Ok, I see I asked here: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...026#Post2380026
But that was a while ago, and it was about invertor-generator vs generator. Back to looking again. I noticed a 3kW jobbie at Home Depot that I think is too small, and lacks wheels on it--but when I mentioned it to She Who Must Be Obeyed she was very open to the idea of getting one this year. Although she did warn about going too small--or too large. We haven't had a more than an hour of power outage since the last ice storm (2009?) so really, running just the well pump, or just the furnace, or just the fridge is ok. A big generator would be nice, but as it is I have no place to store a generator right now. But what is a good brand?
I do have a HF freight down in Nashua, and Home Depot has a few generators in stock. I see Powermate, which is the one that is tempting me at the moment (3.25kW/4.05kW surge, vs 3kW/3.75kW surge, both with 240 recepticals) but have no knowledge of how good Powermate is. I saw a Homelite, which I thought used to be bottom of the line; it has a Subaru engine, which is good—but does that mean the generator head is low quality? Again, this is going to sit a lot, but I’d rather pay an extra $100 and know it’ll work until the engine is blowing blue smoke—that is to say, I’ll get lots of advance warning that the unit is wearing out.
I hear about this Champion 3500W, but I don’t think it’s sold anywhere near NH. I hear about Chonda motors being good but I’m not sure if that is what HF uses or not. Ideally I’d keep this investment below $400. At $500 I’m just going to put off for another time; or simply buy a smaller unit, as I just don’t need to run “everything” at once.
House specifics: oil heat, hot water off the burner, water pump, gas stove. Water pump is the only thing on 240. Transfer switch already installed, along with exterior hookup for generator.
Best I can tell the water pump is 3/4hp at 230V; max current of 8A. But that’s assuming the recommended breakers were installed, as per the manual (a reasonable assumption, but it would have been nice if the PO had simply written down what pump he installed on the manual that covers 10 different pumps). Old fridge, 25 years old. Oil burner furnace with horizontal flue (1/7hp burner but is class T motor, don’t know what the squirrel cage motor is at the moment). Those are the three big loads; I’m not sure if the microwave is on the transfer switch or not.
But that was a while ago, and it was about invertor-generator vs generator. Back to looking again. I noticed a 3kW jobbie at Home Depot that I think is too small, and lacks wheels on it--but when I mentioned it to She Who Must Be Obeyed she was very open to the idea of getting one this year. Although she did warn about going too small--or too large. We haven't had a more than an hour of power outage since the last ice storm (2009?) so really, running just the well pump, or just the furnace, or just the fridge is ok. A big generator would be nice, but as it is I have no place to store a generator right now. But what is a good brand?
I do have a HF freight down in Nashua, and Home Depot has a few generators in stock. I see Powermate, which is the one that is tempting me at the moment (3.25kW/4.05kW surge, vs 3kW/3.75kW surge, both with 240 recepticals) but have no knowledge of how good Powermate is. I saw a Homelite, which I thought used to be bottom of the line; it has a Subaru engine, which is good—but does that mean the generator head is low quality? Again, this is going to sit a lot, but I’d rather pay an extra $100 and know it’ll work until the engine is blowing blue smoke—that is to say, I’ll get lots of advance warning that the unit is wearing out.
I hear about this Champion 3500W, but I don’t think it’s sold anywhere near NH. I hear about Chonda motors being good but I’m not sure if that is what HF uses or not. Ideally I’d keep this investment below $400. At $500 I’m just going to put off for another time; or simply buy a smaller unit, as I just don’t need to run “everything” at once.
House specifics: oil heat, hot water off the burner, water pump, gas stove. Water pump is the only thing on 240. Transfer switch already installed, along with exterior hookup for generator.
Best I can tell the water pump is 3/4hp at 230V; max current of 8A. But that’s assuming the recommended breakers were installed, as per the manual (a reasonable assumption, but it would have been nice if the PO had simply written down what pump he installed on the manual that covers 10 different pumps). Old fridge, 25 years old. Oil burner furnace with horizontal flue (1/7hp burner but is class T motor, don’t know what the squirrel cage motor is at the moment). Those are the three big loads; I’m not sure if the microwave is on the transfer switch or not.
