As seen on www.survivalblog.com
The European organization, 2000 WATTS, proposes that 2000 watts is the amount of power available to humans if each one of the 7.9 billion people on the planet had access to the same amount. Their concern is that our power resources are dwindling.
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| Some of our solar panels |
Whether you agree or disagree with their assumptions, it is interesting to consider how much power our frequently used appliances require. When I lived in a city, I never thought about this. I just flipped switches and paid utility bills. However, with so many parts of the country suffering power outages, I imagine that more people are now wondering, “If the power goes out, what do I do?” What could I run with a generator of this or that size? How much fuel would that require?”
Here, we built our own power supply so we are alert to power hogs and power sippers that we decided to buy or do without. And since the generator we use as a backup to our solar panels and wind turbine is a HONDA 2000 (watts), we know how much our various appliances and tools require and which ones we can or cannot use simultaneously without blowing a circuit breaker.
A fabulous resource for prudent people adding up their power usage in order to determine an appropriately sized back up generator is Generatorist. It identifies the power draw of appliances ranging from full house A/C units to a night light, as well as commercial equipment and RV gizmos! It also lists products you can buy to measure each appliance in your home. We have one.
Additionally, home owners will find that many, but not all, machines list their amp, volt, and watt requirements in a plaque on the back or bottom.
FOR OUR HOUSEHOLD
The power hogs in any home are appliances that create heat and move water.
Therefore, at our off-grid home, we do not have ANY of the following electric appliances:
- oven: 2150 w
- stove: 2100 w
- dishwasher: 1500 w
- clothes dryer: 5400 w !!!
- hair dryer: 1250 w
- home heater: (highly variable, with furnace and fans or radiators, other)
- Air Condit: (highly variable, by BTU size, and window or central). See Generatorist for examples.
Instead, I hand wash dishes, line dry laundry (I love that fresh scent), cook on a propane stove/oven with a manual pilot light ignition, heat the main cabin with wood and warm the guest cabin with a propane heater. We open and close windows and curtains to impact interior temperatures. And we have an outhouse, not a flushing toilet, so no power draw there.
We also lack gizmos that I think rather unnecessary, like electric can openers, bread makers, and TVs.
A few high wattage power tools are important here because we have found no convenient alternative. Most of these function for short duration, and we ensure that we are not maxxing out our power with other demands at the same time, otherwise the circuit breaker turn off all power as a safety precaution.
For example, we occasionally use the following useful electric tools:
- circular saw: 1400 w
- disk sander: 1250 w
- shop vacuum: 1100 w
A very important power tool we use frequently is a 5 ton log splitter, which draws 1500 w. Bryan turns on the generator almost every time he uses this, which is an hour per day ($1/hour of gasoline) about 4 days per week in summer. This $16 of gasoline saves his shoulders from hand splitting 11 cords of dry wood to warm our home and heat our hot tub during our long, Alaskan winters.
For the kitchen, I bought my first new appliance in over a decade: a small air fryer. I love it, but it draws 1700 w! So I make favorites like salmon egg rolls or fried chicken as an occasional treat. (This appliance replaces the need to fly out cans of Crisco (at a $.50/lb transportation cost) and then figure out what to do with the left over oil.) My husband bought a microwave oven as a back up in case our propane oven suddenly died. I hardly ever use it, but others may routinely use theirs. This small one draws 1050 w. The powerful meat grinder that we use when we process bear and rabbit meat draws 575 watts. Other appliances: a blender/food processor (450 w) and a coffee/spice grinder: (150 w). Many kitchen tasks I do by hand with a mortar and pestle, a nut crusher, a food mill, and hand kneading bread dough.
Moving water from our well to the house, washing machine, and yard hoses requires 1500 w. So we tend to time water projects for sunny or windy days, or when the generator is on. Our on-demand water heaters for the sink and shower are powered by propane, with electric ignition.
FOR OTHER HOUSEHOLDS
For a household to figure out how powerful a generator is needed to power its priorities, it is important to know that “running time” wattages can be magnitudes lower than “surge” or “start up” requirements. Some of the following might be priorities for a house impacted by a power outage in a hot climate, thus requiring a powerful generator:
Appliance Run wattage Surge/start up wattage
- Chest freezer 500 1500
- Central A/C (24,000 BTU) 3800 11,400 (!!!!)
- Elec water htr 4000
- Ceiling fan 60
- Garage door opener 875 2350
I have not added up all of our routine power uses but they are modest: two laptop computers, a cell phone, and the freezers in summer. Is it at or under 2000 watts?
I think it may be, except when we use the washing machine. One day we water the gardens for several hours (1500w). Another day we briefly cut (3 minutes) and sand (10 minutes) wood (to replace planks in steps or the dock. (1250 w and 1400 w each). A third day I cook egg rolls in the air fryer for 8 minutes. On a sunny or windy day, with little else on, I run a high value load of wash (1250 w, but with a high surge + moving water from the pump).
Within these parameters, we live a low cost, low power life in a lovely setting with low pollution, low stress, gourmet meals, and the satisfaction of tasks well done.
Who needs an electric can opener?
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