nikdfish
Platinum Member
We are still running a 10 horse, 5500 watt Porter Cable we bought a dozen or so years back. It is one of the brushless models that, supposedly, can handle up to a 9000 watt surge. It gets exercised every few months for 30 minutes or so with a 1500 watt load on each leg. It typically starts on the first pull. Gas is stored in a locker away from the house in 5 gallon cans, treated with Stabile for a 18 month shelf life & rotated during the year on various equipment items.
This past week it was supporting 1 freezer, 2 refrigerators, fans and various household electronics. During equipment motor starts, power didn't dip below 118v (according UPS readout). It has a 7 gallon tank and I went 12 hours before refilling, but could have gone a bit longer.
The wife & I have discussed getting an updated backup power system, but have been somewhat daunted by a comment from an electrician that local code requires fixed, whole house, generators to be capable of handling the full circuit panel load with no provision for load shedding ($$$ for genny), or a second panel be installed, moving over loads whose total did not exceed the generator capacity ($$$ for labor). In addition to being expensive to acquire, I'm guesstimating that fuel consumption would easily be in the $5-$7 per hour range burning propane for a generator that could handle the full panel. Diesel would be cheaper to run, but could easily double the installation cost.
Nick
This past week it was supporting 1 freezer, 2 refrigerators, fans and various household electronics. During equipment motor starts, power didn't dip below 118v (according UPS readout). It has a 7 gallon tank and I went 12 hours before refilling, but could have gone a bit longer.
The wife & I have discussed getting an updated backup power system, but have been somewhat daunted by a comment from an electrician that local code requires fixed, whole house, generators to be capable of handling the full circuit panel load with no provision for load shedding ($$$ for genny), or a second panel be installed, moving over loads whose total did not exceed the generator capacity ($$$ for labor). In addition to being expensive to acquire, I'm guesstimating that fuel consumption would easily be in the $5-$7 per hour range burning propane for a generator that could handle the full panel. Diesel would be cheaper to run, but could easily double the installation cost.
Nick