Generator or invertor?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Plus, having two generators can't possibly be a bad thing. I wonder about parts availability for some of these off-brand models; but I guess if one has space for at least two generators, well, might as well have three just in case!
 
I think two would be a PITA. you need to see if the furnace has a soft start kit on it. That will make things much easier.

I have owned 2 inverter generators... a 2k honda and now a 3k yamaha.

We had no power for 4-5 days here this year, which means nobody was pumping gas. I made one trip out of town and could run the 2k around the clock and had fuel left to spare. In fact, my fridge worked BETTER that way. The 2k also handled some motors like the attic fan, but couldn't start the sink disposal or dishwasher. I'm not sure if it was the genset itself or how I wired it.

I bought the 3k after the storms and sold the 2k. I loved the small, efficient, QUIET nature of the 2k. you will hate a loud genset if you need it for extended periods. so will any nearby neighbors.

but yes, I had to save for both when I first bought them. The 3k hurt my wallet a pretty big bit.

If I didn't want to spend the money, I'd get the smallest home depot genset that had a 240V plug... preferably one powered by a Robin-Subaru engine (pretty efficient), beef up the muffler and add sound deadening materials to cooling shrouds, etc., or even fence it in and put forced cooling on it. You can likely get one of those down a few dB with some tinkering. The 240 plug would allow you to use a decent transfer switch and select the loads you want, regardless of which branch circuit they sit on in the breaker box.

M
 
I am thinking that, if I got a loud generator, I'd build some sort of doghouse for it. Obviously, I need to ventilate (inlet air and exhaust); but some work with wood and insulation should help baffle it nicely.

I will have to pull the numbers on the controller, and see if I can find a datasheet as to what it does. It would be nice if that 40A surge was not 40A.
 
There's a HF in Worcester MA. Shipping their little generator was only ten or eleven bucks.

The 2 stroke generators are not weed-eater/chainsaw/jetski annoying; they have good mufflers and only hit 3600 RPM. If anything they sound wheezy and strangled.
 
not sure if you bought anything yet but harbor freight has the 3k generator for $279 no 240v though.(no electric start either)

7 HP, 3050 Rated Watts/3500 Max Watts Gasoline Generator
9 hour run-time @ 50% load
Overload protection
Recoil start with electronic ignition
Two NEMA 120 volt household plugs, one NEMA 120 volt 3 prong twist lock plug, one T-type 12 volt plug
Low oil shutdown sensor
Circuit breaker protection

Fuel Capacity: 4 gallons
 
Last edited:
No, not bought anything yet. Still scoping out options, and motivating myself to find a place to properly store it.
 
You could hide it in plain sight in something like a plastic doghouse, but you wouldn't want to dig it out of the snow. Naturally you'd want to store your fuel with it, out of the house. You could make a platform out of cinder blocks and pallets to give it some height, and make a lean-to on the backside of your house. Hmm, a puzzler.
 
A generator should not equal lap of luxury. Sorry, I see that just as stupid.

Large generators at low steady state loading equals really lousy point on the SFC curve.

The last thing you want for when fuel isnt easily available.

Think small and efficient, both the loads and the generator.
 
FYI,

Brands Mart has the 3500W, 6.5HP Honda clone generator on sale for $229.00. That's an incredible bargain. These units get very high marks for long life. Are very smooth and have huge mufflers, for quiet operation. As quiet as the Honda it's based on. As it's an exact copy.

As I mentioned above, the RV guys are getting huge hours out of these machines. Yes, they have a few basic, known, cheap things. Easy to deal with.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
What kind of storm will leave you without water?

After Irene we could flush the toilets easily by filling 5 gallon buckets under the gutter, or from the "spring only" stream that came back to life. For potable water, plan ahead and fill some old milk jugs?

An ice storm will have ice all around you that could be melted. Of course you want heat to do that, so we're back to this generator if you don't have a wood stove. I've not heard of this "type T" motor but if your furnace runs on your typical 15-20A breaker, a mechanical (non invertor) 2500+ watt generator will chug through any startup load it demands. After all, it doesn't trip your breaker during the milliseconds of overcurrent.

I killed my fridge after Irene trying to run my shallow well jet pump and the fridge at the same time, with too much inrush current, and had a brownout. If your well runs on 220 it's very expensive to fix, and you don't want to kill it with a brownout.

If you *do* get a huge gas guzzling 5500 watt deal, watch for HF coupons and get their little 2 stroke 900 watt generator for div>
Elje, I've been using big box store 3/4 hoss jet pumps. they convert 120 or 240 depending on how you wire them at the gazinta. I run mine at 240. It is s'posed to be better. My old Coleman 10hp, 5kw has a 240 outlet.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
What kind of storm will leave you without water?

After Irene we could flush the toilets easily by filling 5 gallon buckets under the gutter, or from the "spring only" stream that came back to life. For potable water, plan ahead and fill some old milk jugs?

An ice storm will have ice all around you that could be melted. Of course you want heat to do that, so we're back to this generator if you don't have a wood stove. I've not heard of this "type T" motor but if your furnace runs on your typical 15-20A breaker, a mechanical (non invertor) 2500+ watt generator will chug through any startup load it demands. After all, it doesn't trip your breaker during the milliseconds of overcurrent.

I killed my fridge after Irene trying to run my shallow well jet pump and the fridge at the same time, with too much inrush current, and had a brownout. If your well runs on 220 it's very expensive to fix, and you don't want to kill it with a brownout.

If you *do* get a huge gas guzzling 5500 watt deal, watch for HF coupons and get their little 2 stroke 900 watt generator for div>


We had a major power line go down here in the south hills about a year ago. That line fed the main pumps for the entire south hills. It was not raining that day, and there was no snow or ice on the ground to use. My sister who lives about 10 miles away had no water, and we had very little water pressure.

So yes, a power outage can take out the water supply, and for thousands of people at one time.
 
BTW, one of the major things overlooked when it comes to sizing a generator is the start up current of motors, and believe it or not microwave-ovens. Microwave-ovens have a huge capacitor in them, and for the first 1/2 cycle the surge current to charge that capacitor is practically unbelievable. I used a current transformer and a digital storage oscilloscope and measured the start up current on our microwave at being over 100 Amps for that first 1/2 cycle. And this is for the small cheap microwave we got at Wal-Mart, to replace the big microwave that drew so much surge at start up that over time it damaged a contact for the circuit breaker on the main fuse box. It is interesting that this start up surge does not trip a breaker that is rated for only a fraction of this 1/2 cycle surge.

I kinda have to laugh about people who complain about a 2K watt gen-set not being able to run a 1200 watt microwave. They have no idea about how much surge is involved. And many of them also use too light of a gauge of wire from the gen-set to the load.

If you are going to run a microwave from a gen-set, think about getting the smallest microwave with the lowest wattage, and then realize that for the first 1/2 cycle the surge will still be many times more than the rated.

You would be better off with a toaster oven that only has resistive heating, that has no surge, as long as the wattage and other loads do not exceed the rating of the gen-set.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top