| One of my preparations for Year 2000 was to | | | | cable. I dug a ditch from my generator shack |
| purchase a four stroke gasoline electrical | | | | to the house. The cable would be buried in |
| generator. There was no guarantee that there | | | | the ground.The electrician came and made the |
| would be no electric power interruptions at | | | | changes to the wiring. The way it worked |
| the start of the year 2000 and I wanted a | | | | was, I would switch over to the generator |
| reliable power supply, just to be ready. The | | | | cable. Then I would start the generator. |
| generator I chose was a reliable four stroke | | | | When it was running up to speed making |
| Honda engine. The generator had a large gas | | | | adequate household power, I would plug in the |
| tank so it could run on one tank for about | | | | cable to the generator's output plug. That |
| four hours depending on how heavy the | | | | was it. The house had its own power |
| electrical load I was using.Buying the | | | | supply.There was maintenance to do on the |
| generator was only the first step to ensuring | | | | generator, since it was brand new. Every new |
| a reliable power supply, however, as | | | | engine needs its oil changed when breaking it |
| generators need fuel. I needed to acquire an | | | | in. After the first few hours of running, |
| adequate supply of gasoline and oil to run it | | | | the dirty oil, full of metal bits from the |
| for as long as required. I went to a oil | | | | break-in time, needs to be drained. This was |
| company bulk plant and purchased three 45 | | | | not difficult to do. Just unscrew a bolt and |
| gallon drums one by one over the span of a | | | | let the oil drain into a shallow container. |
| few weeks. Every few days I filled up 4 - 5 | | | | Once the dirty oil was removed, and the drain |
| gallon jerry cans full of gasoline, at | | | | bolt tightened in place, clean fresh oil was |
| various gas stations in the area. When | | | | poured into the oil reservoir.Even though |
| storing gasoline for a period of time it is a | | | | nothing serious occurred in my area during |
| good idea to ad a gasoline stabilization | | | | Y2K, there have been a few power outages, |
| chemical to keep the gas from breaking down. | | | | throughout the years and it has been handy to |
| An oil company or hardware store should be | | | | have a back up power supply. Once each month |
| able to tell you, where to buy such a | | | | I start up the generator and run it, plugged |
| chemical.I had the generator, the fuel, and | | | | into an electric heater. I let it run for |
| the oil to run it. What was left to do was | | | | about 5 minutes. The electric heater is |
| to have the power supply wired to my home | | | | providing the electrical load, needed to |
| electrical system. I obtained an estimate | | | | safely run the generator. The generator |
| from a local electrician. It was not going | | | | could be electrically damaged if run with |
| to be cheap. One of the parts, a switching | | | | nothing using the power it produces. Using |
| box, cost $500.00. It would switch between | | | | this system has ensured trouble free use of |
| the hydro electricity line and my generator | | | | this power supply for over seven years. |