Generator questions for newbie

[Laurie Brown]

My husband and I are looking into getting a generator this year, for when storms take out the power. I've been reading and watching videos online but I'm still confused about some things.

First, we want to use this generator to power a refrigerator (new in 2018), possibly an upright freezer (unknown age, but likely between 2001-2007), and maybe a space heater. It looks like I need something with 2000+ watts just for the fridge? Would I need to get a second one to run the freezer, or maybe just forget about running the freezer at all? We currently have things set up so that the high-value items like meat are all stored in the freezer of the fridge, and the upright freezer has things like bread, veggies, frozen dinners and pizzas, and breakfast items. So if we did lose everything in the freezer it wouldn't be that bad.

Also, in looking at gas and propane powered generators, it says you can't run these indoors, which is understandable, but if I have this thing outdoors I see many problems. Like, they say do not expose the generator to wet conditions, snow, ice, or rain. This means it would have to be sheltered somehow outdoors. We have a shed we could put it in, but it also says not to use it in enclosed garages or sheds. So then, where do we put this thing? I can't let my shed stand open with a generator sitting in it or I won't have one for long. My shed has already been attempted to be broken into 3 times in the last year. So, where do I put this thing where it can run, be sheltered, and not be stolen?

I looked into battery power stations instead, since they can be used indoors and are quiet. But the only batteries I have a fair amount of are Makita, and they don't make a power station. Ego has a decent looking one, but I have no batteries and the cost of the batteries for that are prohibitive. I looked at Jackeries, but I'm not sure they could handle running a fridge for a decent enough time.

So, please, any information on this subject would be appreciated. Ideally we want to spend under $1,000. If we can only run one thing on it we need the fridge. We have a gas furnace but I'm not sure we can run it without electrical power. We live in a mobile home, and the furnace is mounted inside the wall of our laundry room, so we don't have good access to much other than the filter and a switch inside.

[Jim Becker]

The number one major rule with generators is they are outdoor products only. You can put a canopy over them to protect from weather, but they need to be "out in the breeze" for safety. Indoors would be the same as running your car in the garage with the door closed. Deadly. Did I happen to mention, "Deadly"?? If you are in an area where theft is going to be an issue and you're intending to use a portable generator, security while it's in use is going to have to be factored into your solution...a locked cage, for example. Not foolproof, but the harder something is to steal, the harder it is to steal, as it were. A whole house unit is more practical because it's a permanent installation that's hard to drag off.

Generator sizing comes down to understanding what the maximum load will be with all the devices you want/need to be powered taken into consideration. Some devices require more power for "startup" than they do while running, but that startup draw can hose you if it happens at the same time as something else with similar characteristics. It gets harder because the wattage on many generators' marketing materials is "peak" wattage, not running wattage.

Relative to your budget, keep in mind that in order to make transition to generator power fast and easy, you need some form of transfer panel that puts the circuits you want to cover separate so the generator can be plugged in to power them when needed while also isolating them from the main power source. Otherwise, you're going to be depending on extension cords...

And yes, it's unlikely your gas furnace will function without power, both for ignition and also for the air handler that distributes the heated air.

Battery solutions have similar hookup and sizing requirements. They are not in your budget, IMHO, by a long shot.

[Erik Loza]

Laurie, I'm in the same boat as you. We had a terrible power outage last February (Texas) and I'm in the middle of planning for this winter. Generator is obviously ideal but incredibly cost-prohibitive. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot do what I "really want" without spending $20K+, so here is my plan in case we experience another freezemageddon:

-I have lots of power banks. LOTS, that are always charging. Enough to run our mobile devices and laptops for days on end.
-My wife ordinarily keeps quite a bit of proteins stored in our chest freezer. In the winter, we adopt a more lean stocking situation and only keep as much protein as could fit in the biggest ice chest we own. If the power goes out again, we transfer anything frozen into an ice chest and move it to the front porch or garage. It will stay frozen out there, at least. This worked great for us last February.

Basically, we have abandoned the notion of being able to adequately power any major appliances during another event and just plan around it. Not sure if this is helpful but just my thoughts.

Erik

[Dave Anderson NH]

I can't offer any useful suggestions to Laurie but have some for Eric. There is no reason to spend $20k for a whole house generator. 5 years ago my wife and I had an electrical contractor put in a propane powered 14kw whole house Generac with automatic transfer switch and auto load shifting/shedding. I cost us slightly over $7000 including the outrageous pricing for the first fill of 200 gallons of propane. In TX you should be able to use the natural gas version. If something the size of our setup is $20k in TX someone is price gouging.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Mrs. Brown, just some suggestions based on budget... A whole-house generator and automatic transfer switch might be out of reach.

Can you install louvers in the wall and/or eaves of your shed - and still keep it secure? Maybe a vent stack out the roof? Mr. Becker is 'dead on' in his recommendation - NEVER run a generator inside living quarters, or even an attached garage! But you could perhaps run it securely inside a vacant shed - so long as the space is well vented, no nearby combustibles, and NEVER, NEVER refuel while running.

Depending on weather conditions (cold?), you can probably use a relatively small generator to operate appliances on an as-needed basis, using extension cords: lighting via lamps; a microwave when needed; run a freezer during nighttime hrs (get a good hard freeze on contents, then let it sit during the day); run a refrigerator during the day (when you are in/out of it, then temp will better hold at night). Unplug the reefer or freezer, long enough to use the micro, then you need only size the generator to operate 1 major appliance at a time.

That leaves heat. Small electrical (resistance) heaters - also on extension cords - in the living spaces are possible, but will have a significant power draw. You will get much better efficiency using the gas heat, but you'd need some way to power the fan/t-stat from the generator. I'll suggest you contact an electrician for how to safely provide this connection.

Generator could be sized to simultaneously power 1 appliance + heat + a small lighting load. (And I hope you have gas water heater.)

Highly inconvenient, tiring, and risky if you have little ones, but my brother has done this for >1 week in hurricane aftermath. His 'shed' was detached garage w/ gable vents & side door left open.

[Paul F Franklin]

Laurie, we got by for years with a gasoline powered 3500 watt portable generator. We kept it in the garage, and wheeled it a few feet outside when we needed to run it. It only needs to be outside when it is running. I used to just put an old card table over it to keep heavy rain off it while it was running. We ran extension cords from the generator to the "stuff" we needed to run, including the fridge. Eventually we upgraded to a 5500 watt unit as that one wasn't big enough to run our well pump when we moved to our new house, and I put in a transfer panel to avoid having to run extension cords.

A 2000 watt generator will likely run your fridge, and probably one of the freezers too. The thing with freezers is they are well insulated, so can do without power for quite a while if you don't keep opening them. And while inconvenient, in a pinch you can run the fridge for a few hours, then one of the freezers, then the other freezer, etc. But I would buy a larger unit if it's in your budget.

Keep in mind that generators use a lot of fuel, be it gas or propane, so you have to store fuel as well.

[Kev Williams]

My wife got me this Harbor Freight 3500/3000w Predator for Xmas 3 years ago--
467850
-I have nothing but good things to say about it!
Electric start, extremely quiet, doesn't use much gas, works great!

The thing sits in the back of my pickup about 8 months of the year, it sits in the blazing sun, it's been rained and snowed on countless times, other than the pretty stickers are sunbeaten, it works perfectly. I used it several times this summer when working on our houseboat (someone stole my big 10g extension cord :mad: ) -I found out first of the season the starting battery went dead. But in never failed to pull-start on one tug. And a 10 year old could easily pull start this thing.

It's more $$ than other 3500 genny's but unlike those this one can sit outside the living room window and barely be heard when running. And it's REALLY easy to start when the battery ain't dead :D

[Mike Henderson]

Laurie, we got by for years with a gasoline powered 3500 watt portable generator. We kept it in the garage, and wheeled it a few feet outside when we needed to run it. It only needs to be outside when it is running. I used to just put an old card table over it to keep heavy rain off it while it was running. We ran extension cords from the generator to the "stuff" we needed to run, including the fridge. Eventually we upgraded to a 5500 watt unit as that one wasn't big enough to run our well pump when we moved to our new house, and I put in a transfer panel to avoid having to run extension cords.

A 2000 watt generator will likely run your fridge, and probably one of the freezers too. The thing with freezers is they are well insulated, so can do without power for quite a while if you don't keep opening them. And while inconvenient, in a pinch you can run the fridge for a few hours, then one of the freezers, then the other freezer, etc. But I would buy a larger unit if it's in your budget.

Keep in mind that generators use a lot of fuel, be it gas or propane, so you have to store fuel as well.

This is what I'd do, keep it in the garage until you need it. If you can remember to do it, start it about once a month. It'd be a mess if it didn't start when you needed it.

Mike

[Rod Sheridan]

I built a “dog house” with louvered sides and a hinged roof for a 5Kw gasoline powered generator.

It kept the elements off it while it was running.

If you don’t use a transfer switch, make sure you buy one with the neutral bonded to the frame and run a ground wire to the frame……Rod

[Wade Lippman]

I used to have a Honda 2kw. For two 1 week outages it ran my fridge, freezer, furnace, TV, computer gear, and a light just fine. It tripped once; presumably because two things tried to start at precisely the same time. I was lucky to find a cheap used transfer switch.

It is prudent to have the smallest possible generator, as gas can be difficult to find and it can't really be stored. A propane generator is great as propane can be stored, and is probably more available than gasoline in an emergency. But they are more expensive.

Now I have an 8kw whole house generator. I think it was $6,000 10 years ago. It is great, but way out of your price range. I probably never use more than 3 kw, but it is the smallest they make.

[Wade Lippman]

If you don’t use a transfer switch, make sure you buy one with the neutral bonded to the frame and run a ground wire to the frame……Rod

I researched that 20 years ago and it was recommended NOT to do that. I doubt anything has changed.

[Tom Stenzel]

Hi Ms. Brown,

There's a couple of things to consider. An standard 120 volt electric space heater uses 1500 watts and puts out about 5100 btus. So it's always drawing around 12.5 amps. You could aways put it on medium or low and cut the power consumption. The good thing about a space heater is there's no surge when you turn it on. The bad thing about a space heater is that it *always* consumes a lot of power. You're way better off getting the generator to run the furnace and skip the space heater if possible.

If your refrigerator has an ice maker turn it off when on a generator. They use power and add heat to the freezer.

We had a refrigerator that my wife got from her great-grandmother. It wasn't an antique but pretty old. When it ran it used 300 watts. When starting up the surge power was 1450 watts. A large side by side will use more power but once running a fridge isn't a huge power load.

Rod Sheridan is absolutely correct when he mentions bonding the neutral to the frame. Not just for safety but I've seen where a gas furnace will go into flame failure if the power source isn't grounded correctly.

If your mobile home is in a park with close neighbors the noise it makes is going to be a large consideration.

A guy I worked with lived in northwest Detroit and had frequent power outages. Leaving a generator outside wasn't an option unless it was constantly watched by someone with a shotgun (we callled that fun in rootin' tootin' Detroit). He put his in a detached garage, ran extention cords to his house. He closed the garage doors. It ran for about 2 hours and quit. Turns out it had consumed all the air in his drafty 80 year old garage and died. If it had been an attached garage it could have killed both him and his wife. A generator needs a lot of fuel, lots of air, a place for the heat they create to go, and a place for the exhaust to go without hurting anyone.

Oh, and since this is a wood working forum, the burning question everyone should be asking:

How much power does your shop need?

:)

-Tom

[Jack Frederick]

I have a 9kw LP Generac with the whole house transfer switch. The transfer switch was installed in ‘15 and the gen in ‘19. Pricey and an involved install but really nice for our frequent safety shut-downs here in CA. I too would suggest you look at the HF Predator units. 3500-5000 (tel:3500-5000) watt units would be my choice. Honda’s are the top of the line in the small gas jobs, but I know a number of people who have been happy with their Predators for a fraction of the cost. Running an electric space heater on a gen is a loosing proposition as noted. I use LP vent free heaters in shut-downs and loan them out to friends in need. I think a fridge takes about 1.25-1.5 kw, but check yours. In an outage you can rotate the load, frig, freezer, frig and lights. Also, check the Predator site and they will help you size the gen. Security? Chain it so the chain and lock are hard to get at. Shut it off at night and put it back in the shed and leave the frig closed. Get a good thermometer and monitor the frig temp during the cycles. First thing in the morning fire it up for the coffee maker.

[Rod Sheridan]

I researched that 20 years ago and it was recommended NOT to do that. I doubt anything has changed.

That’s incorrect.

If it’s a portable generator not tied into a system with a transfer switch the neutral must be bonded to ground and the frame grounded.

If you don’t do that you have a floating system.


Regards, Rod.
If you do use a transfer switch,Mathew generator neutral must be floating, grounding of the generator frame remains a requirement.

[Ed Aumiller]

If you buy a portable generator then I recommend buying one that will run on propane (or a dual fuel, gas/or/propane)...
The reason for that is if you ONLY use propane to run it, then you do not have to start it except when you need it..
If you NEVER use gasoline in it, the carb will stay clean all the time... If you ever use gasoline in it, then you can expect the carb to gum up unless you run it on a regular basis...

We bought a 5kw dual fuel unit and it supplies our needs... refrigerator, lights, tv's. computers, wifi, etc..
We use 20# propane tanks... a full tank will run about a day with the above load on it.. about 1.5kw...
We keep several propane tanks on hand (we use them on grill, etc.)

Again, if you use only propane on it, the carb stays clean and you only have to start it when you need it...The most important reason for us to only use propane.

[Ole Anderson]

You can do it for under $1000 for you are comfortable working in your electrical panel. And you will end up with a system that will run every light and receptacle in your house without running extension cords. A portable genny works fine, the downside is that you have to move it outdoors and plug it in and worry about whether it will start and how many things you can hook up to it. Only way to fix those are to install a whole house gas (not gasoline) fuel unit. The obvious trade off is cost. If you can't afford the whole house version, get a portable one rated around 5000 watts and backfeed your main house panel with a 30 amp 240 volt circuit and install a main breaker generator interlock kit like this: https://www.amazon.com/Generator-Interlock-Compatible-Electric-Professional/dp/B0917JZPVF/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=main+panel+lockout&qid=1636555886&sr=8-4 https://www.homedepot.com/p/Champion-Power-Equipment-9375-7500-Watt-Portable-Generator-with-Electric-Start-and-25-ft-Extension-Cord-100693/311462471?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=Shopping-B-F_D28I-G-D28I-028_007_GENERATORS-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-SMART_SHP&cm_mmc=Shopping-B-F_D28I-G-D28I-028_007_GENERATORS-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-SMART_SHP-71700000080837627-58700006820161819-92700061594993305&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-K2MBhC-ARIsAMtLKRtHjJxKqNmmLaJhbe-BFlJQdgjnfyYSdiwChV2qEDU8xjI4GhwbIXgaAmogEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds You just need to be smart about not overloading the generator by running your oven or big a/c units or your big motor shop tools. I mark and flip off those big unit breakers when I run my generator. When done I turn off the gasoline shutoff and let it run until out of gas. Champion makes affordable generators that run on either gasoline, propane or natural gas.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71rLLi3MaiS._AC_UL320_.jpghttps://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71NQG-uHDJL._AC_UY218_.jpghttps://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-KhhA-j0I4PLk86fe1fTKolvdoGND2TbZzVBAgMXX5BRiHAEIZVr4zBc LOY9Ba-aWXGAC7MT5pw&usqp=CAchttps://images.thdstatic.com/catalog/productImages/300/23/236f8899-02f3-4b5c-89fb-a5b72e8f21cd_300.jpg

[Rich Engelhardt]

So, where do I put this thing where it can run, be sheltered, and not be stolen?They just need to be covered when you want to run them.
I picked up a Honda EU2200i back in March 2020 when they first shut down everything.
I needed to make sure I had access to electricity 7x24 for my oxygen concentrator.

Since my need is a literal matter of life and death, I decided to get the Honda. A post here from long ago pretty much said - there are Honda generators and there are the rest.

I keep mine in the enclosed back patio. When I want to use it - I move it outside and run the extension cord into the house. I use a pool noodle to seal up the sliding door where I run the cord &it works great to keep the fumes out.
I have a CO2 detector right next to the door so it will detect any problems.

The EU2200i supplies enough to run 15 total amps, but, it isn't happy doing that.

My only real test of fuel consumption came about last year. We had a brick wall on a property we bought that had to be demolished. I picked up a Bosch rotary hammer and hooked that up to the generator.
The guys we paid to do the grunt work - ran the Bosch for two 8 hour days. I went through about a gallon and a half of gas.

[Laurie Brown]

OK, I guess I need to clarify a few things in my situation.

I live in a mobile home (approx 2,000 sq ft). We have natural gas to the house, and our furnace, water heater and stove use that, as well as our gas log fireplace.

We do not have a garage or a basement. The shed is 10x16 and is about 70 feet from the house and does have vents on the front and back wall near the peak. However it is not empty. It currently houses two lawn tractors, a cart, a snowblower, lots of garden tools, and about 4 5-gallon tanks of gas for the equipment.

We have a fenced area of yard in the back of our house that is roughly 55 x 85 feet, and has our garden beds on one side. We don't have any small structures like a dog house. I do have a vinyl tarp that is 26 x 36 feet.

Ideally, I would like to get a gas-run whole house generator, but I don't think we can afford it right now. Maybe next year.

I don't have any plans to run a space heater off a generator. I know they suck way too many tons of energy. I do have 4 heaters, but don't want to use them unless it was absolutely necessary. All I really want to run off one is the refrigerator/freezer combo in the kitchen. I think the freezer in the laundry room would be fine as long as we don't open it, and as I said in my earlier post there's nothing high value in it we can't afford to lose. The main items like meat are in the kitchen fridge/freezer.

I also have two or three computer UPSes that I could use to charge phones, but I wouldn't be planning on running any PCs or laptops during an outage. I'd just want to keep my phone charged for emergency use.

We plan to huddle up in the livingroom using the gas log fireplace as a heat source as needed, and sleep on the floor there with lots of blankets/comforters/sleeping bags. The room is open to the kitchen and diningroom but we plan to hang blankets or other coverings over the open areas to seal off the living room from the rest of the house.

We live in a rural area, and our house sits about 600 feet off the main road on a gravel drive. When we get any real amount of snow/ice (2 inches or more) the drive is impassable and we can't get to the main road. At that point we usually just stay home until things melt enough to get out. As long as we have power we have plenty of supplies to stay here for weeks. But if we lose power, it gets cold in here fairly quickly depending on the weather outside. We can still cook on the gas stovetop or on a charcoal grill if we need to, and we have emergency lights and lots of candles if needed.

So, it looks like as long as we can keep the fridge running, and any extra power for charging phones or tablets is a plus, we should be ok. Last year we did lose power in winter for 1 day/night. That wasn't too bad, but if we had to go for longer I'd rather have some power source.

[Ed Aumiller]

Using a gas fireplace is ok....BUT Please make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in your sleeping area....along with a smoke detector...

[Mike Henderson]

If you have natural gas to your house, I'd look for a generator that will run on natural gas. That way you don't need to store gasoline or propane and you won't run out of fuel. Natural gas generators won't put out quite as much power as a gasoline generator but I'm sure you can spec one to fill your needs.

That is, if you had a dual fuel generator of gasoline and natural gas, when you run it on natural gas the rating is less than when you run it on gasoline.

Mike

[Dave Zellers]

Lets cut to the chase. Yes, you can do what you want for a grand. But to stay under a grand, you need to buy a generator for about $700 ish. Because along with the cost of the generator, there are all the extras. First, some sort of simple shelter for the generator. Second, a chain and lock to stop the same lovelies who tried to steal from your shed, from walking away with your new generator. Third, and this is not to be dismissed lightly, heavy duty extension cords to service the appliances. 12 gauge minimum for a fridge, microwave or toaster oven. 14 gauge for coffee makers and 16 gauge for lights. We are only a bit ahead of you in this endeavor. Others who are ahead of us bemoan having to step over all the cords during the outage. I know you will be like us (and them, early on) and feel like having cords under foot, is a small price to pay for not losing an entire fridge and freezer of expensive food. The very food you need to live on during the outage!!! YES, you can buy a smaller generator and simply move the cord between appliances. A newish fridge/freezer fully frozen and at temp, will easily last through the night without power and you can fire up the generator at daybreak. AND make coffee. It's awesome and you will raise your mug to technology.

So go for it. Outside only, A rain roof, A heavy chain and lock and properly sized extension cords, and always when in doubt, opt for the heavier cord. I run my Honda EG2800IA 2800W with a 25 foot 10 gauge cord to the inside and then 12 / 14 / 16 / off of that. It's not really that complex, but respect that the exhaust can kill you and undersized cords can start a fire.

[Jim Becker]

Adding to the challenge that Dave mentions...you have to have a way to feed those extension cords into the residence without sending your heat outside...hence, what Ole talks about is kinda the direction I would go in this situation, honestly.

[Scott T Smith]

Laurie, I have something like 10 generators here on the farm, ranging from a small 2KW unit all the way up to a 225KW unit. A few comments.

1 - natural gas is a great option, as the fuel does not go bad and it's rare that natural gas fails during a power outage. Thus you don't have to worry about bad fuel or refueling.

2 - a generator can require a LOT of gas, so rule number one is to determine the amount of BTU's that your furnace / fireplace / hot water heater, etc consumes, and then what the excess capacity is of the size of the gas service that you have.

3 - you will most likely need to add an additional high pressure, higher volume regulator to your gas line in order to feed the generator.

4 - in a perfect world, you would skip the extension cords and use your generator to provide power directly to your existing load center via a transfer switch, or lockout system. Extension cords can all too easily be overloaded during use, and this is a significant fire hazard.

5 - You can probably get by quite comfortably with a 5,500 - 7,500 watt generator since you have gas to provide heat (presuming that you are on city water and not a well, and that you don't try to use an electric clothes drying during the power outage. 10KW - 12KW would definitely work well, and a 12KW will even provide enough power to pull many 2.5 ton air conditioners.

Lots of knowlegeable folks here on SMC, and lots of good advice has been shared by others in this thread.

[Erik Loza]

So, this thread has me thinking. During Freezemageddon last Feb, if I could have just run our furnace, that would have made the whole ordeal a million times more bearable. Not worried about the fridge, water heater, other appliances. Just the furnace. Folks over on the Gulf need whole house generators because of summer hurricanes. They need to run AC, fridges, etc. Here in Austin, it's just for extreme freezes, so don't need the capacity. We are on natural gas and never lost gas pressure. So really, I just need to run the furnace igniter and blower. I assume the thermostats will still be receiving power if the furnace is powered? Could I just wire in a SUPPLY receptacle and disconnect (effectively, placing the transfer switch at the furnace rather than the whole panel) at the furnace, then run a portable generator of adequate capacity to handle that? I could install one of those electrical pass-through receptacles on the exterior wall to our front porch, which is open and well ventilated, then run an extension cord from the interior wall to the furnace "supply" outlet. Am I missing something here? Almost seems too simple but maybe not?

Erik

[Kev Williams]

This doesn't need to be rocket surgery, especially considering Laurie's needs... ;)

My 3000/3500w generator costs less than $900, and is about 22x22x22", which will fit nicely in a $35 rabbit cage, which are fully collapsible allowing for starting, gas & maintenance... Anything solid that's 24" square can cover the cage, effectively keeping it weatherproof while allowing a total free-flow of cooling air and exhaust.

Mobile home = very easy to bore an inch and-a-half hole against the walls next to the freezer, fridge and the corner of the living room floor to feed power cords thru. Rubber or chrome plugs are cheap if/when you need to cover those holes. The power cords could just lie in wait at holes until the power goes out. Unplug the lamps & appliances when the power goes out and plug them into the genny cords.

About an hour's job :)

[Bill Dufour]

I would consider buying a low use gasoline generator and replace the carburetor with a ng one. Connect it with hose to a ng valve outside when needed. Use that valve for a ng grill most of the time. Store the generator in the shed when not in use.
Here there are plenty of gasoline generators for sale cheap enough to make the conversion worthwhile. They even make dual carbs gasoline and ng that can be switched as needed.
Bill D

first hit
https://www.amazon.com/HIPA-Generator-Carburetor-Conversion-4-5-5-5KW/dp/B019RLSJQ4/ref=asc_df_B019RLSJQ4/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198107824285&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18281615519176198232&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032274&hvtargid=pla-350729330788&psc=1

[Tom Bender]

Not sure about code requirements for my suggestions so check before proceeding.

Eric I think you are close to what I was considering. The furnace has a 120 volt feed. You might be able to rewire the feed to look like a duplex outlet and the furnace gets a pigtail to plug in to that. When using the generator just plug it into an extension cord.

Kevin, good plan with the rabbit cage, but a chain link fenced cage with a lockable door should provide security. You'll want pavement under it so weeds are less of a problem. Make the top from corrugated metal or plastic.

Might want to run a semipermanent feed into the house with a double duplex outlet. Plug cords into that.

Plugging and unplugging cords will let you have tv and light all evening and the fridge all night with the furnace or a/c as needed.

I have a device called a kill a watt that measures power used by any 120 volt device plugged in to it. Great for planning.

[Ole Anderson]

The Honda seems to be the cream of the crop, but recently they have some serious competition for the inverter generator market. Doing it over I would look seriously at the offering from Generac. The Generac GP3000i shows up on the HD site at $899 while the Honda EU3000iS1AN goes for $2299 at Northern tool. Of course there are significant differences including electric start on the Honda. Five years ago I got a returned Generac 4500 watt at Lowes for $500. So noisy I can hardly stand to run it.

https://images.thdstatic.com/productImages/ce31f838-d355-4759-9619-074d227b007c/svn/generac-inverter-generators-7129-64_100.jpg

[Jim Becker]

The Honda seems to be the cream of the crop, but recently they have some serious competition for the inverter generator market. Doing it over I would look seriously at the offering from Generac. The Generac GP3000i shows up on the HD site at $899 while the Honda EU3000iS1AN goes for $2299 at Northern tool. Five years ago I got a returned Generac 4500 watt at Lowes for $500. So noisy I can hardly stand to run it.

https://images.thdstatic.com/productImages/ce31f838-d355-4759-9619-074d227b007c/svn/generac-inverter-generators-7129-64_100.jpg


HFT's Predator 2000 watt inverter generator comes in at about $600. BTW, I'm a fan of Generac. Our whole house unit at the old property was top notch and I'm now considering their excellent system for solar/battery backup for here at the new place rather than a generator as I don't have Natural Gas in the house and Propane is expensive for generator use...and runs out.

[Michael Schuch]

My brother in law who lives in the rolling power outage state of CA asked me to help find a generator for their needs to keep a couple refrigerators and a freezer going as well as charge cell phones, provide some light, etc. After a ton of research over a year ago he purchased this generator:
https://www.costco.com/firman-2900w-running--3200w-peak-electric-start-dual-fuel-powered-inverter-generator---gas-and-lp.product.100481637.html

He loves it and 3 of his neighbors have since purchased the same exact unit. All of them only run it on propane and none of them have found that they didn't have enough power. It is CA though so they don't run electric heaters on them. He says he easily gets over a day on a 20lb propane tank. He bought a big tank (80lbs or so I think???) that he has gone through multiple rolling outages with and hasn't emptied the tank yet.

On the list we developed the only feature this generator doesn't have is the ability to run on natural gas. We could not find and affordable inverter generator that would run on natural gas. An inverter generator is usually considerably quieter than a non-inverter generator and also is usually much more efficient.

I would suggest buying a generator to keep your important appliances running and look for an alternate non-electric resistance heat source. Pellet stove, wood stove, natural gas fireplace etc. A pellet stove needs electricity to run but it does not get all of its heating power from electricity. Electric resistance heat is a heavy load for a generator to run.

I am still looking for a emergency generator for my place here in Oregon. My biggest issue is I need 240v capability to run my well pump as not having water during an outage is a real bummer!

[Bill Dufour]

It is not hard to switch the carburetor and install one that will run on NG.
Bill D