Handling power outages in freezing weather (or otherwise)

I'll tell a little part of our story and hopefully others will be inclined to comment on their electrical utility experiences.

As you may have seen on the news, Oklahoma has had a couple winter storms. The first was rated officially as a blizzard and stopped most traffic with interstates being officially closed but storm #2 started with freezing rain and knocked out the electrical distribution over a wide swath. Our power went off last Friday at about 2 PM and wasn't restored until about 9AM yesterday. It went off again at about 530 this morning and is off as I write this. Luckily we have a backup generator. Percentage wise not very many folks around here have a generator and those that do mostly have varying sizes of small portable gasoline powered generators with short run times.

I have had a series of portable gasoline fired generators and they served me well but I did not consider them appropriate for emergency backup power to the house so I installed a propane powered generator with an automatic transfer switch. Propane has no "shelf life" as it does not degrade and can be stored till used, even for decades or centuries. My thinking was that I might not be home when the power goes off and I'd still not like the food in the freezer and frige to spoil nor have plumbing freeze and burst. Also, I'd rather not have my wife out in the weather pulling on a rope trying to start a manual genset and then manually switching from utility to our generator power. There are just too many ways for things to not work out with a manual setup. Small portable generators with extension cords running through a slightly open door or window did not have the slightest appeal for me.

Leave nothing to chance. I was gone to town most of the day yesterday and was expecting to get home before dark and change oil and filter in the generator as it is past due on hours as it has run virtually continuously for several days. I had only shut it down for just long enough to check/add oil. There is a low oil shutdown BUT I'd rather not run it that low. When I got home power was back on and my motivation to go out in the cold and wet to change oil waned significantly thinking I'd get to it today. NO rush, the power is back up. Well it went off again about 5:30 this morning and is still off. Luckily oil changes are dead easy so I will shut it down, change oil later after there is daylight, and return it to service for who knows how long.

Another advantage for propane (or natural gas) is that you don't have to go out in the weather or middle of the night to refuel the generator. Refueling a hot engine poses a risk and working out in the wind and weather by flashlight and trying to not spill fuel is wishful thinking.

MY well house is too far (1/4 mile) from our house and is on its own electric meter. The well water is a redundant backup to our rural water system but it is also used to automatically fill a stock watering tank which is electrically heated to prevent freezing. Inside the well house I have heater tape and insulation on all at risk components.Of course when the power goes down all exposed plumbing is at risk and I have to break the ice on the water trough every day. I have to haul water in plastic buckets to keep the level up for the weaned calves to be able to drink.

So, I did good prepping the house for emergency power but didn't do so good for the well house and may have lots of replumbing to do, replacing pipe and valves burst by freezing (PVC.) The pressure switch may have been taken out as well... we'll see. Short of running a quarter mile of electrical distribution wire to the well house from our house's generator electricity, what can I do to protect the plumbing. My first guess is to insulate the well house and install a small catalytic propane heater (or whatever I decide is best) to run on 20LB or larger bottles and keep the temp around the well house plumbing above freezing. This will protect the plumbing from damage but not pump water or keep the trough from freezing over. Still, it is better to prevent damage even if there is still the issue of hauling water and breaking ice.

I have a few thoughts regarding heating the water with propane as well. Perhaps a thermal siphon to convey hot water heated inside the well house to the immediately adjacent stock trough. In the worst of the weather so far this winter the trough never freezes more than 3 inches or so deep on top. If I could keep a few square inches of the surface ice free then the stock would be able to drink and problem solved.

What are the approaches that you folk have taken? What are your successes and failures? Any suggestions for me?

Pat

Pat,
can't answer your question directly, but I'll ask an obvious one myself: why not schlep a small generator down to the well? It sounds like you probably have one from previous setups (can't imagine anyone throwing one out or selling it once it's in your inventory).

The hassle of doing this when faced with freezing pipes as the alternative doesn't sound too bad. And if you go your route of insulating the well house and heating with bottles, it would still require a trip to get it cooking and monitor bottles, so as long as your backup system requires that you have to make the trip, do it with a 5 gal can of gas and get complete electrical backup (albeit manual). JMHO.

I am in full agreement regarding the house backup. I have a manual transfer switch with portable generator that powers enough circuits to get light/outlets in every critical room in the house. Considered the auto setup but don't figure to be in this house for more than a few years but next one will probably be auto switch, natural gas powered.

Besides, what else are you going to do with your time? (wink,wink)

Well, after getting a 17,500 Watt gasoline powered generator for a welding trailer I built up and a fully automatic 17,000 Watt propane powered generator for the house I sold my 5 and 6 thousand Watt generators. If I go with a heating system for the well house that has a self generating thermostat compatible standing safety pilot system It will only have a small standby consumption for the pilot and will automatically come on under t'stat control.

If I wanted to I could take the welding trailer up to the well house every 3-4 days (twice a week) to run the pump to fill the stock tank. In fact thinking about it I realize I could take the welding trailer to the hay barn where it would be in out of the weather and back feed the well house from the electrical sub panel in the hay barn. I could temporarily store the welding trailer in the hay barn (plenty of room) and running the well pump would be no big deal. We have multi-day power outages long enough to be a hassle for stock on the order of once every several years (5-10) so I don't want to get too carried away.

Pat

I would just let water run into the trough while temps are below freezing; which would allow the warm ground water to keep the trough from freezing and would also protect the pipes the warm water is running through from freezing as well. The water can run on the ground or could be drained away to another location if need be.

SpeedBump, Unfortunately the reason there is a freezing danger is because the electricity is off and that is how the well water is pumped so letting the water run is not an available option. If there is electricity to run the well pump there is electricity to run the heater tapes and the trough heater.

UPDATE: Well, power was restored. - or - Well power was restored. I powered up the well and checked for leaks and to let the water trough fill automatically but shut it down when I left, just in case something was about to give way and flood the world. Powered up again the next day for a few hours and checked for leaks again. Surprisingly, no leaks. The insulation I put over the heater tapes on the pipe saved the day, what a stroke of luck.

I am extremely pleased with the Generac Guardian LPG fired automatic generator with automatic transfer switch.

I have batted a few ideas around with a valued consultant (Egon) and I may have a simple solution to keeping the well house above freezing and preventing the stock trough from completely freezing over. An attractive solution is a propane fired percolator type water heater similar to the electrically heated block heaters for automotive application. "Waste heat" from the unit would keep the well house warmer and the heated water will automatically circulate to the trough. Fired by 20 lb propane bottles the system would not be a hassle to "feed."

Paqt