Hurricane!

Getting ready for Joaquin here on the farm.

• Candles
• Full tank of diesel in the car
• Beer
• Extra hay for the goats
• Propane for the genny (more on that!)
• Charging the phones and tablets

We have a good 6kW propane powered generator.   It's your standard Chinese clone, but it does put out 220, so I've piped it into the house and we have all the basics covered - heat (if needed), hot water, well, sewer pump, fridge.   If we do lose power I estimate about 24 hours continuously at 1/2 load given our propane supply.   Next year I'll move the circuit to the top of the panel, and we'll have everything powered.

What I discovered today is that some sort of insect decided to nest in the tube connecting the gas fitting to the carb.   Of course that was AFTER I pulled the plug twice, tested for spark, went and got a battery so I could use electric start... nothing, except a bunch of goop in the fuel line.

Disassembled the fuel line, ran a rat-tail file down it a few times to clean out the crud, and shazam, 6kW of sweet, sweet power.

Moral: if you keep your generator outside, plug up all the holes.

The animals will all be inside - the stall doors bolt, and I'm tying the main doors closed to prevent them acting like a sail.   The chickens should be fine, it's not cold enough yet for the wind to be a factor inside the barn.