Re: Need advice on emergency power generator purch
After last summer's hurricanes here in Florida, I'm also putting in a few generators for emergency power. I've researched the project and found out a few important issues.
First, I wanted a "whole house" propane powered 15kW (or 20 kW) generator. After talking to the few propane dealers here (not much propane used in FL), not one of them could gaurantee delivery at peak usage times (hurricanes). No propane means no power, and it's over $2.50 a gallon here. Check on the propane usage per hour on the big generators, you won't believe it - with 200 gallons of storage (maximum allowed by the county code in my area) I would need a delivery every 2 days if I used the generator at 50%. So that killed that idea.
Second, I realized that nothing can replace the electric service from the utility company, so I started to look at small effiecient models. My decision was to buy 2 Honda generator/inverters (2kW) for lighting, TV, and a portable A/C in the mother-in-law house on the property. The honda units are cheap to run, easy to service, and very quiet. Because they use an inverter, they throttle down when the load decreases, unlike a traditional gas generator that runs continuously at 3600 rpm to maintain a 60 Hz power source. The third unit will be a noisy, ugly, heavy, cheap Coleman 5kW, only run for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening to power the deep well pump and possibly one hot water heater for showers and filling buckets for flushing the toilets. The rest of the time it will be turned off. They are impractical for any long term use, gas guzzlers and very frequent oil changes.
You mentioned you have natural gas - if it's still turned on. That can power the large "propane" generators (at a reduced kW output), but the cost is very high, and depending on the "disaster" that you are preparing for, if there is no gas or a pipeline is broken, you're dead in the water.
I made it through last summer's hurricanes (total 11 days w/o power) with a 700 watt 12V to 120VAC inverter hooked to my wife's SUV. At least I had a fan, TV, coffee maker and minimal lighting. I charged AA's for flashlights with a Maha charger with a cigarette lighter adapter in my car. We used a lot of gas idling the SUV, but better than having no power.
Good luck! Look at the Honda EU2000i, less than 50 lbs, quiet, inverter type generator, up to 15 hours on a gallon of gas with light usage. Under $1000.
Rob