Originally Posted By: coopns
After the recent storm here, thinking about a generator.
Talked to one guy was running a Honda gen. and it ran his whole house, didn't see the specs on it. Some quiet too. Other guy had a Wally World special, said it ran great too.
I would like to run the essesntials as well. Sump, heat, lights (wifi
) I just don't want to spend $600. Like the $300 - $400 range.
You will not be able to get a new genny for that money, in the power range you express. Even the cheap junk (which I would stay away from) is "iffy" at that price.
Shop used. Let the panic pass and start watching for stuff on Ebay or CL in your area.
Also, do you want to survive decently or live in luxury?
A "whole house generator" can help you run a lot of stuff, but unless you have propane or NG at the house, it's moot. And they are EXPENSIVE.
A portable is easily doable. But you need long term gas storage plans. And some way to manipulate power distribution to the "necessary" items.
Most of the websites (Powermate, Generac, etc) have a model select feature which will help you choose the right power for your desires.
- Risk of under-buying is that you'll either get a piece of used junk, or not have enough power.
- Risk of over-buying is spending money on something that is a unused annoyance in the garage 99.9999% of the time, and if too large, will consume more fuel than you want in the very time you want max conservation.
One note about buying used. Be very cautious of older gennys that have sat idle a long time. While engines can be easily resurrected from dormant mode, the power-head (magnets inside the stator) will essentially go bad by not seeing a revolving field effect. While they can be "jump started" by tapping a low volt across the field post, they will lose that charge upon the next shut down cycle. What you want to find is either a used generator that is only a few years old, or have a good indication that the guy selling it actually started it and ran it several times a year WITH AN ELECTRICAL LOAD ON BOTH LEGS OF THE CIRCUIT in order to keep the power-head alive.
I run my two gennies every 3 months, hooking upon a 500w halogen lamp to the circuits for about 15 minutes. That's part of the long term ownership commitment. If you want it to work when you NEED it, you have to work it when you don't need it.