Thankfully, our predicted 1/2”+ of freezing rain was a bunch of sleet so we had no damage and no power interruption. Very thankful for the outcome. Last time I recall having 1/2”+ of freezing rain was early 2000’s. Back then, power at home was out a bit over two weeks. Couldn’t get fuel or anything else several days due to widespread power outages.
Our normal setup is good for about two days of no power before replenishing fuel supplies, which is effective about 95% of the time. This time, we prepped for two weeks off the power grid and about one week before replenishing fuel supplies. Winterized the guest house and the house with the shop in the drive out basement. Moved the L and chainsaw from the shop to our house. We can run our house pretty much as normal with the generator on the L, but obviously that’s subject to fuel supply. Filled up the L and had another 21 gallons in cans. That’s enough for about 60 hours run time. Good, but would be nice to have a bit more.
I’ve been thinking about getting a fuel transfer tank for a while. For now, shouldering a 6 gallon can to the filler neck in the middle of the hood is fine, but always thought there’d be a time a pump would be more practical. Home Depot had a 58 gallon John Dow on sale with delivery Friday. Storm slated to arrive Saturday evening, so Friday would be perfect.
Talking to my brother, who lives an hour and a half southeast of me, we were discussing our storm prep and I mentioned it would be nice if the tank arrived on time. He said he had an old 50 gallon he hadn’t used in a few years if I wanted it. Asked him if I could buy it off him or if it was a loaner. He said I couldn’t buy it or borrow it, but I could have it if I picked it up and promised not to bring it back to clutter up his barn. Of course, Friday night the Home Depot arrival date changed to 1/27, well after the storm.
Saturday morning, drove to my brother’s horse farm to pick up the tank. He said it was in the back of his truck and he needed to get the forks on his tractor to move it. Friday night, he’d told me it was empty but he’d run the pump a couple seconds to make sure it still worked, so I didn’t understand why we needed a loader. Asked him what it weighed empty that it required a loader. He said it was in his truck because he went out early that morning and filled it because if the situation was reversed he knew I would have filled it, which is true.
As he described it, it’s not pretty or a high dollar unit, but it’s functional and that’s all I care about.
The only useful thing the Kubota did during the storm was give the cat something else to climb on. It’s usually at the shop, so he enjoys exploring it when he gets an opportunity.
