In 2022 we lost power in Kanata multiple times. The first time the power was out well over a day. The problem we had was that we had no backup generator and using coolers didn't work very well. After a day the ice had melted and the contents spoiled (very costly). The other outages were short, but we had limited space to save the contents of the fridge/freezer. We did have two UPS which allowed us a short time to check Hydro for how long and let work & family know we would have limited networking. At that time I invested in a battery 'generator' which we used and worked well for four hours and used only 50% charge. The other item we picked up was a solar charger and we could hook up tablets and cell phone for charging as long as there was sunlight. On top of this we keep a supply of alkaline and rechargeable batters for lights and radios. Another option we invested over the years were surge protectors for all our electronics. It is much cheaper to replace a surge protector than our expensive electronics.
This year we had an ice storm and while we didn't lose power the UPS systems all kicked in five times. This had us looking at a small generator to handle at least the following:
- Fridge.
- Freezer.
- Router.
- Laptop (work), cell and Chromebook.
- LED light.
- Small heater if winter.
I wanted a dual fuel to give us options if an extended outage. If we use all of the gasoline and no nearby station is open I could switch to propane as I keep a spare tank for the BBQ.
Along with the generator I picked up a cover from the company that will allow me to use the generator during rain/snow as they recommend NOT running it during that uncovered. Also a very heavy chain and lock so that the generator doesn't wander away. I will keep it in the back yard when not running (chained), but move it to outside the fence (chained) when running so that it is almost 20 feet away.
I hope that we don't lose power this year, but I hope that we are more prepared for outages this time.
