Comment by LiquidPolymer | Hacker News Reader

Comment by LiquidPolymer | Hacker News Reader

After losing power twice for over a week in the depths of winter We installed a transfer switch to allow hooking up a generator. This cost around $200 (my brother-in-law did the electrical for free). We already have a generator built-in in to the truck camper parked in the driveway. The truck camper is setup as an emergency shelter when parked - fully stocked with food, water, and fuel (I live in the PNW and we are expecting the BIG ONE any second).

The transfer switch has multiple switches that allows me to power different sections of the house. I tested everything running the generator - the furnace, the fridges, select lights - it works like a charm. The generator runs off propane and I have 8 bottles of extra in the shed in addition to the large tanks in the camper. Propane is very stable in long-term storage so it is my ideal fuel.

My point being that I don't know where the cost of a home generator is between 7k and 15k. Even if I purchased a separate generator dedicated to house back-up this would be around 2k. The transfer switch would be around 1k for the average consumer. That is 3k. What am I missing about these estimates?

A home generator capable of powering an AC system for at least part of a large home is probably going to be several thousand dollars, so that may be the source of some of the estimates that you’re seeing.

That makes sense. Thank you - in Oregon we can live without AC in an emergency.

Batteries are fantastic until not and at a very expensive price on top - a generator always works and treated correctly for decades - generators are the way to go for homes.

Batteries are dirt cheap when you take in account the fuel prices over the generators lifespan. These days we can buy like 50Kwh battery's for barely 6000 Euro. That is like 1/10 what this used to cost not even 5 years ago.

And no, not the entire world lives in the US, where people get gasoline/diesel for 1/3 or less, then what we pay in Europe.

I do not understand why solar installations are so expensive in the US, where we get installations often for 1/4 to even 1/6 from the prices i see quoted in the US. There is a reason why seeing solar on every third or forth house is not uncommon here.

A generator (in Europe) is good for those days where you get no solar energy and are totally off-grid living (or do not wamt to use electricity providers anymore with their stupid fixed costs).

>I do not understand why solar installations are so expensive in the US

the Biden administration has recently raised these tariffs, including doubling the tariff rate on solar cells from China to 50%

Tariffs are magic.. they make america so rich!

/s

Looked up the numbers:

Trump initial 25% Tarif (30 down to 25), then Bidden up to 50%, then Trump up to 60% ... It adds up fast.

Europe had import tariffs from 2013 and those expired in September 2023. That is around the same time most countries stopped with subsidies for solar.

The ironic part is, that this flood of cheap Chinese panels, batteries, etc is a major boom to our energy independence as those installations easily last 20+ years. And given our neighbor to the easy issue, energy independence is high on the list.

The US does not have this issue with their gas/oil rich area's (and probably $$$ to politicians).

I love how I'm getting downvoted here :-D

Tariffs DONT make America rich, they make imported products more expensive to buy.

Then if and only if, they get so expensive that its cheaper to make them locally, they start industry to make them locally.

they're still more expensive than the pre tariff price, but they're now cheaper than the imported product.

I'm not arguing against tariffs.. just stating it like it is. and mocking the statement they current leader keeps repeating incorrectly.

What is “the BIG ONE” in PNW that could happen without warning any second?

Earthquake or volcano would be my guess, with landslides being a secondary concern. Plate tectonics in that area creates some hidden (or in the case of Tahoma and others in the area, not so hidden) dangers that have struck in the recent history. The Nisqually earthquake comes to mind as well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Nisqually_earthquake

https://pnsn.org/earthquakes/recent/

Subduction zone earthquake.

Earthquake. The entire North American west coast sits on the boundary of the Pacific tectonic plate, so it's a subduction zone.

Same reason California and Japan are known for large earthquakes.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire

Seriously .. if you are "expecting the BIG ONE any second" ... maybe you should move?

You could ask this of almost everyone living in California, and I expect their answer would be similar: the apparent benefits outweigh the perceived risk.

Every geographic region in the U.S. has a natural disaster risk factor. In Oregon we are overdue for a large quake, but I've prepared for this. In fact, taken what other regions face - wildfire, tornadoes, hurricanes,flooding - an earthquake sounds down right mild.

My preparation of a truck camper as an emergency shelter makes perfect sense to me. It is mobile, has a built-in generator but is mostly run by solar charging, provides enough space to sleep and live with heat and AC. Few people prep their RV's as an emergency shelter. I'm not sure why. Naturally, I hope my community does not have to face a major earthquake, but I do find it interesting when I get criticism for preparing. Am I coming across as paranoid, or prepared?

Earthquake hazard exists for literally the entire North American west coast.

If you move further east, you start to get other hazards: Hurricanes, tornados, flooding, forest fires. Take your pick, there's always something to worry about.

The important thing is to know what the hazards are for your area and prepare for those.

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