Generator Recommendation

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Originally Posted By: Vikas

What is "ten circuit transfer switch"? How does a transfer switch selectively handles individual circuit? I was under impression that transfer switch switches the entire feed from the power company to the generator. But that must be wrong assumption because generator does not give its full power out of its single output.

Thanks,
- Vikas


I'll make a little demo in a few days, I have a four gang switch that is finally on its way. I ordered it from this dumpy website "wayfair" after Irene and they finally shipped it. But the price was right, and I had a 10% coupon.

These things are cool, you don't interrupt your service at the service entrance like you would with a whole house switch. Most (not mine) take 240 and 120, but the premise is the same: Interrup the black (power) wire coming out of your breaker, send it off to the switch, then the switch has a return wire that you wire nut to the wire going off to your circuit. It's expensive for what it is, but UL Listed and therefore good news for your homeowners insurance and electric linesmen.

My switch has a standard male NEMA plug (5-15?) that plugs into a heavy duty extension cord. The bigger ones have twist-loc connectors and or remote, outside twist-loc connectors.

These are also self-installable, unless you live in california or some obnoxious place that requires an electrician for ANYTHING. Just kill your main breaker, or, if you live on the edge, take the grid off your breakers, flip them off, and yank them off the live rail in the same motion, then they aren't live anymore. (Don't zap yourself, kids).

typical installation instructions
 
What's so adventurous about pulling out breakers???

Good stuff would love to see your work posted.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I thought you had to balance the 240V in to two 120V feeds.


I described it that way for a reason. I literally have a neighbor that thinks if the gen in switched to 240V it only supplies straight 240 on all circuits not 120 X 2.

Quote:

I want one which would have


For that money its probably chinese and quite may be relative. The Honda 5500W my neighbor purchased is extremely quite but cost $3000. For less then $900 you can get electric start and 7500W chinese but you will have to live with a few more decibels. From 3500W to 7500W most of the chinese gens have a twist lock 240, go with a twist lock during installation for your home and you have a secure connection.
 
I run a ($800) Rigid 6800 Watt nominal 8000 watt peak Yamaha powered generator. Its loud but that was solved quick by placing into a garden shed. I have a 20' huge extension cord that plugs into shed and then into house.

It already has about 25 hrs on it and well worth it. Its a fuel pig though.

However my wife can dry her hair (1800W!), runs boiler/HW, well pump, fridge and most anything we want in house. We even were able to power our electric oven without much balking from it.

I got lucky and only lost power for 24hrs. In the past it has been a 3 days max.

Those Honda's are nice but at 3-4 times the cost not sure if worth it.

My brother and sister in law are still out in NH and MA.
 
I've been very pleased with our 5.5kw unit from Harbor Freight. (http://www.harborfreight.com/engines-gen...tart-98838.html) They do have a larger unit but we have natural gas for most appliances so we don't need one that big. Costco had a Champion 7.5kw for $699 which is a decent brand and they get good reviews.

Unless you are running sensitive medical equipment or old school electronics, the THD is not that much of an issue. Most of the Chineese sets are about the same and put out a decent (not perfect) waveform and keep the volts good as long as you don't overload them.

You may also want to still consider a permanent unit. From what I gather all you need to keep clear is the intake and exhaust (the snow can pile on top) and if you position it right there may not be much to clear. I've found snowblowers will blow snow off grass well so that may be an option too. Once the unit starts running and producing heat it will melt the snow on top and also around it. You could contact a local installer and see what they use.

What I found is if you want quiet you pay lots of $$. If you can live with some noise (ours is about as loud as a lawnmower) you can get some good deals. Regular maintenance and load tests are very important with all generators.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
I've been very pleased with our 5.5kw unit from Harbor Freight. (http://www.harborfreight.com/engines-gen...tart-98838.html) They do have a larger unit but we have natural gas for most appliances so we don't need one that big. Costco had a Champion 7.5kw for $699 which is a decent brand and they get good reviews.

Unless you are running sensitive medical equipment or old school electronics, the THD is not that much of an issue. Most of the Chineese sets are about the same and put out a decent (not perfect) waveform and keep the volts good as long as you don't overload them.

You may also want to still consider a permanent unit. From what I gather all you need to keep clear is the intake and exhaust (the snow can pile on top) and if you position it right there may not be much to clear. I've found snowblowers will blow snow off grass well so that may be an option too. Once the unit starts running and producing heat it will melt the snow on top and also around it. You could contact a local installer and see what they use.

What I found is if you want quiet you pay lots of $$. If you can live with some noise (ours is about as loud as a lawnmower) you can get some good deals. Regular maintenance and load tests are very important with all generators.



You are right about the Champion and good reviews, I could not find a bad review on them...and got a heck of a deal a Champion at Cabellas. 3500W/4000W peak, runs 12hrs @50% load, has a 30amp RV plug in addition to the regular plugs, volt meter,68 decibel sound, on wheels with a handle and a free cover....all for $319!! I bought 2 This was 3 weeks ago. It does all I need and I will use it more than my larger 6500W unit which drinks fuel.
 
I'm actually in the market for a 2-3KW unit that can be used to power a baby hatch A/C on the boat and to run my woodstove blower, refrigerator, and a CFL or 2 if we had power loss. Any gas generator is going to REQUIRE Sta-Bil in the fuel, regular oil changes, and test ran regularly to make sure it will run when you need it, and the bigger ones (4K and up) are not really very portable at all!
 
I have heard that generators need to be exercised often otherwise they lose their magnetism and do not work anymore. Is that true? Is that true for all generators or only on certain types?

My electrician said to stay away from Generac but as far as I can determine, they are the largest seller of generators. If all they sell is junk, how can they have such a large market share?

- Vikas
 
i do not think they lose their magnetism but rather the carbs gum up from old fuel. A friend of mine did not maintain his generator for a few years and a month or 2 before irene- we tried to get it started and carb was all gummed up and starting flooding to the point that the oil was saturated- we had to drain the oil and give it an oil change. We thought we would need a new carb- the week before irene he was freaking out cause he did not fix it, well luckily all the new fuel we had dumped previously, actually cleaned the carburetor out so he put in new oil and said a prayer and bam the think started up smoking quite a bit but then ran fine, he lost power and used the generator for the next week.

With a gas generator- you are going to need to run it every now and again or when you are done using it, run it dry so the carb does not gum up.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
I have heard that generators need to be exercised often otherwise they lose their magnetism and do not work anymore. Is that true? Is that true for all generators or only on certain types?



I've heard that for "brushless" which is like a car alternator, still has brushes but small ones for the field control and not big ones for all the current produced.

Though I've "heard it", I don't know anyone to whom this has actually happened, and it strikes me as an urban legend.
 
I ran a whole house off a 5 KW DeVilbiss for a week after one of our ice storms. We have a mains disconnect that makes it easy to isolate the house from the grid, and I wired the genset into the panel.

The trick is to decide what is important, and what is not, and to stagger loads, especially motor starts. Most of the time a 5000 watt generator will be loafing.

I had a 1.5 KW chinese genset that I bought to run some lights on a building renovation project until I could get a temporary pole set and panel installed. It was worn comletely out after a couple of weeks of eight hour days. Of course, it's also possible the temp guys I hired to clean the place out never bothered to mix oil with the gas ....
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino

I've heard that for "brushless" which is like a car alternator, still has brushes but small ones for the field control and not big ones for all the current produced.

Though I've "heard it", I don't know anyone to whom this has actually happened, and it strikes me as an urban legend.


Mine is almost 40 years old..no problem.

Today (inspired by the recent storm). ..I wnet and replaced the fuel line and added an inline filter and a shutoff valve. I would highly recommend adding an inline filter.

This engine (10 HP) has no compression unloader valve, no primer bulbe..but it usually will start on the first pull. The thing is absolutely amazing.

Has about 25 hours of runtime in 40 years.

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My mum is in the market for one that will power her well, heating/HW boiler and fridge and some lights etc.

I recommended to her to get a propane powered portable generator. The fuel never goes bad and gumming issues etc don't happen.

The main issue with gasoline is the few stations with power get long lines. I am lucky to live somewhat near a 24hr truck stop off RT95 that has backup power. However they have two gasoline pumps only and no credit card built in. Its also a long walk to pay inside with the truckers. The line gets really long for gasoline.

Not so with propane filling or exchange places.

I wish their were inexpensive diesel powered units as I have a 270 gallon home heating fuel tank sitting in my basement.
 
If you want to run say 1.5 KW/hour it will take like 22 lbs propane/24 hours. And that might be somewhat light You would need to get good numbers...I'm probably not that accurate. I used an efficiency of about 25%
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi


I wish their were inexpensive diesel powered units as I have a 270 gallon home heating fuel tank sitting in my basement.


Watch ebay. Or, for overkill, go to an auction when a business closes.

I'm disappointed that most generator heads have bearing on one side only and take a special tapered shaft from the mating engine. So one can't buy a blown up generator cheap and repower it (with diesel) like they could a snowthrower or other OPE.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi

The main issue with gasoline is the few stations with power get long lines. I am lucky to live somewhat near a 24hr truck stop off RT95 that has backup power. However they have two gasoline pumps only and no credit card built in. Its also a long walk to pay inside with the truckers. The line gets really long for gasoline.

Not so with propane filling or exchange places.


Just a heads up on that. You will need a bunch of propane to make it work. As one of the posters down the line said, it's roughly 1 grill tank per 24 hours. And that's assuming there will be exchanges as you will be competing with others with propane generators and those that are not cooking on their barbecue grills. That's assuming the exchange place has power too.

The 99% foolproof way is natural gas but if that pipeline gets interrupted you are screwed.

You can get some relatively inexpensive Diesel units. Aurora makes a nice one that is relatively quiet.
 
On propane, my father in law has an empty 100 lb container in my garage. That sounds like nearly 4-5 days of use. I think they sell them new at lowes etc.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi
On propane, my father in law has an empty 100 lb container in my garage. That sounds like nearly 4-5 days of use. I think they sell them new at lowes etc.


Sounds like a plan. Last time I was in Lowes the 100lb tanks were around $100.
 
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