Portable Generator

[Sean Troy]

What size portable generator is common to have for when the power goes out due to storm, ice etc... Another question, I hear people say they can run their heating systems with a portable, how? Thanks, Sean

[James Conrad]

Depends on your heat system and what you want to run... If you run a typical oil/gas boiler or furnace they run on a 15 to 20 amp circuit so a 6500w gen with a 30 amp circuit will allow you to run your heat, some lights, keep the fridge going. As long as you don't turn the electric stove or dryer on it will get you by. If you have or need to run a larger house and systems then you will be looking at 12.5 to 30kw.

[Sean Troy]

Depends on your heat system and what you want to run... If you run a typical oil/gas boiler or furnace they run on a 15 to 20 amp circuit so a 6500w gen with a 30 amp circuit will allow you to run your heat, some lights, keep the fridge going. As long as you don't turn the electric stove or dryer on it will get you by. If you have or need to run a larger house and systems then you will be looking at 12.5 to 30kw.
House is Gas heat. Yes, I was just looking to run heater, a light or two and the fridge.

[Matt Meiser]

We had a 5KW before we installed a 12KW automatic. The 5KW would run all and more no problem. We had fridge, freezer, pretty much any lights we wanted, heat and even some conveniences.

You probably won't want to run any electronics on a portable unless you get a nice inverter generator like the Honda's.

[Raymond Fries]

We also have gas heat but it has electronic ignition to light it up Our furnace contractor told us that a generator would destroy the circuit boards in our furnace. They said every year that they get service calls for this. They said that only a whole house generator would work.

We ended up getting a modified sine wave power inverter that runs off of the car battery. I called the mfg. of everything we wanted to run from this device. This device will not work for the furnace but will work for the lights, microwave, fridge, portable heater, etc. All we need to do is start the car once in a while to charge the battery. We use our fireplace for heat and close off other rooms.

Good Luck finding a solution for you.

[Sean Troy]

We also have gas heat but it has electronic ignition to light it up Our furnace contractor told us that a generator would destroy the circuit boards in our furnace. They said every year that they get service calls for this. They said that only a whole house generator would work.

We ended up getting a modified sine wave power inverter that runs off of the car battery. I called the mfg. of everything we wanted to run from this device. This device will not work for the furnace but will work for the lights, microwave, fridge, portable heater, etc. All we need to do is start the car once in a while to charge the battery. We use our fireplace for heat and close off other rooms.

Good Luck finding a solution for you.
I could always use our wood burner fireplace for some heat ( Has a blower and needs power)but would also like a light or two and the fridge to be operational. What type of generator wattage could I get buy with?

[Raymond Fries]

1600 watts worked for us. You should check the amp draw for what you want to run and convert that to watts and then you would know what you need. I would leave a little wiggle room.

Here is the one we went with:

http://www.amazon.com/Whistler-Pro-1600W-Watt-Power-Inverter/dp/B003R7AJ4K/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1386350647&sr=8-5&keywords=whistler+power+inverter

Good Luck.

[Sean Troy]

I had meant to say what generator wattage could I get buy with. I corrected the previous post. Thanks Raymond.

[Mike Cutler]

What size portable generator is common to have for when the power goes out due to storm, ice etc... Another question, I hear people say they can run their heating systems with a portable, how? Thanks, Sean


You can run a heating system, but it just depends on what type, and as others have stated, how sensitive.

For me it would be about 5KW,and I'd love to have a Honda inverter. My biggest load would be the well pump, when running, followed by the 'fridg and freezer. Well pump was about 6 amps, with an initial 10 amp surge, the 'fridge is about 4 and the freezer was about 2 amps. the amps in those two pick up a bit when they hit the defrost cycle. So I need a "comfortable" 20 amps at 220, or 4400 watts.
We actually switched back to gas for hot water due to the last two storms in Ct.( Lost power for 8 days the first storm, and the 5 the next storm) Easy enough to get water in the house, but heating it with electric tank heater takes a good amount of power, 4500 watts by itself.
With the few loads you've outlined you could probably go 1500-2000 watts and get a really nice generator. That would give you lights throughout the house, with plenty of margin.

[Sean Troy]

You can run a heating system, but it just depends on what type, and as others have stated, how sensitive.

For me it would be about 5KW,and I'd love to have a Honda inverter. My biggest load would be the well pump, when running, followed by the 'fridg and freezer. Well pump was about 6 amps, with an initial 10 amp surge, the 'fridge is about 4 and the freezer was about 2 amps. the amps in those two pick up a bit when they hit the defrost cycle. So I need a "comfortable" 20 amps at 220, or 4400 watts.
We actually switched back to gas for hot water due to the last two storms in Ct.( Lost power for 8 days the first storm, and the 5 the next storm) Easy enough to get water in the house, but heating it with electric tank heater takes a good amount of power, 4500 watts by itself.
With the few loads you've outlined you could probably go 1500-2000 watts and get a really nice generator. That would give you lights throughout the house, with plenty of margin.
We have gas water heater also.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

These will help you out

http://powerequipment.honda.com/generators/generator-wattage-estimation-guide

http://www.generac.com/Portables/How_Many_Watts_Do_I_Need/

Also factor in *who* will be starting the generator and will there ever need to be a time when someone else needs to start it. Can that person physically pull the rope to start the generator every time it is needed or does it need to be an electric start?

[David G Baker]

I have a Honda 6500 watt inverter generator that takes care of my needs. I have natural gas heat so it runs my heating system. It runs my freezer, refrigerator, well pump, some lighting, television, Internet phone, and a couple of plugs that I can add necessary things as needed. Once in a while I wish I had an automatic stationary generator because it is a pain going out in bad weather to start the generator and plug it into the outside tap into my house electric. I have a manual switch in my basement that I have to throw to block the generator power from entering the utility power. If you have an electric water heater and other high current devices you may have to get a 12,000 watt generator or higher.

[Brian Elfert]

I have an 8KW standby generator for my house. I know from experience this past summer that it can run my fridge, some lights, my sump pump and water heater (gas with electric blower), my computer and TV, and my central air conditioner. My central air conditioner draws less than 20 amps 220 volt. I also ran some lights and fridges at two houses next door.

The smaller inverter generators cannot produce 220 volt if you need it for a well or similar. David's 6500 watt Honda inverter generator will do 220 volt, but those are not cheap.

[Art Mann]

I have had the unhappy experience of having to live off a 5500 watt generator for 5 days a few years ago. A series of tornadoes came through our community and destroyed several hundred houses and decimated the power grid for miles around. We were able to live normally with the exception that we weren't able to use the electric stove. We could even run the water heater after water service was restored, but had to turn everything else off but a few lights to do so.

There are a couple of points I would like to mention. First, most synchronous generators are L-O-U-D. The noise gets old after a few hours but it is better than sitting in the dark. The inverter generators like Dave Baker mentioned are much quieter but also much more expensive. The second thing is you will go through a lot of gasoline over several days, even using power judiciously. I recall we burned about 25 gallons and the nearest working gas station that wasn't sold out was over 20 miles away.

We also have a 1700W (continuous) inverter style generator that I normally use with our travel trailer. If I knew we were only going to be out of power for one day, I would probably use it instead of the bigger one. It just sips instead of guzzling gasoline and it is quiet enough to have a normal conversation standing next to it. For technical reasons, the power it delivers is much closer to the utility company sine wave than the synchronous generator, especially under full load. That helps protect sensitive electronic loads. It will run all the loads you mentioned and more if you are careful what you run at any given time.

David Baker mentioned another important item that I would like to re-emphasize. You need to have a way to switch over to generator power that completely disconnects you from the grid at the same time. Linemen have been killed handling wires that were supposed to be off but were being backfed from a home generator. It isn't very good for your generator either when the grid power is restored and the two sources are out of phase.

One final note. If you expect to have alternative power when you need it, you are going to have to do some regular maintenance on the generator. The big thing is to either run the generator regularly or burn it completely dry. Evaporated gasoline leaves a varnish like material (had to get woodworking in there somewhere) that is almost guaranteed gum up your carburetor over time. My bigger generator is sitting non-functional in our garage right now until I have time to remove and clean the carburetor.

[Myk Rian]

We've had a 4400 watt unit for the last 12 years. Never a problem running the furnace, lights, TVs, well, and even the coffee maker.

[Jerome Stanek]

could you plug the furnace in to a ups that conditions the power and plug the ups into your generator

[Matt Meiser]

I had a ups nearly catch fire a couple days after running on generator. Could be a coincidence Lost a microwave and one or two other things too before we figured it out the correlation. Standby units are supposed to be much cleaner.

[Sean Troy]

Lot's of good info. I'll start shopping around for the best prices. Not in a rush at this point but that could change at any time this time of year.

[Art Mann]

Be advised - if you wait to buy a generator until you really need it, you won't be able to find one unless you are very quick or very lucky. I saw it happen in my community.

[Brian Elfert]

My standby generator is natural gas powered. The only routine maintenance is to change the oil once a year. It starts automatically once a week and runs for 20 minutes to keep everything lubed and dry. I have an automatic transfer switch that was permitted and inspected so lineman won't get injured. My generator is quiet enough that neighbors don't complain, especially when you run them a cord for their refrigerator during an outage.

I question if I would buy another standby generator if I buy another house. I have had one outage more than a few hours in the 12 years since I got my generator. It was nice having a generator this summer when power was out for three days. It wouldn't have been fun with no hot water and no fridge for three days. I figure it cost me over $50 an hour for every hour the generator has run during an outage.

[Dan Hintz]

Anybody seen the Honda EU6500iS for less than $4k, and if so, where?

[Matt Meiser]

You're highly unlikely to find a Honda advertised for anything less than the price Honda sets, but if you call around you may find one slightly lower. I was looking at getting an EU2000 when we had our camper and was able to find them maybe 5% lower.

Anyone have any experience with the US-made Coleman generators made in Kearney, NE? I seem 4000W models pretty cheap on CL all the time. I've been toying with the idea of picking one up for the rare times I need portable power and to run the furnace in the shop should we have an extended winter outage. It will stay above freezing out there for a day or so even in bitter cold but it would be nice to be able to warm it up rather than find everything that can't freeze and relocate it to the house.

[Brian Elfert]

Anybody seen the Honda EU6500iS for less than $4k, and if so, where?

Also consider the Yamaha version of the same. The Yamaha EF6300iSDE 6,300 watt generator sells around $3600 online. Yamaha generators are generally considered every bit as good as Honda usually for slightly less money.

I had a EF6300iSDE generator for a few months this past year. I bought a nice one off Craigislist for $1800. After I was done with it I sold it again for a small profit. It burned a lot of gas, but any generator that size probably burns a lot of gas.

[Art Mann]

My standby generator is natural gas powered. The only routine maintenance is to change the oil once a year. It starts automatically once a week and runs for 20 minutes to keep everything lubed and dry. I have an automatic transfer switch that was permitted and inspected so lineman won't get injured. My generator is quiet enough that neighbors don't complain, especially when you run them a cord for their refrigerator during an outage.

I question if I would buy another standby generator if I buy another house. I have had one outage more than a few hours in the 12 years since I got my generator. It was nice having a generator this summer when power was out for three days. It wouldn't have been fun with no hot water and no fridge for three days. I figure it cost me over $50 an hour for every hour the generator has run during an outage.

The original poster was talking about buying a portable generator. Those can be bought for a few hundred dollars. I think that may be the best alternative for most people, even with its obvious disadvantages. I wouldn't have owned one at all during our 5 day power loss adventure except I needed one to operate power tools on a construction site.

[Matt Meiser]

Ice is the biggest reason to own a generator. A good ice storm can take out power for days, followed by days of below freezing temps. We got ours on a bitter cold icy morning when the ETA on a repair was 7 days. Or if you live in a region that is drained swamp like the corner of SE Michigan we live in where keeping a basement dry is critical. The only reason we went to a standby is so that my wife doesn't have to worry about it. We were having outages almost every significant storm for anywhere from a few hours to a few days. When we put the standby in we had the pre-wiring done on a Monday with plans to move all the standby circuits to the new panel the follow Saturday. Thursday I took a picture of a tornado from my back yard. Our power was out several hours that week and the old portable connection was gone so I had to run extension cords for the sump pump. Since the standby went live we've only had one outage for about 4 hours. I guess that spring the power company installed numerous automatic reclosers and additional equipment to isolate faults in our area so we'll see a momentary outage when a fault occurs, but it resets within about 15s. Go figure.

I still maintain dual sump pumps in interconnected sumps plus a battery backup pump in one, plus a float switch that goes to our alarm if all of the above should fail. Yeah, I'm paranoid about the basement flooding.

[David G Baker]

I purchased my Honda EU6500is from an Amish repair/dealer here in Mid Michigan for $3000 and I think that included tax. This was around 5 years ago. I priced the unit on line and found that the cheapest I could get one was close to $4000 plus shipping. The 6500 Honda is so quiet I have to check to see if it is running. The only complaint I have about the unit is that it does not have a way to run it in an enclosure with an exhaust extension kit. I have not had to run it for an extended length of time (more than 6 hours). Davey Tree has spent several months pruning trees that could cause an outage and Consumers has done some modifications to isolate outages in our area so they should impact us less.

[Dan Hintz]

You're highly unlikely to find a Honda advertised for anything less than the price Honda sets, but if you call around you may find one slightly lower
Honda's MSRP is $4,500, but the best I've seen is $4k.


I purchased my Honda EU6500is from an Amish repair/dealer here in Mid Michigan for $3000 and I think that included tax.
Any chance they ship, David?


The only complaint I have about the unit is that it does not have a way to run it in an enclosure with an exhaust extension kit.
While I can't attest to their quality, there are several kits on eBay for extending the exhaust, from a simple <$100 gasket-based extension to a $250 plastic and flex pipe setup. You may want to have a look.

[Matt Meiser]

Honda's MSRP is $4,500, but the best I've seen is $4k.

Yes but they also have a MAP.