I think I had the same one. I was pretty anal about taking care of it, ran it every now and then and drained the gas at least once a year. It saved my ass on more than one occasion.
Portable Generators
- Thread starter discydisc
- Start date
The main concern is the refrigerator and deep freeze and in winter the furnace (we have a heat pump as well as propane fueled forced air).
Motorsnorkel! Never heard of such a thing and never thought it was even possible. Sounds like something to look into. Thanks.
If that is all you are concerned about it shouldn't be too bad. What size breaker is your furnace system on? 50 amp, 30 amp or 20 amp? I would guess 50. What about stove or way to cook?
Easy way to figure out what size gen you want is add up the amps on the breakers for the things you want to power in your breaker panel and take it x 100 (120 if you want to be on the safe side) should get you very close as to what wattage you want. This is what you will want for your running wattage. The generator will usually list a running or constant and a start-up or starting wattage. Pay more attention to the running watt number.
Apparently not yet. Went on Facebook Marketplace here in CR and was astounded by how stupidly high people had their used generators listed. Still needs a little time for prices to work their way down. No chance these people get the money they want for them at this point in time. If they are, please let me know and I'll happily list my generator on there and then re-buy a new one for cheaper during the next Black Friday sale, which is where I originally bought my generator.
I have the Honda 2000i. Highly recommend for portability purposes. In our case we'd get by with it in an extended power outage...most concerned about keeping the freezer frozen since it has more breast milk in it than I thought humanly possible. As long as it could run the smoker and the freezer I'd like to think I'm pretty much good to go.
Any idea how much it costs to install a transfer switch? I'm assuming this is where you plug the generator into a plug on the outside of your house and you have a separate breaker box for the stuff you want to power.
You saying your wife is a good milker? I'm oddly curious, what you got, like 3 gallons or something?
ooft, last one I had put in was from a lightening storm knocking mine out seven or eight years ago and it was an autotransfer switch for a 45k generator. That ran me around 3-3.5k for labor, box and everything.
I have the same one and have had no problems with it at all with just running it every 6 months or so with Seafoam. I was going to have a transfer switch installed but instead will just get the interlock kit that lets me shut off the main breaker and then manually turn on the circuits I want without only having to choose 10 or so with a transfer switch. Cheaper option as well.
My dad has been using an older version of this https://www.harborfreight.com/2000-watt-super-quiet-inverter-generator-62523.html for years. Chiefs and ISU season tickets have led to a lot of use, thing runs like a champ and is extremely quiet.
I just want a plug to plug in a portable 8-10kw generator without running 10 extension cords.
Just be very diligent in the steps you take. If you would happen to back feed the system and someone is working on the lines, you will be held responsible.
I checked with a local electrician contractor last year and he thought it would be around $600-700 with everything for hooking up a 9000/7000 portable generator. That was parts and labor since the transfer switch is around $300-400.
The cheap version of this you can usually install for a couple hundred dollars if you have 2 extra slots in your breaker panel it is pretty easy. To operate it you plug your generator into a plug you put on the outside of the house, then you have to manually turn off the main breaker and turn on the feed breaker and it then powers the panel.
There are more expensive but easier to operate versions like the one that is a plug between the meter and meter base that automatically switches.
The above versions are for using a portable generator for a full standby generator it is quite a bit more expensive like @Sparkplug pointed out:
I know, just saying what experience I have. I think the one that the ambulance put in (when I was treasurer about that time) was a much smaller one and was around 1500 and that was automatic also. A manual would be under a grand installed I'd guess.
Here's the big question people need to think about before running out and buying or installing some expensive generator setups: just how often have you lost power for extended periods of time and what stuff do you have that is essential to run? There is no point in spending a ton of money on a bigger generator than you really need or installing a transfer switch on your house if you don't lose power frequently or have things in your home that you can't have lose power for an extended period of time such as medical equipment. A 2000 watt generator should run a fridge, deep freezer, and some other light electrical stuff if needed. My parents were running 2 fridges, a deep freezer, and their cpap machines with ease off a 2500 watt generator when they lost power for 2 days. I have a Ryobi 1800 watt invertor generator that I use for tailgating and easily powered my fridge with it along with a power strip to charge our phones and run a lamp with.
We've been in our current home for nearly 7 years now and this was the first time we had lost power long enough to need to plug the fridge in. The last time before that I needed one was winter 2012 when a snow/ice storm snapped a branch off a tree that fell on the power line going to my house. It's not a common event and most times the outage doesn't last long enough that you may really need to run a few things like keeping a fridge and freezer cold until power is restored. The storm that came through the other week is not a common occurrence so the damage and extended power outages is not something that happens here often. I've seen people who were pricing out whole house generac systems over that and honestly is it worth dumping several grand into something that will rarely ever get used? Just go buy a portable generator in the 2000-3000 watt range for a few hundred bucks and you'll be fine.
This is the newer model of the one I have and if you watch the ads close enough you can probably find this thing for closer to $500 on sale: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-2...-with-CO-Shutdown-Sensor-RYi2322VNM/313551452 It's pretty close to the same kind of Honda 2000i generator and costs about half the price.
We've been in our current home for nearly 7 years now and this was the first time we had lost power long enough to need to plug the fridge in. The last time before that I needed one was winter 2012 when a snow/ice storm snapped a branch off a tree that fell on the power line going to my house. It's not a common event and most times the outage doesn't last long enough that you may really need to run a few things like keeping a fridge and freezer cold until power is restored. The storm that came through the other week is not a common occurrence so the damage and extended power outages is not something that happens here often. I've seen people who were pricing out whole house generac systems over that and honestly is it worth dumping several grand into something that will rarely ever get used? Just go buy a portable generator in the 2000-3000 watt range for a few hundred bucks and you'll be fine.
This is the newer model of the one I have and if you watch the ads close enough you can probably find this thing for closer to $500 on sale: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-2...-with-CO-Shutdown-Sensor-RYi2322VNM/313551452 It's pretty close to the same kind of Honda 2000i generator and costs about half the price.
