Whole home backup power
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@wtg interesting. We don’t have any kind of backup generator and I would rather we had something. Looking at that link, it shows the standard installation cost as $295 and “no ongoing battery fees” (not the discount, since thst is limited).
But can it be that cheap? What am I missing or where’s the catch?Also, are there any downsides? Like, how big is the battery and where does it get installed?Whoops, didn’t read the second link…
There’s a catch, there’s always a catch.
BTW we don’t have any time of use metering or anything like peak use time metering.
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Ok, I read the second article… yeah, I don’t like the model. I don’t like the fact that the company can drain the battery so you may not be at 100% when an outage happens.
Although we have zero backup at present, so I’m in no position to be so choosy.
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This seems to be taking off here. My neighbor is having one installed at his mom's house, and his sister and nephew are also signed up. We have seen Base Power trucks at people’s houses. I did investigate it for our housebut we don't qualify for their program because a) we have an ancient electric panel and, more importantly, b) there is no way to put the battery near the electric meter at our house because of where the outside basement stairway is located. I initially didn't think we'd be interested but after my neighbor investigated it in detail and shared more about how it works, it seems like a very good option for getting some backup power.
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Ok, I read the second article… yeah, I don’t like the model. I don’t like the fact that the company can drain the battery so you may not be at 100% when an outage happens.
Although we have zero backup at present, so I’m in no position to be so choosy.
I don’t like the fact that the company can drain the battery so you may not be at 100% when an outage happens.
Definitely not a deal breaker for me.
Their whole model is buying power cheaply and storing it in the battery and then selling it back to the market when the price is higher. And the rate they charge you as your electric supplier is lower than the local electric utility, so you save money on monthly bills.
They have weather monitoring in place, and if bad weather is coming and might cause outages, they modify how much they sell/drain your battery.
Although we have zero backup at present,
Yup. Some backup is better than nothing. And if you want an extra level of protection, you can get a portable generator and charge the battery yourself in the event of an extended outage.
From what I've learned so far, this is a pretty inexpensive (possibly money-saving ) way to get some level of protection.
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My biggest concern power-wise is the winters here. I have to be able to keep the birds comfortable and a loss of power (which happens at least once almost every winter) could be a catastrophe (I heat their room with an electric heater). But, since the wood burning stove doesn't require electricity, heating is taken care of and I can direct it into their room if needed. If I need light I can use kerosene lamps or candles. The gas hob works without electricity because I can light the burners with a match. The oven and fridge won't work, but I can put food outside in the winter to keep it cold in an emergency (the bears are hibernating so they won't take it). Plumbing won't work for too long, but if worse came to worst, I could melt snow for water. Of course, no internet... how will I ever live? Yeah, it's not all the most convenient but it would get us through.
I bought a gas powered generator the 2nd or 3rd year I was here and never used it. It sat in the basement all these years rusting out. It's noisy, needs to run outside (where there would normally be feet of snow). Quite a lot of trouble really.
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My biggest concern power-wise is the winters here. I have to be able to keep the birds comfortable and a loss of power (which happens at least once almost every winter) could be a catastrophe (I heat their room with an electric heater). But, since the wood burning stove doesn't require electricity, heating is taken care of and I can direct it into their room if needed. If I need light I can use kerosene lamps or candles. The gas hob works without electricity because I can light the burners with a match. The oven and fridge won't work, but I can put food outside in the winter to keep it cold in an emergency (the bears are hibernating so they won't take it). Plumbing won't work for too long, but if worse came to worst, I could melt snow for water. Of course, no internet... how will I ever live? Yeah, it's not all the most convenient but it would get us through.
I bought a gas powered generator the 2nd or 3rd year I was here and never used it. It sat in the basement all these years rusting out. It's noisy, needs to run outside (where there would normally be feet of snow). Quite a lot of trouble really.
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@Bernard How do you get the generator out of the basement? Ours is in the garage so I just wheel it outside near where the plug is that goes into the manual transfer switch.
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Years ago I looked into a whole home external generator. They were pricey (~10k installed) but for us the real deal breaker was the regulations about placement in the yard. It had to be a certain distance from the border of your property, and a certain distance from any structure like the house or a shed. In my yard that meant it was going to be really inconveniently placed at a time when the boy was using the yard a lot to play.
So o ended up getting one of those switches installed that you can connect to a large portable generator and it powers selective circuits in your house, heating, AC, kitchen, a couple of bedrooms.
That setup was about half the price and served us well. I’ve not yet duplicated it in my new house. It was more important when I used oxygen concentrators to stay alive.
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We have had a manual transfer switch, same setup you described, since 2000. Works great. It is a very cost effective way to get some kind of backup in case of an extended outage. But as @bernard points out, it is kind of a pain to haul a generator around to hook it up.
Standby generators are running close to $15K these days and our town has created pretty stringent setback requirements like the ones you describe that are making it near-impossible to get one installed.
These Base Power batteries are just another way to get a bit of backup so the essentials like refrigerators and sump pumps can keep on doing their thing. And a furnace in winter and well pumps if you're not on city water. Not so good for running the high-demand stuff like A/C or electric heat.
They have their own automated transfer switch, so the backup kicks in seamlessly. If you want to extend the coverage more, you can get a portable generator to use to charge things up if an outage goes on for long enough to deplete the battery.
And with the incentives (reduced electricity rates and referral bonuses), it's stupid cheap. If you can refer one person, you've covered $250 of the $295 installation cost.
Of course it's always possible that there is something in the setup at an individual house that could require additional work by an electrician so that Base can do their install. Like any home improvement project, the homeowner has to decide whether the costs outweigh the benefits.
I don't think everyone has a need for one of these, but if you do, it's worth looking into.
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I can tell what a power outage in Florida means- not much.
I survived without power for over a year.
If the grid goes down in a storm, that means a hurricane.
And that could mean massive rainfall and flooding.
The rain and wind would be the problems. Residential power not so much.
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