Cheap Generator

[dgeesaman]

Hello,

We need an emergency backup in case of a power outage to keep the well pump and septic pumps running, and if there is spare capacity, a refrigerator and a couple of lights. We keep horses so the water has to flow.

Long term we'll get a good whole-home generator but right now I'm pushing it to spend $300 and I think that's enough. I want reliable and simple and cheap. Gas / propane / diesel, loud, stinky doesn't matter much.

How do you suggest I put $300 into a used generator that will be money well spent? What's the Ford 8N of small generators?

David

 

[Western]

David, you will need to total everything you want to run (watts/amps ect tra) But these sold at cabelas are used by allot of RV'rs ( The champion models) Stand alone gensets will run much higher $$, these portables have many uses. I have a Onan 5500 in my Toy hauler and it is great, but expensive for emergency power, more for RVing.

Search Results : Cabela's

 

[nybirdman]

Not going to happen for that money ,sorry.You have a tractor I assume,so a PTO unit is the most bang for the buck.Look for used,auctions ,craigslist ect.

 

[dgeesaman]

Maybe I need to revise my description a bit - a long term generator solution is not in this year's budget. No way, no how. I think a long term would be several kV and run off the propane tank we'll have for the range.

I'm definitely thinking used. New and cheap means big box crap construction and I'd rather have a rusty old thing that was built well than a newly painted, heavily stickered piece of junk. Hence my hope of there being a "Ford 8N" of used generators.

My need for emergency power is to run the well pump and septic pump. That's it. I want to something on hand to do this for a couple of years. Knock on wood, but it's not common for us to have power outages and thankfully I live on a major road and underground run to the house so I suspect service issues would be addressed quickly. I might drag it out a couple of times a year to help keep it from going stale by running an electric power tool out on the property.

So my options are no generator at all or a $300 generator. Or sell the tractor to buy a proper genset and transfer switch.

I hear about these PTO generators but I rarely see them. The ones I've seen run a few thousand dollars. I'd be happy to use the tractor for now but are there old/cheap/small PTO powered generators to be found?

 

[dgeesaman]

David, you will need to total everything you want to run (watts/amps ect tra) But these sold at cabelas are used by allot of RV'rs ( The champion models) Stand alone gensets will run much higher $$, these portables have many uses. I have a Onan 5500 in my Toy hauler and it is great, but expensive for emergency power, more for RVing.

Search Results : Cabela's

Thanks, I've seen a couple of these for sale on CL.

I've also seen Colemans for sale, but my experience with Coleman is that all Coleman products are built as poorly as a Black and Decker.

David

 

[xtruckerbob]

Dont know how much power you need but I use a 1000 watt invertor to run stuff on the farm. I have a small gas engine (picked up a lawn mower someone had on the side of the road as junk) running a alternator from a junk yard hooked to a battery. The invertor was $89 from a Pilot truck stop and the alternator was $35 the battery was $79 at Walmart. I can run lights, drill even a small frig.

 

[IXLR8]

Problem here is you need 220vac for the well pump, which typically means a minimum of a 4Kw generator. I don't know of any generator, or inverter, rated at 3000watts or less that will supply the 220vac that the well pump needs. That well pump will also have a large inrush of current on startup to get the column of water in the pipe moving. You can find used 5 Kw generators for the money you are talking, but you need to be on top of the listings as they don't last wrong.

 

[dave1949]

Yes, I'd say the well pump @ 220v is what's going to be hard to cover for $300. Don't know what the typical septic tank pump needs.

I you put hard numbers on those two requirements, you will know if a given gen. you see for sale is a fit or not. You can manually choose which of those is powered at any given time, so which ever is the largest power user, that's the one you need to aim at for gen. size.

 

[Gunny]

I bought one of the Champion 3500 watt running 4000 startup watt generators several years ago, as we used to have one or two outages a year. At that time, they were $269 at TSC (with a coupon found on google). Side note: the electricity hasn't been off since I brought it home!

I initially bought that model because it came with the 30 amp RV outlet installed and I thought that if we ever decided to go dry camping, it would much easier to just plug the fifth wheel into the generator instead of patching things up to work. Later on, I worked out that if I did need to use it at the house, I could use my 40 foot RV extension cord to run 30 amp service into the house, then split that up into 2 15 amp outlet boxes to run whatever I needed to run.

I have used it several times out on the farm and I always try to start it up and run it at least every 4-6 weeks, then shutting the fuel off and letting it run dry. It's always started easily and I'm fairly impressed with the running time on a gallon of gasoline. This morning, it was 24 degrees in my unheated garage, but I turned the fuel on, waited a few minutes, threw the choke and it started hard enough to run on the second pull.

I usually try to buy American, but at the time I thought I needed a generator, this one was about all I could afford without talking over expenditures with the wife, but so far, I consider it to be a good investment.

You didn't give any specs on your well pump (110/220, amps, etc) or your septic pump, if they need to be running continuously or just a certain times, but if the wattage works out, I think you might want to look at the Champions.

 

[dgeesaman]

I'll come up with the specs on the well pump. In my mind I hadn't pictured it being a major consumer but it's probably true it will be very peaky and startup current may be severe.

David

 

[brin]

Maybe I need to revise my description a bit - a long term generator solution is not in this year's budget. No way, no how. I think a long term would be several kV and run off the propane tank we'll have for the range.

I'm definitely thinking used. New and cheap means big box crap construction and I'd rather have a rusty old thing that was built well than a newly painted, heavily stickered piece of junk. Hence my hope of there being a "Ford 8N" of used generators.

My need for emergency power is to run the well pump and septic pump. That's it. I want to something on hand to do this for a couple of years. Knock on wood, but it's not common for us to have power outages and thankfully I live on a major road and underground run to the house so I suspect service issues would be addressed quickly. I might drag it out a couple of times a year to help keep it from going stale by running an electric power tool out on the property.

So my options are no generator at all or a $300 generator. Or sell the tractor to buy a proper genset and transfer switch.

I hear about these PTO generators but I rarely see them. The ones I've seen run a few thousand dollars. I'd be happy to use the tractor for now but are there old/cheap/small PTO powered generators to be found?

You have a tractor so put an ad in your local Craigs list for a PTO driven Generator wanted...any size...I did that a couple of yrs. ago and bought a 20KW Genrac PTO generator with a 40Kw surge for $250.00 from an old lady whose husband had used it for his chicken houses and had passed away...It works great....Good Luck

 

[grsthegreat]

you need to find what the start up amperage draw of the well is. That will determine minimum generator size. I just ran the figures on a well here in Idaho, and a 7,500 kw would barely work it. They opted for a 10KW. These are not cheap.

 

[Western]

Thanks, I've seen a couple of these for sale on CL.

I've also seen Colemans for sale, but my experience with Coleman is that all Coleman products are built as poorly as a Black and Decker.

David

I have to agree 100% on BD and Coleman, they (at least coleman) used to be a great name. I know the Champions have a great rep among RR'ers and they rely on them allot.


I had a 20k in a hatching facility in the 90's and back then I was in over 10K all considered, power sure isnt cheap. I like the PTO idea, but wonder how practical it would be if your in the middle of a tragic storm?

 

[Carl_NH]

There are many generators in Harrisburg area on CL for $200 to 400 range - here is one Troybilt 5500 W 8500 starting.Troy bilt generator

We ran our 1.5 HP sub water pump (22 Amps starting 10 running) on a 5700/7500 generator along with lights sump pump, fridge. We have a fairly large drawdown of 28 gallons so I would selectively turn off the heavy loads (sump pump and fridge) when needing to run the pump for water then turn it off when there was low demand for water.

We upgraded to a 8500 running 10000 starting last year that handles all the loads now, and I sold the old genset to a neighbor for $500

So unless you have a very large pump, a 5500 watt running will handle the loads you are looking at.

Carl

 

[newbury]

Harbor Freight 212cc,6.5 HP air-cooled OHV gas engine on sale for $340 today.

 

[xtruckerbob]

If you need big power cheap search Government Surplus Auctions at Government Liquidation used 5kw to 60kw genset sell as auction priecs. My friend bought a 30kw for $600 with less than 200 hours on it and it runs great. But as with any auction you will need to check out the items you are intrested in.

 

[dave1949]

I'll come up with the specs on the well pump. In my mind I hadn't pictured it being a major consumer but it's probably true it will be very peaky and startup current may be severe.

David

Is it a deep well submersible pump, or a shallow well jet pump? There would be a big difference in power needed. Both pumps are probably on their own circuit, so the breaker amperage ratings are a good place to start.

 

[aczlan]

If you need big power cheap search Government Surplus Auctions at Government Liquidation used 5kw to 60kw genset sell as auction priecs. My friend bought a 30kw for $600 with less than 200 hours on it and it runs great. But as with any auction you will need to check out the items you are intrested in.

There is one for $300 here: army generator 3KW if you get the actual model number, there are various people who can get you the full specs on them (SteelSoldiers.com and SmokStak.com would be where I would start).

See also: harrisburg all for sale / wanted classifieds "generator" - craigslist

Aaron Z

 

[dgeesaman]

Is it a deep well submersible pump, or a shallow well jet pump? There would be a big difference in power needed. Both pumps are probably on their own circuit, so the breaker amperage ratings are a good place to start.

I'm glad I checked the breaker box - it's a 20A / 240v power for the well pump. Technically that's 4800 Watts maximum, although I have to expect that there is a fair amount of headroom on that circuit. I think 5kW is not a problem, but 5kW / 240V may be the challenge.

Without going down into the well, I suspect the best way to get a true power requirement reading is to borrow a power quality meter from work and log the inrush current when the well pump kicks on.

David

 

[RalphVa]

Got one at 4 kw that I'd sell to you for $300. Ain't shipping it from Va to Pa though. It used to power our family room and 2 kitchens (frig in each and 2 freezers) and master bedroom and well pump. Trouble is we had to keep the well pump off until water pressure dropped. Then turn everyth6ing off until pump built up water pressure again. Then turn it off and everything else back on. Used it that way for about 7 years when we had power failures. Just started it the other day. It started up right away after I jumped the battery. It had gone dead even on battery tender. Have a 12.5 kw diesel one now that is whole house.

There are starting capacitors that you can put on your pumps that'll reduce their starting amperage considerably, but, of course, you likely have to pull them to do this. Did this to our one heat pump that we put on the generator.

Ralph