On 7/15/2013 3:55 PM, TomR wrote:
I know very little about this topic, including what the correct terminology
is. And, this is mostly just a curiosity question on my part.

But, I am curious as to what it roughly might cost for a typical gas station
to have an electrician install a mechanism where if the power goes out in
the neighborhood, a portable gas generator could be plugged in to the
electrical system to power the station and keep the lights and cash
registers on and pump gas to the public. I am not that interested in the
cost of the actual generators for this purpose -- just the cost to have the
electrical switch-over circuits installed and ready to be used if needed.

Why? -- because I am often amazed when there is a hurricane or other natural
disaster that knocks the power out in a region, and thousands of people need
gas to evacuate, plus emergency services vehicles need gas to operate during
the disaster -- but the gas stations with tens of thousands of gallons of
gas stored underground are all closed because they have no power to pump the
gas that they have.

I'm amazed that some facilities in areas prone to storm surges or
flooding place their emergency generators at or below grade. Storm
hits, storage area, crawl space, or basement fills with water, and
goodbye generator. Maybe that's what happens in a lot of cases with
these gas stations. It happened with hospitals in New Orleans during
Katrina.