New use for bus generator..

Hi all and Happy New Years Eve! We are in the middle of a huge ice storm and it has left us and many others without power. I have back fed 110 volts from the bus into our house so we can run thing, i.e. lights, furnace, coffee maker. In fact the 12.5 kw's go quite a ways. Jan and I are working on the computers, well I'm working with POG and checking mail. It is really nice to have the bus in the barn to do this. We had just filled the 160 gallons of fresh water last week when we thought there might be a chance of this happening. Our weather has been hanging around 32 degrees, with rain, so that spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

I had run the generator exaust out the building with a 6 inch flex tube. and there should be about 200 gallons of $2.48 cent diesel in the tank. So feeling pretty good about surviving the next few days without staying with our parents.

Dale.

Just make sure your turn off the main breakers to you house while you are back feeding. If you don't you could have some problems when the power comes back on.

John

We are on rural power out here in the country so I just go out to the pole and switch the lever to generator.

I'm just using a 110v 20A recepticle from the bus so I'm not really enjoying 12.5KW. I have thought of adding a 220 plug off the gen. to use it all so I can pump water, our well uses 220.

Way to Go Dale and Jan- the ole cliche':
"Country Folks Can Survive!":cool:

Hi Dale. That's quick thinking and a great reason to have our Prevost at home. My liberty has a 'buddyplug', which allows us to plug in 30 amps if need be for gen power. In the future , since I install these Generators for private and commercial use, I want to have a Stand-by Generator for my home. Gary

We went to a rally awhile back, actually parked the bus without hitting anything or anyone else (what we term as a 'good landing), and discovered that one leg of power was out.

Nice.

Come to find out, that one of the 50-amp prongs on our male plug from the bus was kinda corroded. Couple of scrapes with a knife on the corrosion and shazzam (technical term) both legs of power worked! Problem fixed.

When you do the step-down from 50-->30-->20 AMP connection, please insure that each individual prong is really clean and making a solid connection. If you think you may be putting some load on the circuit, feeling the connection. If it's hot, there's a chance it is either being overloaded (verge of popping a breaker) or there may be some corrosion in the connection.

Same goes for the female connections. MAKING SURE THE POWER IS OFF, an emery board or nail file while holding the connection upside down so the crud falls to the ground, clean up that little puppy.

Kinda surprising when you see the results. If your connections are cruddy, you may find increased voltage readings in your bus after cleaning.

I used Helen's nail file dealie and she never found out. Or at least, if she did, she didn't say anything: Yet.

Dale and Jan- I'm planning on building a hanger for the bus in the front yard of the house I'm moving into in Florida. It's on the water and about 10 feet above the flood line. My Dum and Dummer idea is that if I build it right, I can use it can double as a storm shelter and stay inside the bus if (more like when) a hurricane threatens. I was thinking similar thougths about having all the provisions you need including the generator. I would rather not evacuate so that I'm present after the strom passes to get a head start on patching the house.

Of course the main reason is to have a great garage and workshop so that I can practice my art of pretending to know how to work on things. I've been fantasizing about a pit ever since I read about one of the members here having one. Don't know if it's possible to provision a pit being so close to the water.

Does anyone have plans I can look at or ideas for the ulitmate home garage for the bus ?

Hi Jeff. I'm sure there are many Steel Building Companies in Florida who specialize in what you want. something in the size of 30X60 would give you space for the bus and other toys as well as a shop. If the water level is too high , you may have to install a Waterproof membrain for your pit when constructing your pit. Gary

Couldn't you run a little canal down to the river and then use the pit in the garage as a boathouse when the bus isn't there?

If you are 10 feet above water level, a pit is only four feet deep so there should be no problem. Build the pit so it pitches toward a sump and if the water level ever comes up that high it would be easy to drain.

Jeff,

I've seen some plans somewhere that come with hip boots and swimming trunks. If I find them, I'll be sure to send them on.

If you don't use the plans or the boots, curl the boots up and use them for a pillow when you brave the Manhattan sidewalks next time. You're a brave man, Jeffery, brave man.

Build in the front yard? Any restrictions in your area?

Lew

Jeff,
If you need construction type help, let me know and I will put you in touch of someone who can help in Bradenton. The biggest problem you will have is the building permit/process and trust me, it's a nightmare here in Manatee County.

Clear your PM mail, got a message your box was full!;)

Well we are on the fourth day with out rural power. I just love the Prevost sitting in the barn. I ended up hooking a 220v wire from the gen. box to the breaker box in the barn so our home has enough power to run everything. We have gas hot water and furnace's so it doesn't take all that much. Our well runs off 220 and everything else is 110.

I checked the fuel level and it 1/2 full. we run the gen. about 14 hours a day. the gen. turned over 1000 hours on the hour meter, not bad for a 86.

This is a photo looking out the kitchen window.

Dale,
Your the Man... Now I remember why I left upstate NY 30 years ago.:eek: I have a generator (10 KW) at home for power and we use it several times a year when the power poops out. Happens more often for country folks as you are experiencing. When I built the house, I had the power company install an auxillary switch so I can just throw the lever and go to the generator.

As a back up, I have a 220 on the bus to do the same thing, just like you are doing. Here's a pic of the 220 box...

Attachment 664

Attachment 665

Stay warm, hope you don't run out of adult beverages.:D

Now thats a nice shop Jon, I am jealous!!!!! :eek:

The creeper hanging on the back wall is crooked:D

Well power is back on....end of the Kohler generator need. I was thinking that a generator used more fuel, but ours used 1/4 tank in 48 hours, does that sound right to all the gen. uses?

you guys livin' in ice storms and plannin' t' stay over during hurricane season - what is WRONG with you guys???

Go figure....