Generator Recommendation

[turbodieselfreak]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: rjundi


I wish their were inexpensive diesel powered units as I have a 270 gallon home heating fuel tank sitting in my basement.


Watch ebay. Or, for overkill, go to an auction when a business closes.

I'm disappointed that most generator heads have bearing on one side only and take a special tapered shaft from the mating engine. So one can't buy a blown up generator cheap and repower it (with diesel) like they could a snowthrower or other OPE.
+1! I bought a kubota gl11000 brand new off of ebay for five grand with cosmetic shipping damage. This is normally a seven thousand dollar unit and the guy just wanted it out of his warehouse. He even ate the extra fee for liftgate service to get it sold to me. Good diesels ain't cheap, but you get what you pay for, and much more in return over the years. With my small house and 60 amp service, powering everything including central a/c is no sweat. If you own a diesel vehicle, you've got plenty of extra fuel parked in the driveway to boot.

 

[Cujet]

My take:

I like the 5500 watt, 11HP, 340cc engine generators Remember HP is the rating that you want to know, as some 5500W units only have 10 or 9HP!

I don't like expensive transfer switches, with limited circuits. Run the whole house with a linked main hookup. I prefer to load shed manually. Either by shutting off equipment or breakers. There is no magic-secret electrical load hiding in your house. If it's not on, it won't create a load.

I like a portable generator that can be kept inside the garage/shed/whatever for safe storage, out of the weather. Easily serviced!

I like Honda and Subaru engines. I like generator heads that don't have plastic end caps. The bearings will eventually get hot and melt the plastic, causing a non repairable failure.

 

[doitmyself]

Up north, some people want an automatic transfer switch so that they will be protected when they are not home (pipe freezing, flooding, etc.).

 

[Schmoe]

One thing I've learned is watch the weather. If they are calling for ice conditions, I get busy. The other thing I've learned to combat long gas lines is to fill up all your vehicles prior to a storm coming in. Most of us have at least two vehilces, that's an additional 30 gallons of gas or so. Get a good siphon and there you go! In my case, I got a F150 plus two cars, gives me around 55 gallons of fuel plus two 5 gallon jugs and 7 gallons in the generator itself. That much fuel will keep your house running for a while, at least, long enough to give you and either the gas stations or power companies to get stuff back on line. Also, wait until night fall to get gas. It amazed me how long the gas lines were during the day when the gas stations were open 24/7.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Get a Generac standby.

http://www.generac.com/Residential/

I'd recommend more than 4k, and if your house is gas I'd plumb it to the generator, if not do propane.

My friend just bought a 20kw for his house, I'd buy at least an 8-10 kw.



How is he planning to manage the standby when it will be buried under feet and feet of ice and snow? If it can handle that, I will certainly be considering that option.

- Vikas

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Up north, some people want an automatic transfer switch so that they will be protected when they are not home (pipe freezing, flooding, etc.).

Call me crazy but I would be very uneasy to be away during an auto startup of a standby generator.. I still maintain that there are inherent potential mechanical/electrical with a very little used piece of equipment working at expected. Granted it "probably" will work but we are probably talking less than 85% reliability unattended.

If you are out for the day you don't need this thing to come on. And if you are away for long enough for the pipes to freeze I see real difficulty. Concentrate on protecting freezing pipes (draining) if you are away for long periods of time and forget the Generator. (Just a sanctimonous opinion here). I was a maintenance Supervisor/Instructor in generating station) I think I am pretty much in in tune with this stuff.

Remember..things fail most in the first % of their life and dis-use increase failure rates.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Al
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Up north, some people want an automatic transfer switch so that they will be protected when they are not home (pipe freezing, flooding, etc.).


If you are out for the day you don't need this thing to come on.


This! And in winter if your house cools down to 40'F over a few hours while you're out you don't have to worry about stuff in your fridge!

You can always call home from work and see if the answering machine picks up.

If you're real paranoid about frozen heat pipes you can have your guy charge them with pricey non toxic antifreeze. I did this a few years until I fixed a rotten wall that was letting wind whistle into a crawl space. (Heat guy hates doing it, and was pleased as punch to reintroduce straight water.)

 

[Vikas]

This is a stupid question but if I install the whole house transfer switch and handle the circuits manually, how would I know when the power comes back on again?

 

[Cujet]

The automatic transfer switches and automated gensets failed like crazy here in Hurricane prone South Florida. Electronic "control" circuits are very prone to failure. Especially if the storm includes lightning!

I should have been more specific.

Reliability is KEY with backup equipment. Honda engines are very reliable and long lasting. Open frame, construction style gensets have very little to fail, are easier and far less time consuming to repair. They can also be "tougher". Gasoline power is important to the average person. Gasoline is available anywhere, including your car's tank. Yes, you must store some.

My boss' large, built in genset lost a circuit board, less than a day into a 2 month power outage. Guess who spent a week finding a replacement???? Me.

All the while, my Subaru 11HP 5500W genset droned along, happily powering my entire house without difficulty. Simple is good.

 

[rjundi]

If you are remote beyond a automatic generator you can get a telemetry unit. We have a telemetry unit at my family's vacation home that lets us know if temp is too low, or if power goes out for an excessive time. It also has other inputs that could be hooked to anything including a generator running.

It simply keeps dialing out a series of #'s until read a message and expects a code back to stop it. You also can call the house and find out temperature, electricity on, and your two optional inputs which can have any message related to them. We only have a PTO generator that puts out power off a Kubota diesel tractor if it gets bad up there.

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: Cujet
The automatic transfer switches and automated gensets failed like crazy here in Hurricane prone South Florida. Electronic "control" circuits are very prone to failure. Especially if the storm includes lightning!

Reliability is KEY with backup equipment.

My boss' large, built in genset lost a circuit board, less than a day into a 2 month power outage. Guess who spent a week finding a replacement???? Me. Simple is good.


That's what I'm saying. These things are not trouble free.

And It came hoe to roost for me today.

I replaced a gas line and put in an inline filter and shutoff valve. The thing ran 1 hour yesterday and I intended to run it 2 hours today. One hour into the test..the engine just stopped.

I am guessing that perhaps the points went bad. I have a spare set. I'l check it out tomorrow and possibly replacing it with a solid state conversion if they are available.

But again..testing revealed a problem in the simplest of systems. Had I not tested more than just a cursory period of time I'd be SOL.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
This is a stupid question but if I install the whole house transfer switch and handle the circuits manually, how would I know when the power comes back on again?


My smart meter has a blinking LED. Your transfer switch should have a pilot light or voltmeter for both inputs. You could add one pretty easily if not.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Get a Generac standby.

http://www.generac.com/Residential/

I'd recommend more than 4k, and if your house is gas I'd plumb it to the generator, if not do propane.

My friend just bought a 20kw for his house, I'd buy at least an 8-10 kw.



How is he planning to manage the standby when it will be buried under feet and feet of ice and snow? If it can handle that, I will certainly be considering that option.

- Vikas


We live along the coast, we don't get 10ft drifts, so unless you are near the Canadian border you should be good.

I would recommend doing it the old fashion way, a shovel, with possible a fence around it to catch the drifts. Since its NG or LPG exhaust isn't much of a concern.

 

[Cujet]

Also remember that 1 gallon of propane will, in a genset, provide about 65% the run time of one gallon of gasoline.

Put another way, a 5500W generator will run for 8 hours on 5 gallons of gasoline. You will need 2ea, 17 pound propane tanks to achieve the same run time. Or about 8+ gallons of propane.

The propane consumption rate is staggering. Only use propane if you have a very large tank. As you will not be able to get enough of the small tanks to run your generator for long.

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: Cujet

Put another way, a 5500W generator will run for 8 hours on 5 gallons of gasoline. You will need 2ea, 17 pound propane tanks to achieve the same run time. Or about 8+ gallons of propane.

The propane consumption rate is staggering.

True but normal people will be drawing maybe 1 kw or less on average. One needs to bear the ground rules in mind.

 

[Cujet]

Umm, a conventional genet consumes plenty of fuel with minimal loads. In my case, my daily consumption, running my 5500W Subaru, 24/7 was 15 gal gasoline per day, and I have propane hot water/cooking.

That same, minimal load would have consumed 23 gallons propane. Or nearly 6 BBQ sized, 17 pound propane tanks!!

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: Vikas

....That is the reason a portable wheeled unit in my garage appeals to me....


Originally Posted By: Cujet

I like a portable generator that can be kept inside the garage/shed/whatever for safe storage, out of the weather. Easily serviced!


I assume you guys mean in the garage for storage when not in use. The past few days I've been hearing stories on the news where people are dying from carbon monoxide poisioning from running generators in their garages/basements. If you get a portable unit, keep it OUTSIDE, at least 10 ft away from the house with the exhaust pointing away from the house.

 

[ryansride2017]

Originally Posted By: GMBoy

You are right about the Champion and good reviews, I could not find a bad review on them...and got a heck of a deal a Champion at Cabellas. 3500W/4000W peak, runs 12hrs @50% load, has a 30amp RV plug in addition to the regular plugs, volt meter,68 decibel sound, on wheels with a handle and a free cover....all for $319!! I bought 2 This was 3 weeks ago. It does all I need and I will use it more than my larger 6500W unit which drinks fuel.


In May I bought the same basic generator you purchased except with a wheel kit and electric start. Champion's customer service is first rate as well...nothing like getting someone on the phone within 2 minutes who actually services them AND they speak coherent ENGLISH!

 

[Cujet]

Those little Champion 3500 watt generators are great. The RV guys are getting major hours/years from them. They have a 240 volt plug and will connect and run your house just fine. It will struggle with a 2HP well pump, but otherwise will start smaller motors.

And, never run your genset in the garage. I simply advise storing the genset somewhere safe and free of weather related problems. A warm garage is a wonderful place.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Cujet
Umm, a conventional genet consumes plenty of fuel with minimal loads. In my case, my daily consumption, running my 5500W Subaru, 24/7 was 15 gal gasoline per day, and I have propane hot water/cooking.

That same, minimal load would have consumed 23 gallons propane. Or nearly 6 BBQ sized, 17 pound propane tanks!!


I did the numbers on what one pays for grid power vs making it themselves. Turns out both a car alternator and a stand alone generator cost 10-15x as much as grid power, or about $1.50/kWh! This has me, Mr Cheap, charging my cell phone off the 120 AC line, preferably at work.

I'm pleased as anyone with my new transfer switch, but if I find myself using it I'm liable to unscrew one CFL from a two-bulb fixture for the duration of an outage.