Posts
1064
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Knoxville, TN, USA
Edited Date/Time
6/29/2021 7:35am
Thinking about getting a generator to be able to power up some basics in the house when power goes out from summer and winter storms. Thinking about a 10-12k watt generator. any recommendations on brands or ideas?
Edit: do not underestimate fuel consumption. The bigger they are the more fuel they burn. So fuel supply is also a factor.
Be happy. Because the power never goes out when you’re actually Home. But she will be home.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Free shipping: VITALMX
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Got a 6 circuit Reliant transfer switch and a remote outdoor power box to plug the genny into.
Like this one at Lowe's. (the price seems high, though. you can probably do better)
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reliance-306LRK-6-Circuit-Transfer-Switch-Kit-…
I had an electrician pull 6 circuits from my breaker box to wire into the transfer switch.
I can run a fridge,a chest-type deep freezer, well pump, sump pumps, furnace, small kitchen appliances, lights in 4 rooms + directv & tv , computers, etc with no problems at all. Probably could have gotten away with a 6500 watt unit, but the well pump and sump pumps draw a lot of power.
Generator size is dependent on your appliances and heating, and optionally cooling if you want to run AC in summer black outs.
I am an electrician and can point you in the right direction/set up.
Trying to learn all this before I purchase something.
https://www.govplanet.com/for-sale/Generator-Sets-Fermont-MEP-802A-5kW-…
$800
As long as you run them girls hard and don’t let them wet stack they’re great. But when you’re running less power than you need they can be problematic.
Pit Row
2 things in the combat hospital that will result in mission failure
1. No power
2. No blood in the blood bank.
Rest of it we can pretty much get by, innovate and save lives (to a point) . But we need blood and power to get it done
Those things can get thousands and thousands and thousands for hours on them reliably.
One year at Ft Irwin one of the brass was complaining of how loud they were at night, and mentioned to me that someone should do something about the noise. I had the guys dig a big trench with a C8 Cat which I placed the trailer in, then routed the exhaust into a 55 gallon drum that we filled with water. Covered the top of the trench with a big tarp and camo netting, it was silent and almost invisible. Turns out the guy wasn't actually telling me to make it quiet, he was just venting over the noise. Since what I did certainly wasn't regulation, some ass chewing ensued.
The next year at annual training they decided I wasn't the best choice to deal with the generator trailer, so it was a win in the end for me.
On my house I have a Reliance PBN50 power inlet box wired to a 50 amp breaker with an interlock switch between this breaker and the main disconnect switch. This interlock switch is a requirement to prevent the generator from sending electricity down the power lines where linemen may be working.
This generator will run my 4 ton AC unit along with the rest of the 20 amp circuits. I haven’t tried to run the larger amp circuits like the dryer. Keep in mind that my AC system is new and pulls less than 40 amps when starting and about 33 amps when running.
Refreshing an old thread. Looking for a decent sized generator to run some things in case of an earthquake. Commiefornia won't let me install a backup generator where I live so I need something to keep in the garage for emergency. I do not care about how loud it is, just the reliability and value. I guess it's possible maybe Costco or Harbor Freight have some that are decent?
That is nuts. I understand CA initiative to push further into the green sphere, but not allowing a man to install a backup generator for his home. WTH?
Yeah, it's pretty bad in some areas. It has to do with setbacks, noise, and venting/exhaust, etc.
Also, if the grid goes down my solar will go down too because they make you tie the solar with the grid. So if there's an earthquake and the grid goes down (very likely), then I go down too even though I have a huge solar system installed. So I need to figure out a way to get the generator to provide a power source for the solar so it thinks it's hooked to the grid, and then use a transfer switch to be able to use my own solar production during a grid outage.
Imagine that. I paid for my Solar system. I produce a shit load of power in sunny CA and feed it back to the grid. But I can't use my own solar energy production if the grid goes down....
Also, I'm looking for recommendations on a large portable solar power station that I could use on the road for charging batteries. Something big enough to also use at home in case of a major outage, that could keep all my batteries charged.
I bought the one with the Subaru engine in it , always mantained it for
" The day "
The day came i needed it and under load " the plastic should with cooling fins like the top of a lawn mower magneto cover gernaded...
Don't by a Subaru !
I don't usually see the words reliable and Harbor Freight in the same sentence but probably what makes most small gas engines including generators un reliable is sitting for too long without running. It's not as bad in California, but other states with high humidity, can end up with water in your stored gas. I have a tiller that I use once a year. Same problem every year until I read the instructions where it said that if you plan on storing the tiller for more that a few months, dump out the fuel and run all the gas out of the carb. Mix new fuel when you use it again. Never had another issue. I have repaired 2 Honda generators for the same problem and those are among the most reliable. At least for small generators. My neighbor hauls his out every once in a while and fires it up and lets it run for 3 or 4 minutes. His was one of the Hondas that I had to fix. Water is not good if left sitting in an aluminum carb.
We bought one of these and I wired it to a sub panel so I have to turn off the main before I start up the Firman. I have a propane tank that'll run about 4 hours. If it's a really long time you can run gas through it. However I don't want to run gas through unless absolutely necessary because I don't want to take the chance of buggering up the jets in the carb. It'll run the whole house but probably not the AC which went on the Fritz about 5 years ago. Thinking about installing a new AC this year as the misses is not very happy. I like the lower electricity bill, LOL
TM
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