For sure. The interlock kit prevents that as when installed in place, you physically can't have both breakers on.
Portable Generators
- Thread starter discydisc
- Start date
That is the unit I borrowed from our bike club and it worked well. Ran fridge, freezer, internet, TV, a lamp and box fan. Also small fridge. It kept up pretty well and ran 11-12 hours on .9 gallons of gas. In a couple months I will be looking for a deal on a bigger unit. There are going to be a lot of people looking to dump them. The 3000 Honda unit is nice, but no one will be getting rid on one of those
If you guys buy a generator over 5000 continuous watts, I would recommend an electric start. I have a 5500 that isn't terrible for me, but also have an 8 or 8500 that is a bearcat to pull start. I can also put the 5500 in the back of the pickup by myself but the 8 is a slow methodical process to get that hoisted up myself.
5 or 6 gallons in stupid little bags that are a storage space pain in the ass.
It's been awhile (youngest is 13) and wife couldn't nurse, but a kid only drinks maybe a quart a day or am I way off? I think a month worth of frozen milk is plenty. Now I'm gagging thinking what that freezer would smell like if it went out and everything warmed up.
I'll let you bring this discussion up with my wife. I'd prefer to live.....
Most days.
this is the key answer. What’s the risk/reward to the owner of having a large one with all the bells and whistles. I personally think we could get by with a smaller one in a pinch and don’t need a transfer switch. My key would be covering fridge and the deep freeze, a couple lights, charging our phones and during the winter keeping the furnace running (natural gas so the electrical load is mainly the fan).
The question, that nobody ever thinks of until it is too late, is: how do you propose to run your furnace on the generator? It sounds easier than you think. Where is the generator going to be and how do you get it power?
Exactly! I can easily do that work myself in a pinch but would expect the average joe not to be able to do a quick rewire of their system.
Here is a nice guide I found that tells you how much power you need to run things. A 2000 watt generator should power your main necessities. I don't find entertainment equipment or even a microwave really an essential thing to run when the power is out. Unless you are without power a full day even the furnace is debatable too as if your house if properly insulated it will stay reasonably warm for awhile without the furnace running and you can always layer up to stay warm as the temperature drops. Some people may have gas or wood fireplaces or wood stove too as a backup as well. You can always start up your car and warm up/cool off in there too if you have extreme cold or heat.
powerequipment.honda.com
Info on heat during a power outage:
commonsensehome.com
I grew up in rural Iowa were power outages were fairly common during the winter or an ice storm and we did not have a backup generator but did have a wood stove in the living room and I remember one year there was an ice storm during state basketball tournament and we camped out without power for over a day. We put all the cold fridge items outside in the cold and would make dinner on top of the wood stove by heating up a baking pan then putting things like frozen pizzas or dinners on top of it to cook or would make cold meat sandwiches since we were basically using the outdoors as our fridge/freezer. Losing power is not usually a life or death situation, just make sure you have enough supplies in case you do and a portable generator is all you really should need to power the bare essentials in your house IMO.
How Much Power Do I Need | Honda Generators
Determine your electrical power needs for recreation, construction, rental, home backup, and emergency use. Then choose the right Honda generator for you.
Info on heat during a power outage:
How to Stay Warm During a Power Outage
Winter Storm Preparedness - Emergency Heat During a Power Outage - Conserving heat, dressing for warmth, food and water needs, hygiene issues.
commonsensehome.com
I grew up in rural Iowa were power outages were fairly common during the winter or an ice storm and we did not have a backup generator but did have a wood stove in the living room and I remember one year there was an ice storm during state basketball tournament and we camped out without power for over a day. We put all the cold fridge items outside in the cold and would make dinner on top of the wood stove by heating up a baking pan then putting things like frozen pizzas or dinners on top of it to cook or would make cold meat sandwiches since we were basically using the outdoors as our fridge/freezer. Losing power is not usually a life or death situation, just make sure you have enough supplies in case you do and a portable generator is all you really should need to power the bare essentials in your house IMO.
I think people go "it takes a lot of power to run a 2 fridges, a freezer, a couple of fans, accessories for phones tables, etc. so I need generator with a lot of watts." All that power you need comes in just a split second when you plug something in or flip a switch. We had an 8000 watt one for a week with electric start. Got it from a friend who had not run it for over a year. Battery was dead but after pull starting it and running it overnight, it did get charged. We ran two freezers two fridges, 4 fans, cell phones and computer plug ins also. This included our neighbors. You do lose some power going through a longer extension chord. I have an electrician friend tell me for everything wanted to plug in along with furnace 8000 watt can handle it. If I were to purchase one and I would at least 5000 watts and get a transfer switch installed.
Love the thought of a portable Honda in the 2000 range but living outside of town, the thing that we missed outside of fridge/freezer was running water for flushing/showering. I'm thinking I'd need something bigger to run the well pump. What's the smallest unit that has 240v?
Have a new Generac 6500E being delivered tomorrow that I got a great deal on and have everything to get hooked up to the house. Going the route of an interlock instead manual transfer switch. Cheaper and easier. Just waiting on the electrician to come out.
If you’re planning to run sensitive equipment make sure you get a low THD generator.
If you’re planning to run sensitive equipment make sure you get a low THD generator.
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So was she in the Derocho zone, if so I'm guessing she is feeling pretty happy about her choice.
Harbor freight has a 9000 watt generator for 649!! Does not come with wheels or battery. Still a deal on that big of one.
Thats how I mostly understand it. For our important/fragile electronics (computers, small electronics) we have a battery backup that removes the worry from what the generator puts out. For everything else we use surge protectors between the generator and the appliance.
We have two people in our tailgate group who have 2000 W Honda generators. We generally run the tailgate off of one of them. When we have an exceptionally large tailgate going we run them in parallel for twice the power. You could probably do something similar for running the essentials in your house in an emergency situation.
After doing a bunch of internet research, I ended up pulling the trigger on the 3500 version of the Predator generator. It's just a quiet as my neighbor's 2000 watt Honda and costs quite a bit less for more watts. If you want easy portability by one person, I'd stick to the 2000 watt Predator though.
