Mark Hofmann wrote to Roy Witt:   
      
      
    RW>  MH>> Flatbed as in the rolling carts.  I used the generator during   
    RW>  MH>> Hurricane Sandy - as we did lose power here for 2 days.   
    RW>>   
    RW>> I figured that you probably had.   
      
    MH> I was thinking our power was going to be off for the entire week and   
    MH> was surprised when it was restored the second day.  Just about our   
    MH> entire county was in the dark.  It was very strange driving around at   
    MH> 10pm looking for more gas - and everything was dark.  No street   
    MH> lights, no red lights, no store lights, no nothing.  I had to drive   
    MH> 15 minutes to find an area with power.   
      
   8^) Go west, young man!   
      
    RW>> That's not a problem, if you know what I know. 8^) I used to drive   
    RW>> my 1940 Ford to a closed gas station back when I couldn't afford to   
    RW>> buy gas. I'd park the car over the tank fill holes and open up the   
    RW>> floor that I had cut out in the back seat area. Under the seat was   
    RW>> an electric fuel pump with 20 feet of hose attached to the inlet   
    RW>> side. Drop the hose into their tank and turn on the pump. Meanwhile,   
    RW>> I'd have coffee at the restaurant across the street. Come back 10min   
    RW>> later to a full tank of gas.   
    RW>>   
    RW>> If I were writing a TV series like the Walking Dead, I'd write that   
    RW>> into the series. Although that might give some people ideas...   
      
    MH> That is a really good idea.   
      
   It is, if you're planning to be around during a Zombie day.   
      
    MH> There was a guy here in MD that was doing that for years and   
    MH> eventually got busted.  The only difference was he used a large   
    MH> enclosed work style truck that had large tanks inside of the back.   
      
   Yeah, that will get somebody's attention right away. They won't miss a few   
   gallons at a time, but they'll certainly miss huge quantities at a time.   
      
   I forget the amount of worth a theft has to be to meet felony charges of   
   grand theft, but he probably met that within days, if not hours.   
      
    MH> He was doing the same thing.  No one questioned him - they thought he   
    MH> was working on the tanks and would go in, get coffee, etc.  I give   
    MH> that an A for creativity.   
      
   He sure had guts to do that during business hours.   
      
    RW>> 7200 watts. I like that power cord idea...fast and effective.   
      
    MH> The generator is rated for 5500 watts, with a 6500 watt surge.  I   
    MH> really think it can do at least 1000 watts more than it is rated.   
      
   Ummmm, I wouldn't count on it. The engine that drives the generator would   
   soon overheat, unless it's water cooled. You might be able to get away   
   with using a fan to keep the air moving, but that wouldn't guarantee   
   anything.   
      
    MH> I had it running under our deck.  It was raining so hard, and   
    MH> sideways, I was still getting wet when it was time to put more gas in   
    MH> it.  It has a 5 1/2 gallon tank, which is nice.   
      
   What was the outside temp?   
      
    MH> Worse comes to worst, I would have taken gas from one of the several   
    MH> vehicles we have to fill it.  The Durango has near 20 gallons by   
    MH> itself.   
      
   It'll run ok on 'up to 10%' alcohol?   
      
    RW>> Wow...that's quite a load.   
      
    MH> Besides the noise, the only way you could tell we were running on   
    MH> generator was the microwave sounded a bit lower when running - but it   
    MH> still worked. I didn't expect to have everything running on it, but   
    MH> it worked out great.   
      
   LOL! There's 1100 watts right there. My 1100w microwave and the 1500w   
   quartz heater on the same circuit blow the 15 amp breaker when they run   
   together - if I forget to turn off the heater before using the microwave.   
      
    MH> It was cold outside in that storm, too.  Having my gas furnace still   
    MH> work (blower was being powered by the backfeed) was very nice!   
      
   That wouldn't cut it here. Our furnace/AC is electric.   
      
      
            R\%/itt   
      
      
   --- GoldED+/W32 1.1.5-31012   
    * Origin: Texas Lone-Star - Texan, American, USAian  (1:387/22)