Generators

W

watertowerbbq

is Blowin Smoke!
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Location
Ankeny, IA
Last night a BIG storm rolled through Iowa. At last count 200,000 people were without power for some period of time. We went to the basement at about 3:15 am, tornado sirens went off around 3:30 and the storm hit right around that time. No tornado, but the winds were 70 - 80 mph according to the weather guy on tv. We lost power from 4:00 am to 9:00am, but some others in town didn't get theirs back until around 2:00 pm.

I stayed home and borrowed a generator from a co-worker to empty my sump pump. No big deal, no water damage. I emptied it 4 times and went on to work.

However, this really got me thinking about the need to have my own generator. It's probably something that we should have to keep the sump pump and fridge running if we lost power for a long period of time. It would also come in handy at a bbq contest (enter stage right - the Brethren and their expertise!).

I was wondering about what type of generators you all use (wattage, brand name, decibel rating if you know, weight, etc.). We've all been at contests and listended to the portable Honda ones that are quiet and $$$, some that sound like the space shuttle taking off and all point in-between.

I'm thinking I need to be in the 2000W range and wanted to know about your experiences and what you like/dislike about your generator and what you might recommend if you were buying one new. Thanks a million for the advice.
 
watertowerbbq said:
Last night a BIG storm rolled through Iowa. At last count 200,000 people were without power for some period of time. We went to the basement at about 3:15 am, tornado sirens went off around 3:30 and the storm hit right around that time. No tornado, but the winds were 70 - 80 mph according to the weather guy on tv. We lost power from 4:00 am to 9:00am, but some others in town didn't get theirs back until around 2:00 pm.

I stayed home and borrowed a generator from a co-worker to empty my sump pump. No big deal, no water damage. I emptied it 4 times and went on to work.

However, this really got me thinking about the need to have my own generator. It's probably something that we should have to keep the sump pump and fridge running if we lost power for a long period of time. It would also come in handy at a bbq contest (enter stage right - the Brethren and their expertise!).

I was wondering about what type of generators you all use (wattage, brand name, decibel rating if you know, weight, etc.). We've all been at contests and listended to the portable Honda ones that are quiet and $$$, some that sound like the space shuttle taking off and all point in-between.

I'm thinking I need to be in the 2000W range and wanted to know about your experiences and what you like/dislike about your generator and what you might recommend if you were buying one new. Thanks a million for the advice.
Click to expand...

I'd add another 50% to that estimate to be safe.
 
I have a Koler generator, 25KW. I went through a couple before I said screw it and went big enough to power the house. Our sub division is heavily wooded and we gone for 7 days without power on several occasions.

Things to look at are continuous wattage, not peak (most generators are rated at peak)
Continuous run time, some generators are not to be run for more than a few hours at a time
Fuel source and hours per... Propane, NG and gas are all options and some generators will run on anyone of the 3.

If you deal with power outages of any extended time you don't want to be filling the generator tank every couple hours..... and don't forget to have a stock of fuel on hand "cause if your power is out more than likely so is the gas station... and propane refills will be impossible. I speak from experience

My Koler was about $1800, will run on gas, natural gas or propane, has a 22kw continuous output with a 28kw surge, takes 2 people to load into a pickup and will run for days. I got it from the local power company with under 200 hours on the meter. I'm sure it's more than what you are looking for but keep the above points in mind when you start shopping.
 
Matt, I have 2 honda 2000i's.
Ican run quite a bit on those.
Honestly, 1 generator will run enough to get you through the day. You don't needto have everything running when you're under "bad weather" but if you got the money...tripower 10k generator would be great!
I can run my honda's burning 2 air conditioners,tv,fridge and a few lights for a solid 8-10 hours before adding another 2 gallons of gas.
 
I've lost power for 8+ hours in the last 2 week. Im going to get a whole house generator that automatically switches on. Runs on Propane or in my case, natural gas. www.generac.com
 
I got mine on Ebay. It came from Max Tools. I ordred a 3500 watt for $329.00 with free shipping and they sent me a 4400 watt for the same price. They don't sell the 3500 anymore. Customer service was excellent. I'm sure it's made in China but there stuff is getting better. I've had no problems with it. We lost power for 10 hours a while back and it was cool to be the only one on the whole street with lights. I even put a lamp in the front window and people were braking when they drove by. I ran the freezer, fridge, air conditioner, a radio and a few lights with no problem.
 
Matt, if your just looking to run a sump and a few items for the home, I would go with Honda 2000. It's quite and is great for comps and having around to run your small items incase of power outage. In fact, I think I will go buy one.
And if you find that its not big enough, you can buy another 2000 and put them in a link. Instant 4000. (like mike says above)

I lost power from 5am to 6:18pm. Everything was fine and the beer was still cold. :grin:

Oh, I slept through that weather, some how still got up in time for work.
 
I have a Troy-Bilt 5,000 watt generator. I chose this one because it was the only one in town just before Katrina hit. I stood in line 5 hours. I ran off of it for almost 6 days. I wired it in to my breaker panel and ran my fridge, freezer, 2 window units(stood in line another 5 hours), tv, satellite and a few lights and ceiling fans. The fun part was finding enough gas to keep it running.
 
Thanks for the insight guys. I really want to get that Honda 2000. I found a Suburu 1700 for less than $900, but I think I want the Honda.
 
We lost our power for a week last winter due to the ice storm here in Missouri. We have a Troy-Bilt 550 watt generator. You can build a cord from a heavy duty wire capable of handling 220 volts and run it from you generator to your clothes dryer receptacle and it will run your house that way. You don't need to wire into your panel. Just make sure to turn off your main so you are not trying to provide power to the neighborhood. If this sounds unbelievable....I thought that too at first, until we did it. You can talk to one of your local electricians and they may be able to make a cable for you.
 
River City Smokehouse said:
We lost our power for a week last winter due to the ice storm here in Missouri. We have a Troy-Bilt 550 watt generator. You can build a cord from a heavy duty wire capable of handling 220 volts and run it from you generator to your clothes dryer receptacle and it will run your house that way. You don't need to wire into your panel. Just make sure to turn off your main so you are not trying to provide power to the neighborhood. If this sounds unbelievable....I thought that too at first, until we did it. You can talk to one of your local electricians and they may be able to make a cable for you.
Click to expand...

yep, that's one way to do it :smile:
 
Crüe-B-Cüe said:
I have a Troy-Bilt 5,000 watt generator. I chose this one because it was the only one in town just before Katrina hit. I stood in line 5 hours. I ran off of it for almost 6 days. I wired it in to my breaker panel and ran my fridge, freezer, 2 window units(stood in line another 5 hours), tv, satellite and a few lights and ceiling fans. The fun part was finding enough gas to keep it running.
Click to expand...

I have this same unit. We lost power for 2 days last month and I ran off this for those 2 days. Can't run the AC, but it ran the frig, the well, and enought lights. This was the weekend of my nieces wedding and I had a house full of guests (cousins in town for the wedding). The first night we had a party for all the out of town folk who weren't going to the rehearsal party.

I added a 220 breaker to the panel, wired it to a pair of plugs, and hooked that to the cord that comes with the unit. They are marked so you can get both legs of the 220. Turn the main breaker off at the top of the panel in case the power comes on while you are connected. Turn the big stuff like the AC. Now turn on the new breaker and you are feeding the house.

If you get a gasoline unit, make sure you put stabil of something similar in the gas. Otherwise you will spend 4 hours in the morning cleaning the carb so your generator will run the next time you need it like I did.
 
I tried the dryer plug trick. Somehow with the panel that's in my house it kept it from back feeding the 110v breakers. It worked in my other house, but it just wouldn't work here. I always put the generator out back away from the house, pull the dryer out, disconnect the exaust and run the cable in the house through the vebt to the dryer plug. I took the plug off, pulled the two hot wires from the top of the inside panel and connected it there. Luckily it's right in front of the dryer.

The only pain in the butt is changing the oil every day. If I didn't change the oil every night before we went to bed the oil sensor would shut it down at 3:00 in the morning. I still have Katrina gas. I am almost out. I have about a gallon left. I put all of it except one 7 gallon can in my truck. The rest I have been slowly using in my lawn mower. My generator still has a little left in it. I had just filled it up when the power came back on. I crank it every few weeks and let it run for a while to keep it in working order. Hopefully I won't need it this year.
 
I have a Honda 3000i and its superquiet. I have ran it for about 20 hours on 1 (3 gal) tank of gas. Will run my furnace and well pump in an emergency and I can rotate it thru the fridge and tv/sat for entertainment if needed.
 
River City Smokehouse said:
We lost our power for a week last winter due to the ice storm here in Missouri. We have a Troy-Bilt 550 watt generator. You can build a cord from a heavy duty wire capable of handling 220 volts and run it from you generator to your clothes dryer receptacle and it will run your house that way. You don't need to wire into your panel. Just make sure to turn off your main so you are not trying to provide power to the neighborhood. If this sounds unbelievable....I thought that too at first, until we did it. You can talk to one of your local electricians and they may be able to make a cable for you.
Click to expand...

I would be very careful if you are doing this. Here in NY I believe that if you have a generator hooked up you also have to have a knife switch to competley seperate it from the grid.
The problem is that if you wind up back feeding into the grid transformers work in both directions, so your little generator may end up energizing about 13Kv.
I have been told that homeowners may be held liable if it is proven that the contribute to an injury of someone working on the lines.
 
If you are considering powering several items in your house go for 5000W or larger. I would also consider a Transfer Switch (I believe thats what they are called). Its a second breaker box installed beside your usual one that allows you to restore power to circuits in your house (from the generator) by flipping a breaker. For long term use it would be the way to go.
 
Muzzlebrake said:
I would be very careful if you are doing this. Here in NY I believe that if you have a generator hooked up you also have to have a knife switch to competley seperate it from the grid.
The problem is that if you wind up back feeding into the grid transformers work in both directions, so your little generator may end up energizing about 13Kv.
I have been told that homeowners may be held liable if it is proven that the contribute to an injury of someone working on the lines.
Click to expand...
That is the safest way to go.

I (my father and I were electricians) put one in just to be on the safe side. Had a neighboor that didn't... I don't know all that happened, but I do know that he is still paying for it....
 
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