Generator question(s)

[vbhoutex]

I am still debating whether to buy a generator or not. I would like opinions/experiences from those that have or have used one as to how truly useful/needed they are. I'm looking at what I think is a 550Watt generator. What would that power? Those that have used them, what have you used yours to power? All comments are welcome. Thanks in advance!!!

[Mississippi Storm Magnet]

I bought a 5,500 watt Coleman Powermate at Lowe's. It worked great when we were out of power for 9 days during Katrina. We hooked it up to the refrigerator, medium sized TV, several of those new curly fluorescent lights, and a window AC unit (A life saver!). Had no trouble starting it. It ran pretty much continuously for 9 days. Not sure that was a great idea, but I did it anyway. It used about 5 gallons of gas every 12-13 hours of run time.

We unplugged the fridge when we wanted to wash clothes, as the unit tripped off using the washer too. You could probably run the clothes dryer by itself with nothing else, but I did not try it. We used a clothes line. The breaker on the generator will trip off if you overload it.

Make sure the unit that you buy comes with the big thick yellow electrical cord that runs from the generator to whatever you are running. I think these things are about $100-$200 by themselves, but they are worth it. It splits the power into 4 different outlets. Alternatively, you can just get several power cords to run directly from the generator. Most have a single 220 volt outlet, and four to six 110 volt outlets.

I am glad we bought one.

Only downside: THEY ARE VERY LOUD. If you have irate neighbors, they will not be happy when you crank this puppy up. Some units, like Hondas come with quiet mufflers, but they cost more.

[artist]

went thru Frances without one and had one by the time Jeanne got here! What a blessing that was! We purchased 2 window air conditioners that we used to help keep 2 rooms cool. All our neighbors were coming over here to cool off! lol And we lost no food and could use the microwave, tv, etc. Best purchase we could have made!

[Aquawind]

I bought a Coleman 6250 Powermate and a small $89 window airconditioner a few days after I realized it would be awhile before we got power back from Charlie. That thing powered Sattelite TV, Wireless DSL, Laptop, Fans, Lights, Refrigerator, AC... Plus I gave a cord to the neighbors for a few days for their stuff minus the AC but plus a freezer.. Worth every penny..

Paul

[mf_dolphin]

I am still debating whether to buy a generator or not. I would like opinions/experiences from those that have or have used one as to how truly useful/needed they are. I'm looking at what I think is a 550Watt generator. What would that power? Those that have used them, what have you used yours to power? All comments are welcome. Thanks in advance!!!

A 550 watt generator would be better than nothing but not by much. At 110 volts that gives you 5 amps. Take a look at your circuit breaker panel and see how many 5 AMP breakers are there.

[O Town]

If you plan on staying in your house after a storm you HAVE to have a generator. We went without the first 5 days of no power with Charley, but got one for the remainder.So we had it for Frances and Jeane, and thank god. We have a 3500 and it ran the refrig.(very important), a t.v. or 2, a lamp (also very important once it gets dark), and about 4 fans. It is well worth the money and you will be sooo happy you got one, if you ever need it. Better to get one now than wait. Generators where like gold around here after Charley, and about as hard to find as gold too.

About the size you are getting. A 550? I did'nt know they made them that small. Are you sure its not a 5500? A 550 may get you a fan and a lamp, maybe. Not worth the gas to run it. I would deffinatley go up on size. The 3500 we have is small but it got the job done, and made life alot easier to deal with with no power. Refig. and fans(or air cond.) is of the most importance I think. And you will need more than a 550 to run those 2. Hope this helps and good luck, hopefully you never need to use one, but it is a great investment, and always nice to have to fall back on.

[vbhoutex]

It is a 5500 Watt!!! Typo!!!!

Thanks for the replies too!! I think the decision has been made, even though we may never need one. Now I will have the wife read this thread so she knows why I feel we need to go ahead and invest in one.

[O Town]

Well I am glad you cleared that up I was thinking 550 no way.

[Robert]

It is a 5500 Watt!!! Typo!!!!

Thanks for the replies too!! I think the decision has been made, even though we may never need one. Now I will have the wife read this thread so she knows why I feel we need to go ahead and invest in one.

I second the thoughts on generators, they are great! Just another piece of advice (for what it is worth)... think about what you want to run and how long you want to run it. We all know that a fridge will keep things cold (for a while) while it does not have power, so do you really need to run it 24 hours a day? Maybe you can switch off things as you need them and not keep them all running all the time (which means you will get by with a smaller one). We have a 3600 I think, which runs the fridge, freezer, TV and fan fine. If we want to run something else, we unplug the fridge or freezer to run something else for a while.

Another great product out there (in addition to the generator) is an inverter. I have one made my x-power (I think). It is one of those car battery jumpers, but more important has a 400 watt inverter built into it (if you were handy you could probably build one out of a car battery and inverter). Since they do not burn anything, you can use them indoors, in the height of a storm (when you really want to see the weather with your TV rabbit ears). Not enough power to run much for too long, but I think we had about 2 hours of TV (color 13 inch) with it before we shut it off to save power for later. Not a primary power source for long periods, but great for during the storm (and it does suck trying to start a generator in the dark, in the rain, etc...).

Robert

[r_u_stuck2]

INSTALLING A BACKUP GENERATOR

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_im ... 75631.html

Getting a generator is the easy part. Having fuel to operate it is the difficult part. I have two. One is a back-up. If you power anything at all you can expect to use at a minimum 10 gallons a day. This means that is power is out you will need 70 gallons of fuel to last one week because all the available fuel will have been consumed by folks evacuating and the pumps at stations will be inoperable because of no power.

Storing 70 gallons of fuel is a hazard.

I am seriously thinking of converting one of my generators to run on propane and buying a couple of those tall propane tanks to power them.

I can't find the link right now but I know some folks have modified the generator by removing the muffler and installing a small car muffler or motorcycle muffler to reduce the noise leve.

[Ixolib]

This is what I want!!



• Very Quiet Operation - Less than 71 dB(A) at 7 m
• 14kW, 75 AMP, 2-pole
• Automatic start and run
• Natural Gas Fueled
• Powered by Heavy-Duty Onan Engine
• Attractive and Discreet Housing
• Electronic Governor for Precise Frequency Control
• Fully Automatic Operation when Used with our RST Automatic
• 5 year EXTENDED WARRANTY $520 CALL FOR DETAILS
• All for only $8,225.00

But back to reality, I have a 6.5kW and it ran practically everything but the central air. Used about 6 gallons every 13 hours (changed the oil about every three days). Good thing there were so many flooded cars around - otherwise we WOULD NOT have been able to get any gas for about the first 7 days. There's a lot of punched gas tanks in this neighborhood!!

[chuck21401]

Isabel knocked out power in the Annapolis area in 2003. We were without power for 5 days. It was especially annoying because we are on well water so without power (or a tub full of water) the toilets could not be flushed! I had to rig up a marine bilge pump to a car battery to pump the water out of the sump...other wise I would have had a flooded basement.

After the second day we borrowed a 6000 watt generator. An electrician friend installed a device that allows me to "backfeed" the electrical panel. And yes the breaker was turned off when we used the generator to prevent injury to line workers. Anyway the generator worked well for the remaining three days.

After the storm you couldn't find a generator anywhere. I wanted to buy my own just in case. Finally in January 2004 generators reappeared at the local home deport. I bought a Generac 4000 Watt generator. It generates enough power for the well pump, sump pump, fridge and some lights.

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@0668270390.1128434724@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdhaddflhejgeicgelceffdfgidgmm.0&MID=9876

I didn't use the generator once in 2004. This summer we had some thunderstorms and the power went out for five hours. We used the generator durning the "blackout" to run the fridge and some lights. It's nice to have back up power just in case.

I have 2 6 gallon gas cans on hand for the lawn tractor and lawn mower. That's about all of the fuel I store in cans, I guess if we really needed fuel we could siphon from one of the cars in the driveway.

[Mississippi Storm Magnet]

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned: Stabilizer.

Gasoline powered generators sometimes sit unused for long periods. The gas in the system will "gum up" if you do not add a stablizer fluid to the gas, and it sits for a long time.

This will cause the thing not to run/plug the carburetor at VERY inopportune times (like when a Cat 5 is approaching your area).

Just be sure to buy some little packs of stablizer when you buy the generator, so that it will start when needed.

Now, a nice propane powered system does not have to worry about this!

[r_u_stuck2]

Amen on the gas stabilizer. I had been useing it at the low rate, but went to the web site and found that by increasing the amount of sta-bil, gas can be kept fresh for two years if treated when first purchased.

How long will STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer keep fuel fresh?
For 12 months when mixed into fresh gasoline. Doubling the dosage will keep fuel fresh for up to 2 years.

http://www.goldeagle.com/sta-bil/faqs_s ... -bil&ID=74

[chuck21401]

Now, a nice propane powered system does not have to worry about this!

Or a diesel generator. Plus you could run one of those on home heating oil.

[Mississippi Storm Magnet]

Or a diesel generator. Plus you could run one of those on home heating oil.

Very true. Although I am not sure how diesels compare pricewise to gasoline generators. I know the smallest diesel generator set from Caterpillar they sell is a 7 kilowatt. Not sure how much it costs.

Although fuel costs are now starting to be a big factor. I saw regular gas for $3.20 a gallon today.

[jbgreig]

Another thing to consider when purchasing a generator is the fuel comsumption. We all want the biggest possible, but when faced with weeks without power and no fuel at the gas stations, it might be nice to have a smaller, more efficient generator.

I bought a 7550 running, 13,500 surge generator at the beginning of hurricane season. When Rita came, I had 9 5 gallon cans, a boat with 50 gallons, and a mower with 14 gallons of gas available. After the first 5 days or so, it became apparent that gas was going to be a problem. I was filling up the generator (7 gallon tank) when I left for work, adding a little when I got home, and filling before bed. I'd guess about 18 gallons a day. I had 2 window units, an aerobic septic system, a few TVs, lights, 2 refrigerators, and a freezer, etc running. It was nice to have the available power, but I think I am going to buy a smaller generator for potential extended outages. Use the big one for the first few days, and move to a smaller one if the fuel becomes a problem.

I know some of the larger ones have larger (13 gal) tanks. But the ones I have seen run for 10 hours at 50% load. That's a lot of fuel when the days stretch into weeks. We are two weeks without power. I never thought it would happen. It might be two more. Thankfully I have a transfer switch, generator, and fuel. Fuel becomes much more available (but still expensive) after the recovery begins.

Maybe next year I will have a Natural Gas generator. It sure was nice being at a neighbor's house when Rita came through. The NG generator kicked in and powered central AC and about half of the house. No refilling of tanks and no fuel supply concern. I will still keep a gasoline generator as backup, though. I came across a broken gas line where a tree was uprooted. I'd guess that would prevent a thirsty NG generator from getting the fuel it needs... Luckily I was able to inform police of it and it was fixed shortly.

[artist]

Ixolib - you need to check out Sams Club - if not a member - it would be worth joining for the difference in price of a really good generator - the cost is alot less for that size there and they are quiet! This one is 12 instead of 13 but still a really good size.

12KW Automatic Home Generator System

See larger image
$3,778.00

SHIPPING INCLUDED

http://www.samsclub.com/eclub/main_shop ... dgoodfkf.0

[dhweather]

Go for the 40KW mac daddy:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN ... 0&MID=9876

[dhweather]

Be the envy of your neighborhood! 2MEGAWATS!

http://www.gopower.com/products/product ... uctID=1804