Waffling on buying a generator...
 

So there is a winter storm coming. And I'm hemming and hawing about buying a generator. I'm looking at a Honda 2000. I don't want a whole house generator, just something I can run the furnace and the fridge off.

If the power doesn't go out, I'm going to have buyers remorse over the $1000 red brick sitting in my garage. That $1000 could go to more urgent needs....like a 1911. If it does go out, I will bask in manly glory as my family is warm and snug, while my neighbors suffer like the unprepared scum they are. I'll hook up the X-mas lights just to spite them.:D Even if the power does not go out tomorrow, it will out at some point in the future, and I will feel like a genius.

I am suffering cognitive dissonance. Help.

Get one. I have several, as in three, one power by the PTO off my tractors.

You don't have time to have a "pug-in" set up done, so get the right amount of power cords and be done with it. Also get at least 10 gallons of gas.

We are at the end of the grid and lose power here at least three times a year. In hurricane season we have been without power for a week.

Ice storms can be similar.

Lastly, figure out how to get the water pump powered if needed.

We are on well water and power the pump to have water...that turns out to be the most important thing.

BTW, after 20 years here, we are installing a whole house stand-by gen in the Spring.

Really depends on how much you will need/use it. We live in the middle of town and the longest we have ever been without power is 30 minutes. Just doesn't justify the cost.

Thats the thing, we live in the city as well. But I've been told that power outages are common in this area because there are so many trees.

I bought one after the hurricane last year. Hopefully I never need it and it rust away to nothing in 20 yrs.

Same here. I went for a Honda powered but generic generator that can power most of the house, if I can get gas. :)

instead I bought a Ryobi from Home Depot.. Same specs as the Honda,, JUST as quite,, only $549 and comes with a 3 year warranty.. I can run over 8 hours on 1 gallon of gas while powering my 'fridge.
Can also parallel two of them if you need to ..

Better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it

And, you can always find a use for portable power. If the $$ is the issue, you can run a fridge and a few flourescent shop lights and low power fans off a 400w inverter hooked up to your car or riding lawn mower battery, and they are cheap ($50)

The nice thing about the Honda 2000 is that you can put it on C-List 10 years from now for $800 and sell it in 5 minutes. No brainer to have something like that to keep your family warm just in case.

One of the best things we ever bought! We too are at the end of a power grid and are the last to get power back. I'd say we use it 3-5 times a year. It's kind a like having a gun for self defense, you really only want it when you NEED it.

I feel your pain. I want a generator but we have very reliable power. We have had just one night without power in 18 years. I look at the small Hondas and other generators that will tak up a lot of space in my storage shed when not in use. Non of the portable units will run the central AC if we need the generator in the summer.

Hooking up the generator to the house is not easy. I can't put it in the garage because it has to be outside. That means I need a generator that I can plug into just a 110 outlet. I have to kill the main breaker so I don't back-feed the line. Then if the power comes on I don't know until I notice a neighbors lights are on.

All of that always moves me to a natural gas powered Generac big enough to run the AC in the summer and all of a sudden I am at a mega thousand dollar spend. ACK.

I go back to thinking about the one grand units just to run the fridge and natural gas central heat.

We run ours via the 220 dryer plug. Power goes out I shut off the main, unplug the dryer set the generator outside the garage door (chained to a post) and we have power again. Ours is Honda powered but with a no name brand generator on it. It runs all night on one gallon of gas. It sure is nice watching tv when everyone else power is out.

Buy it. Run Mobil 1 in it and run it once a month to keep the fuel from gumming up. Hook it up to a shop light or your wife's hair drier to put a load on it. 10 gallons of gas with fuel stabilizer is a must. That 1911 is nice, but not much help in dark.

How tough is it to just drain the gas tank and run it until it runs out of gas? Store it with no gas, and fill up when needed. Gas with stabilizer will last a while.

Once our power is turned back on I just let it run until it shuts off. Ours only holds 1 gallon of gas at a time. I also have a little hand pump, so if it is full I just pump the gas back into the can then let it run until the carb is empty.

I drain the gas out then run/fog it until it stops. Take the spark plug out fog the cylinder and store.

One of the generators I have is 19 years old. I bought it new before some hurricane after we moved here. It is a 3200kw Craftsman. I have a basement that requires sump pumps to stay dry!

Still runs like a top. I replaced all the gas seals and lines last year. My other gen is a Husqvarna with a Honda motor, two years old, 10000kw.

All I can say is that the peace of mind is worth the threshold cost.

I run it under load for 10-15 minutes and then 5 minutes w/o load to cool down.

Draining the tank, and letting it sit for months/years, I'd worry about seals drying out, rust in the cylinder, etc. At least if I run it once a month, I'm pretty sure it will start when I really need it.

Whatever you buy, make sure you can get parts for it. The $300 ones sold at Pep Boys are made in China and they don't carry parts.

20k with whole house auto transfer switch just installed a week ago. Runs on propane...let the world come to an end....I'm ready. Could have bought a nice engine for the race car for the money though.


Get one...even a small one.

2000 watts may have a hard time running you furnace. So check.

Just what I'm looking into. What size tank did you install?

Murphy's law. If you have it you won't need it and that's the best scenario of all.

Same here...runs on diesel (less than a gallon an hour under full load)...we have a buried tank that was used with our previous oil heater. Rebuilt a DD 2-stroke that was pulled out of a refrigerated boxcar.

Peace of mind :)

I would
 

I bought a Westinghouse generator and a manual transfer switch panel in the Spring of 2012. I did the installation and did a dry run not knowing when and if I would ever need it. I got a little static from the wife about why I wasted all that $ for no apparent reason. Well on October 30th Sandy rolled through. The grid was down for like 11 days. I was able to run the generator during the evening hours in order to keep the food in the fridge cold and basically have power throughout the entire house for anything I wanted. Powered up the TV and used my HDTV antenna to watch the local broadcasting. Yeah I would definitely do it again.

Done. I'll have an electrician install an external outlet kit at some point. In the mean time, I'll run the furnace and fridge off extension cords if the power goes. I don't have buyers remorse. I know I'll need it at some point. Wife liked the idea as well.

I would not be without one. I use it for many other things so it's run pretty consistently welding or plasma cutting.

It was -20 (Yes 20 Below 0) this morning the pipes would freeze in a few hours if we lost power. It runs 80% of the house including the well. When the power goes friends and neighbors show up. It was a buy of opportunity that was one of the smartest things I have ever done. We use it 1-2 time a year in emergencies.

Generator loads build up pretty quick, get one that's up to the job.
Make a list of priority circuits to make sure it will handle the load. Add them up and add 15% Motors have a high initial load.

My Priority circuits are

1.Furnace fan
2.Fridge
3.Well Pump
4.Septic Pump
5.Kitchen entire
6.Bed room lights
7.Bath lights
8.Garage lights
9.Outside lights
10.TV Just one
11.Computer

10K Trailblazer Gen/ Welder

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1386276248.jpg
I put a switch box in to make it easy and safe. Backfeeding can kill line workers.

It's more than most people need. Quite satisfying to fire it up on a sub zero night when there is a storm and the surrounding landscape is black. Worth every penny.

We have a 500 gallon tank that supplies the house. We just tapped into the feed. With a full tank the generator will run over a week at full load.

I'm considering a 250 gallon tank on wheels for backup.

2500 watt/$199 Not a bad price if you need 2500 watts 3125 peak

PowerStroke 2500-Watt Gasoline Portable Generator-PS902500 at The Home Depot

Free shipping Buy it, test run, drain gas out and run it dry, wait till you need it.

Umm, showing a bit of ignorance here...

Is the power from a generator clean power. In other words, are the sine waves good enough to not damage things, delicate things, such as your TV or computer?

I hope you shut off your main. If you don't, the back-feed into the grid can kill a lineman!

Manual or automatic transfer switch with a propane fired genset. Anything other than the propane, you will spend the rest of your life tinkering on to keep running...

You may even consider running a battery backup/ inverter and do away with a genset all together, just depends on your desires....

A good one, yes. Thats why I bought the Honda. They actually advertise it as safe for electronics.

Get one. I bought mine a few years ago when I went on the drug Humira. I usually have between 4 to 1 pens in the fridge. If the power goes out.....medicine goes bad. At $1000 plus per pen it was cheaper to get a gen than shell out $ for replacement pens and the fridge is cold, meaning food is not spoiled and the beer is cold.

I used it last year during Sandy. It was a Godsend.

Generally speaking, standard, conventional-design AVR (automatic voltage regulation) generators provide reasonable power profiles for most household devices and appliances. The one big downside is they must run at 3,600 rpm to create the needed 60Hz power, regardless of the actual load. So this results in the engine running at or near wide-open-throttle, even if you are only powering a 'fridge or a few lights. Poor fuel economy, and reduced engine life, but better than no power. Most are open-frame and quite noisy.

Inverter-type generators are more sophisticated, and use an inverter to convert DC to AC, and this means they DON'T need to spin at 3,600 to make 60Hz, and can run the engine at speed to match the load. They offer much cleaner power profiles, a more precise sine wave, and a a good choice if running sensitive electronics. They burn less fuel, and are often fully enclosed with a much lower noise profile. Suitable for emergencies, jobsites, or use with an RV / camping. Significantly more expensive than a traditional generator.

Because nearly all portable generators that run on gasoline use a carburetor, it is a good idea to keep the fuel tank and carburetor bowl fully drained of all fuel if you expect the generator will not be used in < 30 days. Modern ethanol fuels quickly decay, and can plug up a carburetor in very short order. While fuel stabilizers help delay this, it eventually will happen if you store fuel in the tank or don't drain the carburetor bowl. Always use fresh gasoline for best results. If you must store some fuel, first buy some without any ethanol, store it in an good quality fuel can, fill up the can all the way, and use fuel stabilizer. Dump the fuel into your car's tank after 90 days and start over. Again, never allow fuel to be stored in the generator's tank or carb bowl > 30 days.

Always operate your generator outdoors, and never under a window or inside a garage. The exhaust creates contains carbon monoxide, which is odorless, colorless, and will kill you in minutes.

Finally, don't "backfeed" into a dryer outlet or the like. You run a tremendous risk of electrocution, fire, etc. You might be tempted to think, "Oh, I know what I'm doing!" and you may be right, but what will happen that one time you are out of town and the power goes out? Your wife or kid will try and "hook up" the generator just like they say daddy do it, and might or might not remember to switch off that main breaker, or understand the double-male suicide cord could have live, hot prongs of power. To be safe and legal, use a transfer switch ($100-$400) and have it installed by an licensed electrician. The switch can be configured to direct the generator's power to the outlets and devices you select, and completely and safely isolates the generator and utility company lines. If you don't want the extra cost, then just run some extension cords and power strips direct from the generator.

Caveat: I work for Honda Generators, but the preceding is my opinion alone.

WOOT is selling generators today.

I know nothing about WEN generators.

Tools.Woot

Thanks for that explanation. It makes sense why the inverter type is more expensive.

I'm using mine right now. 60mph winds + big tree limb = no power. No problem dig out the generator and we're back in business