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-1...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/gene...timation-guide

http://www.generac.com/Portables/How...tts_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.