# Power outages - old home



## Leaky (Sep 11, 2007)

Ok, I'm considering a generator for back up after the last power outage. Our house got down to 44 deg last time and we are kind of old with temps. a little hard to deal with. Whine, whine, whine. Used my Coaleman lantern and the stove to keep warm. :shock: My problem is 2 fold. Cost and how to hook it into my old home to provide power to a really old converted coal burner furnace (now gas), that has not any visible connection for a generator. Can I just find the circuit it's on and plug the generator to the outlet, or what? Also, I just don't have the $ for a $700-800 generator.  Any suggestions?


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

I would just suggest a generator from home depot and a long extension cord that can run to the outside of the house and a splitter...... I am not sure about your furnace but my furnace just plugs into the wall like any old outlet. Another thing that you may want to consider is a gas insert somewhere in your home.... My family just bunked with my Dad in Centerville where we slept in sleeping bags around the gas fireplace. You dont even need a chimney for it.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

The cheap route would be to find a generator on KSL.com and then wire in a switch for the power line going to your furnace with a cord going outside to where the generator would sit. A 1850 watt generator should be more than enough for it. Doing it this way you should be able to do it for less than $700 bucks.


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

Leaky, sorry to hear about your furnace problems. The biggest draw of power for your furnace will be the blower motor, the other components use very little electricity. Any generator that has a 20amp plug and can generate 1000 watts will do just fine, more than likely. If you don't see a receptacle inside the furnace area with a plug in it from the furnace, then your system is hard wired which will require you to install a receptacle and putting a plug end on your existing wiring to the furnace. It's pretty easy to do for the most part. I'm not an electrician but I would be more than happy to come on up and see if I can help you get the wiring set up in a safe mannor, been doing this type stuff for a while.

If you do it yourself, just make sure that power from the generator is SEPERATE from power to your house; wouldn't want to have the juice come back on with the generator power going down a now live circuit ;-) Let me know if you need any more help, I live down in SLC so not too far to drive on a weekend.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

My understanding is that most are hard wired, but making its own receptacle would make it very easy to switch over and only power the bare necessities and allow you to know when the power has returned by the lights turning on. As if anyone didn't already know this---don't EVER run a generator in your house like the idiot did in Davis County two weeks ago and almost didn't live to tell about it.


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

Huge29 said:


> My understanding is that most are hard wired, but making its own receptacle would make it very easy to switch over and only power the bare necessities and allow you to know when the power has returned by the lights turning on. As if anyone didn't already know this---don't EVER run a generator in your house like the idiot did in Davis County two weeks ago and almost didn't live to tell about it.


Yep, that was my line of thinking Huge...haha, I didn't hear about the idiot in Davis County thing, don't watch TV :mrgreen: I'll have to do a search for that, sounds crazy but it's happened many times across the country, I'm sure! :shock:


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

stillhunterman said:


> Huge29 said:
> 
> 
> > My understanding is that most are hard wired, but making its own receptacle would make it very easy to switch over and only power the bare necessities and allow you to know when the power has returned by the lights turning on. As if anyone didn't already know this---don't EVER run a generator in your house like the idiot did in Davis County two weeks ago and almost didn't live to tell about it.
> ...


http://www.ksl.com/?nid=960&sid=18375927


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