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Get dark curtains
Bigger problem would be the noise from the generator unless you had it in a sealed building that's well insulated against the sound of it running.
Don't worry about your neighbors, take care of yourself and your family, and get a big shotgun for those that want to sponge off of you in an emergency.
One other option, here where I live, due to a lot of overcast days, solar doesn't' work all the time, so we have a bank of batteries with a generator to backup the solar.
If the sun isn't shining you run the generator to charge the batteries.
Just figure how much power you use, then buy enough batteries to provide that power for say 3 days.
Then you only have to run your generator for a few hours every 3 days or so to charge your batteries. The rest of the time you run off the batteries, no noise.
About the sealed building...We live in an HOA community.....You can't even put a shed that matches your house in this development much less a second building
Being this far north we don't get as much sun as more southerly areas....Even so, our property is in the woods which also causes a problem even if the solar panels were on the roof
You need to practice light discipline, noise discipline, and trash disclipline.
You still haven't told us how often the power is out, how long it's out for, and what people in the area generally do when the power is out.
And you don't need to let anyone know in advance. You seem to have a rather 'urban' take on all of this. I'd say you need to start thinking like a sutvivalist. Is there some reason you don't want to help the neighbors? Just let them know that you won't be open for business unless they wish to make a donation, or not at all, if that's the case.
My guess is, if they think it's that crazy, they won't bother you anyway.
We have only lived here 2 years but heard that the power was out for 5 days the winter before we moved here so we don't know what everyone did. Luckily most of our neighbors are snowbirds and go to Florida for the winter.
We retired when we moved here, we love snow, but I don't want to end up in my 80's years from now, sitting in a freezing house waiting for the electric to come back on.
OP, you have now learned a basic rule of survival: keep your mouth shut. I have a whole house generator as well as two small one to back it up. Mention no more about this to anyone. Try to have everything delivered when the neighbors aren't around. If you have children, tell them to do the same. They'll enjoy it. Unless you are competent in electrical work, hire a professional to do this work. When you do have a power failure leave one window uncovered with a dark room showing only a single candle burning.
Neighbors can be a problem in an emergency. That's the next step. Read the threads here and on the Guns and Hunting forum. There's some great information. When people were building fallout shelters in the fifties there was a great discussion about the use of deadly force. Almost everyone in those better times agreed that it fulfilled ethical considerations.
You've made a wise decision. Welcome to the forum, SURVIVALIST.
No kids so no problem there. As soon as people walk to the side of our house, (and we visit each others gardens often) they will see the generator.
We moved from Pa where we owned 11 acres. I am assuming most of you have a lot of land around you. As I said before we are on a third of an acre in a neighborhood not out in the country.
Wife and I live on Cape Cod. Until fairly recently power would go out several times a year. Much better now. We’ve had a whole house generator for around eight years (12.5kw, powered by propane so output is closer to 10kw). Very handy when the power goes out. Makes life very comfortable and secure.
How will you fuel your generator? Choices are limited to oil for a diesel model, gasoline, natural gas or propane. Diesel is pricey to set up. Gasoline fuel can be problematic. We opted for propane as there is no natural gas in our area. Natural gas is the best option, basically giving the generator user an unlimited supply of fuel.
My unit turns itself on once a week for 15 or 20 minutes. We have it serviced a couple of times a year. Really makes sense if you can swing the cost.
First time you lose power you might become kinda popular and you will look like a genius.
Once the power is returned the guys in the area are going to have a boatload of generator questions for you.
The next time you lose power I can almost guarantee that most of those same guys will have purchased their own, possibly more powerful generators.
Such is the way of keeping up with the Jones.
I hope you are right, that sounds really good to me!!!
We don't mind helping others but this is for us and our family. Our neighbors already asked if there was an outage could they bring their RV over and hook it up to our electric....We are sizing the generator to our household needs not to also power an RV!!!
Wife and I live on Cape Cod. Until fairly recently power would go out several times a year. Much better now. We’ve had a whole house generator for around eight years (12.5kw, powered by propane so output is closer to 10kw). Very handy when the power goes out. Makes life very comfortable and secure.
How will you fuel your generator? Choices are limited to oil for a diesel model, gasoline, natural gas or propane. Diesel is pricey to set up. Gasoline fuel can be problematic. We opted for propane as there is no natural gas in our area. Natural gas is the best option, basically giving the generator user an unlimited supply of fuel.
My unit turns itself on once a week for 15 or 20 minutes. We have it serviced a couple of times a year. Really makes sense if you can swing the cost.
Rich
We have the best of both worlds because we have natural gas already in our home with 3 fireplaces powered by natural gas. Glad to hear you are happy with it. Husband isn't so thrilled that it has to be serviced more than once a year. Hopefully it is something he can do himself rather than hiring a serviceman.
What sort of fuel would your generator run on? If you have Natural Gas, you could run it constantly if you really needed to. The problem with power outages is gas stations run out of fuel and people with tiny gas generators all have to line up and the one station that still might have power.
If you do install a generator, be sure you will have FUEL!
I have two standby generators (the actual name for a "whole house generator"). One runs on nat gas, the other off a 1,000 gallon propane tank (two different houses).
And I don't hide it at all. If the power goes out, anyone is welcome. I can't run your RV, but I can keep your family warm or cool (more often cool, being summer in TX). We can watch TV together, or whatever.
More often than not, neighbors don't want to impose. They're happy to run one little extension cord to power a fan & radio/TV. I insist they come in for a while. Most of our power outages are in the summer, and it's blazing hot outside. And usually only last a few hours. It's the rare storm that knocks it out for days.
Geez, whatever happened to American hospitality? If your neighbors need help, HELP THEM. The last thing I'm gonna do is put up a wall and keep them out. I believe in self-sufficiency and preparedness, that's why I have TWO standby generators. But I believe even more in being a good person.
Blackout curtains. Sheesh. Y'all should be embarrassed.
We had a generator at our previous home, which lay in a snowbelt microclimate, single steep narrow winding road in etc etc. After a couple of massive snowstorms with power outages, we finally got a generator. Many of our neighbors already had them. I don't remember any migrations to houses that had generators during power outages. During the worst snowstorm, nobody was going anywhere, even on foot.
The generator was big enough to power some lights and keep the furnace and water going. We had a small wood stove that normally was used as supplemental heat; during outages we kept it stoked. The garage building had a radiant propane heater on the ground floor which was enough to keep pipes from freezing.
Our system worked well and we plan to do something similar again.
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