How big of a generator would I need?

redhat

redhat

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How big of a generator might I need?

This would be needed in the event of a power emergency. Looking to run my furnace and a few lights at a bare minimum. Truth be told, that would be sufficient in the event of an emergency.

If power outage were to exist for a few days, I guess I would look for something that could run the furnace, few lights, one fridge, one small chest freezer, hot water tank and my pellet stove. My furnace is a new Goodman gas furnace forced air and my HWT is also gas.

Thanks.
 
How many watts or amps does the pellet stove pull?

I run my gas furnace (gas wh too) well pump, 2 fridges and lights on an hf 4375. I turn the furnace off and the well pump off it I need to run the oven/cook top.
Runs about 15 1/2 hrs on 4 gallons.

I have a larger 8/10k generator that runs almost everything without having to manage the load. But it consumes a bit over a gallon an hour!!
 
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I run a Generac 5000 ,powers my freezer ,furnace , fridge and a few lights...
 
What do you mean by "hot water tank"? Is this a regular electric water heater? If so, this is the one appliance that is going to require a much larger generator than what you will need to power all the other items on your list, combined. Ditto if you have a well pump. In either case the generator will need to be a 110v/220v model.
If you are not going to try and run a water heater with it, and if you don't have a well pump that you need to power, a 3000 running watt (or better) 110v generator should get the job done. Be careful on the running watts, some of the Chinese manufacturers wildly inflate their specs, you should be OK if you stick with a name brand manufacturer like Honda, Champion, or Generac. An inverter generator is going to use a lot less fuel and run quieter. If you have a large propane tank or natural gas, a dual fuel generator would be worth looking into.
 
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redhat said:
How big of a generator might I need?

This would be needed in the event of a power emergency. Looking to run my furnace and a few lights at a bare minimum. Truth be told, that would be sufficient in the event of an emergency.

If power outage were to exist for a few days, I guess I would look for something that could run the furnace, few lights, one fridge, one small chest freezer, hot water tank and my pellet stove. My furnace is a new Goodman gas furnace forced air and my HWT is also gas.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
You need to add up the power consumption of all the devices you wish to power all at once. No way to accurately give you an answer without all the information.
 
The answer depends on what you want to run.

I can run my forced air furnace, refrigerator, small sump pump, TV, internet and some lights all from a Honda EU2000i 1600W/2000W inverter generator. It does get a workout when the furnace kicks on to start that blower motor.

If you want to size the generator for maximum efficiency, it is best to get a Kill-A-Watt meter (about $20-ish) and measure the surge and continuous power needs of what you want to run. I measured everything in my house and know the little EU2000i will be sufficient for most any emergency need. It is great on gas, burning only 1-2 gallons per day.

I also have a standard construction style generator, a Honda EP2500 (2200W/2500W) that runs at a constant 3600RPM. It handles the furnace motor startup a lot better. The EP2500 can also handle the laundry, if that need arises (not at the same time as the furnace). The EP has a larger engine and does not idle down at low load like the inverter generators, so the gas consumption is about 2-3 times higher than the EU2000i inverter generator.

I had a 5500W construction style generator before. It drank the gasoline. The plus side of having a larger generator is you can run cords to your neighbors' refrigerators in exchange for them buying the gasoline.
 
You did not mention well pump? You need to look at each item you want to run and find the starting and running load. Or get a clamp on ammeter and check each item. You will need some kind of transfer switch. If you have natural gas or propane I suggest a generator that runs on one of those. Hot water tank? Electric water heater? That might double the size generator you need.
 
Oh... I forgot to mention.
When I was doing my power study using a Kill-A-Watt meter, I discovered just how much wasted energy was inside my home. I replaced my light bulbs with CFL (and now LED as the CFL burn out). That saved a lot of power. Also, unplugging unneeded electronics during an emergency saved power too. I noticed that the cable box, DVD player, etc draws 200 watts even when 'turned off'. The TV draws 200 watts when OFF, then 400 watts when ON. I got a new refrigerator a few years ago. The new one draws 1/3 of the power that my old one did.

Technology is amazing and is getting more efficient every year. What I have in my home is going to be different than what you have in your home. This is why nobody can give an exact answer to your question.
 
Like has been said its very difficult to provide advice with such vague description.
It sounds like you have natural gas furnace and hot water heater, so those won't be a killer.
The smallest whole house generators are around 7.5kW. That would probably suit you, but only you can really answer that by looking at the specs of all the equipment you want to run.

If you had a very good understanding of what takes a certain amount of power you could manage this by running only 1 device at a time or something.
 
Going to have to look up each end user load … decide if you want to have them on all at once

Too many unknowns … like are you running heat while your freezer is indoors or outside etc …
What is fuel … mine takes a hit on propane but I run two refrigerators and a freezer with ease
I go into the higher voltage 30 amp with a splitter cord … nets four standard 15 amp household plugs.

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Gas water heaters take zero electricity, even the newer ones with the electronic controls are powered by the thermocouple once it's lit. Gas furnaces still take electricity to run the control board, ignitor, fan, and draft inducer, but figure a 1/2 horsepower (~370 watt) fan and the rest of the items take very little power.

I have run my gas furnace, refrigerator, lighting, and sump pump with a 4000 watt (3200 continuous) generator with no trouble. Was without power for about 24 hours a couple years ago when a tree took out the power lines for the whole street.
 
I have a 5500w generator that will handle my 1974 furnace (surge of blower motor) , refrigerator (and the surge) and both sump pumps. I should have more than enough overhead to run the AC units in the summer and the entertainment center.

My water heater and stove are gas, so no concern there.
 
It looks like you have Natural Gas. This would be a long term investment. Size up or down, choose features and don't forget the automatic transfer switch if it isn't supplied. This is the right way for back up power. The cheap way is to buy a small generator and hay wire circuits that you need through your panel to your furnace. Not legal, make sure you open the panel main before powering.

 
Davejam said:
Like has been said its very difficult to provide advice with such vague description.
It sounds like you have natural gas furnace and hot water heater, so those won't be a killer.
The smallest whole house generators are around 7.5kW. That would probably suit you, but only you can really answer that by looking at the specs of all the equipment you want to run.

If you had a very good understanding of what takes a certain amount of power you could manage this by running only 1 device at a time or something.
Click to expand...


Very true ^^^^^^^

One has to know how much you want to run and how many watts will be needed...

My step father got a 5,500 watt generator
from the Amoco oil refinery he worked at before the ice storm of 1998.... It ran everything except the heat/air pumps and some receptacles, and washer machine and dryer... Some of those could have been run with turning other circuits off... Though the heat pumps were just too much... He guessed that only a 10,000 to 12,000 watt generator would have run everything in the house... Heat pump included obviously.
 
I got a 6500 construction type of genset. Learned the hard way between clean and dirty electricity. That genset blew my furnace's circuit board...but was able to by-pass that by going manual mode. Thank God, because power was out for a week. Turns out that the power going to that board fluctuated wildly and fried the circuits.....250 dollars later, it was fixed. Still got that genset but if I have to use it, I think I'd make sure everything was shut down, then fire up the furnace for a while. I figure that if there is nothing else pulling from the genset and when that furnace kicks in, maybe it won't pull down the rpm's that much and hence, less voltage flux. But, something to keep in mind. I surely won't be using it to power up really sensitive items like newer TV's. I got an old CRT tv for that....those things are tough as nails and just never quit.
 
redhat said:
How big of a generator might I need?

This would be needed in the event of a power emergency. Looking to run my furnace and a few lights at a bare minimum. Truth be told, that would be sufficient in the event of an emergency.

If power outage were to exist for a few days, I guess I would look for something that could run the furnace, few lights, one fridge, one small chest freezer, hot water tank and my pellet stove. My furnace is a new Goodman gas furnace forced air and my HWT is also gas.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

This would be a 220V gen hooked up to an outside twist-lok plug to back-feed your main breaker panel via a lock out switch?
You can buy the conversion kits to run almost any generator on NG.
 
Schmoe said:
I got a 6500 construction type of genset. Learned the hard way between clean and dirty electricity. That genset blew my furnace's circuit board...but was able to by-pass that by going manual mode. T
Click to expand...
This crossed my mind when shopping HVAC ... what’s in the really efficient units ? Maybe some insulated gate bipolar transistors ?
 
Many say they only want the bare minimum when purchasing. But if a major disruption in electricity occurs, these folks with the minimum realize that they really wanted more.

How many of us buy the 4 cylinder N/A vehicle when a turbo or a 6 cylinder is available at a higher cost?
 
SeaJay said:
Many say they only want the bare minimum when purchasing. But if a major disruption in electricity occurs, these folks with the minimum realize that they really wanted more.

How many of us buy the 4 cylinder N/A vehicle when a turbo or a 6 cylinder is available at a higher cost?
Click to expand...

You need to figure it out properly. Too big and use use more gas than you needed to. Too small and you cannot run everything at once.
 
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