Survival and Emergency Preparedness

Couple more steps forward. The power company came and ran a line to the house. Up the driveway from the road then underground to the house.





Also, the propane tank was delivered on Saturday. I opted for a 500 lb tank. It's not hooked up yet, have to wait for the gas stub to be plumbed.



The plumbers and electricians are supposed to be in today or tomorrow so hopefully we'll have lights by the end of the week. Gas company is running behind on installations so hopefully heat by next week. I opted to buy the tank. If you get it "free" from the gas company you are actually leasing the tank with a extra fee tacked on to the price of gas forever.

How long do you think that 500 gallon tank will last you before you need to have it refilled? I'm strongly considering having a whole house gen hooked up to the new house as a back up but really have no experience with such things. Don't know how long a tank like that would last 'on average' (and I know it depends on a lot of factors) and does natural gas or propane 'go bad' if not used for extended periods?

Thinking something along the lines of the Generac whole house generator but really haven't checked into it in depth.

David wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:43 am How long do you think that 500 gallon tank will last you before you need to have it refilled? I'm strongly considering having a whole house gen hooked up to the new house as a back up but really have no experience with such things. Don't know how long a tank like that would last 'on average' (and I know it depends on a lot of factors) and does natural gas or propane 'go bad' if not used for extended periods?

Thinking something along the lines of the Generac whole house generator but really haven't checked into it in depth.

We are using propane for heating and cooking only. Heating will be supplemented by wood. Should be able to get a good 6 months out of a tank depending on how cold it is. We aren't planning on spending the winters there. Probably head south after Christmas/New Years. As for a whole house generator, depending on the season and what you run, a 500 gallon tank (actually holds 400 gallons, tanks are filled to 80% capacity) could last up to 2 weeks on a full tank running the whole house.

I personally believe in rationing power during a outage i.e, just running enough to get by, not the whole house. In that we will be likely leaving the house unattended for 3 months a year during the winter the whole house gen-set kicks on automatically during an outage and shuts off automatically when the power kicks back on. I think that's good insurance.

Propane will last forever. Natural gas will last as long as they continue to pump it to you. And BTW, most people have 250 gallon propane tanks.

I assume since your house is being built in a development it will have natural gas. I've never heard of NG being shut off during an emergency other than a gas leak or someone ruptures a gas main/line. That seldom happens, at least around where I live.

Appreciate it

We have lights and power as of Tues. Finally turned the circuit breaker panel on . The garage door even works. Plumbers were coming today so we should have water soon.

Just heard from the builder today that the house won't be done until the first week of December.

Yeah, I'm tired of waiting.

David wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 8:43 am How long do you think that 500 gallon tank will last you before you need to have it refilled?

Couple of notes... a 20lb tank ( 4.7 gallons ) is about the same as 5 gallons of gas for a gennie.

I gallon of propane is about 92k BTU....

My fireplace max at 25k BTU or about 4 hrs per gallon. Running time on 2 - 120gall tanks is about 800 hrs
( not hard to fiq if you know output of you system )

Just got in from "up north" at my property. Things are coming along with the house.

The plumbing (drains and sewer lines) was done last week along with the piping of gas lines to the furnace and stove.

The pump was turned on and we now have running water, both hot and cold.

We got water!!! This is in the utility/laundry room sink



The propane tank line was connected to the house. Propane delivery is tomorrow so we should have the furnace up and running by Wednesday, not that it was needed. It was 75 degrees today.

Gas regulator and dryer vent


They were missing an outside carriage light on the garage so that was installed as well as fixing some outside trim.
Before....Where's the light???


The fixit guy also put a retaining wall thingy around the crawl space hatch.

Before...while running the underground electrical cable

After...I was wondering what they were going to do with that. Kind of wish now I had done a basement. Now I have to build a cover over it to keep it from filling up with snow.


List of stuff to finish...

-some dry wall and painting-next week
-steps from the garage to the house-sometime this week
-Installation of bedroom doors/frames-next week
-Finish tying the carpet halves together-week after next
-deep cleaning and inspection, week after next
-Occupancy?

Why it takes 3 weeks to do a week's worth of stuff I'll never know.

Bonus pic #1

My truck fits in the garage



Bonus pic #2

trail cam shot of a buck near the house at night



Bonus Pic #3

Whittled down the wood pile a bit by making smaller wood piles.

You have a nice setup going on there. You can be proud of your accomplishments.

Shine on!

One suggestion - get the garage floor painted. It makes cleaning the floor easier and looks nice. Get it done before you move in, it smells for a few days.