Let't talk portable generators

[Horn]

We've been borrowing my parent's as needed and it's time to invest in our own.

The one we used this storm was a Honda EU2200.  It ran our basement freezer, kitchen 'fridge, a couple of lights and fans.  On the pro side is used very little gas, especially running in eco mode.  On the con side it was just barely enough to do what we needed.  As long as both appliances with compressors weren't trying to start up at the same time it was fine, but we had it at its limit.  It was a fine emergency setup and 2 of them can be run in parallel.  But, it is also on the high end price wise so getting 2 would be out of our range when we could just buy 1 larger unit.

It would have been nice to be able to run our 10,000 BTU window AC unit a few times.

I'm thinking we could use something 4000W or more, mostly because of adding in the possibility of AC.  Looks like a lot of

common units around are higher than that anyway.

Was still thinking along the lines of running extension cords etc, hadn't really seriously considered a transfer switch or learned much about it, though from what I understand it might allow us to run our hot water heater.  I'm assuming that also means going to a larger unit, which is probably more than we need.

Just at the beginning of the research process.

Any words of wisdom, things that work well for you or to avoid?


The one we used this time beat the hell out of the old Tucumseh powered unit they had before this.

 

[massxj]

the predator unit we got from HF to run the maple sap vacuum pump surprised me better than I expected and a good run time per tank



do you have an electric dryer

 

[RobTJ]

After this storm,  I think Mel is finally sold on a Stand-By.

We have a 9000(surge) Powerhorse we got through Northerntool. 
Got it after Irene, and has served us well ever since.  Runs everything in the house.  Except we just found out (this storm) that is will not run the compressor for the AC that we only had 3 years ago.
So upgrades forthcoming.

 

[kakirubi]

I would invest in a transfer switch.

Now that being said, what do you want from and Emergency Generator?  Lights, fridge, TV, Internet, ect...  Do you have a well?  Hot water electric or oil/gas?  Central Air?  Do you want to use an electric oven?

This will all play into the size and type of generator you need.

If you don't require a central air conditioning and don't need the oven, then a portable 5000 or 9000 should do you.  That 10,000 btu A/C may not play nice with everything else going. :mrgreen:

 

[Horn]

the predator unit we got from HF to run the maple sap vacuum pump surprised me better than I expected and a good run time per tank



do you have an electric dryer

Yes on the electric dryer.

 

[kakirubi]

the predator unit we got from HF to run the maple sap vacuum pump surprised me better than I expected and a good run time per tank



do you have an electric dryer

Yes on the electric dryer.

Well adapters have been made in order to back feed your home, but it's not recommended or legal.  :wink:

 

[Horn]

I would invest in a transfer switch.

Now that being said, what do you want from and Emergency Generator?  Lights, fridge, TV, Internet, ect...  Do you have a well?  Hot water electric or oil/gas?  Central Air?  Do you want to use an electric oven?

This will all play into the size and type of generator you need.

If you don't require a central air conditioning and don't need the oven, then a portable 5000 or 9000 should do you.  That 10,000 btu A/C may not play nice with everything else going. :mrgreen:

Mostly I want the ability to keep our fridge and separate freezer running and run a couple of lights and fans. We could run a toaster oven rather than our full oven, plus we can cook with camping gear and the grill. No well, we have city water, and no central AC, just window units and we can survive just fine without them.

We did pretty well with the little unit we used this week but if I’m going to buy one I figured I might as well get larger and upgrade, but we were ok on basically the tailgater model.

It would be nice to do laundry but to do that we’d need to run the electric hot water heater for hot wash. Plus hot showers would be a plus.

And for our uses simplicity and reasonable entry price are probably more beneficial than adding a bunch of stuff.

I’ve read you can run a 240 water heater on 120 and it would just heat slower. But wiring that up is beyond my ability.

I don’t have an issue having to temporarily unplug some items to run others.

 

[HankD]

My Generac gp7500e does an alright job, got it last minute after that Oct. storm right before the next storm, so I didn't have much choice. Runs 2 fridges, boiler for hot water, lights fans etc. I probably wouldn't recommend  it, Louder than hell and very dirty power, makes surge strips smell like burning electronics, atleast it starts first pull or crank every time. I roll it out in back of my shop, have it wired into my panel, have a lockout so main has to be off so you can flip the gen's breaker on.

 

[RedJeepster1]

I have an old Generac 5000 running (6250 peak). My house is setup with a lockout on the main panel. My old house I used to backfeed the welder outlet with the main powered off. Both setups are fundamentally the same. It’s enough to power 2 fridges and a chest freezer, my lights, my ceiling fans, and charge whatever I need to charge. It does not run my central air or oven. If I shut other things off I can run my stove, although it doesn’t like it.

I will say there is a big QOL upgrade when you tie directly into the panel. You can use light switches and don’t have to swap plugs around. I turn off what I don’t want to use at my main breaker panel before I switch the generator circuit on. But once it’s running, it’s like I’m on street power.

My only real complaints with my old generator is just how loud it is and that the power isn’t as consistent as I think a newer and/or bigger generator would be. But for how often I use it and what I paid for it ($50 used) I really have no room to complain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[A new level]

The old 7500 Yamaha my landlord gave me that I’m back feeding through welder plug runs the whole house including central air except for the hot water heater and well pump. I shut down AC for well but need to kill everything for the heater. It’s noisy as hell!! When I buy I’ll be installing a whole house unit.

 

[Horn]

I think this time I'm going to stay simple.  Since I've been using a borrowed one, anything we own will be an upgrade and get rid of the issue of what happens when both our power and my parent's are out at the same time.
I'll get something bigger than we were using and later when we upgrade or replace that I'll look at other options.
I'm going to see what's around in a week or so at stores and on the used market.  I'm already seeing a few posts for lightly used units where it looks like people bought them, used them for a couple of days, and now are looking to unload.  I also missed one last week for a song that probably just needed a little tweaking to get tuned up and would have been almost free.  Jeep is still in the shop waiting for transmission parts to come in or I would have grabbed that one.  Goal is to get something in the next few weeks in case we get hit again and to use for at least a few years.

 

[A new level]

If going small inverter generators are really nice. Clean power and very quiet

 

[HankD]

Pair a couple of those suitcase Honda's together, that way you can take one camping. Not cheap though!

 

[Horn]

Pair a couple of those suitcase Honda's together, that way you can take one camping. Not cheap though!

The one we’ve been using is really nice but even one of them is out of my price range  right now. If I could that’s exactly what I would do.  We ran it for 2 straight days and I put a total of 4 gallons of gas in it. The eco mode works well.

 

[A new level]

Mine burns at least 10 gallons a day but I don’t turn it off

 

[Paul]

I've been using an old 5000w generator that I purchased about 12 years ago for work. It runs two refrigerators, the freezer, fans, lights and my well pump and it can do it all at the same time. I do have a transfer switch and as soon as this generator burns out I'm at least going with a 12K so I can run my hot water heaters. That being said if you just want a really good backup generator 5000w should do the trick

 

[Paul]

I forgot to mention that I get at least 11 hours on a tank which is pretty good.

 

[harryhood]

I have a 13.5 kw northern tool with a a/b switch. Never had an issue over 15 years or so. It powers the whole house. Down side it goes through roughly a gallon am hour.

 

[JeepinMaxx]

The one we’ve been using is really nice but even one of them is out of my price range  right now. If I could that’s exactly what I would do.  We ran it for 2 straight days and I put a total of 4 gallons of gas in it. The eco mode works well.

Jason - when my generator's pull start broke Tuesday night I used my $100 2500 watt 12V inverter with a jumper cable on my car - quieter than my generator and we used it for two nights - powered everything we needed (fridge,Freezer, fans in the bedroom) 

 

 

[JeepinMaxx]

For whole house if wiring in a transfer switch or a feedback through your dryer outlet - I'd recommend 5000+ since you have electric appliances.  I used to run the house on an old 1996 Generac 5000 and now have Generac GP6500

Here are my feed back of my Propane conversion

http://forum.northeastjeep.org/index.php?topic=43774.0