Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I was reviewing some of the generators for sale on the local Craigslist. While there were some small ones (Generac, Honda, etc) that were pretty much the size I would need, there were also some rather massive ones that looked like bulldozers someone took the blade and wheels off of. Nice to know that if I so desired I could completely power my house and the ones on either side of it. But, while normally I think of overkill as a baseline, I think something like this or like this is a wee bit over the top…but in a really nice to have kinda way. (20kW and 50kW would not only run this house it would be enough to put this house in orbit.) My needs for electrical power in an emergency are really quite small. Other than needing to keep the freezer up, I only need three things:
1) LED lighting
b) Power for radios and charging radio batts
III) Charging rechargeable batteries
Those things are easily addressed with a small DC power generation system. A few solar panels and a couple good batteries would probably do the trick. The big ticket item is the freezer. As I think about it, I suppose I could go a different direction and replace the current freezer with one that runs on propane. Problem is, then I have to do a bit of plumbing to run the delivery line from outside the house, have to buy and position a large storage tank, and theres the added risks of all of that.

Currently, I keep the freezer as full as possible and store bottles water in it to help keep the temperature during a brief outage. Obviously, I wouldnt need to run the generator 24/7 for the freezer. Just long enough to keep everything cold and then let it sit for a while. There should be plenty of thermal mass in there with all the bricks of meat and whatnot.

A small gas generator is probably going to be the way to go. I just need to figure out how to make it happen. Then theres the new vs. used debate….save money with a used one and hope they took care of it, or buy a new one so you know what youre getting but pay more up front. Decisions, decisions……..
Thats it.