Need help with selecting a good portable generator

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Originally Posted By: ron917
My Honda EU2000i has been running for 8 days now. Total fuel consumption has been just over 16 gallons, about 2 gallons per day.

It is running my refrigerator, freezer, wood stove blower, a small fan to move warm air, 2 CFL lamps (13 watt), 1 LED lamp (7 watt), WiFi router, DSL modem, 5 laptop chargers, 4 mobile phone chargers and 2 tablet chargers.

I am not running my boiler for hot water, I need to do some wiring so I can plug it in to the generator. There was no point because our community water system went dry. Water came back today, so I might get the boiler online tomorrow.

No idea when JCP&L will restore power to my house. There is a lot of damage in my neighborhood and I am at the end of the line - it all has to be repaired before I can shut the generator down.

Since this is BITOG: two oil changes so far and another scheduled for tomorrow. Mobil 1 5W-30 High Mileage because it's what I have on hand.


Wow! That's a lot of stuff to have on a 2000W generator! Adding that up, that seems like it would well exceed 2000W.
 
Originally Posted By: ethangsmith
Originally Posted By: ron917
My Honda EU2000i has been running for 8 days now. Total fuel consumption has been just over 16 gallons, about 2 gallons per day.

It is running my refrigerator, freezer, wood stove blower, a small fan to move warm air, 2 CFL lamps (13 watt), 1 LED lamp (7 watt), WiFi router, DSL modem, 5 laptop chargers, 4 mobile phone chargers and 2 tablet chargers.

I am not running my boiler for hot water, I need to do some wiring so I can plug it in to the generator. There was no point because our community water system went dry. Water came back today, so I might get the boiler online tomorrow.

No idea when JCP&L will restore power to my house. There is a lot of damage in my neighborhood and I am at the end of the line - it all has to be repaired before I can shut the generator down.

Since this is BITOG: two oil changes so far and another scheduled for tomorrow. Mobil 1 5W-30 High Mileage because it's what I have on hand.


Wow! That's a lot of stuff to have on a 2000W generator! Adding that up, that seems like it would well exceed 2000W.


Well it is a concern for extended power outages as to how large a generator and how much gas to store. Twenty gallons of gas will last a lot longer in a 2000W generator than a 5K watt. And with gas rationing, etc. Hard to walk to a gas station and carry home more than 5 gallons.

In his case, I would just run the fridge (no freezer) until the refrig is down to temp and cycling and then start the freezer. Turn off the self defrost if possible.

Many of us have 220V 1/2HP to 3/4HP well pumps and for them a 5000W generator is the minimum.
 
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Originally Posted By: ethangsmith


Wow! That's a lot of stuff to have on a 2000W generator! Adding that up, that seems like it would well exceed 2000W.


I haven't added it up or measured it. All those chargers and the lights draw very little current, probably 250 watss total. The wood stove blower is 60 watts, the fan is 10.

The fridge lists 11.6 amps as current draw, that is about 1400 watts. That must be the starting current, it certainly doesn't draw that much steady state. If it did, the generator wouldn't be running at idle speed in ECO mode (3000 RPM) nearly all of the time.

The freezer is probably similar to the fridge, but I can't see the spec plate without moving it.

I need to get a Kill-A-Watt so I know what the real draw is.
 
you'd be surprised how far a 2000w genset can go in an outage. We ran our eu2000i for 5 days nonstop after the tornadoes 2 years ago. I backfed the house (have xfer sw now) and we ran interior lights (cfl), 2 fridges, microwave (had to be careful), several ceiling fans, a blower in the window, the dehumidifier, TV and small electronics. Did just fine, on about 2-3 gallons per day.

That's why I think the OP would be better off with the 3250w unit he was looking at. it's plenty of power and a good compromise for fuel burn.
 
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I know when I lent out my little Coleman Powermate 1850 some years ago, it ran sump pumps in two homes at a time with massive lengths of extension cords.

I got it back days later with oil as black as driveway sealer and a side panel that vibrated right off.

Joel
 
The Saturday before the storm, I managed to pick up a B&S Storm Responder 5500 watt (8250 start) genset from Lowe's for $799. It's assembled in USA and has pretty good user ratings. I couldn't find a 250v 4-wire twist lock anywhere, so I used the 25' heavy-duty cord that came with the unit which gives 4-20A 110V recepticals. Eventually I'll install a breaker interlock on the house panel main and a 30A receptical outside to back feed the panel.

B&S Storm Responder 5500


I really couldn't be happier with the unit. I was without power for 11 days, just getting it back today at noon. I ran the unit around 5 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening to power the fridge, gas boiler controls, washer, some lamps, FIOS, and a UPS for the computer. The output voltage was rock-steady at 115 volts. The big 7 gallon tank would last almost 2 days as I usually did'nt have that much load on it.

Changed the oil with 10w30 dino at 5 hours as per the book, then at 10 hours changed it again to 5w30 Pennzoil Platnium which is good for at least 50 hours.
 
Re: water jet pump for sump. We had a wide area outage last spring when a major high voltage line went down. The water was down to trickle for us, and many had no water at all. The area effected was about ten miles wide (most of the south hills of Pittsburgh).

So while it is nice to have multiple methods of back-up, if it requires the local water company to have normal pressure, you may find that in times of need they are also having problems.
 
I mentioned this before:

Because the start up current of the fridge combined with the running current of the furnace would be greater than the peak rating of my Generac ix2000 inverer gen-set, in order to be sure this can never happen, and also still provide power to both,

I put a DPDT (double pole, double throw) 30 Amp contacts relay wired with both NC (normally closed) contacts in parallel. Those contacts are wired in series with the wire feeding 120 AC to our fridge. Because these are the normally closed contacts, when the coil of this relay is energized these contacts will open, and the power to the fridge will be interrupted.

Then I ran wires from the blower motor of the furnace to the N.O. (normally open) contacts of a switch mounted by the DPDT relay, and then to the coil of the relay.

A second set of N.O. contacts of the switch controls power to a small red indicator light that lights up when the switch is in the closed (enable) position.

When the switch is closed this relay will open the N.C. contacts when the furnace blower motor has power.

With this set-up the furnace has priority and it interrupts power to the fridge when the blower motor runs. And when the blower motor is off the fridge can run.

And this set-up allows the small Generac ix20000 inverter gen-set to provide power to both the furnace and the fridge without ever having both run at the same time, and without exceeding the rating of the Generac ix2000 inverter generator.
 
For us a 2000 watt Gen is just not enough. No matter how we slice it. Always better to get more than you need anyway.
 
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I ran my 8kW Ridgid with Subaru EX40 engine for about 6 hours last Friday when we lost power. I have an xfer panel that powers 10 circuits of my house. The biggest draws are the furnace, water heater and fridge. I left them all on their normal way (i.e. furnace keeps house at 68 until 11:30, fridge was on auto defrost, etc)

After 6 hours I shut it down. Once it cooled I refilled it, used about 3 gallons of fuel in that time.

If we were rationing it would have been different, but 3 gallons for 6 hours of a large portable generator doesnt seem too bad to me. I have a few 5 gallon cans full and ready to go if need be, and I refill the generator and the can(s) in the morning. The generator itself holds 8 gallons.

Im still thinking about picking up a smaller inverter-based genset just so I can run the heat overnight without annoying the neighbors because of noise.
 
Different areas have different needs based on the local power utility....

I made a decision to get one after Irene.
Did all the homework, decided on the Honda's and nixed the idea - due to me not wanting it to take up space.

Fast forward to today. I own 2 EU2000'i. I just want it to keep the fridge cold (so food won't spoil), power to water/sump pumps and then from there maybe a lamp.
Forget AC, HEAT. Well, TV and Internet is not a necessity - I can live without. Boiler runs off gas.

It's rated for 9.5 hrs if I recall in Eco Mode on 1 Gallon of Gas !


Back when I had a house in the mtns, 15KW generator guaranteed but that was just due to the sheer frequency of outages.

I would consider all factors, but bigger is not necessarily better....
 
You definitely need to consider the frequency of outages to make a decision. I'm pretty lucky where my house is on the grid, so a $800 gen-set works great for the very infrequent outages. Don't really want to tie-up a few thousand $$ on something I might only need every few years. Now in the mountains or other failure-prone areas, a permanent NG or propane pad-mount unit w/transfer switch would be a no-brainer.
 
Think gas consumption. The bigger the generator the more gas it will consume regardless of load. So it depends on your requirements really. If for emergency, good luck finding or even storing enough gas to run a 7kw gen for longer than a couple of days.
 
Generac GP-5500. Very well made and a reasonable deal at Lowes for 649, which includes a heavy-duty 220/120 extension cable. Ran all necessary household loads during Sandy and subsequent nor-easter (oil burner + circulator, refrig, freezer, all CFL lights, TV/cable/internet/etc, microwave, coffeemaker, etc. Changed factory oil at 30 hrs, again at 70 hrs, and then changed to Amsoil ASE at 90+ hours run time. The Amsoil ASE was selected after web research, not the least of which was this website. Long story short, after filling with Amsoil ASE, the Generac fired up with about a 50% reduction in noise. Incredible.

A well-made machine; recommended. And also recommend going to Amsoil ASE after initial break-in period.
 
Originally Posted By: bigdreama
I have and recommend the Honda EU2000i. Not cheap but quiet and reliable.

That being said, I just saw this one which is certainly a chinese unit at a great price point:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/sportsman-trade-2000-watt-portable-gasoline-generator-4458506


I wouldnt hook anything electronic up to it, at least not without a good UPS thats capable of AVR and line conditioning (buck/boost)

Kicking myself because I recently installed a fancy dancy electronic zone panel on my furnace, vs the ages old Honeywell that was there. Now I need clean voltage to it so the furnace will operate without letting the smoke out of the panel.
 
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Originally Posted By: ChrisJH
I wouldnt hook anything electronic up to it, at least not without a good UPS thats capable of AVR and line conditioning (buck/boost)


Depends on what it is. Most modern electronic stuff is 110/220 50-60 hz and converts to some lower DC Voltage. Most likely it will be fine.

Now specialized stuff may be a different matter. I would suspect low voltage would not be an issue. After all, power quality is highly variable even in the USA.
 
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: ChrisJH
I wouldnt hook anything electronic up to it, at least not without a good UPS thats capable of AVR and line conditioning (buck/boost)


Depends on what it is. Most modern electronic stuff is 110/220 50-60 hz and converts to some lower DC Voltage. Most likely it will be fine.

Now specialized stuff may be a different matter. I would suspect low voltage would not be an issue. After all, power quality is highly variable even in the USA.


Even in the USA?
 
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
I mentioned this before:

Because the start up current of the fridge combined with the running current of the furnace would be greater than the peak rating of my Generac ix2000 inverer gen-set, in order to be sure this can never happen, and also still provide power to both,

I put a DPDT (double pole, double throw) 30 Amp contacts relay wired with both NC (normally closed) contacts in parallel. Those contacts are wired in series with the wire feeding 120 AC to our fridge. Because these are the normally closed contacts, when the coil of this relay is energized these contacts will open, and the power to the fridge will be interrupted.

Then I ran wires from the blower motor of the furnace to the N.O. (normally open) contacts of a switch mounted by the DPDT relay, and then to the coil of the relay.

A second set of N.O. contacts of the switch controls power to a small red indicator light that lights up when the switch is in the closed (enable) position.

When the switch is closed this relay will open the N.C. contacts when the furnace blower motor has power.

With this set-up the furnace has priority and it interrupts power to the fridge when the blower motor runs. And when the blower motor is off the fridge can run.

And this set-up allows the small Generac ix20000 inverter gen-set to provide power to both the furnace and the fridge without ever having both run at the same time, and without exceeding the rating of the Generac ix2000 inverter generator.



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