which generator

[hiram]

I bought a house in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Many neighbors are getting generators. I know nothing of them and I don't know if they do. One neighbor buys, more buy. They are getting them in Home Depot. 5000--7000 watt range.

I feel alot more people here know alot more about household generators than my neighbors.

One neighbor said I can run the stove (electric) but have to shut the AC.

I have an electric hot water tank, but the cold water is warm here. I think the only time hot water is used is for the dishwasher.

Give me some advice please.

[popper]

Dish washers don't use hot water, they have a heater coil inside. You probably could do a 'cold' water wash if needed. Check if you water heater has a separate breaker, disconnect, etc, you AC will have one. Switch them off, cut off main breaker and you can run lights and other small loads from the generator. Fuel storage is another issue to think about. Advice from someone who doesn't have or need one.

[Johnch]

I use a 5500 Watt generator

I have a 100 gallon gas tank for the tractor , So I have that covered


It will run my furnace ,Frig,freezer,sump pumps and most stuff in the house
If I run the stove
I have to turn off about everything else

I have a well ........Never had a problem with it kicking on either

Not so much the run load , the start load is to much if I am using the stove much


Here it isn't the AC I need the generator for
It is keeping the house from freezing or flooding

John

[MtGun44]

First you need to prioritize what you NEED to have powered in an emergency. One
issue to start with is "what emergency am I dealing with?" 1 hour power outage
in a storm? 1 week power outage from a winter storm? or from a hurricane? Big
differences - you need to run the furnace in a winter storm but not in the
hurricane. If you need to heat in the emergency - what is your heat source?
If electric heat - plan on spending a BUNCH of money. If gas, oil or propane,
not so bad, you only run the blower and controls.

Typically, the very first thing is refrigerator and freezer to keep from losing a bunch
of food. The good news is that they don't take a huge amount of power, unless you
have two or three freezers. If you do, and they are full of food, you have a lot of money
invested and need to have power enough to keep them going.

If you are not on city water, pumping water is a top priority.

Things like a stove draw a lot of electric power and can be much more efficiently done
with a propane camp stove in an emergency.

You have to decide what you want. If you want an automatic system that will just start
up and run all of your stuff - plan on spending $5-10,000, even more if you have pure
electric heat. If you just want to keep some small portion of your lights on and
keep your food cold, and don't mind babysitting the generator, wiring it up temporarily
with extension cords to the critical items, keeping fuel handy, then a smaller portable
generator can be fine. Is natural gas available in your area? If so, a whole house
unit powered by gas can be viable - but still pretty expensive. No need to store gasoline
or get it in an emergency. If you have a tank of propane for heating, then this can
be an excellent source of fuel for a generator, too. Stores well (does not deteriorate)
and you already will have a bunch stored for the home heating needs.

First set some realistic goals (start with your budget!) and see what you can afford to do
and really need to do. Define what emergency you think you need to be able to deal
with. Once you have these, it becomes possible to start thinking about choices.

A real convenience can be rewiring the critical house circuits to a subpanel and putting
a connection to that subpanel that allows only these critical circuits (chosen by you, now)
to get power from the generator - only a line from gen to subpanel, no extension cords
to all the individual power consumers. If you are an electrician or have access to one
cheap this can be done without a lot of expense. If you are hiring it done, it can
cost a few hundred up to a lot more, depending on what your wiring is like.

Bill

[lesharris]

I live in PA.and power outages are common.
I had a Generac generator.
It was installed by an electrical person.
He put in a sub panel and then moved circuits that were needed to it.
The well and septic is on that,covers water in and out.
Microwave,lights in all rooms,heat in all rooms[electric heat] some tv's,etc.
Cycles about 10 minutes each week for self check.No on the electric stove,propane grill and microwave covers cooking.

[Wayne Smith]

We live in Virginia Beach. The last hurricane that truly affected us had the power out for a week +. Talked to LOML, who does all the math, about possibly buying one. She looked at the cost and said we could reload the freezer three times for the cost and that would be the primary use. I have three ways to cook without electric. We both grew up without AC, and we have oil lamps for the evening. Except for the freezer we did well the last hurricane. We cooked most of the meat and veggies in the freezer and used that for the rest of the week.

We have city water and a gas hot water tank and heat.

[94Doug]

If you're just concerned about the freezer, I would look at one of the Honda 2000 watt lightweight ones, they are around $1,000, and you can hook up two in series if needed. They are nice and very quiet.

[WILCO]

Give me some advice please.

Hi Hiram! [smilie=s:

Give this Emergency Generator Buyer's guide a look:

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/stories/34-How-to-Pick-the-Perfect-Portable-Emergency-Generator.html

Breaks options down to three requirements. Good luck! :Fire:

[Jeffrey]

A 5KW to 8KW generator will be barely adequate for your needs. The major loads it will be able to run (one at a time) will be one of the heating elements in a water heater (most electric water heaters have two elements, a well pump (240 volt), a small window unit, a refrigerator / freezer, a chest freezer. Minor loads like normal lighting, flatscreen TVs can be easily carried easily. My household refridgerator (120v) is rated at 6.5 amps. Being an "inductive" load (it has a motor) to calculate power requirement you must take into account "surge" (motor starting) current. To do this multiply rated amps by three then by volts: 6.5 X 3 X 120 = 2340 watts. My well pump: (240v 10amp 240 X10 X 3 = 7200) A 5KW, 8KW surge rated generator will carry this load and several minor loads, but will not carry two of these loads at the same time. Surge current is involved with motor loads, only when they start. Resistive loads (water heaters, electric stoves) use the formula Volts times Amps equals Watts.
The last hurricane to come through this area had power off in many areas for as long as 4 to 5 days. My parents have a 5KW / 8KW (surge) was just adequate for their needs. They could not run their central a/c but could run a window unit in their bedroom. They could run their water heater, but not at the same time as their dishwasher (reheat / dry option off).
Remember, most major loads do not need to run continuously. A water heater need only be run for an hour or so just before you need hot water. A refrigerator / freezer need only be run for an hour or so every four to six hours if you are careful about opening it for a minimum time.
The biggest problem was getting non ethanol fuel. A friend's generator was rendered useless in single day burning 10% ethanol fuel. The gaskets and seals were destroyed by the ethanol.
Hope this helps, Jeffrey

[toddrod]

Just going through hurricaine Isaac with power outage for 5 days I am upgrading my generator. Currently I have a portable 5.6KW generator that I converted to trifuel and run natural gas to it. I am upgrading to a portable Generac 10KW continous and will also convert it to run natural gas. I would recommend figuring out what wattage draw you need and then go the next size bigger. Here is a link to my youtube video of my current trifuel set up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxnIveicTdY

[largom]

Check out the Gererac generators at Northern Tool [online]. You can get a lot more for your money than at Home Depot.

Larry

[dragon813gt]

I will come back to this thread when I have more time. You need to figure out how many watts you need. My biggest load is my sump pump. It's a 1/2 HP and takes close to 4000 watts to get going. And since power always seems to go down when the ground is saturated it runs a lot. You need to look at staring watts if you have some high draw motors in the home. Unless you don't mind paying for a bigger generator than you really need :)


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[GRUMPA]

Here's my .02 worth. I live on solar and almost everyone but me needs a generator just to pump water, my well pump runs off our solar panels.

To the OP, those generators are designed for short term use depending on power draw. The best type to get are the 1800RPM types and they aren't cheap. I'm not going to repeat what's been said but there's sound advise from more than one member.

PRIORITIZE your needs when using one, it's not just go out and start it up and plug the house in type thing.

We just sold our 1800RPM generator we had bought in "99" and it was propane, we never used it and got it for emergency power only. Living strictly on solar power and batteries when the sun goes down we do real well.

Those little 5-7K generators are for the most part throw-a-ways, they don't last worth a darn. People here seem to live on generators and replace them at least once a year. There are those that last I'm sure, but the ones folk get here just fall apart in less than a year.

[Dale in Louisiana]

If you're just concerned about the freezer, I would look at one of the Honda 2000 watt lightweight ones, they are around $1,000, and you can hook up two in series if needed. They are nice and very quiet.
Generators are only ONE of the things I do as a power professional. My biggest 'pet' right now is 21 MEGAwatts.

Connecting 'consumer-grade' generators is a prescription for one of those interesting YouTube videos, because little generators have no provisions for synchronizing and load-sharing. If you're unfamiliar with those terms, then take my word for it: IT'S IMPORTANT.

If you close a second generator in on a circuit already energized by the first and they're more than ten or fifteen degrees out of synch, you're liable to experience both a mechanical AND and electrical failure.

If you hit the lottery and DO happen to close the second one in synch, then whichever one happens to produce the higher voltage will hog the load while the other one idles along, or even becomes a load itself.

My point? If you have more load than one generator can handle, run separate circuits from some of the loads to the second generator.

Or have somebody video you as you ignore my advice, because I wanna watch.

Commercial generator installations using multiple generators have equipment that either allows you to monitor synchronization or blocks you from electrically closing the circuit breaker to tie in the second generator. The stuff I install automatically does that synchronization and closing, and then monitors the loads and makes sure that both generators carry the load equally (load-sharing). But you won't buy these at Home Depot.

dale in Louisiana

[atr]

+1 for what MtGun44 has to say !
I have a wood stove for heat, gas range and on-demand gas water heater which pretty much covers my basics....
If for some reason the gas flow is stopped (earthquake etc) then I have coleman camp stoves to fill the gap.
I store sufficient water to last the two of us several weeks
If the electricty does go out my BIGGEST concern is keeping the freezer going because thats where we have stocked away food stores etc. I have a modest size 4 stroke generator which I hook up to the freezer. If I need lights for some reason I have a very small and fuel efficient 2-cycle generator which will run a couple of lights. My other source of lighting is candles (yup!) and coleman lanterns ( I have six) and Alladdin brand lamps which put out 60 watt equivalent light plus heat.
Basically, I can shut down almost completely except for electricty for the freezers. Keeping them going is my priority #1

[Mal Paso]

+1 for Generac if you have stoves, AC, or Water Heater Loads. Runs on Propane or Natural Gas and comes with Sub-Panel and Automatic Transfer Switch. Needs to be installed by an electrician.

+1 for the Honda EU Series for running Refrigerator, Freezer, Lights, and TV using extension cords. Very Quiet and efficient. You can maintain a freezer by running it a few hours every day.

Power Quality is poor on the cheap generators as well.

[reg293]

I am on a well and have propane for heat, cooking and hot water so a 4000 watt ( with a 220 outlet ) does just fine.

[Plate plinker]

I was told to look for generators that have a good amount of start up ability beyond the normal load.

[94Doug]

Actually, Honda makes two different models of the 2000, one is designed to hook two together. My family has a dealership.

Doug

[bob208]

i was looking for 1 to hook up to the allis pto. the allis is 40 hp.

[BD]

MtGun44 pretty much covered it, and atr is correct. If 5 kw won't cover your EMERGENCY needs for a single family residence, you should re-think what you have going and lose the electric stove. electric heat and electric water heater. Buy at least one Aladdin oil lamp, and make sure you keep enough gasoline, LP, oil and wood on hand to carry you through. A sub panel and a real transfer switch are great, but some forethought and enough extension cords will do as well on a budget. We went through the 10 day power outage from the '98 ice storm with very little inconvenience. It was late on the morning after the event before we realized the power was out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Ice_Storm_of_1998

Passive solar house, with wood back up, gas instant water heater, gas kitchen stove and a dozen oil lamps. We had a 3500W generator at that time that we ran a couple hours a day to run water and keep the fridge and freezer cold.

If you're operating something that causes you enormous hardship just to survive a week long power outage, you really need to rethink what you're doing.

BD

[Finster101]

Hiram, I have been through 2 hurricanes and was without power 10 and 7 days respectively. I have a Honda EU 2000. It did everything I needed it to do. Now I could not run everything at once, but I did'nt have to listen to a lawn tractor running on my lanai at night either. If you are going to do whole house thats fine. For no more than I have had to use it the Honda is fine. I also have about 6 grill tanks that I keep full at the begining of hurricane season. Grills with side burners and turkey fryers work very well keeping you fed.

James

[smoked turkey]

bob208 I'd say that your Allis can power a 25 kW unit and that is pretty serious power for a single residence. You probably already know that you need a transfer switch so as to avoid back feeding the power grid prior to switching on your generator. It will also make coming on line during emergency situation much easier and quicker.

From my prospective there have been lots of good input for the original post. I think MtGun44 has nailed it. Anything beyond a 6-7kW unit should be a padmounted LP powered unit such as the 15kW units mentioned. Ofcourse after doing the prioritization mentioned it will be clear what will be required.

[Blacksmith]

I have been through hurricanes and blizzards and lost power in each for extended periods we can survive without power but you will loose food after several days. You can also go to a motel or visit friends for awhile and go back when it's over.

First plan on how you will live with no power and no gas and can't evacuate for at least a week, the SHTF plan. This will get you some camping supplies and oil lamps or candels a way to cook over a fire, water source or purification, a way to ****, etc.

After you are ready for the worst then consider making life easier, your generator. We finally got a generator and I went for a big one mounted it on wheels and stored it in a shed, would make hook ups with extension cords, it was a pain to haul out and set up. Then I built a perminant home for it close to the house which was fine till the time needed it and couldn't get it started.

I still have the big one but if I had to do it over I would get several smaller ones. They need more tending but they are more portable, if one quits you have back up, and more versitile. I still would just hook up what I want to power at the time with extension cords, be sure they are heavy duty enough. The same generator can power more than one thing, if you power the freezer for a few hours then power the refridgerator for a couple of hours they will both stay cold enough as long as you don't keep opening the door to check on them.

[shdwlkr]

Look if you want most if all the electric things to run when the power fails start looking at a 15-20kw unit and if you have natural gas get one that runs on this type of fuel then there is no storage issue. You only have to worry about a main gas line break.
Second get one wired into your house that kicks on every so often to keep it working and you knowing it is working.
Best of luck

[Junior1942]

My best suggestion is to sell your upright freezer and buy a chest type. Every time you open the door of an upright freezer the cold air falls out. Not so with a chest type.

[winelover]

Look if you want most if all the electric things to run when the power fails start looking at a 15-20kw unit and if you have natural gas get one that runs on this type of fuel then there is no storage issue. You only have to worry about a main gas line break.
Second get one wired into your house that kicks on every so often to keep it working and you knowing it is working.
Best of luck

Exactly what I did when I built my new home in rural Arkansas. Put in a 20 Kw which runs on LP gas (1000 gal buried tank) that detects power outages and comes on automatically.
Unit is programed to start once a week for a 20 minute "exercise" at a predetermined time.

Winelover

[felix]

Move into a town with powerful politicians. Live on a nearby street with the power lines leading to their neighborhood. Ask someone working for the power company to tell you this info. The politicians won't do without power for any length of time, guaranteed. ... felix

[Dale in Louisiana]

Actually, Honda makes two different models of the 2000, one is designed to hook two together. My family has a dealership.

Doug

Doug is right. If you buy the correct generators from Honda (not all of them have the parallel operation capability) and the parallel operation accessory cable, you can connect two 2000-watt generators.

Past that, I stand by my previous post.

Note that there has to be specific provisions inherent int eh generator controls AND a means of transmitting specific data between the controllers (frequency, voltage and load) to achieve parallel operation.

Other manufacturers have paralleling capability, but at a cost over the basic generator.

This information is coming from somebody who just had a big spate of generator usage because I have several facilities in the footprint of Hurricane Isaac and several previous storms over the years. At my facilities, we have fixed backup generation, usually with auto-start and automatic transfer of loads to generator.

A few of my facilities have generators in parallel operation, but we bought them with this mode of operation in mind.

dale in Louisiana

[Oreo]

The honda EU2000 genis will all parallel just fine. The only difference on the "companion" model is the built-in 30A receptical. In fact, honda used to sell a special parallel kit that included the receptical because they hadn't come out with the "companion" model yet. The newer parallel kits are just a set of wires with banana plugs, nothing fancy.

That said, I did some digging and apparently most of the inverter-generators can be paralleled. Its just something inherent in the inverter circuitry that makes it possible. These are more expensive though. Hence the eu2000 is $1k while the 7kw home depot special is half the price and can't be paralleled.

Never take paralleling for granted though. Make sure the model is designed to support it and follow manufacturer's instructions exactly.

[HATCH]

Sams club
10kw for under $1000
get the extended warranty too.

I plan to run everything but stove and central heat/air


sent from my mobile

[WDS]

When the lights go out I need a generator that can safely power the various appliances and my computer. Most generators will fry anything with an integrated circuit because the type of power created has a square wave form or "modified sine wave". Only a true sine wave form is useable for a television, computer or anything electronic. Even my furnace has a circuit board with "solid state" components. The only generators currently on the market that will produce a true sine wave form are those that use an inverter. Inverter generators cost more than similar conventional generators without the inverter. Conventional generators are useful for conventional resistance loads only. If you want to turn on your radio or television, you need an inverter type generator. My two cents worth ....

[Dale in Louisiana]

WDS-

You may have that backwards. An AC induction generator generates sine wave output by definition. the inverter types CAN closely replicate sine wave output, or not, since they're taking DC and turning it on and off very fast to emulate AC.

The Honda inverter units do a pretty good job of replicating true sine wave output. Some of the early, cheapo inverter units basically did a square wave that was hard on a lot of equipment.

What really throws a kink in the works is that some welding machines have a 'convenience' receptacle that provides 120-volt DC. Great if you're running something like an electric drill or angle grinder, both of which have universal motors like many power tools, but it's absolute death for equipment that has transformer power supplies or induction motors.

dale in Louisiana

[Lloyd Smale]

keep in mind two with a cheap generator that you have usually 4 110 plugs and a 220. The generator may be able to put out 5000 watts but its using all the outlets. You cant take and run a wire from just your 220 plug to your breaker pannel and expect it to be able to put 5000 watts into your panel. To run one like that you need to disconect the plugs on the generators panel and run your wires right of the outputs on the generator. Most of those plugs are only 10 amps and maybe 20 on the 220 outlet so about all your going to be able to put to your house panel using that plug is 2400 watts or half the output of the generator. Anymore then that and your going to trip the reset on the generator.

[dragon813gt]

You can run televisions and computers off a non inverter generator. They will work but they don't like it. If you have a higher end UPS that cleans up the power you are golden. Your electronics should be protected by one before the power goes out anyway.

As far as a furnace with a control board. A few issues can arise. One is when the flame sensor will not sense the flame. This comes from the generator not being grounded properly. It needs to be properly grounded/bonded for the flame sensor circuit to work properly all the time. Now that I think of it almost all the faults that happen come from the generator not being grounded/bonded. I'm speaking about portable generators only. And since they all have different wiring requirements I'm not going to get into the specifics of when to bond. Bonding is to protect you. Not all portable generators are internally bonded.


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[akajun]

Stay away from the Generac portable generators. My dad bought one during gustav, 10,000 watts, the starter switch would stick, and would even start on its own cranking the starter while the engine was running chewing up the flywheel. Generac's warranty is GARBAGE, they will tell you all these places are authorized service centers, however when you call these places they will tell you that Generac does not pay their bill so they do not do warranty work. When we finally found someone who would honor the warranty and was on the repair list, they denied the claim and said he was not authorized repair center.

Buy a Kohler, or anyone else, screw Generac.

That said, if you want to run your whole house, and I mean central air, lights, tv, not actually the whole house, you will need a minimum of 8k, preferrably 10k. Also get a "soft start" or vfd installed on your ac units. You will still have to be selective with what you run. Also something to think about, when a big storm hits, gas stations have no power and cant pump gas, or flat out run out of gas. YOu will need about 30 gals to run two days with a generator that size if you are going to run 24/7.
We use a smaller 4500 watt generator with a window unit in the bedroom and only run it 8 hrs a day, once in the morning, once when we go to bed, 4-5 hrs each. I can get by 5-6 days on 20 gallons of gas and those two run times are plenty to keep the freezer and fridge cold, especially if you wrap them in blankets.

[44man]

I bought a 6000 watt peak at Aldy's for $400. I made up a heavy wire for 220 volts to plug into my dust collector outlet in the garage.
I shut off the main and all breakers before starting. Then I turned on what I needed. I kept 2 freezers and 2 fridges, sump and water pump running. Then a window air conditioner. I had lights and TV. I was amazed at what worked.
My neighbor has a 5000 watt and I told him how to hook to his dryer outlet and he kept 7 freezers running (farmer with pork) plus a lot of other stuff.
We lost nothing in four days of outage. I just checked the main with a meter every now and then to see if power was restored.
Even a small one can save your hide, wheel it outside and hook it up.
What I had in the freezers and fridges was worth much more then the $400 I spent for the generator.
Another friend bought a no name 10,000 watt cheap, about $600. It works like a champ for all the tools we used for some construction and his power outage.
Back feed for 220 volts instead of extension cords to a few things. That way you power both sides of the breaker box.
Looking at prices I can buy 2 to 10 cheap ones for 1 Honda or some others. Some are close to $4000 that do no more then mine.
Shut off the main, very important. You do not need automatic stuff that can fail.

[garym1a2]

In South Florida, need for a Generator comes from the Hurricanes. During a bad stoprm you could be out of pwoer for 1-2 weeks. A decent GAS 5KW generator will burn a gall an hour under load 4$, your food better be worth it to send that much fuel on fridge. Plus gas becomes impossible to get. A much better choice is naturel gas or propance if you are already on it. Than you can have a large tank.
Most people that get the generators do so to run a window AC as Florida is hot during the time of year you need the generator.

P.S. the normal gas 5-6kw unit makes a lot of noise running and your neighbors will complain of you running it all night. So get a QUIET one.

Being a Native of Florida for the last 50 years, I rather do without it than waste the money on a once a decade chance to lose power for a few days.

[44man]

Some places I don't want to live in have total outages. Then you have a problem for fuel.
We have sporadic with some stations out but I could find gas. I didn't use that much in the end.
Propane is ideal if you have a large tank.
To live in areas where your home is turned to a pile of rubble in minutes sure has no need for a generator.

[Blacksmith]

Just saw a 20KW automatic unit at the local hardware store $4,500.00. No doubt installation was extra.

[Gliden07]

Prioritize what you "NEED" vs what you "WANT". Unless you want to spend a good deal of money on a real quality whole house Generator with an automatic transfer switch. If you figure out what you "NEED" then you could probably get away with a 5-7K generator. Generac is a decent generator and if you get there kit it comes with transfer switch. Consider a Winco generator, in my opinon a better generator (and I use to sell Generac). Propane is the way to go if you can, because you don't have the associated fuel problems, but there not as common as gas (in portable sizes). Just like Amunition press's you have your Lee Loaders and your Dillion 1050 and everything in between!!

[hiram]

What I would want to power is the frig/freezer, clothes washer dryer, and my bedroom. I would have a TV for news and weather and I could put in a temp window AC unit for comfort. Gas grill with side burner could do the cooking. Also a sign saying "this home protected by Smith & Wesson".

[3006guns]

Dish washers don't use hot water, they have a heater coil inside. You probably could do a 'cold' water wash if needed. Check if you water heater has a separate breaker, disconnect, etc, you AC will have one. Switch them off, cut off main breaker and you can run lights and other small loads from the generator. Fuel storage is another issue to think about. Advice from someone who doesn't have or need one.

Dish washers most certainly DO use hot water. Why on earth would you run cold water in and then heat it up? That heating coil down there on the bottom is for DRYING the dishes after the wash and you usually have the option of NOT using the drying cycle, which saves electricity.

Start by estimating your actual electrical needs. By "needs" I mean bare neccessities such as A/C, hot water, stove, well pump, etc. and then think about using them in rotation as required........not all at once. Example: You need water, but do you really need all those night lights and other small loads? Dump them in time of crisis. If you really pay attention it's suprising how little power you actually need. We're just spoiled, that's all!

As for a generator, if you intend to have it for a number of years don't waste your time and money with a "big box store" piece of junk. They buzz along at 3600 rpm and rattle themselves to pieces within a short time. You want a good quality, heavily built stationary generator that runs at either 1200 or 1800 rpm. The choice of fuel is yours but I'd look closely at propane. It doesn't go "bad" like gasoline or diesel, so it can be stored for a long time.

Your best best would probably be to talk to a professional that installs standby units for a living.

[CLAYPOOL]

Buy a Miller 250 Bobcat Welder/ Generator...then you will also be Preping for the aftermath of the elections...if the idoit gets back in , we have a problem...U.S.A.

[Gliden07]

What I would want to power is the frig/freezer, clothes washer dryer, and my bedroom. I would have a TV for news and weather and I could put in a temp window AC unit for comfort. Gas grill with side burner could do the cooking. Also a sign saying "this home protected by Smith & Wesson".

Grab yourself a sheet of paper go around to each of the items you want to power with the Generator. Most of these items will have a manufactuers tag that should tell you how many watts or amperage you need to run it. After you collect this information add the wattages all together then add about 10% to it as built in protection.

Check out this link to Generacs site.

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

This will give you an idea of how to size the generator regaurdless of the brand you go with. If you want to run an electric dryer that item alone would take 30A at 220V or 6600W (P = I x E , 30A x 220V = 6600W)!! Add 10% to it and you get 7260W (6600w X 1.10 = 7260W) you would need about 8000w just to run the dryer!!

[Daffy]

Generators are only ONE of the things I do as a power professional. My biggest 'pet' right now is 21 MEGAwatts.

Connecting 'consumer-grade' generators is a prescription for one of those interesting YouTube videos, because little generators have no provisions for synchronizing and load-sharing. If you're unfamiliar with those terms, then take my word for it: IT'S IMPORTANT.

If you close a second generator in on a circuit already energized by the first and they're more than ten or fifteen degrees out of synch, you're liable to experience both a mechanical AND and electrical failure.

If you hit the lottery and DO happen to close the second one in synch, then whichever one happens to produce the higher voltage will hog the load while the other one idles along, or even becomes a load itself.

My point? If you have more load than one generator can handle, run separate circuits from some of the loads to the second generator.

Or have somebody video you as you ignore my advice, because I wanna watch.

Commercial generator installations using multiple generators have equipment that either allows you to monitor synchronization or blocks you from electrically closing the circuit breaker to tie in the second generator. The stuff I install automatically does that synchronization and closing, and then monitors the loads and makes sure that both generators carry the load equally (load-sharing). But you won't buy these at Home Depot.

dale in Louisiana

Needs repeating!

[Mal Paso]

Kohler Air Cooled Generators are built cheaper than Generac Now. You can get Generac Manuals online free. Kohler has scoured the net to remove any posted by good guys.

All rotary Generators produce a sine wave. The quality of the power differs greatly. Cheap generators have inexpensive windings, no voltage regulation, and poor Power Quality.

Honda EU Generators produce Polyphase Alternating Current like auto alternators which is Rectified into Direct Current from which an AC Sine Wave is built is real time. Excellent Power Quality but not "True Sine Wave" as there are steps in the wave like pixels. True Sine Wave means Closely Simulated

Nothing Wrong with Square Wave Inverters (Modified Sine Wave). They got lost in the "True Sine Wave" BS. More Efficient than "Sine Wave", will generate a little more heat in motors and transformers but runs modern appliances well. The very first Laser Printers didn't like them 20 years ago but now Almost Every Computer Backup Power Is Square Wave.

Good advice here about analyzing loads. Motors take can 3+ times the running load to start them. Heaters will eat up Watts Fast.

[Junior1942]

Don't you guys have room for a clothesline? Mine's on the back porch to lessen the UV damage. Wal-Mart sells clothespins and wire.

[felix]

Motors take can 3+ times the running load to start them. ...

That's why the AC motors should have soft starts applied to them. The motors/compressor will last 3+ times longer. Why shoot a proof load to dirty a barrel before shooting a group with normal loads? ... felix

[blackthorn]

Junior makes a really good point! Further, why do you need a dishwasher, washing machine, A/C etc. etc.?? People lived without them for centuries! As to the cost of fuel vs. lost food, I think that is penn-wise/pound-foolish! In a protracted power outage it will quickly become impossible to buy more food, so I will opt for buying some fuel for my generator and I will only use it for what is really necessary!

[Dale in Louisiana]

Motors take can 3+ times the running load to start them. ...

That's why the AC motors should have soft starts applied to them. The motors/compressor will last 3+ times longer. Why shoot a proof load to dirty a barrel before shooting a group with normal loads? ... felix
I just taught a class on some industrial electricity topics to our instrumentation and control techs today. One of the subjects was 'how much current does my motor draw on starting?'

The rule of thumb for three-phase motors is six times full load current. (It's a rule of thumb. There are many factors that may change this)

Single phase motors vary widely. A split-phase motor will likely draw 7-10 times full load current.

Capacitor start motors drop this to 4-6 times, and permanent split capacitor motors drop starting current to around 2 times FLC.

Keep this in mind when sizing a generator. Consumer generators quite often have a 'surge rating' which will allow them to supply heavier than rated current for a short period to start a motor. Just realize that with the higher current, many generators will drop the voltage pretty badly, and that plays havoc with other connected loads.

dale in Louisiana

[felix]

If a person were anal about his generator project, he could employ a power factor correction to the energized line. That would require a battery powered computer up front to measure the circuit stats and compute the factor for continually setting an infinitely variable capacitor.

The worst case in my house, with all motors running (AFTER all motors started), results in a 13 percent current-voltage phase error. So, per Dale in LA state, this error will be magnified greatly by starting and stopping the motors during the day. Installing a real-time phase correction will be just to costly for a 200 amp distribution panel. All said and done, the solution is best described by Junior who also lives in the LA state. ... felix

[LabGuy]

Having had similar experiences of power losses as Finster101, the gas grill is the most important thing. (This is an excuse to purchase additional spare propane tanks for smelting during the winter). We usually eat well when the power goes out, starting with the most expensive cuts of meat in the freezer. Do your laundry before the storm. Think like you’re going camping for week. Then if you have a generator use it for a window room air conditioner, bed room ceiling fan, and refrigerator. Spend the rest on the Smith and Wesson sign and a new M&P 45 to go with it.

If you have well water you’ll want to power up your pump, but many wells go under water so it may not be safe to drink. I keep 15 gal/person.

[softpoint]

I would buy a diesel powered generator if the budget allowed. we have used them in the oilfields for many years. Or, if you have a diesel powered tractor,consider a PTO generator.

[mac60]

hiram - I've had enough hurricane to last a couple lifetimes. I lost everything I had in Katrina. My Wife remembers Camile in the 60's and Frederic in '79 (she was without power several months) - so she's been through it three times - not to mention all the lesser storms. Some observations; If your house has natural gas to cook with and the clothes dryer uses natural gas - you're ahead of the game. likewise if you have satellite TV. If you have a big enough and bad enough standby generator to run the whole house - including central a/c you're light years ahead. Then, while everybody else is runnin' around trying to find gasoline - sweatin' like Hebrew slaves, you're sitting up in the a/c watching TV.

[waksupi]

A section of rope, and clothes pins works pretty effectively as a clothes dryer.

[MtGun44]

Unless it is raining. :bigsmyl2:

Bill