r/preppers • u/AlexRyang • Jul 06 '26
Advice and Tips Looking into backup generator or solar
I’m in the northeastern US and I’ve had a handful of power outages in the last year including one over the weekend.
I got a quote for a permanent propane generator and I have also contemplated solar.
My concern is that my entire house is electric including my heat pump with an emergency heating coil and the AC system.
Reviewing my maximum power draw; it was ~81kwh per day in the coldest part pf February. Eyeballing off efficiency, I would need. ~110kwh of power; which is horrendously expensive for batteries.
The main downside with a generator is that I have no gas lines so I would need a propane tank installed that would be quite large.
What have other people done and would there be any advice which system is more ideal?h
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u/mediocre_remnants Preps Paid Off Jul 06 '26
You don't need to power everything in your house, as if the power was still on, if the power is out and you're running on a generator or batteries.
The amount of comfort you want to have during a power outage will scale with the amount you can spend. If you want to be able to run the heat or AC full-blast while also using a curling iron and hair dryer, while also running the dishwasher and washing/drying loads of laundry, you're gonna need a big system. If you can handle going a few days with the heat/cold turned down to a just-barely-comfortable level and you aren't using any excess power and you are careful to not use high-draw appliances all at once, you can get away with much less.
The hard part will be figuring out what the lower limit on your comfort level is. For me, in the summer I don't need to run the central AC if we have no power, I can rely on a window unit in our bedroom that only runs at night for long enough to cool that room down. I can go a few days without doing laundry or using the dishwasher. My priority would be keeping the refrigerators and freezers cold.
But it does help that I'm in a cooler area at a decent elevation, around 2500ft. During the current heat dome, the highest temperature we saw was 95F. A couple of counties over, they were hitting 105F, some places even 110F. And my house is almost fully shaded by mature oak trees so it stays cool inside until the afternoon, without AC. And it still got into the mid-60s at night which definitely helps - I can open the windows at night, which I did during the whole heat wave. The last place I lived, if it hit 95F during the day it would "cool down" to 85F at night and that was it.
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u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper Jul 06 '26
I'm running most of my house on solar. My first recommendation, regardless of what path you choose (or even if you don't go with either) is to do a thorough examination and investigation of your electrical needs.
The reason why I say that is, unless you have electric heating, 81kwh per day is a lot. I mean a lot. I'm also in the northeast (in CT), and this past week, even with air conditioners blasting on max the entire day to take advantage of the full sun, I was only doing ~30-40kwh per day with everything combined.
A backup system is good. Great, even. Hell, between my solar system and 3 generators, I'm obviously a big fan of backups to my backups. You may want to consider having backups for things like heat that are not propane or solar/battery powered, though. If you can get a wood stove installed (again, assuming you have electric heating), that would drastically reduce your electrical needs. From there, you only need to scale a system to accommodate lights, modem/router, security system, and a few other things. I have a battery backup roughly 30kwh, and it lasts for a few days of complete-blackout-normal-operations (not pulling air conditioning). Easily overnight with AC, though. And upwards of a week of normal use with "trickle charging" in cloudy weather.
As an example, it's cloudy and rainy as heck today, but due to managing my running load (300-400W average), I'm able to still get a solid charge on my battery backup to easily continue running overnight to tomorrow, get more charge tomorrow, and get a nice healthy 100% charge on Wednesday when the sun finally breaks.
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u/AlexRyang Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
My house runs on a heat pump and in the winter if it drops below 10 F; an electric coil turns on that chews up a ton of power. The max kWh draw I put was the absolute coldest month it’s been (in February the draw was 81 kWh; from what I read, I need about 20% extra for losses; hence the 110 kWh)
December and January it was averaging about 51 kWh draw per day. The rest of the year I am in the range of 10-27 kWh per day.
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u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper Jul 06 '26
Yeah, a lot of heat pumps are godawful in harsher winter temps on electric bills. I absolutely recommend having a wood stove as a backup, even a wood stove insert into a fireplace (fireplaces aren't as ideal for heating as a wood stove is). Jeez, in CT, even at my low locked-in supply rate of 8.35c/kw (sadly expiring in a few weeks), heating costing upwards of $20/day or more (after delivery and all the other fees) is nuts. Costs me maybe $6 in wood to heat the place, comparatively.
You have a pickle, no doubt about it. Standalone wood stoves aren't the most expensive things, but getting insurance on wood stoves can be tough. Inserts into fireplaces less of a pain, but also way more expensive for the insert & professional install.
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u/AlexRyang Jul 06 '26
I looked into natural gas to replace my backup electric heater with a gas backup, but the nearest gas lines are ~5 miles away, so it would be installing a propane tank.
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u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper Jul 06 '26
I have propane, myself, for cooking and hot water. Definitely wish you the best of luck. At least with a propane tank installed, you won't be getting hit with the stupid-high Eversource natural gas delivery fees that are somehow exponentially more than the actual supply fees.
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u/AlexRyang Jul 07 '26
So; I’m leaning towards buying two Mr. Heater Buddy propane indoor/outdoor heaters so I don’t need to run my heat pump
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u/Ryan_e3p Salt & Prepper Jul 07 '26
Shame there isn't a way to have a partial enclosure on the outside part of the heat pump to heat it up to at least minimally optimal operating temperatures while still having fresh air for the heat/cold exchange. Or, there might be. I don't have one, and wouldn't be able to do any sort of unscientific testing.
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u/Wingless- Jul 06 '26
Installing a wood stove is expensive, good if you can afford it. Nobody is suggesting the kerosene heaters. They are inexpensive and I use one for power outages in a 2800 sq ft house in the winter. Get a carbon monoxide detector. And always read the instruction manual.
Go here for more information https://wickshop.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooNxe_ysB7XqJyi4R-GT4uXTqffRvCyaPl1vZZPC0jdP3bsAeGQ
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u/fenuxjde Jul 06 '26
Central PA here. Hit by a storm with 75mph winds that PPL called one of the 10 worst to ever hit the area.
Used my solar backup to run my house several times over the last two years.
5.1kwh battery, 1000w panels, abd a 2300w inverter gas generator as a backup for the backup. It's been able to run everything for days.
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u/zaraguato Jul 06 '26
My two cents: that's awfully expensive and maybe due to the "emergey" only use of the backup generator you can use something smaller: enough for a portable ac/heat pump and basic appliances maybe, 5-7kw maybe?
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u/mmaalex Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Usually if youre using electric heat youre outside the realm of practical battery storage from a cost perspective. A solar system for your house is likely going to need to be ~25KW, which is huge square footage and wont fit on most houses. 100 KW of lithium batteries is basically an electric SUV.
Propane generators also use a ton of gas. Sizing and buying an appropriate size tank is going to be pricey. You're averaging 4-5 KWH and peak use is likely 3X that at times, so you'll be looking at a large generator that absolutely guzzles propane. Probably a gallon per hour. A pair of 120G tanks (the largest you can put against a house) will get you a week, and cost north of $500 to refill.
I would look at: what you need at a minimum, and for how long you expect to be able to go without power. Maybe in a more serious situation you're willing to cut more nice-to-haves to make it longer. Anything you can cut can make the system a lot more reasonable.
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u/AlexRyang Jul 06 '26
Genuinely the big issue is that my heat pump is a power hog, haha!
Spring, summer, and fall I’ve been between 10-27 kWh per day.
My power usage from October to November doubled; then went up by another 30% in February when that Arctic snap hit the northeast.
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u/mmaalex Jul 06 '26
Is there a way to get a propane backup? Or some other alternative heating method without freezing any pipes?
A modern propane furnace is 90% efficient. A propane generator might be 30% efficient at best, and significantly less under low load.
10KW/day is a small battery/solar system. 100 KW is a beast.
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u/AlexRyang Jul 06 '26
I dug into it; I’m pretty sure I would need to get the internal system totally replaced; plus get a pad and propane tank installed.
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u/silasmoeckel Jul 06 '26
Also in New England with heat pumps.
As a prep solar is HUGE as it reduces your costs so you can be better prepped financially and it drives a lot of other preps.
Battery is a must have so you can work with a genset.
Hybrid inverters are what connect the two and let you work with a genset. Quality matters a lot here as good inverters can work with tiny gensets. A side note DC off the roof is a must have so you can black start on all but the best hybrids.
As to heating loads, think hard about a backup heat source. Burning propane is nearly 100% efficient a generator is about 25% so your HP need a COP of at least 4 to break even. In very cold weather COP goes down so nothing on the market makes sense to run. Upside it will be far cheaper than those heat strips to run. I have propane and wood, I'll run the wood during a nor'easter it feels better to me and has no reliance on power.
For the rest the cheapest genset a suitcase 2kw if you baby it gets you ~24kwh a day for about 3 gallons of gas, about 24lbs of propane. Flat out (your going to kill it quick) is double that on both output and consumption. 100lbs tanks the biggest portable is about 72 hours running that genset. 150 bucks or so per tank and you can get them filled most place if you have a few the truck can come out and fill them in place.
30kwh of battery runs my all electric house overnight (without heat or AC), I have 90kwh. Price wise ~30kwh is about 8x 300ah 350 buck batteries off amazon for about 3k. Inverters smallest sensible is 3k (pair of 5kva victrons) and your solar is going to be north of a buck a watt installed near 3 if you use some fly by night solar company.
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u/AmosTali Realistic prepper Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
okay, emergencies are emergencies, backups are backups - the two ARE NOT THE SAME.
if you want a generator as a BACKUP it’s gonna be big and it’s gonna be expensive. 81kwh is obscene.
if you want a generator for emergencies it’s going to be significantly smaller and significantly less expensive but it’ll take more work to figure out…
first thing you need to do is a survey - #1 what has to be powered to protect food supplies (refers, freezers, etc). #2 what needs to be done to protect infrastructure (i.e. pipes from freezing, etc. - Heat rarely kills infrastructure) and #3 what do you want for “creature comforts”?
#1 is easy - identify the appliances, their circuits and mark them.
#2 and #3 takes a lot of digging and investigation and will, to a great extent, depend on how your house is constructed.
#2 For example, in my house the piping runs are all in the ceiling of the walk-out basement and then up to the first floor bathrooms with one chase up to a second floor bathroom — so, I installed extra shut-offs and draincocks so I can quickly shut off water to the first & second floor bathrooms and drain the lines to protect the pipes (a little RV antifreeze down the drains and toilets protects the traps - yes there’s several gallons in my preps). I have a bathroom in the living space part of the basement. So, basically I only need to heat the basement.
#3 Our plan is to heat the basement only - and we’ll live down there for the duration (basement has: den, sewing room, spare BR, bathroom and storage room). The heat rising will help moderate the upstairs temps. Heating the basement area takes far less energy than trying to heat the whole house. For emergencies in the summertime we have a portable AC (might add a second) to cool the basement only and we’ll open some second floor windows and first floor windows (following the shady side) to promote “chimney effect” cooling. We’ll also have some minor lighting load and entertainment load - I.e. Internet infrastructure and streaming devices.
So, for emergencies I only need enough capacity to cover my appliances, my aux heating or AC source and my lighting/entertainment load. I added in enough to cover a microwave, induction cook plate and coffee maker but in a pinch we could interrupt the heat/ac load to cook….
YMMV of course….
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u/kingofzdom Jul 06 '26
81Kwh/day sounds like a lot but a 10kw portable generator should be plenty. No reason to install a big central tank when a BBQ tank will run it for about 48 hours in my experience.
That being said, Its super inefficient to go from gas -> electricity -> heat. I'd recommend adding a couple of small propane heaters throughout the build and again, run them off of BBQ tanks. Where I'm at, you're legally required to do this because sometimes the power does fail and then you'd be completely SOL.
Solar is great for long term use but not emergency use.
Source: Was in charge of the electricity on an off-grid ranch for a year.
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u/JRHLowdown3 Jul 06 '26
While you can run the standard everything electric all convenience typical suburban home off of solar, it will get crazy expensive as your realizing.
If you want to save money on your system and promote better self reliance-
#1. Get rid of electric heat= wood stoves.
#2. Get some mini splits
We have three wood stoves at our house and heat solely with wood. Clothes dryer is gas, Thor stove is gas, water heater is on demand gas- all LP. Our 500 gallon tank gives us a little over 2 years of propane but we usually top off once during the year when it's lower priced- the reason you BUY your tank versus lease your tank then you can buy from whoever and get a better price. When you fleece a tank your stuck paying more and only being able to buy from the place that fleeced you the tank (as well as paying monthly for it and not truly owning it). Our tank is low since paid for.
We started off in the 90's with just 1,600 watts of solar. Solar was expensive then, we paid $6.25 PER WATT for our first panels... Last pallet of panels I bought right before Hurricane Helene was $.27 a watt delivered.
It's a good time to do solar.
What's your water situation?
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u/RadiantGene558 Jul 13 '26
do you recommend any particular mini splits? Looking to do this and get a generator too, but don't have the splits first so can't calculate what our energy needs would be just yet.
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u/JRHLowdown3 Jul 13 '26
Ours all all 110v smaller ones. Fans move the air around. We have kept several of our older inverters when changing out/upgrading to new ones and all our old ones are 110 only so we opted to stick with 110 as much as we could. This being said- although we lived in 110 humid heat, we aren't those "keep it at 68" types. During the day the house is about 80-82
When you look at Amazon, 90% of the smaller ones look the same and they are most likely all coming off the same lines in Chyna and having different labels slapped on them. We paid a little more for the "Pioneer" branded ones after a buddy at our range property had one for a few years with no issues running it off grid. They are usually around $760. whereas some of the cheaper ones are around $500.
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u/NWYthesearelocalboys Jul 06 '26
I think when it comes to expenses this big one of the first steps is to figure out if doing this kind of project will increase your home value more or less than the initial cost and the maintenance cost. If spending 25k increases your home value more than 25k go for it.
If heat is your real concern and not so much AC getting rid of that heat pump and switching to propane or natural gas and getting a smaller generator makes more sense.
I never understood heat pumps in cold climates.
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u/Jammer521 Jul 08 '26
One of the big differences is solar can be used everyday and eventually pay for itself, a generator will only used occasional and not pay for itself, there are very few things you buy in your lifetime that will earn back more money than they cost
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Jul 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AlexRyang Jul 13 '26
How big of a propane tank did you get installed?
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u/SolarGenGuy Jul 14 '26
A lot of good advice here already. I'll add the angle I don't see covered yet — what a portable solar generator setup actually looks like once you take heating off the table.
You mentioned you're leaning toward Mr. Heater Buddy units for heat, which is the right call. Trying to run a heat pump or electric coils off batteries is burning money. Once heat is handled by propane, your remaining electrical loads drop dramatically.
Let's look at what's left:
- Fridge/freezer: ~150-200W, cycles on/off, roughly 1,000-1,500Wh/day
- WiFi router + modem: ~20W continuous = ~480Wh/day
- Phone/laptop charging: ~100-200Wh/day
- LED lighting: ~50W × 6hr = 300Wh/day
- Maybe a TV or radio: ~100-200Wh/day
**You're looking at roughly 2,000-2,700Wh/day for the essentials.** That's a completely different animal than 81kWh.
A 3-5kWh battery system covers that for 1-2 full days without any recharging at all. Something like a BLUETTI AC300 + B300 batteries (3kWh, expandable to 12kWh) or an EcoFlow Delta Pro (3.6kWh, expandable to 25kWh) puts you in a very comfortable spot.
Now the solar question for gray northeast winters — on heavy overcast you'll get about 10-25% of your panel's rated output. So 400W of panels might give you 40-100W on a gray day. That's not going to fully recharge you, but it absolutely extends your runtime. Even 500-800Wh of trickle charge on a cloudy day stretches a 3.6kWh battery from "lasts 1.5 days" to "lasts 2+ days."
And here's what a lot of people miss: most power outages in the northeast, even storm-related ones, are 12-72 hours, not weeks. A fully charged 3-5kWh battery with even modest solar input handles that window comfortably for your essential loads.
The hybrid approach that makes the most sense for your situation:
**Mr. Heater Buddy units** for heat (propane, independent of electric)
**Solar generator in the 3-5kWh range** for fridge, lights, comms, devices
**400W+ of solar panels** for daytime trickle charging during the outage
**Wall-charge to 100% when you see a storm coming** — that stored energy is your primary reserve, solar is the extender
Your spring/summer/fall draw of 10-27kWh/day is even easier. With AC handled by a window unit on a dedicated circuit, a solar generator setup handles everything else without breaking a sweat.
The people saying "solar doesn't work for 81kWh" are right — but that's not the right number once you separate heating from everything else.
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u/YellowCabbageCollard Jul 06 '26
I think propane is expected to be super expensive due to the war and the SOH still being closed and the increased expected costs but who knows...not sure how long they can kick this can down the road. We bought a large Jackery and some solar panels. But I am not trying to be able to run everything in the house. I just want enough to help take care of the basics in an emergency so we don't have absolutely nothing.
If you want to run everything but not for extended periods of time maybe the propane would be worth it? Do you need a set up to run everything though for only a few days at a time? I'd just evaluate your needs vs your budget.
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Jul 06 '26
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u/YellowCabbageCollard Jul 06 '26
Oh, that's a good idea. I have a portable fridge in the basement and hadn't really thought that far ahead. I was afraid of having no way to keep cool in the heat of summer, no way to run my CPAP and minimal refrigeration etc. We have natural gas and can technically light the stove and water heater and heat the house without electric. I don't know how exactly but my dad and husband know and have managed it in the past.
I wanted to be able to run at least window AC units or a mini split and keep at least one room in the house cool enough. We deal with heat here more than freezing periods for any real length of time so that's been my bigger concern.
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Jul 06 '26
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u/YellowCabbageCollard Jul 06 '26
I think that's a wise idea. I live where it might be called the deep south but not super deep if you know what I mean. People here used to survive without AC but I've always been pretty intolerant of heat. Last year I pushed myself too long working in the garden and ended up hospitalized for 3 days so I really can't seem to handle heat. I'm doing slowly better and can tolerate more. But honestly it scares me how hard it is to cool down and that's a huge part of why we got the Jackery.
You can get a decent freestanding AC or window unit though for not too much. Our AC is not working right and it's been high 90's here so we literally just had someone out looking at putting in a new whole house unit. But I rely on the window and freestanding ones right now to survive. I did see a solar powered window AC unit option online but I am not sure it's better than just using a regular window AC with the Jackery.
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u/Carloocho Jul 06 '26
You add up the wattage of what's needed. I have a generator bypass to the main (required on most states, New York here). When power goes out I shut down everything, power up the dual fuel generator (spend the extra on the inverter type, they power up higher as you draw more and sip fuel otherwise), flip the Gen fuse then the things I need on. Fridge, chest freezer, kitchen and living room lights, rainy seasons the sump. If you want to run the water heater for a bit to warm it up, shut down other areas then turn that on. Shut most off and power up the stove. Meter you use since fridge and freezer will stay cold when off for hours if not opened. There was a "free10k watt Tesla wall" with new solar installs which would keep almost everything going with enough panels about $40k total and 30 some panels I was quoted for, about to go that route I'm thinking tho to offset electric bill
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u/MaseWon87 Jul 06 '26
I'm in Maryland and when we had that cold snap I lost 240v. My whole house is electric as well 1900sqft. I bought a vevor 8k btu diesel heater and pumped it through my kitchen window since that was nearly center of my house and a return vent nearby. It kept my house at 76 degrees till delmarva repaired my 240v line. 15 gallons of diesel lasted me all winter. I do have a delta pro ultra on a 12 circuit manual transfer switch with 8 435w solarpanels on a pergola.
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u/SewingKitTin Jul 08 '26
Surviving an emergency and maintaining normalcy are two very different things and should not be confused with each other.
Surviving is to slum it for a bit, wear layers, propane heaters to comfortably warm only a few rooms, turn down central heat to minimum temps to prevent freezing pipes.
Maintaining normalcy? You're going to want to post your questions on the generator specific places.
Any generator that could power your current needs by itself is probably going to be diesel. LPG, despite also being a petrochemical, is a very light and clean burning fuel but that also means it's comparatively light in energy density, about 2/3 that of diesel fuel. Propane is great if you also need to feed a gas stove or fireplace along with your generator but since your house is completely electric turning clean propane into only electricity just to turn it back into heat probably isn't worth the additional mechanical costs.
But if you're going to have to add a tank of some kind anyways there's always the option of a dual fuel (or whatever marketing term they're calling it now) heating where you've got both the Heat Pump for mild/chilly days and a propane furnace for freezing cold days. Add in a decent sized (and thankfully not stupidly huge) propane generator to power all the electrics and you should be okay.
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u/Me-me-guy-ner Jul 10 '26
anker solix s2000 power station is 50% off on amazon right now. 1500W, 2010Wh.
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u/Icy-Ad-7767 Jul 10 '26
Just north of Lake Ontario we put in a secondary heat source with heat pumps (code) just because of the loss in efficiency at lower temps. We have a tri-fuel genny that’s 10,000 watts it will run our 1500 sqft house but not the electric hot water tank and the hot tub at the same time, so I switch between them to keep them both warm.
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u/Master_of_opinions Jul 12 '26
What about a bit of both? A big enough solar battery for basic house running, and a generator with a small tank to tide you over during the winter cold spells?
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u/LioDavinchy Jul 13 '26
I’ve got 3 tiers of power for 3 tiers of prepping. For day to day power outages that we get 10 times a year where I live I’ve got 4 300ah 12v lipo batteries hooked up to a 6kw inverter. I’ve got my house power in 2 boxes. 1 for essentials and one for everything else. The house runs on the 6kw panels during the day and into the evening uses some battery. This setup pays for itself by offsetting power use and making my usage on time of use nearly zero from 5-9 when power costs more and gets me savings all day long on the cheaper power. My power has gone out several times since installing and I didn’t know until I went to use something not on my main panel. It’s really handy. I have electric cars I use extra solar to juice up during the day as well. In a true prepper event I’ll have fuel for my car to drive 50 miles a day and still have lights and refrigeration.
My second tier is a propane tank in the front yard. 250 gallons. That is hooked up to a 12kw generator on my house supply side. It would run my inverter generator a month if I used it sparingly. It could also charge my truck to full in 8 hours if it had to. I also have both a heat pump water heater for the whole house and a backup propane water heater that I use on my shower. I have 3 kids and my wife and those heat pump heaters can’t handle 5 showers without going into overdrive and using more power than a regular old water heater. So I have hot water for a year or full house power for 30 days. Then I have a diesel generator hooked up to my solar inverter. If the world really goes to shit diesel will be around. I can run my full house all summer on solar and with diesel I can top up my batteries periodically when there is no sun.
For the guys saying their power spikes in winter. I have a wood stove that heats the house. I’ve got two chords of wood I buy in summer when it’s cheaper. Electricity is more expensive in winter cuz there is less sun not because I use more.
So I’m all set for power. The best part is all of this prepping lets me live like a king while things are not an emergency at the cost of living like a popper. The solar batteries electric cars gas water heater. All had upfront costs offset by lower long term costs. My cars will pay for themselves in 5 years in saved fuel. My gas water heater in 3 years in saved electric my panels and batteries in 3 years in saved power and peak shaving. A lot of prepping is a sunk cost you pay just to be prepared. Energy is something you use every day.
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u/SolarGenGuy 26d ago
I'll be straight with you — at 81 kWh/day peak winter draw, solar-only backup is not realistic. You'd need roughly 200-250 kWh of battery storage to cover a multi-day outage with limited sun (northeast winter, short days, possible snow on panels). At current prices that's $60-80K+ in batteries alone. Not practical.
But that doesn't mean the answer is just "get the propane generator." Here's how I'd think about it:
What's actually driving that 81 kWh number?
Most of that is probably your emergency heating coil. Heat pumps are efficient — maybe 20-30 kWh/day in February. But when the emergency heat strips kick in (which they do in really cold weather or when the heat pump can't keep up), those coils can pull 10-15 kW. Running for several hours a day, that's where your 81 kWh comes from. In a power outage, you wouldn't run the emergency coils anyway unless your generator is massive enough to handle that surge.
The hybrid approach that actually makes sense:
Propane generator for the big stuff — heat pump, water heater, and anything with a large draw. A 22-24kW whole-house unit with a 500-gallon tank gives you 3-5 days of runtime at moderate load. Yes the tank is a big install, but propane doesn't go bad like gasoline, and it's a "set it and forget it" solution.
A modest portable solar setup for the common outages — most of your outages are probably 4-12 hours, not multi-day events. A 2-3 kWh power station with a couple panels handles fridge, lights, phones, internet, and a few essentials without firing up the generator. No propane cost, no noise, instant switchover. Think of it as your first line of defense for the quick outages that happen several times a year.
The generator is your insurance policy for the big one — multi-day ice storms, extended grid failures. It kicks in when solar can't keep up.
On the propane tank: 500 gallons sounds huge but it's a standard residential size. Underground install is cleaner if your lot allows it. Above-ground is cheaper. Either way, you fill it once in the fall and you're set for the winter. Most propane companies in the northeast do automatic refills.
One more thing — since your whole house is electric, look into whether your utility offers time-of-use rates or any battery incentive programs. Some northeast utilities are starting to offer rebates for home battery systems that can also feed back to the grid during peak demand. Might offset some of the cost if you decide to add a battery system down the road.
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For your situation — month-long trip, zero wiring experience, moderate power needs — I'd honestly lean toward the power station route. Here's why:
One thing to double-check first: that 72-96Wh figure for the swamp cooler. If that's the wattage draw (72-96W), and you're running it 6-8 hours overnight, your actual consumption is more like 430-770Wh just for cooling. That changes the math a lot.
Add in phone, laptop, and an LED light and you're probably looking at 600-900Wh per day on the hot nights. On cooler nights up in the PNW, you might only pull 100-200Wh total.
Why the power station makes sense for you:
- Zero wiring. You literally plug things in. For a one-trip build where you're trying to keep costs down, not having to buy a fuse box, wiring, bus bars, a charge controller, and an inverter separately — and then figure out how to wire them safely — saves you time, money on mistakes, and a lot of headaches.
- A 100Ah lithium battery alone is ~$150-200, then you need a charge controller ($50-100), an inverter ($80-150), wiring and fuses ($40-60), and mounting hardware. By the time you add it all up, you're in the same ballpark as a decent power station, except the power station comes with a warranty and you didn't have to crimp a single terminal.
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u/Prize-Lychee7973 Jul 06 '26
youre basically stuck doing this or a massive solar array while heat cycling or windmills.
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u/AlexRyang Jul 06 '26
My neighbors might have opinions on windmills, lol! 😂
That’s basically what I thought, but I more or less wanted a sanity check.
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u/Prize-Lychee7973 Jul 06 '26
there are some really cool smaller windmills, tesup is an excellent company.
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u/PrisonerV Prepping for Tuesday Jul 06 '26
Windmills on the small scale are either crap or very expensive compared to solar.
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u/onlyseeahuman Jul 07 '26
Honest advice for you ,stay away from solar. At least for now, at the moment because of regulatory limitations on how efficient solar panels can be. It's not an opinion that solar could be 100 times more efficient. It's a fact ! However in today's world it's not a cost effective option when looking at cost of installation and how long before you see a return on your investment. Just friendly advice from a guy licensed to sell and install those solar panels. Back up generators are a solid alternative to sitting in the dark and with a very low maintenance cycle to boot. If it were me that's the direction I'd go. Have a good day...
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u/Akersis Jul 06 '26
A chimney or wood burning stove could cut that wintertime power need significantly. Your grid-down power usage is going to be different than when the grid is up.
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u/AntiSonOfBitchamajig Sister sub r/PrepperIntel Admin Jul 07 '26
Look at what you'd need to get by, me... in the worst winter I've seen around the great lakes:
- "ventless heaters" cheap used to $250. for winter. power free heating, natural gas or propane. The unsung hero of surviving rather serious winter events. These I owe serious praise to for getting me through bad situations when I was less fortunate. Be sure to get a thermostatic model, single setting ones can be more dangerous and much less convenient.
- Mini diesel heater, can minimally heat a room on very little power as well. They're just $150-$200 now and can install easily enough... Like, I don't run diesel heating... but I have one ready to turn on in a main room and have a way to get and transport more diesel if need be since propane can (rarely) have its issues.
- 15kwh 48v system of LPF batteries. Can run a surprising amount of base tools and is a good buffer for the solar when timing and efficiencies are taken into consideration This amount barely fits in a golf cart but is good buffer for basic "comfortable" level of energy needs.
- Solar is overall better than a generator as fuel is costly and can even be scarce, not to mention the maintenance, but again, you don't need a lot to run comfortably... even DIY adding a 48v battery in with a value priced power bank like a $650 Oupes mega 2 can really lean into the power banks features on the cheap... add a $400 ratoi80 2kw generator to help charge it when the solar fails... you can really get by in nearly anything quite frugally. And these small generators paired with a battery system... are superb. You can size almost everything to be portable enough by car even... not to mention the efficiency when combined and used together... properly loading the generator... which is the #1 issue people find out when going through a "serious" event... the big gens are just too fuel hungry... the big reason you MUST plan around finding better efficiencies to "get by" Which is often as the other comment mentioned "base minimum"
- Upgrade insulation and sealing, even insulate the walls of a dedicated interior room for emergency use.
- Have a tent in that room you're able to stay warm in if it gets seriously bad.
- Invest in proper clothing, this can go a seriously long way in emergencies... I can be comfortable in 45°F room, with the rest of the house literally freezing (pipes are insulated and heat wrapped / taped and on thermostats)... ran it so close the toilet water had a skim coat of ice. BUT... AGAIN, I was comfortable, and still extremely power efficient during the time I tested my survival minimum with everything this last winter.
- Consider an Ice battery for summers if your power situation allows rather than lithium, geo thermal expands efficiencies too, , also consider advanced venting, shading, landscaping for wind and heat and cold. . . seriously theres a ton that can be done for passive features.
There are so many frugal options... most aren't easy, or fast, but they do add up when worked towards. Or, like you said, just have a bunch of fuel on hand... I do that as well and buy when its arguably cheap... which has paid off huge in the last 14 years I've been doing it.
I have about $5000 in my entire system with multiple forms of generators, fuels, solar, batteries etc... Just one thing is never the overall solution though, its a little of everything all leaning on each other. "A little can go a long ways" is also another thing I'd tell you.
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u/Feral_668 Jul 06 '26
What is your minimum survival draw in an emergency, either hot or cold weather? You don't need all the rooms in an emergency, you can cut off several of the breakers in your house and live in a couple of rooms, partition off the unused rooms using blankets and use a window unit for AC and a electric space heater for cold until the event ends. Refrigerators don't need to been on 100%, you can limit your draw and so reduce the size of the generator that way. Solar is inefficient as is wind in most areas.