Another Generator Question

[scotd1]

Yea, mine too, except it's Sunday morning at 10.

 

[alco141]

Re: will c

i know how you feel have the same problem in NW Pa. i first bought a 4kw coleman and that solved the problem, i have now outage proofed the whole neighborhood, not only that but if there is an outage, as soon as i start my generator the power service is restored. so i would really reccomend that you go ahead with your purchase. i now have a 10 kw winco. it runs the whole house easily when needed. and a gentran panel to hook it to. also a good investment.

alex

 

[Will_C]

Re: will c

Everyone; Thanks for all the replies so far. I have a electric hot water heater, and looking at the label it uses 4000 watts. My thought is I could run the well pump until the tank fills, and then run the water heater. Am I correct? It seems that the water heater is the biggest demand that I would have on the generator. Does anyone power an electric water heater with a generator?
Thanks, Will

 

[Inspector507]

Re: will c

Water heater will not have the starting load that a well pump has. If you fill the water lines/storage tank and the turn it off the generator should be ok. For me......I'd like to have both connected /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[mountain_man]

4000 watts on a 5500 watt generator doesn't leave much room for anything else. A coffee pot or toaster or microwave are typically at least 1000 watts plus your refrig, freezer and other items. Also an electric water heater has a long recovery time. At the least I'd be looking at a generator that could handle the water heater, well pump, and refrig or freezer (running load not starting load) simultaneously to avoid load coordination issues. Sorry about the advice but electric heating elements (of any kind) take a lot of power... How do you heat your home and cook? Is this a power consideration? As far as the well pump, if the power consumption is not readily available, an external "clamp-on" style meter can easily give you power usage.

BTW - To me any generator purchase is worthwhile. Every time we need to use ours, we appreciate the semblence of normal life and consider it one of our best investments. On the last outage, we had neighbors and friends stopping by just to take hot showers...

 

[_RaT_]

What would be a benefit of a electric water heater over gas?
I can think of at least 3 benefits of gas over electric.
1. cost to operate
2. recovery time
3. work with no electricity thus eliminating a huge demand on supplemental power

 

[Slamfire]

Re: will c

We have electric hot water too, but it is one of the things that just doesn't get used while on the generator. We don't have protracted outages in the summer, and in winter the wood stove heats water much more efficiently than the electric heater.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( 3. work with no electricity )</font>

Rat, shouldn't that be "work with very little electricity"? Ones I'm familiar with won't work unless you have enough power for the thermostat, and of course, the same was true of our gas central heat in the houses we owned.

 

[Inspector507]

My gas water heater doesn't need any power, some do. The ones with a "power vent" will not fire without the fan powered up.

 

[WVBill]

Same here. My gas water heater and gas fireplace logs both have pilot lights and "microvolt" thermostats. The heat of the pilot light generates the microvolts through a piezoelectric device.

The furnace needs the electric draft fan running in order to fire up, and the thermostat is 24V. (not to mention the blower is electric).

The kitchen stove-top burners have spark igniters that require electricity but can be lit with a match. The Oven has an electric element igniter that must get hot enough to operate a valve that lets the gas flow so the oven can't be lit with a match.

Amazing the variations.....