Generator Damage Electronics?

[Travelover]

We lost power for 4 days around the New Year holiday and I ran my 4000 watt Coleman generator about 16 hours a day to keep the house warm and run the well pump. After a few days I noticed that my internet modem would drop out when the generator was starting the furnace. Eventually the modem quit working at all.

This modem failure got me to thinking that maybe other electronic devices are at risk when running a generator. I'm thinking of upgrading my furnace to a high efficiency model with electronic circuit boards and ECM blower motor. I know the replacement cost on these components is high.

My question is how great of a risk is there to running a high efficiency furnace on a generator? Would it benefit from some kind of surge protection?

 

[tommu56]

I would bet it died from voltage sag if it has a wall wort see if it has power coning out if it they have a fuse in it and you cant replace fuse.
Most low price generators don't have a sophisticated voltage regulation usually just a cap or 2

tom

 

[Mighty Dodge]

Electronics are sensitive to ac power it has to be clean, nice sine wave. I have an old Lincoln G8000 welder/generator that I crank up if the powers off for more than 12 hrs. My pc runs fine off of this but my new electronic washing machine wont even turn on when running off the generator.

M.D.

 

[Dargo]

Did you run extension cords or backfeed your panel? Either way, that's a pretty small generator. Low voltage can damage electronics as much as high voltage/surges. I had to run on generator power for a full week. Unfortunately I failed to purchase a 30k to 40k generator like I wanted and had to run on only 11k of generator power. I kept things to a minimum and the only problems I have are about a dozen blown electronic items from the huge power surge I received about 30 seconds after my power went off. It acted like it was coming back on but my lights were really bright and my TV sets started smoking. I then lost all power for 7 days.

I'm still making my list of destroyed items, but I lost 3 computers, my entire computer networking system, 4 TV sets, 3 A/C units (yes, in the winter no less!), several ceiling fans, security cameras etc., etc. The adjuster from State Farm seemed to want to focus on whether I was trying to run everything on too little generator power since the insurance company knows low voltage kills things. I had to send a computer and TV off to a company they selected to verify they were killed by a power surge, which was verified.

 

[heehaw]

i retired 4 years ago, after over 30 years working on electronic equipment: i used some pretty expensive constant voltage transformers on a lot of equipment, with no problems, until i put a scope on the output of those transformers: they put out the worse looking wave i had ever seen. never had any trouble with the equipment that was powered by those things, but i did away with them anyway: i just could not see how it kept from damaging the equipment: that said, i don't run any of my electronic equipment with a generator: i have a high eff gas furnace, an i wouldn't dare plug it into a generator. i use a "kill-a-watt" to verify the voltage and freq coming out of the generator, but would rather do without than have to start fixing things.
heehaw

 

[Travelover]

I would bet it died from voltage sag if it has a wall wort see if it has power coning out if it they have a fuse in it and you cant replace fuse..................tom

Yes it has a transformer power supply (wall wart), but it still powers up, it just doesn't function properly - like the IC chip was damaged.

Did you run extension cords or backfeed your panel? Either way, that's a pretty small generator. Low voltage can damage electronics as much as high voltage/surges. I had to run on generator power for a full week. Unfortunately I failed to purchase a 30k to 40k generator like I wanted and had to run on only 11k of generator power. I kept things to a minimum and the only problems I have are about a dozen blown electronic items from the huge power surge I received about 30 seconds after my power went off. It acted like it was coming back on but my lights were really bright and my TV sets started smoking. I then lost all power for 7 days...............................

Sorry to hear about all your damage. I was running through a transfer switch. I've only used this generator a couple times in the past 15 years, except for this 4 day outage, so investing in a 11KW + generator doesn't make financial sense for me. I could go to the Hilton during an outage and still be money ahead.

.................. i have a high eff gas furnace, an i wouldn't dare plug it into a generator. i use a "kill-a-watt" to verify the voltage and freq coming out of the generator, but would rather do without than have to start fixing things.
heehaw

The whole purpose for me of having a generator is to keep the house warm in the winter during outages. We had very cold temperatures and it would have been miserable without the generator. I do have a Kill A Watt device and monitor the voltage and frequency. I was getting as low as 95 volts briefly during big load start ups and as high as 125 volts during steady running.

I appreciate the replies and would like to hear from anyone running a high efficiency furnace on a generator.

 

[Dargo]

I appreciate the replies and would like to hear from anyone running a high efficiency furnace on a generator.

My furnaces are 94% furnaces. I think you'd have problems with that small of a generator though. The low voltage drops could very easily kill their circuit boards. I consider my 11k of generator power as being way too small for my needs.

 

[440roadrunner]

All modern equipment, from something "as simple" as your TV or microwave, to you computer or camera gear, is sensitive to voltage spikes, noise on the line and other problems.

IF YOU CAN afford it, It would at least do the following:

Buy a great big UPS to act as a buffer between the genset and the sensitive equipment. You don't have to run everything through the UPS. Even the refrigerator, which PROBABLY has a microprocessor nowadays (mine doesn't) may be a risk.

Someone mentioned furnaces---and by the way as a former HVAC tech I would not have a variable speed blower system shoved up my air return--all now have microprocessor controls which just might be sensitive to poor power line quality.

CERTAINLY power anything of the nature of your TV computer, etc through the UPS

Consumers should be raising **** about this. Read FCC part 15 fer example which sets interferance standards, and which have recently been devastated along with the "BPL" (Broadband over Power LInes) controversey, ---the point being that "protective" regulations concerning these issues have been gutted and underenforced

 

[George2615]

A reading of 95 volts is about a 20% drop from 120V. Sensitive electronics like to see better regulation from a power source usually less than 10%. I'm sure your 4K generator has some sort of regulation but just doesn't have the tolerance you need. 4k is pretty small to run a house especially if you have a fridge / freezer, well pump, furnace, plus lighting that at some point may come on at the same time overloading the Generator creating a low voltage problem. Surge suppression protection is not what you need. You need less load or a larger generator. Excessive load on a small generator causes severe voltage and cycle drops which can harm sensitive electronic devices.

I upgraded from a 5K to a 10K generator a few years ago for the same reason. The 5K couldn't handle the load if all these items came on at once. I have monitored my 10K during power outages and found it to operate at less than 5% above or below each 120V leg and within 2% of 60 cycles measured with my Fluke meter.

To continue using your 4K generator and stay at closer voltage / cycle tolerances you need to cut back on the number of circuits (load) hooked up to it or buy a larger generator.

A UPS unit would help provide a steady voltage source as long as the generator is running. Once it stops, the UPS can only hold that voltage a short time and whatever is hooked to it must be shut down. I lost a computer hooked to a UPS due to a power failure while I was at work. As the UPS lost its source of power the voltage gradually dropped and the resulting low voltage burned out the computer supply. I no longer leave my computer on when I'm not home.

 

[LBrown59]

i retired 4 years ago, after over 30 years working on electronic equipment: i used some pretty expensive constant voltage transformers on a lot of equipment, with no problems, until i put a scope on the output of those transformers: they put out the worse looking wave i had ever seen. never had any trouble with the equipment that was powered by those things, but i did away with them anyway: i just could not see how it kept from damaging the equipment: that said, i don't run any of my electronic equipment with a generator: i have a high eff gas furnace, an i wouldn't dare plug it into a generator. i use a "kill-a-watt" to verify the voltage and freq coming out of the generator, but would rather do without than have to start fixing things.
heehaw

But but but; If you have to do with out then why in the world have a gen in the first place????