Many people use a deep freezer for storing food supplies. It really is a good idea and allows one to take advantage of specials at the supermarket or to keep garden produce for extended times. The average household freezer uses more power than you are likely to be able to produce and store with solar or wind generators and are quite grid dependent. So how you ask would one deal with their freezer during an extended power failure?
First of all, we have to put the term “extended power failure” into perspective. A power outage lasting a few hours, even up to 12 or 18 hours may be an annoyance, but hardly meets the level of being extended. Power failures such as these happen all the time and while you may miss out on some favorite television programs, your frozen food will suffer no ill effect. In fact, a full freezer that is kept closed can keep food frozen for about 3 days. Laying a few extra blankets on top of it will certainly help.
When planning to run heavy appliances on a generator, your genny has to be sized properly. This can sound intimidating, but really, it’s easy to do. The first thing you need to know is how much power your freezer will draw. Somewhere on the unit, perhaps inside the lid or on the back or side there will be a sticker giving a bunch of information. The number you are looking for will be indicated in watts or amps, either number will do. If you have the watts, use that number; if you see an amp rating, multiply that by 115 (for the voltage) and that will be the wattage. You have to first realize that this is a running wattage and that your freezer will draw up to three times that for a brief moment when it starts up. Here is an example from my freezer which gives an amp rating:
Amps:6.0
Therefore – 6 (amps) X 115 (volts) = 690 (running watts)
690 (running watts) x 3 = 2070 (starting watts)
So, my freezer needs a generator capable of delivering 2070 watts, even if that is only for a brief moment. This rating on a generator is called the surge wattage.
Creating an energy plan for extended outages is essential in order to be able to store enough fuel to last any amount of time. Obviously running a generator twenty four hours a day would be unsustainable for any amount of time.
My energy plan calls for running a 6500 running watt/7800 starting watt generator for two hours at a time twice per day. Obviously, my freezer is not the only thing I run. When the generator is running I use my well pump to refill water bottles, run refrigerators, television, and recharge batteries, mobile devices, and lights all at once. In fact, I would only run a freezer for a two hour period every 2 – 3 days, depending on ambiant temperature. You can customize this for your own needs, but this plan has served me well during extended outages.
As for the topic of fuel storage, there is really only one way to find out how much fuel you need to keep on hand…try it. Fill your generator with 20 liters of gas and run it according to your plan. Remember that connecting the intended loads is important as your generator will run on idle much longer than if it is actually providing power to appliances. You may also want to consider having to run power tools for a few hours a day as home repairs and other projects are often required after a disaster strikes.
Using fuel stabilizer will allow you to store gasoline for about a year, after which time you can cycle that gas through your vehicle and refill your cans. You may also want to consider a propane fueled generator as propane has no shelf life and rotation is not required.
Generator tip: Fuel can go bad in time and clog carburators. Always shut down your generator by turning off the fuel supply from the tank.