Re: Opinions needed on Portable Generators


"Danlw" <danlw7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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" JimH" <jimhUNDERSCOREosudad@yahooDOTcom> wrote in message
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"Eisboch" <rce@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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" JimH" <jimhUNDERSCOREosudad@yahooDOTcom> wrote in message
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I am going to buy a 5,000 watt portable generator with gasoline engine
for the house.

Does anyone have any good or bad experiences with certain brands they
would like to share?

What is the minimum HP I should be looking for with the engine? 10 HP?

TIA!


Any "contractor" type generator will drive you deaf if used over a long
period of time. They are less expensive, but noisy.

The quiet ones for residential backup power tend to be a bit pricey.

10 hp will give you 5kw. More horsepower will give your more kw and a
thirsty gas tank.

What do you intend to power in the house? I assume it'll be the sump
pump and a few other things.
Also - do you intend to wire it into your house power panel? If so, do
yourself, your neighbors and the electric company employees a favor and
install a true transfer switch rather than rely on simply turning off
the main breaker.

During hurricane Wilma, and for the week after without power , I used a
15,500 watt Generac contractor type generator that would pretty much run
the whole house as long as I only had one of the two central air
conditioning systems on. The A/C was not a luxury or comfort issue ....
you needed to control the moisture and humidity after the storm to
prevent mold. Florida, you know.

Problem was that it burned gas up faster than I could fill it and you
had to wear ear protection to go anywhere near it. I started out with
50 gallons of gas in preparation for the hurricane and quickly realized
I'd use it up in a matter of three days. Fortunately, I also had a
little Honda eu2000. I ran extension cords out the window to it and ran
the refrigerator, TV, fan and a couple of lights off of it. It ran 24
hours a day (other than shutting it off to refuel) and burned about 2
gallons a day with that load. It spent most of the time on the low RPM,
"idle" speed, being an inverter type generator. It would momentarily
"burp" up to full throttle whenever the coffee maker was on or the
refrig went into the defrost cycle and then return to idle, even with
the devices running. I'd fire up the big generator twice a day for about
one-two hours each to alternately run one of the two AC units to
de-humidity the house, the electric hot water heater, washer/dryer if
needed and the well pump.

BTW - you can hook up two eu2000 Hondas in parallel with a optional
cable that synchronizes the generators to produce 4kw.

5kw is enough for the essentials, but it won't run central A/C units or
clothes dryers.

I am rambling here a bit in response to your question, but it brought
back a flood of memories ... (pun intended).
That little Honda made life bearable for over a week.

Eisboch




We generally lose power at least twice/year, with the outages lasting
sometimes up to 12 hours.

The generator will be for emergency power to essentials in the event of a
power loss, including the sump pump (1,000 watts), fridge/freezer (1,500
watts), furnace motor (1,500 watts), a couple of fans and a couple of
lights (700 watts). I will manually connect the appliances and sump
pump and manually start the generator.

I will have to look at noise levels and fuel consumption.

Honda may be the way to go, but I don't want to break the bank on buying
one. I see Coleman units come with Honda engines.

I have a Yahama 2800 that will run the AV in my camper-
a 3500 watt (at least to start) unit. Weighs 64 LBS, does great on the
noise and fuel issues.
Also have a EU 2000 Honda--not as much power, but a bit lighter. Dan

Make that "run the AC". May make more sense that way. DAN






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