Generator ban in California?

BackfiringDatsun

New member
A pox on the houses of all who bring generators into the wilderness.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The noise is maddening.
Though as a teenager some generator fueled Xbox out by the fire with a tube TV outside alongside some buddies was nice.
Surely it ruined others experience.
And as an adult electronics are what I'm trying to get away from.
 

skyfree

Active member
Generators aren't just for camping and there has been discussion in my neighborhood (South Lake Tahoe, CA) about the small engine ban. We are in the midst of a multi-day power outage here caused by snow and wind. I was without power for 19 hours and ran my Honda EU2000 the entire time. You really need a backup power source living in the mountains.

I never use it camping but rarely run into issues with them running in a campground. They drown out the other annoying noises present in campgrounds :)

The bigger problem for us in snow country will be how it affects snowblower availability. Electric snowblowers? I can't imagine that happening but who knows? Honda snowblowers are already not allowed to be sold in California due to non-compliant carbs according to my local dealer. Have to buy in Nevada.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Generators aren't just for camping and there has been discussion in my neighborhood (South Lake Tahoe, CA) about the small engine ban. We are in the midst of a multi-day power outage here caused by snow and wind. I was without power for 19 hours and ran my Honda EU2000 the entire time. You really need a backup power source living in the mountains.

I never use it camping but rarely run into issues with them running in a campground. They drown out the other annoying noises present in campgrounds :)

The bigger problem for us in snow country will be how it affects snowblower availability. Electric snowblowers? I can't imagine that happening but who knows? Honda snowblowers are already not allowed to be sold in California due to non-compliant carbs according to my local dealer. Have to buy in Nevada.
Yeah I might buy one of them EURO 5 Generators which have lower emissions Just so I can be know as GREEN then I am going to light the MUTHA of all BBQ's that you can see from the space station, :ROFLMAO::LOL::LOL::LOL:
 

billiebob

Well-known member
Generators aren't just for camping and there has been discussion in my neighborhood (South Lake Tahoe, CA) about the small engine ban. We are in the midst of a multi-day power outage here caused by snow and wind. I was without power for 19 hours and ran my Honda EU2000 the entire time. You really need a backup power source living in the mountains.
No you don't. I live in the same situation. Remote mountain village. We lose power a few times a year for at least a day, often up to 3 days. Summer will be caused by wind or forest fire. Winter is due to massive snowfall events. We get that almost every year. Our problem is we are at the end of the line. No "grid" here.

A few have generators but most of us get by with wood heat, headlamps, and not opening the fridge more than needed. 3 days without power the food, fridge, freezer are fine. We never open the freezer during a power outage. No different than overlanding, keep the freezer full of frozen food, it'll stay frozen for weeks without power.

Its kinda cool to live as our ancestors did every day. We have one old fashioned telephone, the kind that work and ring without power.
rotaryphone.jpeg

A few times, the RCMP are asking around for gasoline since power outages here close the 4 village gas stations.

Trout Lake does not have that issue. Gas Pumps.... Gravity Pumps.... powered by a hand pump.

DSC_0014.jpeg
 
Last edited:

JaSAn

Grumpy Old Man
. . . most of us get by with wood heat
. . . We have one old fashioned telephone, the kind that work and ring without power.
We loose power 2 - 3 times a year, usually in the winter but has happened in the summer during heavy storms.
For me a wood stove/fireplace will almost double my homeowners insurance. I also have a sump that will fill fast in a heavy rain so I need to run a pump to keep the basement from flooding.

Phone companies here obsoleted those phones a long time ago when they updated the switching hardware to tone dialing. They get their power from the phone line; phone line goes down, no calling out (that happens to me more often than power out). The cell towers near me have both battery and generator backup, supposedly good for 5 days.
 

billiebob

Well-known member
We loose power 2 - 3 times a year, usually in the winter but has happened in the summer during heavy storms.
For me a wood stove/fireplace will almost double my homeowners insurance. I also have a sump that will fill fast in a heavy rain so I need to run a pump to keep the basement from flooding.

Phone companies here obsoleted those phones a long time ago when they updated the switching hardware to tone dialing. They get their power from the phone line; phone line goes down, no calling out (that happens to me more often than power out). The cell towers near me have both battery and generator backup, supposedly good for 5 days.
Must admit, ours is touch tone but still works without power. Just to lazy to take a picture of it.

And no doubt, as we evolve we tend to leave behind the fail safe systems engineered to get us thru the apocallypse. The need for a sump pump being top of the list when gravity properly engineered would do the job. Not being critical, just saying, there are always options.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
No you don't. I live in the same situation. Remote mountain village. We lose power a few times a year for at least a day, often up to 3 days. Summer will be caused by wind or forest fire. Winter is due to massive snowfall events. We get that almost every year. Our problem is we are at the end of the line. No "grid" here.

A few have generators but most of us get by with wood heat, headlamps, and not opening the fridge more than needed. 3 days without power the food, fridge, freezer are fine. We never open the freezer during a power outage. No different than overlanding, keep the freezer full of frozen food, it'll stay frozen for weeks without power.

Its kinda cool to live as our ancestors did every day. We have one old fashioned telephone, the kind that work and ring without power.
View attachment 697655

A few times, the RCMP are asking around for gasoline since power outages here close the 4 village gas stations.

Trout Lake does not have that issue. Gas Pumps.... Gravity Pumps.... powered by a hand pump.

View attachment 697656
Sounds Perfect, I'd live in a Outhouse if it meant I could get out of the City.. (y):love::love:
 

Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
Generators aren't just for camping and there has been discussion in my neighborhood (South Lake Tahoe, CA) about the small engine ban. We are in the midst of a multi-day power outage here caused by snow and wind. I was without power for 19 hours and ran my Honda EU2000 the entire time. You really need a backup power source living in the mountains.

I never use it camping but rarely run into issues with them running in a campground. They drown out the other annoying noises present in campgrounds :)

The bigger problem for us in snow country will be how it affects snowblower availability. Electric snowblowers? I can't imagine that happening but who knows? Honda snowblowers are already not allowed to be sold in California due to non-compliant carbs according to my local dealer. Have to buy in Nevada.

I have a house in Truckee (Prosser Estate), rented to a single mother with 3 kids. We lost power for almost 3 days straight. After the second night, I borrowed a Honda generator from a Burning Man friend who has a bunch for his camp. We needed it to run the furnace so she could at least have heat, and my water pipes would not freeze.

We are ordering a new one now and have it shipped to my house in Reno. I want to save the world but I also need my tenant to pay her rent.

Life is complicated.
 
Last edited:

Blowby

Active member
We are also in the Prosser neighborhood and outages are not uncommon, with our Honda generator we are able to survive quite comfortably and there is no way I would ever give it up!Unfortunately it is more about politics than common sense when it comes to these decisions and a lot of these Californian politicians have no idea what its like in the real world.
 

chet6.7

Explorer
We are also in the Prosser neighborhood and outages are not uncommon, with our Honda generator we are able to survive quite comfortably and there is no way I would ever give it up!Unfortunately it is more about politics than common sense when it comes to these decisions and a lot of these Californian politicians have no idea what its like in the real world.
Yep. I want to convert my Honda 2K to propane, it could not be delivered to a CA address, bought it while out of the state.:sneaky:
 

NevadaLover

Forking Icehole
We were in Cades Cove a few years ago enjoying the sunset and fire when a dad started up a Pixar movie on a laptop for his tween. With the bluetooth speakers, subwoofer included.
Scared the bejesus out of my dog. My wife only took 15 seconds to percolate to full boil and went over and unloaded on the hapless gent.
The movie ceased instantly.
Hell knoweth no fury as intense as an angry Brazilian woman.
Spoken like a man who has never lived with an angry scottish woman!
Hell has no fear that intimidates me anymore, except the fear she will find me!?
 

billiebob

Well-known member
I lived in Alberta, maybe the natural gas capitol on North America. Incredibly affordable heating thru the 1970s and 1980s. Then we ran a pipeline toCalifornia. Literally the day the line was connected our Alberta gas rates doubled. The logic of globalizarion, if we can sell it for $20 in California we are going to charge $20 here too. Our heating bills doubled.

The other side of Corporate thinking is labour. If we can get it built in China for $20 we are not going to pay North Americans $40.

Hopefully we eventually see the light and bring back ..... France got it right.

R.dba5cbdff24fc9ecbe3afe1accb373d9.jpeg
 

Forum statistics

Threads
187,860
Messages
2,899,203
Members
228,996
Latest member
Oregon Duck
Top