Backup Generator

[fried1765]

A liquid cooled generator will outperform any air cooled unit. Period. Even generacs website states that their air cooled units are not designed for off grid use. There BACK UP UNITS.

GENERAC DOES HAVE AN OFF GRID AIR COOLED VERSION, but it has a 5 quart oil bath instead of the usual 1.7 quart version.

A 4 pole rotor is so large and heavy an air cooled motor just cant handle it. Generacs liquid cooled 22 generator has a huge rotor. I question weather a 4 pole is any better than a 2 pole as far as output goes. My 22 air cooled keeps its output very steady. The lights dont even flicker.

Bought my ovhd valve, liquid cooled, electric start, Honda 6500ES, nearly 30 years ago.
Longest outage 5 days, only a few shorter ones, still worth it.
Wonderful piece of machinery!

 

[John White]

We use to have the power outages pretty often. Keeping enough gas on hand and maintaining a gas generator got to be a hassle. About five years ago we had a major storm and you couldn't even get gasoline. Was without power for 2 weeks. After that I begin to think seriously about a diesel generator, didn't want to spend a lot of money on something I could live without. Found one of these light tower generators that they use on road construction. It had been hit and two lights were gone and fender smashed and tires not very good. It was a Kubota 4 cyl diesel with a Leroy summer 8kw gen (a monster) I gave I think around $1100 for it. I changed oil. filters and had to clean out fuel tank as it was full of algae. I can tow it any where I want. Crank up the mast with the 2 flood lights and play ball at night if you want. The only thing I don't like is that it is constant voltage. You have to put a hz and volt meter on it and sort of watch it, if you put a larger load on it, like if the well pump kicks on, it might go down to 110 volts and when it shuts off it will go back up to 120..

 

[Industrial Toys]

I don't have what you would call a modern house. No heat pumps and stuff like that. I laugh at what people think they need for backup. A 7.5 does me fine with electric heat shut off and my little Yanmar 3.7 will also give be everything I need including water pump, but it's a screamer at 3600. The trick is managing loads and I understand that is moe than some people can or want to do.

We have had all kinds of storms go through here lately. Another due on Tuesday. Lights didn't as much as flicker once! Go figure!

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Need vs want...

Wired in an outlet beside the furnace today and another outlet wired to a cord end outside so the furnace can be easily plugged in to the es1000i Yamaha inverter gen. Last power outage pipes were starting to freeze after 8hrs of -11C and 80kmh wind... ‘Need’ to stop that from happening and the little Yamaha will run the furnace easily plus charge the phones and run a lamp or two.

‘Want’ is the well pump and all fridges and freezers and a house full of lights. For that I’ll run the 6.5 on the whole house for a few hours at a time.

I did discover something interesting about the new high tech high efficiency furnace we have. It recognizes a floating neutral and refuses to open the gas valve and flashes a code 9 on the control board. Since I’m unplugging the from the house wiring and plugging it into the generator only the neutral is floating as it is on the generator. After confirming I could safely bond the neutral on the Yamaha everything is good and the wife can easily have heat back if I’m not around.

Don’t take neutral bonding for granted as I’ve seen a few inverters (not generators) go up in flames instantly when the neutral was grounded.

 

[goeduck]

Dont take neutral bonding for granted as Ive e seen a few inverters (not generators) go up in flames instantly when the neutral was grounded.

?? Nuetral is always bonded to ground at the breaker panel.

 

[Toyboy]

All good informative information here. It all breaks down to where you live and power outages occurrence. We had several days of -37 deg and the last thing I would have wanted to do was start and babysit a portable generator since we are seniors.

Now that being said, I have a 20kw Generac whole house NG gen-set sitting outside that I don't have to worry over.
It came with the automatic transfer switch and cold weather kit. We have a well, septic lift pump, two fridge and a freezer, heat, AC and a separate garage/shop with water and heat also. Plus I have a "chicken little" wife to deal with.
We can be gone for a couple weeks and have outage and never know about it other then the clocks blinking. Everything is on auto pilot so to speak. We loose power (short term) on occasion, but who knows when the big one will hit.
Maintenance is minimal.
I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[shooterdon]

My buddy who lives near Grand Rapids MI lost power for almost 4 days this week. He had a 5k watt gas generator and went through nearly $100 of gas. But a least he had power.

He is now looking at a whole house automatic system. His concern is what would happen if he wasn’t home and lost power?

After talking to him, I am thinking about doing the same. Expensive to install and run, but if I am home and/or it is a long outage, I can still use a small gas generator.

 

[Industrial Toys]

If you have Elderly parents in the home on life support, it's not a bad idea. Failing that, why? I have all the components to provide automatic power, but why? I don't want the generator coming on when I am not here. Right now, I am generally only a few hours away. I do get AC fail notification on my phone, via the alarm monitoring station. Just finished wiring up freezer temperature monitoring and water heater leakage sensor. Fun stuff!

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

?? Nuetral is always bonded to ground at the breaker panel.

I put a cord end on the furnace so when it’s unplugged from the house and plugged in to the generator it has no connection to the service entrance bond.

I was aware of this, I was just surprised the furnace was aware of it as well.

 

[Toyboy]

My buddy who lives near Grand Rapids MI lost power for almost 4 days this week. He had a 5k watt gas generator and went through nearly $100 of gas. But a least he had power.

He is now looking at a whole house automatic system. His concern is what would happen if he wasn’t home and lost power?

After talking to him, I am thinking about doing the same. Expensive to install and run, but if I am home and/or it is a long outage, I can still use a small gas generator.

When your out of power, not home, and the fridge /freezer is thawing OR in winter the water pipes are freezing price/cost is irrelevant.
From what I gather here, is the majority of respondents never go on extended vacations or are lucky enough to be home when mother nature throws a hissy fit.
For us it's one last thing to worry about home or not.