What size Portable Generator do you have?

[Dave Lehnert]

Every fall I say i'm going to buy a gas power portable generator. I start looking and get all bogged down in the details, add up everything I may want to run etc... I know about what and what not to do tapping into the electric box etc.......Can never decide.
This is just for around the house so I can plug the freezer in every few hours, plug portable electric heaters in so I have some heat etc....

To make it simple on myself. What size portable generator do you own and do you wish you purchased bigger or smaller.


The one im looking at (at a price I feel conformable spending) is 4500 starting watts 3650 running.
http://www.championpowerequipment.co...00w-generator/

[Jim Becker]

Dave, the portable I own has similar specifications to the one you linked to and it's a nice size for general purposes. I don't need mine anymore because we put in a whole house generator last fall, but for the time I've owned it, it did what I asked of it. One tip...drain the fuel when it's stored away. Really hard starting these puppies with stale gas!!!

[Mike Cutler]

Dave

That's actually a little on the smallish size if you're planning on running temporary heaters. That isn't a whole lot of watts. I'd go higher, 6500 watts continuous.
I have a 4000 watt and need it for the well pump, refer, and freezer, and it's undersized for my needs. We've never lost power i the winter, knock on wood, but if we ever did, I know i want at least 6500 watts continuous.

[John Terefenko]

http://www.electricgeneratordepot.co...rator-eu7000is

I have this one. They have upgrade to this newer model but I have the 6500watt. Great generator. Done whatever I threw at it. Went through a few storms in the winters.

[Mac McQuinn]

I have a (11) year old Honda EB5000, Works well with regular changing out of gas, recently been using REC 90 w/o ethanol. If you have back or shoulder issues, consider a electric start model. I run a sump pump, furnace, fridge and a few lights with 0 problems. Wired in with Honda panel.
Good luck,
Mac

[Al Launier]

One thing to be cautious about is to be sure the generator has a voltage regulator (electricians please pipe in here) to avoid potential problems with running electronic equipment. I experienced the loss of the command module on my boiler because the generator didn't regulate the voltage well enough to a low percent fluctuation (5-10% ???).

Also, from what I understand there is little that can go wrong with the actual generator part of the system. Instead, I think the engine should be carefully considered for reliability in the event of a multi-day outage. For that reason, I felt more comfortable with a Honda engine with the portable generators I had.

Further, have a good supply of fuel on hand in outside storage since an outage will also affect gas stations as well.

I had a 5 KW and a 7 KW portable, each of which powered the well pump motor, boiler, refrigerator, microwave, & master bedroom suite. I got tired (~75) of getting up at night to haul the generator out, setting things up & then firing it up. We had a 20 KW whole house generator installed in 2015 and no longer have power worries. Previously, a 5-day & a 3-day power outage was very uncomfortable to go through.

Good luck with your search.

[Mike Cutler]

One thing to be cautious about is to be sure the generator has a voltage regulator (electricians please pipe in here) to avoid potential problems with running electronic equipment. I experienced the loss of the command module on my boiler because the generator didn't regulate the voltage well enough to a low percent fluctuation (5-10% ???).

Al
The "voltage regulator" you're referring to is part of an inverter. Honda, Yamaha, and others have them. Much more expensive though.The inverter makes a nice clean 60 hertz sine wave, AC, that is filtered. Digital electronics do not like "ratty" AC.

If money were no object, I'd have two Honda, inverter style generators, with the ability to parallel them.

[Matt Meiser]

Surge protectors don't really help with the issue of low-cost generators and electronics. A couple examples of what Mike is mentioning--I had a digital alarm clock that would gain upwards of 15 minutes an hour when we used the generator. I had 2 UPSs fail within days of running the generator, one I thought was going to catch on fire it was so hot. It took a couple times using the generator to realize the connection and cost us several hundred dollars. I would definitely not run any medical equipment off one.

I did the backfeed thing--I'd throw the main breaker and plug in a double ended extension cord to a 220 outlet we had on the outside of the house for that purpose. When we did the standby it was a pretty major project to get the transfer switch installed as our main panel was in a finished wall in the first-floor laundry room. Luckily all the circuits run up from the basement so we installed a 100A subpanel in the basement and pulled all the circuits we wanted on the generator down and installed the transfer switch next to that. Still meant opening up a wall, which led to redoing the laundry, which led to redoing all the hard flooring on the first floor which led to redoing the kitchen.

When we moved, I was planning to get a Honda or Yamaha inverter generator and put in a small transfer panel with just the critical circuits. Apparently early on our sub had power problems because most houses had them or had standbys.

[Dave Lehnert]

If I would decide to go all in and get a whole house generator. What kind of price range am I looking at?
FYI I heat with oil.

[Matt Meiser]

Do you have propane or natural gas? With the prior, you will want a very large tank.

I'm not sure your age but IIRC you retired so I'm going to guess older than me. Are you going to be able to deal with a portable in say 5 or 10 years? My parents made that decision and it was a good thing because my dad's health declined and no way they could have dealt with a portable, nor could I have gotten there in a reasonable time to deal with it a couple bad storms.

[Dave Lehnert]

Do you have propane or natural gas? With the prior, you will want a very large tank.

I'm not sure your age but IIRC you retired so I'm going to guess older than me. Are you going to be able to deal with a portable in say 5 or 10 years? My parents made that decision and it was a good thing because my dad's health declined and no way they could have dealt with a portable, nor could I have gotten there in a reasonable time to deal with it a couple bad storms.

Just turned 49

I have natural gas past the house but not hooked up.

[Matt Meiser]

Ah, I must have you confused with someone else. Not much older than me!

I did mine for about $4000, not including all the remodeling it led to. But I got the generator at Costco and did 80% of the install. My friend did the subpanel install as a side job. The gas line was installed when we got natural gas, I just had to remove a plug and hook up a flex line. I did about 50% of my dad's and my friend did the rest, not including a couple hundred for a gas meter upgrade. I think he figured he spent about $6000. The generator Costco sells today is a bigger unit and therefore more expensive, but has a 200A transfer switch so neither of us would have needed a subpanel maybe making it a wash.

To answer your next question I have no idea what it costs to run. The weekly exercise is negligible and we didn't see any huge bills when ours ran for a few hours here and there. Maintenance, I put two quarts of oil, an oil filter, plugs, and an air filter in it yearly. I think the kits (minus the oil) are $40. I run synthetic oil for cold starting. Dad bought me a load tester for the batteries as a thank you for doing it. I replaced their battery at 4 years as a safety measure.

[Jim Becker]

If I would decide to go all in and get a whole house generator. What kind of price range am I looking at?
FYI I heat with oil.

A typical whole house unit, including installation, is a ~$10K investment. You'll need either natural gas or propane to power one.

[Larry Edgerton]

Dave, I bought two because I have similar needs and no one unit fit the bill. Go too big so I can run the well and the water heater and it costs too much to run for small things. Go too small, and you can't run the big stuff. So......

I bought a Lincoln Weld&Power for the big stuff, gives me the bonus of a portable welder and a Honda 2000 for the fan on the wood furnace, fridge, freezer. As a bonus the little Honda is perfect for occasional site work and camping.

Having two doubles my chances of one working when I really need it. Most times the Honda will do all I really need, my needs being pretty basic.

[Matt Meiser]

We had. "5500" previously and could get along pretty good with heat, well, refrigerator, freezer, sump pump, lights, etc. We learned pretty quick that it was bad for electronics but luckily only fried a cheap microwave and some UPSs. We eventually put in a 12kw whole house system since we had a lot of outages and this house happened to come with one too but we haven't needed it in the three years we've lived here. I just saw it actually run with a load for the first time when they changed out our mechanical meter for a smart meter a few weeks ago.