Four Letters Re: Sizing a Retreat AC Power Generator

Mr. Rawles:
I saw that you recently posted my question to the blog, so I thought I’d update you. I ran the tests again and got what I believe to be a more accurate assessments.

My second test showed the refrigerator consuming right at 2.7 KWH (2,700 watts) over a 24 hour period for an average of 112.5 watts-per-hour. Now mind you, that includes all the hours we were asleep and so no one was opening the door, using up ice, etc.. During hours of heavy usage it was using about 150 watts-per-hour.

Test #2 for the chest freezer yielded the following results: KWH usage for the full 24 hours came to 1.02 KWH or 1,020 watts. This is an average of 42.5 watts-per-hour. Mind you, this freezer basically only gets opened once per day when we take out whatever we’re defrosting for dinner. All in all, I’m pretty happy with those results.

The next step is to test our other refrigerator and our upright freezer and to calculate the Amp Hours required (how many deep cycle batteries I’ll need) to build my homemade UPS system.

FYI, I found a really good deal the other day on a 4 KW emergency gasoline genset, and went ahead and bought it. My next big purchase will be a tri-fuel conversion kit from US Carburetion, so I can run her on propane. I know you guys usually endorse diesel as a primary genset/retreat fuel, but I really like the stability and shelf-life of propane – in my area, I can rent a 300-gallon tank (I own two 100-gallon cylinder tanks) from the propane provider for around $50 per year and fill it a little at a time as opposed to making an expensive all-at-once fuel purchase. My logic there being that I can dump a little in each month, so that it’ll be full when I actually need it to be. – JSC in West Virginia – A “10 Cent Challenge” Subscriber

 

Dear JWR:
I was catching up on SurvivalBlog this weekend and noted the article on generator set sizing. The main issue here is that there is a significant difference in the average electrical energy consumption of an appliance and its peak usage. This issue is compounded by electrical devices such as motors which are not purely resistive (i.e. inductive load) and thus have up to 3 times the energy demand to start as opposed to running. This is commonly referred to as “starting current” verses “running current”. When sizing an electrical generator, one needs not only to calculate the total energy consumption of all electrical appliances one anticipates to be running simultaneously, but also to cover the starting current for the item with the heaviest draw. Most electrical motors are labeled with their electrical current needs, commonly listed as starting or peak current and continuous current. In regard to an appliance which doesn’t list this information (such as a refrigerator), the owner needs to use his Kill-A-Watt [meter] to determine the current used while running (typically 3-5 amps) and multiply this by 3 to get a good estimate of the starting current demands.

The process should be to add up the total draw for all the appliances, and then double the highest one and add that also to the total. This will give a rough estimate of the peak current draw, in Amps. To convert Amps to Watts, one simply needs to multiply by the operating voltage (typically 120 or 240 Volts). This assumes that no more than one heavy draw appliance starts at the same time, but to cover all the starting currents would require a much larger generator.

Several years back, during an ice storm, we were living off of an emergency generator rated at 5,000 Watts (6,200 peak Watts ). One should disregard the “peak” rating of typical portable emergency generators since they are uniformly overrated (I have noticed that recently, peak rating is what is listed, look for the “continuous rating”). Our water heater (a purely resistive load, hence no “starting current”) consumed 4,500 Watts. In order to take a hot shower, we needed to turn off all other circuits and allow the water to heat up. After an hour, the water heater was disconnected to allow the well pump to be operated to provide water through the water heater to the shower. This constant switching of loads was a real nightmare.

As a caveat, typical consumer portable electrical generators are not up the rigors of continuous use. Their fuel economy is atrocious; our 5 KW unit uses about 5 gallons of gas in an 8 hour period. They are also typically powered by the equivalent of an air-cooled lawnmower engine. Consider taking your lawnmower into heavy wet grass and mowing continuously for 200 hours. After a week of trying to keep this loud and hungry beast fed, thankfully the power came back on-line. We went with a diesel powered 15KW unit which would even cover the arc welding unit and it uses about 1/4 gallon of fuel per hour during typical household test uses. The gas generator seemed to use virtually the same amount of fuel regardless of the load, but the diesel unit just sips fuel when it is just loafing along, with consumption roughly linear with the load.

When choosing a generator for long term use, I would make several recommendations:
First, if you pump water or want to run a welder or air conditioning unit, you will need at least 10 KW and 120/240VAC capability.
Second, get a unit with double windings so it can run at 1,800 rpm instead of 3,600 rpm (to make up 60 Hz AC power). This vastly improves fuel economy and noise level as well as longevity.
Third, the unit needs to be water cooled. While some air cooled units are built for longevity, they are the exception.
Fourth, think of fuel storage requiring long-term stability. This effectively rules out gasoline, and leaves us with NG/LPG or diesel.

While electrical generators are very useful and highly recommended, their Achilles’ Heel is fuel availability. We store adequate diesel fuel to run the generator full time for approximately two months use, which would extend to one year or more with limited part-time use, but it is still a finite resource. They can be useful as a bridge for short duration (till the power comes back on or we learn to live without). Except in the hottest climates, running a refrigerator or freezer a couple of hours twice a day is adequate with limited door opening. Once the foodstuffs in the freezer and refrigerator are used up, you will still need a manual pump for your water well in TEOTWAWKI. Hope this helps, – NC BlueDog

 

Sir,
The Kill-A-Watt meter is a great tool but [KSC] really didn’t give it a chance to work. If you want to find out how much power your refrigerator uses over the course of the day leave it plugged into the meter for a few days at the minimum.

Most watt meters have the option to see how much power is currently being used by whatever is plugged into it. You’ll want to look at that while the appliance is cycled on. The refrigerators and freezers that I’ve dealt with generally don’t use more than about 150 – 200 watts while running, figure they use about three times that during startup.

In your situation, figure 600 watts startup power, times four appliances would be around 2,400 watts. I’m guessing that there will be other things that you will want to run also (lights, grain mill, battery charger etc.) so you may want to go with a 3,500 watt generator but as long as you aren’t looking to power your whole house from top to bottom with it you don’t really need a huge generator. – MercCom

 

Jim-
Here’s a helpful site for figuring power requirements.

By the way, we all have useful generators sitting in our garages–in our car and/or truck. An inverter will let you tap that power. COSTCO has a 1,000 watt inverter for $65. If you use good sense in using power, and keep your vehicle tank(s) full, you can ride through a temporary power failure. Not bad for $65. But you also will have to buy or make up a pair of cables that will clip to your battery. The provided cables have useless terminals (closed end type) for the battery end of the cables. – Bob B.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Cleveland:ghost town created by America’s loan scandal. Here is a snippet from the article with some downright post-apocalyptic imagery: “…street after empty street of boarded-up houses, their roofs caving in, collapsed balconies hanging from the fronts of buildings. Some people seem to have just upped and left, leaving their belongings behind for the rats and vandals. Owners have put up signs offering their burnt-out homes for a $500 (£250) down payment. Bins and rubbish litter the street. Signs warn trespassers the structures are unsafe. People have spray-painted “No copper” or “No metal” on their doors to deter crooks who have stripped anything of value from these decaying shells. Even brick steps have been ripped off, leaving houses that look as if they are floating on a dark sea of garbage.”

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Credit crisis throws AIG into “uncharted waters”. One quote that was buried in the article that should have had its own headline: “UBS on Friday estimated that the global credit crisis is likely to result in losses of more than $600 billion.

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Green Mountain Gear (one of our advertisers) has an announced a new discount program: The OSG—Optics Savings Group There are three optics purchase choices each month at various pricing levels. These are some “screaming good” deals. You will need to click on “Too Low To Show” GMG Pricing!” and then enter your e-mail address to get the special pricing. Make sure your spam filters are able to let GMG e-mails through.

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RBS sent us an article that is a not-so-subtle warning flag: FDIC Brings Out Retirees to Ready for Bank Failures

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest prop of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge in the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle… Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it?”
– George Washington, Farewell Address to his cabinet, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; September 17, 1796

Note from JWR:

Today we present a guest article, by loyal SurvivalBlog reader William Buppert. It was originally posted at LewRockwell.com, and it is re-posted with the author’s permission. Thanks, Bill!

Arm Thyself, by William Buppert

President Bush has embarked on the final phase of Pax Americana and is ushering in an advanced imperial stage that will endanger every living American. The coming election will assure us that every American will have his Second Amendment rights infringed or predated upon in some fashion no matter which party succeeds (is there a difference except the spelling?). Perennial readers of this site are better versed than most in the predatory nature of the state and its ability to target and vilify those it wishes to eliminate eventually whether through political neutralization such as Trent Lott or lethal means such as Waco or Ruby Ridge. I’d like to focus this essay on the practical application of what Boston T. Party refers to as “liberty’s teeth” or small arms. There are plenty of organizations like Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) which will provide you with all the intellectual ammunition you need to know why you should be armed; I want to tell you how. I want to offer a bare-bones primer on how to get started in amassing your personal armory (contrary to what the government says, an arsenal is where weapons are manufactured) and using the weapons you obtain. I have a military background that spans two decades, shoot competitively and currently instruct tactical firearms so I have left the armchair a few times.

There are plenty of sites from which you can obtain this information but I wanted to provide a fairly painless gateway to get started if you are beginning from ground zero. The black helicopter crowds are chockfull of hunker-down survivalist information which for the most part suffers from their barely hidden desire for the apocalypse to occur coupled with their propensity to be armchair enthusiasts unfettered by real world application of firepower. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the nation’s largest gun prohibition organization, the National Rifle Association, selling plenty of safety-oriented gun practices (while winking lustfully at the Beltway media and other hoplophobes) and ignoring any martial aspects of weapons or gun handling the Founders wrote the Second Amendment for in the first place.

1. Establish a mindset much like the Flinters in F. Paul Wilson’s novels. Fully embrace the initiated non-aggression principle. This is not a call for armed revolt or insurrection. This is summed up as leave me alone or else. Whether you own weapons now or not, you should be fully decided that when, not if, the government comes around to seize them you will relinquish them one round at a time. Or you have had the foresight to properly cache spares and you can hand over that Lee Harvey Oswald Carcano to the nice young men in black ninja suits who are from the government and just want to help you. If you have any doubt about that, stop reading this and take any weapons you now own and donate them to a paleo-conservative or libertarian who cares. You may continue reading if liberty means more than lip service. The right to self-defense should be beyond question to this audience.

2. If you bought one book on the subject, buy Boston T. Party’s book, “Boston’s Gun Bible“ (revised April 2002). Hey, we’re on LRC, you always want a book on the subject. As a matter of fact, this logical and sound compendium of gun stuff is worth a whole shelf of gun tomes. Read it two or three times and always have a highlighter in hand. He’s done all the work for you. You just have to read and heed. It has had a perennial place on my nightstand since I bought it. While those new to the gun community will be amazed at the pedantic disagreements that enliven every corner of the gun culture from ballistics to weapons choice, enquiring minds will really be energized by the level of intellectual ferment once you get the gun habit. If one only read the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times, you’d think all gun owners were backward hillbillies who only Jim Goad could love. Like so many American subcultures, there is a niche for every need or desire. For instance, I disagree with his number-one choice for a battle rifle (M1A versus FN-FAL) but that is the nature of the enterprise.

3. Write this on your whiteboard one hundred times: I will never, ever buy a weapon from a Federal Firearms Dealer (FFL). I will only make private party purchases through gun shows, the classifieds or through friends and neighbors. The Feral (no misspelling) government has developed a devilishly clever system using the BATF as their stalking horse to enable a de facto and de jure gun registration system established at the central government level every time a weapon is purchased at a brick and mortar gun shop. Check your risk tolerance and local and state laws to determine the regulations regarding private sales but the litmus test is easy. If you see guns for sale in your local newspaper classifieds, it is under the government radar (for now). Recent events such as the spate of college campus shootings and the attempts by local and state governments to regulate and suppress every manner of arms employment and provisioning should convince you that time is short. The same applies to ammunition; buy it at a gun show for cash as there is no requirement for a permit (yet) in most states. I hope you are fortunate enough to live in a state unlike Illinois or some of the Borg states in the northeastern part of these united States. When buying these weapons through private sales, always be prepared to walk away if it smells funny. Never buy any weapon that even appears to be fully automatic or is hinted to be. The Class 3 licensing system in the US regulates these firearms in a very draconian fashion under the auspices of the 1934 National Firearms Act. The government has a history of entrapment and provocation. Ask Randy Weaver if a half-inch on a ruler is hazardous to your health or that of your family.

4. I could write a book on what to buy but that is beyond the scope of this essay. Armed conflict is a discipline of distance. Different firearms have envelopes of lethality as distance is increased which is also a factor in accuracy. To paraphrase Boston, a pistol is what you fight your way to your rifle with. Spare no expense since your life depends on these tools. At minimum you need a rifle and pistol for every member of your family. The Glock pistol is the hands-down winner for accuracy and reliability. As to rifles, if you are poorer than dirt, scrape up $100 and buy a Lee-Enfield .303 rifle. These bolt actions are highly serviceable for social work. If you have more money, invest the hundreds and thousands it will take to get a proper battle rifle such as an FN-FAL, M1A or HK91 and all the equipment and ammunition to accompany each rifle for its care and feeding. Be sure to have a minimum of 25 magazines per rifle and ten per pistol. From this point, once you have started to empty your wallet, more equipment will start to appeal to you such as load-bearing gear, body armor and all manner of shooting accouterment. The sky is the limit (and your income).

5. Pay for the very best firearms training you can afford; a single digit percentage of the gun culture pays for professional training and this is the greatest shortcoming you can have. No matter how American the concept of having the most elaborate toys, if you can’t employ them, then their value is moot. Go to Google or Metacrawler, type in firearms training in your state and see who offers it locally or go to the nationally renowned training centers like Gunsite, Thunder Ranch or Firearms Academy of Seattle (my personal favorite for value and quality). Take your spouse, too. She is your primary team-member.

6. Teach your children well. The gun culture has roots as far back as the first settlers in North America. This continuity is a result of parents passing on their knowledge and weapons to their progeny to continue down the line. Exposure to guns early enough can make liberty contagious.

Remember, guns don’t kill people, governments and the criminals they create do. – William Buppert, February 18, 2008

Letter Re: Are Simultaneous Inflation and Deflation Possible?

Hi Jim,
Your excellent post about the possibility of simultaneous inflation and deflation got my head to spinning about ways to protect ourselves from a seemingly near-certain banking crisis. Such a scenario would certainly be a major headache for everyone, no matter how large their bank accounts, but it would be a huge problem for those of us who are in business for ourselves and need a constant cash flow through the banking system to pay payroll, expenses, taxes, etc. Therefore, I wondered if you and/or any of your readers had any suggestions for preparing for banking problems ahead of time, just like we do (and have done) with other areas of life. I find that one of the greatest benefits of your blog is that almost every post stirs me mentally and spiritually, to evaluate and re-evaluate my attitudes and actions when in comes to preparedness, and to pray over them for guidance. Perhaps others have been thinking likewise, especially when it comes to the banking crisis. I’ll start out with my own situation and suggestions, and hopefully others will build on them – or refute them if needed.

My situation is that our seasonal family business usually generates enough in the first 6-9 months of the year to support us for the remainder of the year. In the past, we have kept these funds liquid in our corporate bank account and used them for payroll and regular operating expenses each month as the year progresses. Now, however, I am concerned about a possible banking crises (bank runs, failures, limits on withdrawals, etc.) that is getting more press – even in the mainstream media. How can I best protect my assets, not lose what we’ve worked hard in the early part of the year and still have the money/cash/etc. available for use? I can vividly imagine a full-blown banking crisis like you mentioned in your article – and I shudder to realize that available funds we depend on could be “frozen” for a time (at best) or gone completely (at worst) in such a scenario.

I’ve thought of several options:
1. Spread the risk among several banks by opening other accounts, with each account holding a small amount of our total funds, so that if one bank fails, all our “eggs” would not break in one basket. This would be a bit cumbersome, but could work unless/until things got really bad across the board in the whole banking system.
2. Pull out more cash now and use petty cash to pay for things instead of checks and credit cards. This would be a paperwork nightmare to keep a lot of receipts and could be a security problem, but would certainly be liquid. However, would this also open us up to look like drug dealers or doing something shady?
3. Immediately purchase in bulk any items we would need for the future, prepay any bills for the year, and keep only enough money in the bank to pay large expenses. I like this idea since it would also beat inflation on basic goods we already need and use. We already have a one-year surplus of food and emergency supplies, etc., but perhaps we need more. However, this wouldn’t help meet payroll, taxes, etc., unless we had to start paying our employees in toilet paper and food stuffs!
4. Buy gold and/or silver now with the funds we have. Sell the same later in the year, as the funds are needed, and when the metals (hopefully) have risen compared to the dollar. I’m not sure how feasible this idea is. Would there be any advantage at all, or would my profit get eaten up in transaction/sales fees, etc.? Also, if there were a large scale banking crisis, how do we possibly exchange our gold and silver for FRNs (or whatever the currency may be)?
I can certainly see the wisdom in having supplies positioned in advance and thus be able to “hunker down” in place or at our retreat for a time. There are so many possibilities and variables! Perhaps a combination of all of these – and more – would be best. Well, that’s a start. Thanks for any light you may be able to shed on this. – Greg in North Carolina

JWR Replies: My advice is to use a combination of all of the options that you described, with the exception of option #2. In the coming years, as inflation kicks in, greenback cash will start to seem uncomfortably perishable. OBTW, I suspect that the “$10,000 in cash or equivalents” Federal tax reporting threshold will be frozen indefinitely, despite the unceasing march of inflation. Hence, more and more innocent people will come under undue scrutiny from the IRS.

Letter Re: Concealment Holster Recommendations for a Humid Climate

Jim,
I need to get some concealed holsters for myself and my wife for our Glocks. What do you guys recommend? Thanks, – SF in Hawaii

JWR Replies: For concealment, I generally prefer Milt Sparks brand holsters. However, in your high-humidity climate, anything made of leather is probably a mistake, especially for everyday wear. High humidity means a constant battle against rusty guns and moldy leather. (In Hawaii, nothing ever seems to get really “dry.”) So in your circumstances, I recommend Kydex.

We have been very happy with the Blade-Tech brand Kydex holsters and magazine pouches. We use them extensively here at the Rawles Ranch for our M1911s. We started using them about two years ago, soon after we saw how prevalent they were, when The Memsahib and I went to take a four day defensive handgun course at Front Sight.

See this SurvivalBlog post from March of 2007 for more about holsters in general, and Blade-Tech in particular. Their Inside the Waistband (IWB) model is probably best for concealment. Although their standard holster with a paddle conversion might work too. I have found that people either immediately love or hate paddles, but most folks like IWBs. Remember to get a thick, stiff, and fairly wide belt, regardless of your choice of holster. The belt that you use is crucial for keeping a holstered pistol stable and secure. you don’t want to have it flopping around. When I shop for clothes, one of the first things that I now look for is large belt loops to accommodate a thick, wide belt.

And, FWIW, I’m a big believer in getting stainless steel pistols for everyday carry, especially in humid climates.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Our friend Mike mentioned a web page that shows the contents of various vehicular kits for G.O.O.D., camping, first aid, and so forth.

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Reader Amy Q. pointed us to a post on another site that has some good ideas for building up a second income. As I’ve mentioned before, every family should have a second income that they can fall back on, in the event of a layoff. A home-based business might also grow into something that will be your ticket to living at your retreat year-round.

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Eric spotted this: Bernanke predicts banks will go under. This seems to bit of deliberate posturing, so Bernanke can later say “I told you so.” Speaking of “Helicopter Ben”, Karen found this for us: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Hints at More Interest Rate Cuts

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Also courtesy of Eric: Quantum’s Jim Rogers says US ‘out of control’

Notes from JWR:

Today we welcome our newest advertiser, Uncle Howard’s. They are a builder that specializes in barns, shops, combination house/shops and combination house/RV garages. Their designs maximize storage space, which is important for those that are preparedness-minded and have a lot of logistics to store. Their construction costs are very low. Be sure to visit their web site.

Special thanks to reader “RK” who very kindly sent his 10 Cent Challenge subscription payment in the form of a 1/10th-ounce American Eagle gold coin. That was very kind of you! Speaking of gold, I noticed that the spot price of gold briefly touched $975 per ounce before settling to $973.60 on Friday. Concurrently, the US Dollar Index sagged below 73.70. (When I last checked, it took $1.51 to buy one Euro!) Also on Friday, the DJIA lost 315 points (2.51%). The “Leap Day” Dow sell-off was in reaction to AIG’s huge 6.56% one day loss, blamed on, of course, subprime mortgages. CitiGroup lost 5.19% the same day. Be ready for more turbulence and downward pressure in these markets. If the Dow drops below 11,508 (its low point, in the past year), or if the USD Index drops below 72, there could be what my friend The Chartist Gnome calls “seemingly instantaneous negative implications.” Minimize your dollar exposure, folks!

I’m presently catching up on my backlog of correspondence. The following are some recent letters and e-mails:

Letter Re: Being Prepared for an Avian Influenza Outbreak

Sir,
Please pass on a reminder to people to prepare themselves with a plan and supplies to deal with for the inevitable event [of an Avian Influenza outbreak]. Begin by practicing impeccable agricultural hygiene and discouraging any visitation of persons near their barn yards, hen houses and migratory wildlife flocks of geese or ducks on or near their ponds, open water sources or feed sources. This is best done with a couple of good herding type dogs who don’t mind getting their feet wet in the ponds or on the property watering holes. Our chickens are free range, yet they are blocked from the access of the open water sources, and their supple mental food and calcium sources are kept away from access of migrating and indigenous species of birds. The dogs also help with poultry predatory losses from fox, coons and hawks. – KBF

Letter Re: NOAA Weather Spotter Training

Jim,
I recently attended a presentation by the National Weather Service (NWS) which was intended to educate volunteer weather spotters. The training is put on by NWS meteorologists, and is focused on the weather typical for your area. Throughout the night I felt like this information would be especially useful in light of a SHTF scenario, where regular weather alerts may not be available.
Worst case? It’s free, only takes a couple of hours, and it could put you in touch with other volunteers who might be more receptive to a preparedness mindset. To find out more about schedules and content, your visitors can go to the NWS web site and find their local NOAA branch. Each regional office sets its own calendar for training events, and they’re always looking for more volunteers. Midnight

Letter Re: The “Invention Nation” Documentary Television Series

Jim,
I don’t know if this has been posted here or not. I have finished watching a series on the Science Channel called “Invention Nation“. The show primarily feature inventors who are inventing ways to “go green”. Many of these inventions and ideas fit in perfectly with being self-sufficient. Some of the topics are; used cooking oil for diesel engines, solar power technology, passive solar for heating homes and water, bicycle generators, etc… The series will rerun starting in March and may be worth a look for the preparedness minded. See the Invention Nation web site. Thanks to you and your family for all you do. – Randy G.

Letter Re: The EconomicIndicators.gov Web Site

James,
It looks like the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Indicators web site now will continue to operate and they are going to enhance the site to boot. Here is the recently updated notice from their web site:

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA) has decided to continue the economicindicators.gov web site. Featuring the economic releases from ESA’s Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the site was started by this Administration in 2002 to give greater awareness to these economic statistics. ESA initially planned to discontinue the service due to cost concerns but given the feedback ESA received, the decision has been made to continue the site and improve its functionality.

Just though you might like to know. – John W.

Letter Re: Sizing a Retreat AC Power Generator

Mr. Rawles:
In attempting to size an emergency generator for my home, I have run across some interesting questions that I hope you and/or your other readers will be able to help me with. I lived through the blizzards of the 1990s here in the southern West Virginia coal camps, and I will never forget us and all of our neighbors being without power and unable to get out of our own driveways for 23+ days in 1993.

It marked the very beginnings of my awakening to the necessity of being properly prepared. With that in mind, I am attempting to set my home up with the ability to keep a bare minimum level of electrical appliances running in the case of a long-term outage; namely 2 refrigerators w/ freezers, a chest freezer, and an upright freezer (all just a few years old, so fairly energy efficient).

I am gauging the power being used by these appliances using a Kill-A-Watt. And, honestly, I’m afraid that I am doing something wrong. My number seem awfully low.

The first test I ran was on my chest freezer; after two hours of measurement, the freezer had consumed just 0.05 KWH or 50 watts of power at 25 watts per hour. I was surprised, but not terribly because the lid was not opened during the span of the test.

Next, I tested the refrigerator in my kitchen. It is a an Energy Star compliant Whirlpool brand 25.55 cu. ft. model with water and ice in the door. As a result of the chest freezer coming in lower than I expected, I purposely skewed the refrigerator experiment with the hopes of over-estimating the true usage. To that end, I was sure to be a bad boy and do things such as holding the door open and staring in like a goober for five minutes. I also refilled the dog’s water bowl from the door (forcing the pump into action) and virtually emptied the ice bin as crushed ice through the door (a big cup of ice water is yum!) to force the ice maker to have to run and make more. But, even with all that, my two hour test yielded a cumulative KWH usage of just 0.13. A measly 130 watts at 65 watts per hour.

Researching this online, I’m finding sites that estimate the typical household fridge uses between 150-250 watts per hour with peaks upward of 700+ watts. Am I doing really well on efficiency or am I missing something? I’ll wait to hear back before I run the remaining tests. Thanks! – JSC