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Cool.

I’ve got a bit more money, so I’ve been looking at the more permanent generator solution. The one thing though I would really want is to be able to easily swap from Propane to natural gas. I can get a generator with kits to swap back and forth, and maybe that would be good enough.

My idea is to get a large propane tank buried in my yard, but run the generator on my natural gas (which is, as you said, generally very reliable).

The generator I have in mind is I think from GE, and comes with everything. IT does an automatic switch, and switch back, when power goes out. It is a “smart” system that will allow you to have more total equipment than it can run, and will prioritize so if your A/C needs to run for a while, it will switch off something else until the A/C turns off (like if you had an electric clothes dryer).

My house is mostly natural gas anyway. The point of propane is that if things get REALLY bad, and the gas goes, I’ll still have power. Then I’ll need to equip my heater with electric coils, so if the natural gas goes, I can run it on an electric heat emergency setting.

Unfortunately, we don’t lose power often enough to push me to action.

Unfortunately, we don’t lose power often enough to push me to action.

Our grid has been pretty darned reliable around here, too. But... you never know. Perhaps if you look at a smaller investment the cost/benefit ration would look a bit different and you'd be more inclined to get "good enough".

I'd sleep a lot better if we had one of those GE units, but getting one of sufficient size and having it professionally installed would be about 5 times what I've got into our solution. I just can't swing that now or in the near future.

The Tri Fuel kit is really, really slick. I have very minimal small engine knowledge and I was able to install mine in about 2 hours. And it works just fine.

Best of luck to you.

I’ve got a bit more money, so I’ve been looking at the more permanent generator solution.

I have done something different. Another Freeper referred to it as a "submarine" method.

I use stacked inverters with 8-L16 Trojan Batteries. These are sized to provide power for refrigeration, water, coms, and some lights for about 5KW a day. The generator runs for about 1.5 hours a day to charge the batteries and run other items such as laundry and central vacuum.

This method is a fuel extender and does provide a bit more opsec because of the noise from the generator. It is more expensive, however it does use much less fuel and is quiet in inverter mode.

We experience numerous power outages a year and have used this system for over 14 years. We replaced the batteries last summer and upgraded the generator. One of the technological advances in battery maintenance is the BatteryMinder. This unit keeps the batteries charged and prevents sulfation.

This arrangement is worth it if you want to spend the money. When the electric goes out, the quiet inverter power up is just one switch away.