Blizzard-Ice Storm January 23-26, 2026

[Fordup]

10 gallons per day to run my entire house, electric heat pumps, electric water heater, hardly 100's of gallons. I don't have the low idle for low loads though. I can live with that.
I will say a small generator to charge battery system is a better idea, if that battery system can run 15K house needs.

Mine burns .8 gallons a hour 1/4 load and a little over 1 gph half load. We went through almost 20 gallons a day for the 11 days we were out in below freezing weather. The inverter is 12 kwh continously and 15 kwh starting. Number of batteries is the limiting factor. We find 3 freezers, 2 full size fridges, small appliances, lights, smart home equipment, internet router, vampire draw, and several tvs. Use about 7 kwh a day. Pump is only intermittent so doesn’t use a lot but high startup draw. Woodstove for heat propane for cooking. Can go 5 days with no sun when you include inverter inefficiency and battery self consumption with my current batteries. A hour and a half sun in winter will recharge the batteries because solar panels like cold and bifacial panels also use reflected light odd the snow behind them. In summer we can make about 50 kwh a day and that keeps the AC on. Just a pain cleaning the snow off at 10 below windchills like this morning.

Sponsored

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Here in north GA they keep pushing back the start time of the impending apocalypse.

First it was Friday night, then Saturday morning, now Saturday night.

We are about as prepared as we can be.

LOTS of trees in this area so I'm expecting power outages.

That EcoFlow that @AzScorpion mentioned looks intriguing.

 

[Fordup]

I finally got smart and switched to a tractor with a cab that has heat and ac. Was about 80 in there this morning with the radio blaring. Just can't take that cold anymore.

 

[AzScorpion]

I finally got smart and switched to a tractor with a cab that has heat and ac. Was about 80 in there this morning with the radio blaring. Just can't take that cold anymore.

Those enclosures sure make work more fun don't they? My neighbor did the same and said it wasn't such a chore cleaning up his property (he had 20 acres and 1,200' of driveway) when the big storms hit. He actually looked forward to it now being as he has heat and tunes and would bring a cooler with him. He had so much fun he sometimes would go around cleaning up our driveways too. lol

 

[mtsoxfan]

Mine burns .8 gallons a hour 1/4 load and a little over 1 gph half load. We went through almost 20 gallons a day for the 11 days we were out in below freezing weather. The inverter is 12 kwh continously and 15 kwh starting. Number of batteries is the limiting factor. We find 3 freezers, 2 full size fridges, small appliances, lights, smart home equipment, internet router, vampire draw, and several tvs. Use about 7 kwh a day. Pump is only intermittent so doesn’t use a lot but high startup draw. Woodstove for heat propane for cooking. Can go 5 days with no sun when you include inverter inefficiency and battery self consumption with my current batteries. A hour and a half sun in winter will recharge the batteries because solar panels like cold and bifacial panels also use reflected light odd the snow behind them. In summer we can make about 50 kwh a day and that keeps the AC on. Just a pain cleaning the snow off at 10 below windchills like this morning.

A buddy of mine has a similar set up, batteries that will run his home for a few days, small gen for recharge when sun not out, and solar panels about to be installed, OK, once snow is gone. And grid can also recharge batteries when up. I might have gone that route if I knew about it.

 

[AzScorpion]

Clay @TxOTRRanger how's the weather where you are now? It looks like most of the mess should be moving out of there soon and I think Morgan @veedubtuner should've been able to make his dinner and play Xbox lol because it looks like the ice wasn't to bad there and was mostly snow.

The latest update from Ryan still shows a lot of ice & snow moving through the center of the country and up the east coast overnight and through tomorrow. Looks like 2.7" of sleet fell in Monroe, LA and emergency responders are having a hard tome keeping up with all the power line fires in Sabina Parish, LA.

 

[TxOTRRanger]

Clay @TxOTRRanger how's the weather where you are now? It looks like most of the mess should be moving out of there soon and I think Morgan @veedubtuner should've been able to make his dinner and play Xbox lol because it looks like the ice wasn't to bad there and was mostly snow.

The latest update from Ryan still shows a lot of ice & snow moving through the center of the country and up the east coast overnight and through tomorrow. Looks like 2.7" of sleet fell in Monroe, LA and emergency responders are having a hard tome keeping up with all the power line fires in Sabina Parish, LA.

Weather conditions at the current time. This is what I am hearing outside. It sounds like the "wintry mix" of sleet and snow.

 

[IdahoRanger]

Weather conditions at the current time. This is what I am hearing outside. It sounds like the "wintry mix" of sleet and snow.

My BIL in Chandler, near Tyler, south of you had some snow this morning but not much since.

 

[AzScorpion]

The energy from driving this is coming from all that moisture from the Pacific and Gulf. It's crazy how large this is and watching the jet stream dumping all that cold air down from Canada.

 

[TxOTRRanger]

Dave @AzScorpion, you and Robert @Grandaccess aren't the only weather geeks on here lol. I watch the clouds in the sky after hearing the weather report on 102.5 Mad Rock. Something that I learned from Grandpa.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Generators suck. They require hundreds of gallons of fuel for a long outage if you don't have natural gas we found and have to run constantly for small loads. A simple battery backup is much nicer. You only need a small generator for recharging. It runs full load for a short time then peace and quiet for hours. Many plug and play systems available now if you don't have massive loads that can be recharged at EV chargers if you don't want to deal with generators.

These are good points Ed - my generator connection to the house is very close to my natural gas meter - likely the way I’d go.

However, your point that you need to burn a lot of fuel even when drawing a limited amount of power definitely got my attention. Create more demand and it ramps up but there will always be a minimum amount of fuel spent on low demand whether I’m charging my phone or running my fridge. I know, extreme example but I’m making a point.

What I take away from that is…….a battery backup system is more efficient because there is no wasted energy, so to speak. You only deplete what you use. Is that your point?

If so, I’m digging’ that concept!

 

[Dr. Zaius]

 

[TheExtra404]

Got to use what they got. LMAOO

 

[Fordup]

These are good points Ed - my generator connection to the house is very close to my natural gas meter - likely the way I’d go.

However, your point that you need to burn a lot of fuel even when drawing a limited amount of power definitely got my attention. Create more demand and it ramps up but there will always be a minimum amount of fuel spent on low demand whether I’m charging my phone or running my fridge. I know, extreme example but I’m making a point.

What I take away from that is…….a battery backup system is more efficient because there is no wasted energy, so to speak. You only deplete what you use. Is that your point?

If so, I’m digging’ that concept!

If you have natural gas and cheap reliable electricity a generator may the lowest cost for you but it's just gonna sit there and do nothing 99.99% of the time needing exercise and maintenance. With batteries and inverter if you add a couple solar panels you have a savings on your electric bill every month without fuel costs plus it is basically trouble free once set up. This summer there's supposed to be a big drop in battery prices I'm hearing. Actually a fun learning experience if you DIY it.
You actually do have some loss in a system from inverter consumption and inefficiency along with charge controller inefficiency plus battery BMS consumption so when running a 48 volt system there's about a 10% total loss from solar panels to outlets. Less for just the inverter. Lower voltage systems and cheaper components will increase the loss.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

If you have natural gas and cheap reliable electricity a generator may the lowest cost for you but it's just gonna sit there and do nothing 99.99% of the time needing exercise and maintenance. With batteries and inverter if you add a couple solar panels you have a savings on your electric bill every month without fuel costs plus it is basically trouble free once set up. This summer there's supposed to be a big drop in battery prices I'm hearing. Actually a fun learning experience if you DIY it.

Yeah, it sounds like there’s a lot to learn for sure. I like the idea of solar panels keeping it at the ready but also the savings it brings. Definitely something to look into for the homestead and the cottage - would love to run the heat pump at the cottage all winter long using the sun.

Thanks Ed!

Sponsored