Running generators in parallel

[Garandman]

I can see the rationale for two smaller generators for camping etc but as a emergency power source for a residence it seems cheaper and easier to just get one larger generator if you have someplace to store it. I

It is cheaper and easier. But the experience of many coastal dwellers during Hurricane Sandy was that they ran out of fuel and couldn't get more.

When I bought them an EU2000i plus an EU2000i companion was $2,150 MSRP and the EU3000is was $2,000. Those are both really expensive compared to any 3600rpm unit. But I can run the EU3000is on as little as 4.1 gallons per 24 hour day. If I run one EU2000 for 12 hours and both for 12 hours, I use as little as 3.0 gallons and have 3200 watts instead of 2800.

We fill our motorcycle tanks along with some stored cans, and between them have enough to run at least 8 days.

Read an account of one Sandy victim who owned a BX series. He'd acquired a PTO generator and ran his house on that. Forget the exact numbers but fuel consumed was really low. If you heat your house with oil you could run a looooong time!

 

[MossRoad]

It is cheaper and easier. But the experience of many coastal dwellers during Hurricane Sandy was that they ran out of fuel and couldn't get more.

When I bought them an EU2000i plus an EU2000i companion was $2,150 MSRP and the EU3000is was $2,000. Those are both really expensive compared to any 3600rpm unit. But I can run the EU3000is on as little as 4.1 gallons per 24 hour day. If I run one EU2000 for 12 hours and both for 12 hours, I use as little as 3.0 gallons and have 3200 watts instead of 2800.

We fill our motorcycle tanks along with some stored cans, and between them have enough to run at least 8 days.

Read an account of one Sandy victim who owned a BX series. He'd acquired a PTO generator and ran his house on that. Forget the exact numbers but fuel consumed was really low. If you heat your house with oil you could run a looooong time!

I see your points.... we have an older 4200W 3600PRM generator. It runs at 3600RPMS ALWAYS! Uses fuel like mad. So we run it for just an hour or so a couple times per day to keep the food from spoiling in outages and that's it. It was around $400, though. That leaves me $1600 for fuel. But, as you said, in major outages, fuel can be scarce. Does no good if you can't get it.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I can buy a Honda 2000 for $999.00 any day of the week, I've seen them as low as $850.00. The companion model is $1,099.00.

SR

 

[bdog]

I still don't see the advantages of parallelng

You buy a small generator and ocassionally need more power. Instead of having to buy a large unit buy another small one and you are good to go. Big generators are heavy. I have a honda 6500 inverter (the predecessor to the 7000) and while I have put it in a pickup bed with two people it really takes 3. I also used to own the 3000 inverter. One person could load it but it hurt you really needed two. Those little 2000's my kids could carry around. Parallel two of them and you have more power than the 3000 in a lightweight easy to move size.

 

[dragoneggs]

You buy a small generator and ocassionally need more power. Instead of having to buy a large unit buy another small one and you are good to go. Big generators are heavy. I have a honda 6500 inverter (the predecessor to the 7000) and while I have put it in a pickup bed with two people it really takes 3. I also used to own the 3000 inverter. One person could load it but it hurt you really needed two. Those little 2000's my kids could carry around. Parallel two of them and you have more power than the 3000 in a lightweight easy to move size.

As a proud and loving owner of a 3000iS... I understand where you are coming from. All depends on your application/usage.

 

[Garandman]

I see your points.... we have an older 4200W 3600PRM generator. It runs at 3600RPMS ALWAYS! Uses fuel like mad. So we run it for just an hour or so a couple times per day to keep the food from spoiling in outages and that's it. It was around $400, though. That leaves me $1600 for fuel. But, as you said, in major outages, fuel can be scarce. Does no good if you can't get it.

The worst-case scenario here in Boston is a Northeaster with full moon. Large accumulations of heavy snow, high winds, and coastal flooding.

So we are most concerned with heating the house. We have natural gas, which is "off grid." If we lost that, it's pretty much over.

One thing we do from sailing. If we expect a bad storm, we freeze two or three milk jugs of water. If we loose power we put daily access items in a cooler, and keep those ice jugs in the fridge.

 

[IslandTractor]

The worst-case scenario here in Boston is a Northeaster with full moon. Large accumulations of heavy snow, high winds, and coastal flooding.

So we are most concerned with heating the house. We have natural gas, which is "off grid." If we lost that, it's pretty much over.

One thing we do from sailing. If we expect a bad storm, we freeze two or three milk jugs of water. If we loose power we put daily access items in a cooler, and keep those ice jugs in the fridge.

As most of our bad storms in NE occur in the winter (hurricanes excepted), refrigeration is really not that big a deal. The average refrigerator is about 38-40 so just sticking food in a cooler and leaving it outside works fine. Freezer is a different story except mid winters but even there leaving the door shut will keep things frozen for a day or two.

Also, while I know backup power is a big thing these days, areas like Boston and suburbs are rarely without power for more than 8-12 hours. Coastal beach front communities are a bit different. The power companies focus on urban areas first and there are also fewer trees to knock down power lines than in rural areas. I do have a wheeled 5500w generator that can handle our freezers and lighting if necessary but other than testing it every few months I've never needed it in 15 years living in a Boston suburb. I recall power has gone out a couple of times but never for more than a few hours.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Also, while I know backup power is a big thing these days, areas like Boston and suburbs are rarely without power for more than 8-12 hours. Coastal beach front communities are a bit different. The power companies focus on urban areas first and there are also fewer trees to knock down power lines than in rural areas. I do have a wheeled 5500w generator that can handle our freezers and lighting if necessary but other than testing it every few months I've never needed it in 15 years living in a Boston suburb. I recall power has gone out a couple of times but never for more than a few hours.

But the infrastructure is crumbling in many areas, perhaps due to lack of maintenance and also due to people moving to more rural areas. When Hurricane Isabel hit Virginia in 2003 many sections of Northern Virginia within 2 miles of the Beltway were without power for days. And my boss who had just moved to Lorton, Va (only 20 miles from DC) was without power for two weeks.

He and I both invested in generators then. He bought a whole house 15KW for about $15K (including installation and rewiring, maintenance contracts, etc), I bought a $600 8.5KW Honda powered from Lowes. Since 2003 he's had to run his (other than maintenance) for several days, I've had to run mine for a couple of hours.

But there are many areas around the DC area that suffer outages for many hours due to storm damage from ancient trees.

 

[IslandTractor]

But the infrastructure is crumbling in many areas, perhaps due to lack of maintenance and also due to people moving to more rural areas. When Hurricane Isabel hit Virginia in 2003 many sections of Northern Virginia within 2 miles of the Beltway were without power for days. And my boss who had just moved to Lorton, Va (only 20 miles from DC) was without power for two weeks.

He and I both invested in generators then. He bought a whole house 15KW for about $15K (including installation and rewiring, maintenance contracts, etc), I bought a $600 8.5KW Honda powered from Lowes. Since 2003 he's had to run his (other than maintenance) for several days, I've had to run mine for a couple of hours.

But there are many areas around the DC area that suffer outages for many hours due to storm damage from ancient trees.

The further you are from a major metropolitan area the more likely you'll experience days rather than hours of power outage. The focus on urban areas first is certainly reasonable use of limited repair resources IMO. If I lived more than 20 miles from a major city I'd probably think differently about the need for a back up generator.

 

[zzvyb6]

Here in southeastern Michigan a month ago or so, very high winds caused about the largest outage ever for DTE covering 1/4 of the state or so. Rural areas were first to come back on. Most city areas (Ann Arbor, Detroit, Dearborn, Inkster, Redford took 1 - 2 WEEKS to get lights back on. It all depends on how much the local lines and poles were damaged. In my area, we allowed trees to be trimmed near wires and poles. We neer lost power. In the Tree Hugger areas, power was out for the longest times.