I'm in the market for a portable generator and just need it to run the fridge the furnace and just small things after that. I went on a few web sites and they seem to be geared to running your whole house instead of just a few things to get past the storm or what ever. I live SW of Chicago and the longest I've been without power was 3 days when a tornado came through. I would like to buy one that would get me by for a day or two at the most and only run the basics. What I'm having trouble with is sizing the unit to my needs. Sump pump, furnace, fridge and some lighting but I have all compact fluorescents.
Thanks for any advice, especially from someone that has this basic setup, Rich
There are online sizing calculators to determine this, but you need to know the total wattage of the things you want to power. Most of these devices will have their amperage written on the nameplate. The single largest item you've listed is the furnace, which has a pretty large motor. My guess, assuming some of these motors could start and run simultaneously, is that you'd need around 5KW. I use a portable 6KW unit to power: 2 refrigerators, sewage ejection pump, 240 volt 1/2 HP well pump, hydronic oil fired boiler, and a handfull of lights, TV's and PC's
How do you expect to connect into the circuits of these few things? The easiest way is to plug into your dryer outlet and back feed to your electrical box (with the mains off of course). That way everything will run normally as always. A 5000 watt generator should do you. None of them will run for 2 or 3 days without refueling. You'll have to gas it up every day if you don't run it all night. Now you can get a small diesel generator and hook it up to your oil tank and it would run until the tank is empty. That will cost you much more. 5kw will give you about 30 amps, the rating of your dryer cable and breaker. In the US anyway.
I have a basic setup in my home. I put in a 6 circuit switch box that isolates the 6 circuits from the power grid. This is the safest way to do it. You can pick and choose the circuits you want to power, sump, well pump, furnace, freezer, fridge, bathroom, and maybe the TV with various outlets. To size the generator, you must take into account the start-up draw of what you will be powering. There are charts that can give you the startup draw of various appliances, just add them up and then add whatever else you will be powering and that will tell you what size generator you need.
What you suggest, is not only illegal in every jurisdiction, but a potential electrocution hazard to both the operator and any lineman working to restore power. Simple, safe, and legal generator transfer panels can be bought for a few hundred dollars
Thanks I didn't mean to run 2-3 days without refueling I meant the longest outage I've seen is that and prepare for that. The online guides I saw seemed to be geared toward bigger switch over units. I planned on making an extension cord with male on both ends and back feeding the system but as you pointed out doing this at 220 would make more sense as I don't have to make sure or put everything I want to power on one leg of the 110, 220 would do this for me.
5K or more it is then and I think I'll run that 220 line to the garage after all and back feed with the main off to the whole house. I have all my expensive electronic devices on UPS's already so they should be OK with the transition I just have to see how it all works when needed.
What are the reasons? He has the main off. I am just curious because I thought it sounded pretty good and you said for a number of reasons but didn't give any.
has killed linemen who werent following the rules.
main breaker must must must be off!!!! not recommended!!
some breaker cabinets have safe backfeed alternatives.
the larger the generator the hungrier on gasoline, can you store 60 gallons or more at your home safely? it does spoil too, espically the newer reformulated low volatile gasoline...........
if neighborhood power is out most gas stations cant pump gas...........
your better off with a smaller generator, run a couple lights or fridge, or furnace, or whatever....... one at a time
the idle use of gasoline is less with smaller units.
generators can be noisey, a big issue in a dead quiet no power neighborhood.extra points if you run a line to a neighbor
harbor freight sells nice cheap generators for occasional use. if a generator sits too long it might not start when you need it the most.
I have a 1000 watt generator its gotten a good bit of use, a 1000 watt
12 volt inverter, nice for quick emergencies, returned home from trip after bad storm but still saw survivor. quick quiet just my car idiling. have a 4500 watt unit only used it once
the price on permanent natural gas auto connect have dropped a lot in the last few years. check home depot.
the power companies arent maintaining things like they used too, have cut trucks and crews slowing restoration of power during emergencies
For one thing, the life and safety of the linemen working to restore the power shouldn't be dependent on someone remembering the proper order of when to turn on and off a main disconnect, or some kid or other family member flipping it on accidentally
My unit is 5500 running watts (7350 starting) and plugs in through a transfer box. It can run my furnace, well, refrigerator and freezers with spare power for some lights and TV. Clothes dryer, electric range, water heater and air conditioner were too much to add and are not needed for few days outage as are the aforementioned items. Whole set up including cost of generator and transfer box installed by electrician cost about $1,000 two years ago.
Or legally? The neighboring city has a 5 gallon limit- unless it is "contained in the metal tank fastened and attached to and used in connection with any automobile for power purposes."
Rich, I also live in the Midwest and went through the same thing about 1 year ago -- after a significant ice storm in the area.
I wanted to run an "average" refrig-freezer, a small chest freezer, the furnace (natural gas with 1/3 hp blower), a small radio and/or light and POSSIBLY a 1/3 hp sump pump.
Here's what I got and I'm VERY happy with it:
Honda EU2000i portable generator (2000 watt max, 1600 watt rated) Here's a link to the specs:
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Had a simple, manual transfer switch (15 amp) installed for the furnace circuit so that I could use a regular (12 gauge) extension cord from the generator to plug into the switch and run the furnace. Here's a link to the transfer switch I got, a "Reliance Controls 15-amp Furnace Transfer Switch" - they also have a 20-amp version:
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Believe it or not, that little generator has run most of the above appliances, at the same time, without overload AS LONG AS THEY DO NOT START UP AT THE SAME TIME -- which has never happened in the approx. 45+ hrs of testing I've done in the last year.
The power required at start-up for resistive electrical motors (e.g., refrig, freezer, furnace blower, sump pump) is MUCH greater than that needed to run them. I'd guess (it hasn't happened yet, though) that if any two of those appliances tried to start at exactly the same time, the generator would cut off; it has an overload cutoff.
This winter, I routinely tested with furnace, refrig-freezer, chest freezer and radio all plugged in and with the generator in EcoThrottle mode without problems. Just last week I tested with furnace, sump pump and radio plugged in (again, using EcoThrottle) without problems.
In a real, extended power outage, I plan to "juggle" extension cords to avoid overload and plug in the refrig-freezer and chest freezer only when needed. I have a couple of cheap but very handy little thermometers with probes that I'll put in the freezers and be able to determine when they need to run without having to open them. I'll do that especially if I need to run the sump pump with the furnace. The EU2000i is VERY energy-efficient. This winter when I ran 4-hr tests with furnace, refrig-freezer, chest freezer and radio plugged in, I used approx. 1/2 gal (maybe less) of gasoline.
As for the break-in and maintenance of the EU2000i: I used Castrol
10w-30 to break it in and now use Amsoil 10w-30 Synthetic High Performance Oil exclusively.
One other thing, plan to get yourself some high quality, 12 gauge extension cords but only as long as you really need. I've also found the short 3-outlet extensions handy. The EU2000i has two 120 volt outlets so I run two 50ft 12gauge extension cords from the generator -- one to the basement where the furnace, chest freezer and sump pump are located; and one upstairs where the refrig-freezer, radio and lights are located. I then put a short (2 ft) 12 gauge 3-outlet extension on each and plug in the appliances needed either directly or, if necessary, using a 25ft
12gauge extension cord so that the max. length of 12gauge cord between the generator and any appliance is 75 ft.
So, Rich, that's what I found seems to meet my backup needs -- hope you found it useful. As you can tell, I'm very pleased with that little Honda generator. It's approx 50 lbs fully gassed and can be stored easily in a small space in the garage.
Best wishes -- with luck, we'll never have to use any generators "for real" but I'm not counting on that ;-)
Your problem is in your approach. You are looking for the minimal machine to perform marginally. You are allowing for no extras. It is wise to have more power than you need in these circumstances, rather than not enough to meet your needs. It is not necessary to overkill, but getting a unit that is surely adequate is better than one that is borderline marginal. The oversized one will not work as hard. It will last longer. You won't be standing there with no power AND a DOA generator. This is the last thing before darkness and spoiled food. Do you want to take that big a chance?
And buy a quiet quality unit, not an obnoxiously loud cheapo that will wear out fast.
I use this generator and highly recommend it. It's very fuel efficient and amazingly quiet.
Set on a high-quality scale with a full fuel tank, it weighs 54-lbs. Anything larger probably shouldn't be considered truly "portable" by one person.
I have a similar setup with a Generac 5500. It runs the whole house without a problem, but there is a momentary 'brown out' when the 220 v well pump starts up, but then returns to normal when the pump is fully running. On our section of the electrical grid, there are several power failures a year, but most are just short enough to reset all our electric clocks and timers to a blinking 12:00. I believe that our section is connected to the main grid by an extension cord that runs across some farmland, and a cow occasionally trips over it and pulls it out of the outlet. :-) Some failures do last an hour or so, and one time more than 72 hours, but that was due to a hurricane. There's no problem with the generator noise, as most of my neighbors have generators. One neighbor across the street does not have a generator and he has a driveway light that's on all night, so when that light goes on, I know the power failure is over.
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