Batteries and butane generator: 12 kWh for the next blackout

Batteries and butane generator: 12 kWh for the next blackout

How much does it cost to have power when the power goes out? In Spain, the longest blackout in history lasted less than 24 hours. Yet some have set up a system in a city flat capable of keeping a fridge, router and lights running for weeks: two lithium batteries, a butane generator and a setup that breaks more than one rule. The expense doesn't pay for itself through blackouts. It pays for itself through the electricity bill.

The kit that pays for itself with off-peak rates

The core is two EcoFlow storage units — the larger with 10,200 W capacity and another with 2,048 W — about 12,000 Wh per full charge. Add to that switching energy supplier and a time-of-use tariff for electric vehicles. The claimed savings are around €100 a month, and with that, they say, the equipment pays for itself: the battery charges at night on the cheap rate and powers the home during the day. A rail timer decides when the grid kicks in.

Butane instead of petrol

The backup for long outages is an inverter generator — model KS 1900i S, rated at 1,900 W, reduced to 1,600 W to avoid straining it. Five hours of running charges the batteries. The key is the fuel: a butane cylinder provides 3.5 full charges, about 42 kW, meaning over a month of energy by charging just a few hours a week. Compared to petrol, gas avoids cleaning the carburettor, draining the tank and dealing with stabilisers. The manual mentions propane, but the orange cylinder — 80% butane, 20% propane — works.

The fine print: safety and someone else's cloud

That's where the criticism comes in. The installation — a resettable main switch with surge protection, a 32 A timer, resettable circuit breakers and 10 mm and 6 mm cable — was labelled an 'electrical hazard' based on an initial diagram. The reply: an installer validated it as 'improvable', and the rest has been reinforced. The paradox of depending on the manufacturer's cloud is also pointed out: configuring their devices requires a user account on a server, and the session expires after 30 days without logging in. The exhaust of gases through the light well, by the way, 'goes against all regulations'.

Two years of food and the old rural-urban divide

The conversation drifts to the rest of the kit. There are provisions for two years, stored water and filters, purifiers and distillers to turn any water into drinking water. And the classic confrontation reappears: in a sealed flat, fleeing is a trap; in the countryside, the plan is to defend and hold out. The shared recipe for a long blackout includes a shotgun with enough ammunition. The pipe of a kitchen hood acts as a silencer, they say, so the generator is barely heard.

In the end, the system isn't designed for the blackout that already peine — its owner didn't even notice until a friend called — but for the one that may never come. Meanwhile, the cylinder that was supposed to fuel the generator is still in the kitchen. After all, for how long it takes for the end of the world to arrive, it's almost better not to waste it.