. The way I got the gas out was with a small diameter hose and a hand transfer pump. It took a long time to get 5 gals out, but it worked and kept the generator going.
There is a disconnect you can get that has both line power and gen power feeds. You throw the handle to select which one you want. This protects lineman from back current, as you can just use one source at a time and disconnects the non selected source. Common on farm applications and usually installed on the service pole.
I would think if you went this route, you could park the generator next to the disconnect outside. Those Hondas are nice, but at 13.5 amps each there pretty small for any meaningful use i.e. Sump pumps and refrigerators.
Good to know about the disconnect switch.
We ran our freezer, refrigerator, two 150 watt lamps, a fan, an electric recliner (intermittant use) and our cell phone chargers continually off 1 of the generators along with additional intermittant use of the coffee pot and microwave oven. It stayed on ECO mode all the time unless we were using the microwave or coffee pot. When either of those came on, the added load caused the generator to come out of ECO mode until that power draw was over and then it would kick back down to ECO. The generator has an overload alarm but it never came on.
If you look at the photo, you can see that the generators are not identical. One of them is called a Honda "Companion" generator and has a 30 amp receptacle. You can connect both generators with a wiring harness to get 30 amp service from the Companion generator. I haven't had to do that. Each generator has a 20 amp circuit breaker.
I got power back yesterday after 6 days without. Have a Coleman Powermate 4000 which is a POS. Uses 10 gallons of gas per day and runs only about 5 hours before the low oil shutoff shuts it down. Used about 1 quart of oil per day. VERY loud. Will be buying a Honda when things settle down. Was able to run a reefer, 5000BTU window A/C and TV, though.
I got power back yesterday after 6 days without. Have a Coleman Powermate 4000 which is a POS. Uses 10 gallons of gas per day and runs only about 5 hours before the low oil shutoff shuts it down. Used about 1 quart of oil per day. VERY loud. Will be buying a Honda when things settle down. Was able to run a reefer, 5000BTU window A/C and TV, though.
Northerners here probably remember the 3-day "Northern Grid Failure" in August, 2003. Our electrical service (Detroit Edison then, now DTE) has always been flaky, with 2-4 hour failures quite common with no apparent reason, with occasional much longer failures.
We got tired of it, and I had an 18-KW natural gas-powered Generac fully automatic whole-house generator installed in July, 2003; we don't have to do anything, and we don't even have to be home. Power goes out, Generac comes up in ten seconds, switches all controlled circuits through the automatic transfer switch, and hums away until the utility power comes back on - that disconnects the transfer switch, allowing utility power to every circuit in the house and no backfeed to the external utility power system, the Generac runs for about a minute at no load to cool off, then shuts down. It starts up and tests itself once a week. Has a 999cc 30hp 2-cylinder air-cooled V-twin engine manufactured by Generac. Ours ran continuously for 5-1/2 days and nights back in early July of this year when we had a 60-70mph wind and hailstorm that knocked out the power for 600,000 Detroit-area customers.
If we're gone for the weekend, our only clue when we get home that we've had a power failure is the digital clocks flashing. Ours has about 450 hours on it after 14 years, and all it's needed during that time is a battery and a starter.
John - That's a nice setup. I'm coming to your house for the next storm.
We don't have natural gas service here but I'm guessing they can run on propane.
Any my idea of your unit's fuel consumption? Wondering how big of a tank we'd have to install.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve -
2003 Factory specs call for 1.73 gallons per hour of propane at 1/2-load, and 2.8 gallons per hour at full load. Natural gas is 148 cu. ft. per hour at 1/2-load, and 240 cu. ft./hr. at full load. Ours was $6,400.00 installed in 2003; our local gas company paid for the high-volume regulator required to feed it and installation of 120 ft. of gas piping.
Thanks, John. Since I'd have to install an underground tank, the total cost would probably be too high, especially for something I may rarely or never use. Poet is very reliable here and the last hurricane to hit here was 13 years ago.
We bought a Honda EU2000i after the second hurricane hit us in 2004 and have used it 3-4 times since and they are great. Always, and I mean always protect lineman by whatever means necessary to avoid backfeeding the grid. I won't explain how I do mine but I can power both sides of my 120 circuits and have everything except our 240 appliances.
All that being said, I just returned from a day trip to pick up an older Honda EX5500, an electric start, water cooled generator so we can have A/C next time one of these monsters rolls through. And judging from the looks of things, may not have to wait long!
09-17-2017, 08:45 AM
Siphoning gas?
