Generator Recommendations

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Originally Posted By: supton
How long does power stay out?

That is inversely related to how much you spend on the generator. When we built our house the area was well known for frequent power outages during even moderate rain storms. Since we live on a pond we (and everyone in this area) is very sump pump dependent and I put in a natural gas standby generator. About 3 months later the utility came in and put all new wires and poles and in the subsequent 17 years our electricity has been out a sum total of maybe 15 minutes. A few years back there was an F1 tornado in our city and power was out everywhere – except down our street. I’ve never lived anywhere that has had as stable of service as we have now since getting the generator installed
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Originally Posted By: coopns
I just don't want to spend $600. Like the $300 - $400 range.




LOL

Good luck with that.
 
After Hurricane Sandy in 2012 I purchased a Briggs and Stratton 5500 Watt portable generator for $800 and installed a 6 circuit manual transfer switch, $280. This will safely power the necessities of the house if need be. I'm on a community well and my hot water comes from my oil fired furnace with base board heating so the 5500 watts is more than sufficient for me for heat, hot water and necessary electrical circuits. I do "exercise " the generator every 3 month running 2 1500 watt heaters for ~45-60 minutes to keep the generator head and engine working. This is my "insurance policy" that we'll probably not lose power again for any extended period
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Whimsey
 
If he has electric heat yeah that could be a problem but a furnace blower is only around 600 - 800 watts. I know people that have run their furnaces on little eu2000s.

I can’t remember what it’s called but reliance sells a furnace generator box that is wired into the existing wiring by the furnace and acts like a mini transfer switch for the furnace only. You use an extension cord from the gen down to the furnace. Looks similar to an L14-30 inlet.

Side note on the champion generators, they have a very good reputation for quality and customer service. I know of a couple that have thousands of hours on them. I do believe the factory they’re made in has a more stringent quality control process. No I don’t work for them lol.
 
Originally Posted By: dakota99

Side note on the champion generators, they have a very good reputation for quality and customer service. I know of a couple that have thousands of hours on them. I do believe the factory they’re made in has a more stringent quality control process.


I have a Champion generator and a water pump.

Yes, the quality of not just their machining, but probably more importantly the materials used,
makes them FAR better and more reliable than your typical "harbor freight" and other clones.
 
Is your heat a boiler or forced hot air. Boilers tend to take less electricty. How large or small is your sump? If you depend on sump I'd invest in something.

I think you can spent $400 and get a decent generator for basics which means around 3000-3500 watt. My wifi I simply backup with a $100 UPS that powers it about 5-6 hours but I work from home and the noise and bother of pulling out generator find $100 well spent. Majority of my power outages that are often last only 1 hr - 3hrs.
 
These days, I would recommend getting transfer switch installed. Insurance fine print weaseling. It would be a hassle, but I could get by with 5 KW set. I have an old Coleman 5 KW, 10 HP Tecumseh HM100 pull start. When I had it going last I ran tvs and computers on it. Since I have the engine apart, there have been outages, but none of any duration. The local grid has been much upgraded recently.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Generators SUCK fuel. An incredible amount that will knock your socks off. I like the idea of running smaller generators and only turning on the circuits you need. Id rather spend $20 a day on fuel than $60 a day. Maybe even a space heater or electric blanket for your bedroom, rather than running the heat pump.

Refilling with gasoline is a pain in the neck. Even more so, trying to keep your 15-30 gallon stash of fuel cans refilled daily is another pain in the neck. If you have natural gas or propane fed to the house that might be a good way to go.
Many people underestimate fuel usage. I bought a little 2000 watt Champion inverter to run my refrigerator, freezer, and a little window A/C I can put in a bedroom. The 40-50 gallons of gas I have on hand will last a while. I know several people with 5000+ portables with one or two gas cans that may or not be full.
 
^ and one should consider figuring out how to "tap" their car for fuel ahead of time. The best way is usually a filter quick connect you can slide some hose over. Then jumper the relay, not with gas on your hands though. Might not have internet to look this stuff up when needed.

Also the gas stations might have a ban on filling portable cans if there's a shortage.
 
Yeah that's the other aspect of it as well, gas supply. If you have the correct pipe sizing in place and your meter is big enough I would recommend getting a natural gas conversion kit with a hookup box outside. No trips to get gasoline, heavy lifting, worrying about shortages etc..

The generator I have uses about 12 gallons a day at half load. If something bad is coming I have four six gallon cans, two five gallons and several two gallon ones I pre fill. It gets me about 3 1/2 days of run time.
 
After hurricane Sandy, I got a small Champion generator 1400W running / 1800W starting.

I figured it would be enough to run our house furnace in a pinch, I can disconnect the furnace from the home wiring and connect to the generator using a special, heavy cord I made. The furnace has two motors, one for the oil burner and one for the forced hot air circulating fan. The furnace run current is a little under the rating of the generator. I figured that since it was two motors, the starting draw wouldn't be too bad (however, see below).

I wanted to get the smallest generator that would serve our needs, so as not to have to deal with the large gas tanks some of the larger generators have.

We've used the generator twice since we got it due to extended power outages.

It works, but to be honest, I wish I had purchased the next size-up generator. It's fine to run the refrigerator and freezer chest and recharge stuff. The home furnace is so-so, the oil burner motor labors on start-up, with the generator output oscillating somewhat until things get going. It just doesn't start crisply. The "add 30%" mentioned above is serious.

On the Champion generator, it's a nice little unit, but you get what you pay for. A few thoughts: check the fuel line, mine had an incipient kink, so I replaced it. It came with a no-name spark plug, so I got a name-brand spark plug and put the OEM plug on the shelf. Do the first oil change AS THE MANUAL RECOMMENDS. The first oil change was some of the nastiest oil I have ever seen. After 8 hours of running the oil was black with brown streaks, nasty.

I store it with a full tank of stabilized gas. Every fall, I drain and refresh the gas with a short run under load. That seems to work.
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
I have a Champion generator and a water pump.
Yes, the quality of not just their machining, but probably more importantly the materials used,
makes them FAR better and more reliable than your typical "harbor freight" and other clones.

I had a 5500 watt genset for 45 years. I looked at getting a smaller one and did look at champion. I personally felt they looked cheap. I am glad it turned out OK
 
I noticed a mobile car wash guy had a little Harbor Freight generator. I asked him how he liked it. Great! He said. They only last a month or two but he has the service plan and just gets another. I would not want to rely on that for emergency power but, it fits your budget.
 
Originally Posted by totegoat
With your budget, check Harbor Freight.


X2. I have a Predator 4,000 watt generator that I got on sale for $279. I had to put it into service running our furnace, lights, refrigerator, and sump pump, and it does the job. I see the 8750 watt model going on sale for $540 from time to time.

Edit: Also use it for running amateur radio gear for Field Day, although it is more power than I need for it.
 
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Have 3 Champion, a PowerStroke (389 cc Chonda) and a Briggs & Stratton (VG twin) …
 
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