power is out

The power went out at 20 after 9 tonight. I did the rest of the chores with a 1908 CPR railroad lantern. What do you guys use in a case like this?

Generator.
LOU

Back in December, our area had an ice storm. We were without power for 6 days. It didn"t affect my chores, but we had to close off half of our originally all-electric house so our add-on gas logs would heat our living room. We made coffee every morning on the gas grill on the back porch. I started my 5500 watt generator, and it ran for 30 minutes, died, and would not restart. Love that ethanol. Rebuilding the carb was not a job I wanted to try when the high temp each day was twenty.
Butch

I have a Honda 5500 watt generator I shut the fuel off and let the engine die when it starves for fuel. No issues with carb in 20yrs and yes it has ethanol in the tank

I'm thinking of setting up a generator and tap into our LPG line to run it. No gumed up carb then.

Dusty

Ethanol has nothing to do with your generator problems.

Modern invention, called a flashlight.

20 after nine in the evening!! Go to bed

What ever is needed to survive. Thats the most basic answer. Most people are very resourceful when they are thrown in to this type of situation. A person can be pretty ingenious when they are trying to do their best for their family.
my 2 cents

I use a Homelite 5000 watt genny for my outages.. It's a sweet runner and all cast iron 10 hp Briggs.. 1976 vintage.. I bought it from an electrical contractor who's guys refused to use it .. Too darned heavy.. It sat under a workbench for 36 years..

Don't be so sure. I have seen plenty of carbs and fuel lines destroyed by the stuff

I have a whole house generator that runs on propane. Power goes out. After 30 secons generator takes over . I didnt want to spend the money , but its worth every cent.

Now I am gonna open a can of worms. I have 5 generators and they all work GREAT. Four of them were used. I had to rebuild three of the carbs and set them to the correct speed so the frequency was correct. It MUST be 60hz or you can blow up sensitive electronics including your HI efficiency "95%" gas heat system. The control boards are over $300.oo.
My little tiny harbor freight type 2cy 1000watt had the correct mix in it for a little over two weeks. Will just run your refrigerator. Ran the first two days then sat for the week and then when I started it again it ran for about three minutes and died. After going through a check list I found there was no gas flow. In the fuel tank there is a very fine filter screen and it was FULL of JELLO. Cleaned it with a tiny puff of air hose and Mixed the new batch of 2cy mix with some Startron in it. NEVER had the jell trouble again.
Now the four big units were a WIN-Power from a friend from 1956 that is in beautiful shape but the paper gasket in the carb had warped. The next is a homelite 180 A75-1A with a 16hp Briggs on it. This 8000watt beast is an Ebay find and is another mint unit. Another ebay find is a homelite E3000-1A. This had a tiny bit of dust crud in the bottom of the carb. ALL of my generators get run several times a year at engine shows and a farm fair.
NOW I let them run out of fuel or turn off the gas valve and then let them run out. At the end of the season I put just a little gas in them and start them. When they run out this time I throw in a splash of Sythetic kerosene. Then restart them. They roll a little till they run out of fuel but when this stuff evaporates it leaves NO crud,gunk,stickys,or corrosives to destroy your carb. I love my big bad homelites one from 1986 and the other from 1985. The procedure I listed has been sure fire and they have started and run perfect for three years now.
One of my friends down the road makes his living fixing lawn mowers, lawn tractors, and almost anything else with a small engine. You would not beleve some of the damage to carbs I have seen caused by ethanol. It eats up the pot metal and swells the rubber hoses and seals. I keep telling people to use Startron cause it breaks the ethanol molecule. ALL of my gas engines use it and all of them are happy. I also use Eagle safety cans with Hi-Test gas so everything stays good between gas purchases. Jeffcat

Kept having problems a couple of years ago with fuel with Stabil in my can gas. It was forming little slimey blobs in my gas. Would cause the small engines to start to die until I choked it brefly and caused it to suck the dreg thru.
Switched to Startron and no more problems.
All my can gas used to get Stabil now it gets Startron.

I have a 5500 watt Troy built genny, 12 yrs old and have never had the carb off of it. It literally starts first pull unless it is below 10 degrees then it is a bit cranky.
It has a 10 HP OHV Briggs on it.
The last ice storm a month or so ago it started first pull on 1 yr old gas in it's tank.
I also run synthetic oil in all my small engines. no pushrod problems in any of my OHV ones yet.

I would love it if it were true that ethanol didn't harm small engines in a variety of ways, but it does. Haven't tried Startron yet, but I'm going to. Some of the "jello" stories sound exactly like what I had with Sta-bil. I think maybe SOME ethanol blends are way worse than others and that SOME blends just don't work with Sta-bil or give problems due to something combined with the fuel and what ever magic potion you try. Seems to be the case for me anyway.

I bought a beat up looking Honda 3500 watt rig at auction for something like $50.00. I've been cleaning the carb and tank for 5 years now. Still getting fine rust. Gotta coat the tank I think, but it's a good little rig.

Bought a Pincor 25KW pto unit for $125.00 IIRC at auction. Covered in pigeon crap and looks horrible. Took it to a good electrical shop and they cleaned it up and checked it. Said it had maybe 20 hours of run time on it! If it ever breaks parts are going to be a nightmare since Pincor is gone, but until then it's a dream come true!

Dietz lanterns are wonderful for area lighting when the power is out.

What is a dietz lantern?

And yes to use Startron. I was a devout Sta-bil user before I started having the jell slugs a couple of years ago.
My brother recommended Startron to me and I am well pleased.

Fired up my riding mower for the first time last weekend. Had gas in from last fall. Started right up (after charging battery) ran great and idled fine too.

Dietz kerosene lantern. You know, the old style wick type barn lantern.

I have a generator, but for most outages
I just use camping lanterns and cookstoves that take the little propane bottles. small heater too.
6v rechargeable square battery flashlights, and a few of those shake-em flashlights.
Also have a house propane powered heat stove in the main room,
so the power needs to be out for awhile before I drag the generator out.