Home Generator

[HFS]

I heard of one tip with small generators but haven't tried it, to keep from pinching a heavy-duty extension cord.

If you have to run 120 volts from say a small Honda generator in the back yard to inside your house, take a styrofoam pool "noodle" float or a piece of that water pipe insulation (hollow in the middle) and cut 2 pieces to fit your window -- 1 for bottom of window and 1 to fit in the frame.
Then you can ease the window down to keep the outside air out, without pinching the cord carrying the 120 volts to whatever you plugged in.

 

[Timmy59]

Back on topic. I wanted a whole house generator myself, but I am not going to live in this house forever and generac sucks. I bought a 10K portable generator and had a transfer switch installed by an electrician. Dual fuel; gas and propane. The only reason it won't run the whole is because I screwed up and didn't buy a switch with enough circuits on it. I can run heat and have everything else that is hooked up and still run my neighbors fridge. A little bit thirsty, but not bad. I spent about $1,000 total.

I skimmed thru the 4 pages, The whole house size units are $$ and take $$ to run, the above idea is more practical IMO, plus now you'll know to buy a TS with enough circuits.. I'll assume it's for emergency use or in the minds of some SHTF, in which case you'll want efficient..
PLUS post 29..

 

[DRC458]

I heard of one tip with small generators but haven't tried it, to keep from pinching a heavy-duty extension cord.

If you have to run 120 volts from say a small Honda generator in the back yard to inside your house, take a styrofoam pool "noodle" float or a piece of that water pipe insulation (hollow in the middle) and cut 2 pieces to fit your window -- 1 for bottom of window and 1 to fit in the frame.
Then you can ease the window down to keep the outside air out, without pinching the cord carrying the 120 volts to whatever you plugged in.

Good idea! I'll have to remember that!

 

[KOPBET]

Generators... phooey. Power never goes out in Oklahoma.

True story - I bought a 5500W portable after ice-mageddon years ago and, except for testing, haven't had to have it hooked up since. I've always wanted a Generac-like standby generator, but I don't use the portable I have now.

 

[Parks 788]

Lots of opinions so I'll give mine too. Not 17.5K watt generator to power your stuff in an emergency. I guess you don't want any inconveniences if a storm crashes your party. That Generac you are looking at burns about 1.5 gallons per hour at 50% load. It takes 16 gallons of gas and has a run time of 10 hours at 50% load. You do the math. That is a chit ton of gas to have stored to make any of it worth while. If you feel you really need that much wattage then get a similar unit that is dual fuel capable generator and order a 500 gallon propane tank. Much easier to store propane than an equivalent amount of gasoline. Don't forget how loud that damn thing will be.

If you are serious about having an emergency generator I'd dig a bit deeper and pick up one of the Honda EU7000 watt inverter generators. It will have more than enough power to keep you comfortable in any emergency situation, it is very quiet, has a 5 gallon tank with an 18 hour run time. Either get the switch setup in your home to back feed the power or go and much a handful of 50' and 100' extension cords to power your appliances and lamps. Would also be much more pleasant to us the honda over the generac in a non emergency situation too. In a week or two situation where you need a generator, which is highly unlikely for that duration, you will make up the higher costs of the honda in no time with all the additional fuel you will be feeding the generac.

*Honda EU7000 with Dual Fuel Kit
*House Transfer kit
*250-500 gallon propane tank.
and Done...…..

 

[dennishoddy]

I think it's money wasted on a permanent unit, unless your running a business from the home.
It's Oklahoma, use extension cords and learn the wattage of your appliances to size your generator. Use extension cords to power the home.

 

[Dumpstick]

I purchased a 10Kw, twin-cylinder gas "portable" genny several years ago, to use in emergency situations. Big thing, 120/230 volt, electric start. We live on a road on the end of a power "string", and were always the last to get powered back up. I wanted something big enough to run the well pump, and the electric heat.

Since then, the power lines to my area have been upgraded to the point that we haven't had a significant power outage in several years. There was a neighborhood built nearby () and new lines were strung to get power to it. I bet I haven't run it for 20 hours.

I could be convinced to part with it, if someone needs such a thing. I believe it's a Honda v-twin. Propane kits are available to convert these things.

 

[MacFromOK]

We're only about 3-4 miles from a large sub-station. Our power outtages have never been more than a few hours (IIRC, 8-9 hours max in 40+ years), and they're rare even then (Red River Valley Rural Electric Association).

Guess we're kinda like the teacher's pet...

 

[Fredkrueger100]

So I have really been looking at reviews on generacs and most are positive but the negatives there are are all the same. The main being their customer service is horrible. The people say it’s hard to get in touch with them and when you do need warranty work you have to jump through hoops and it takes a very long time to get it fixed. The other was that generac obviously has an issue with leaving out parts. Numerous reviews had missing parts to their generators. So I came across a generator at Lowe’s by Champion. Every single review I read was great. And the people said their customer service was excellent. It is a 9,200 running watt generator with the capability to run almost my whole house. I then came across something called a generlink. It is something that connects to the electric meter and allows the generator to plug directly into the meter. No transfer switch to run. Said it takes about 20 minutes for the power company to install!! Everyone that has it swore by it. It’s pretty expensive but I think it would be worth it. The one I was looking at was a 40Amp with whole home surge protection built in. It was $875. I haven’t gotten the quote back from my electrician to see how much it will cost to install the transfer switch. So depending on how much his quote is I may end up using the generlink. And I am thinking about going with the champion. It’s $999! That’s a heck of a lot cheaper than many of the others. And it had the reviews to back it up.

 

[Hobbes]

Tony, check with you electrical power provider. Some of them will pull the meter and install the generlink for you one time per account for free.
I think OGE and OEC both do, or did at one time.


I was way out in the country and I needed the ability to run a water well that was 285 feet deep.
Worked great but I never lost power again until the tornado and it took the roof off the house so it ended up moving to my new house and it has city water so I sold it.