The storm test · backup power

Same storm, five houses. Who has to go outside?

Two people in the Puget Sound area are choosing backup power, and only one of them drives. Each house tries one option in the same two-week winter storm. Watch who stays warm, and who has to go out in it. The household is invented for this example.

Each home shows its fridge, its power, what is happening, and trips outside so far (the driver and the other person).

Try in this storm

Run the numbers

What would the whole outage take?

Same storm and same schedule as above, added up. Pick an option, how long the power is out, and whether they're home.

Option
How long the power is out
Who's home

6 PM, power out
power on dark trip outside

What matters most to you?

The practical difference

Four of the five options need someone outside when the storm hits: plugging in, and for three of them pushing out a 215 to 263 lb generator. The gasoline generator needs refilling about every 16 hours, day or night; with the battery added, refills move to the morning and the battery covers the night, but it is still two machines and the gas runs. The battery alone is dark by morning. None of the generators can run with nobody home, so leaving means packing them up. The standby starts itself; in a long outage it needs one short oil check a day. It costs more than the gasoline generator, installed.

How this works

Sourced

Prices, weights, tank sizes, noise, and refill and oil-check intervals come from manufacturer pages, owner's manuals, a local electrician's quote and published install costs. The fridge rule is USDA's. Prices include the electrician's hookup and 10.5% tax; they do not include a gas meter upgrade if the utility requires one, HOA approval, a rain cover for portable generators, or gas cans and oil. Standby prices are Seattle-area installer quotes for a 10 to 14 kW unit, all-in; many local jobs run higher.

Illustrative

Assumed: about 400 W of household use; 85% of the battery usable (about 8 hours); 16 hours per Honda tank (Honda's figure at a heavier load, so a conservative floor); how long each chore takes; who does which chore; and the gas runs (two 5-gallon cans at home, then a drive). The weather is only a picture: it changes no number on this page. "At night" means 8 PM to 7 AM.

Built as

One schedule engine drives the storm, the totals and the ranking, so they always agree. "Nothing to move" and "Quietest" are judgment calls from the specs; every other score comes from the simulation. No accounts, no tracking, nothing sent anywhere.

Sources