10:50 – It warmed up overnight. When I took Colin out first time this morning, it was 43F (6C), but the winds were probably 30 MPH (48 KPH) sustained, with gusts up to around 50 MPH. Oddly, it actually seemed pretty warm, even with the wind. I guess I’m getting used to the Sparta climate.
The electrician came out Thursday while I was at the dentist. I had time to talk with him briefly before I had to leave for my appointment. He got the 120VAC receptacle installed for the gas oven, and we talked briefly about installing a cut-over switch for the generator. He said that in his opinion that was overkill, and suggested that we make provision just for running the circuits we really needed, like the well pump.
Afterwards, I talked to Barbara. Her attitude is that all we really, really need to be able to run off the generator is the well pump. She’d also like to be able to run the refrigerator and freezer, but said those weren’t essential. She suggested we just run extension cords to the refrigerator and freezer. We have plenty of long, heavy-duty extension cords, and the generator will sit right below the kitchen window and not far from the back garage window (where the freezer is located). That leaves only the well pump, which (oddly) is a 120VAC unit.
I disagree with Barbara about the freezer not being essential. If we have a power failure that lasts longer than a couple of days and occurs during hot weather, we might have upwards of $1,000 of food (primarily meat) in that freezer. I think being able to power it is essential.
The guy who came out to install the receptacle for the oven said that we really needed to talk to Jay, who’s their go-to guy for generator connection issues. The well pump is currently wired straight into a breaker on the main panel. I think I’ll ask Jay if he could convert the well pump power feed into a standard 120VAC plug and install a receptacle on that circuit. That way, if the power does go down, we could simply unplug the well pump from its receptacle and plug it into an extension cord that runs to a 120VAC output on our generator.
And this from a link that OFD sent me, via Matt Bracken on Western Rifle Shooters. I think it sums things up pretty well.
Obviously, having even a doofus like this banging away at you with his AK held sideways is no joke, as is pointed out in the comments, but Bracken’s point is that on average a whole lot more of the doofuses are going down than good guys.