How does one choose power generator

How does one choose a good power generator? There are many models and brand names in the market. With hurricane katrina coming this way, which generator should one buy?

Depends on the size you want, but in the 2kw range go with one of the newer inverter gensets like the Honda EU2000i. Hard to beat for quietness, fuel consumption, and size and weight.

If you want larger, like whole house size, I would look in to diesel or propane gensets. With non-inverter units make sure you get an 1800 rpm unit, they might cost twice as much but they will be 10 times more reliable.

I recall a thread awhile back about power generators and
there were various things discussed amongst them was gas usage, tank size, reliability, variable output, noise and other things.

I would say a good start is to figure out all you want and need to run off of one at a time to decide the size (power) needed and then people that have generators near that size can recommend one.

Remember you need extra power to start up things like refrigeration units (AC, freezers etc) and stuff with large electric motors like fans, blowers etc.

run the smallest generator you can get by with. as it's already pointed out. don't forget to factor in higher startup current.

cheaper generators are LOUD! don't forget about extra cost to make a quieter unit. meaning overhead valve engines with larger muffler.

I've got a Honda 6500 watt and Yamaha 1000. purchased before chinese clones hit the market. sure would check those out before buying today

would like to downsize to 4,000 watts for longer runtime.

Yeah, figure out what you want to power. Keep in mind that you can run one thing at a time in many cases.... You can manually turn on one thing at a time to reduce the load.

There is a direct relationship between the power output and the size (and therefor appetite) of the engine. A 6500 watt gen will run your household AC, but it will drink a lot more gas.

My understanding is that the inverter models are sort of like hybrid cars. The engine runs as slow as it can, speeding up as needed when the load increases. The inverter part handles the sudden loads while the engine gets up to speed. That really cuts the gas consumtion under light or intermittant loads.

If your gas supply is really secure a propane or natural gas powered unit is nice. Generac makes a $2,500 auto start unit that ties directly to the power panel and runs all the circuits in your house.

I'd love to have a nice little 3000 watt honda inverter model for disasters.

Sigh

Can a person use the generator for apt? Are generators made strictly for residential homes? I live in a condo. Can I use a generator if power goes out due to hurricane?

sure if you have a secure balcony and long heavy extension cord to run genset.

I feel kinda like goldilocks and the three bears.

6500 watt is too large and 1000 watt is too small. I need a 4,000 watt to be just right

For a condo or small apt I would go with the Honda EU2000i. It can any single load that you can plug in. As Gadget said you can just rotate through higher powered appliances you need powered, although I would bet you could run a fridge and window AC at the same time, unless they both happened to start at the same time.

Another thing to keep in mind is noise. Leaving a loud genset running will irritate you after a while and draw attention to the fact you have power, making it more likely to get stolen.

And moving a genset larger then the Honda will be a chore by yourself. The Honda would be about as big as I would choose to carry more then a 100 yards or so.

picard said:

Can a person use the generator for apt? Are generators made strictly for residential homes? I live in a condo. Can I use a generator if power goes out due to hurricane?

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Yes, you can as picard stated by running extension cords in off your balcony if you have one or some other outdoor place to place the generator.

Some things you absolutely cannot do though:

Though it may seem obvious, Dont run the thing indoors! Everytime there is one of these disasters somebody kills themselves and their family from running a generator inside. Even in the garage can seep CO into your living space enough to kill you given enough time.

Secondly, in the case of an apartment you can't really install a transfer switch, so you will need heavy duty extension cords. Dont try to find a way to plug the generator into your own wiring and use the regular wiring. Run a cord for the fridge with an extra outlet to use for a few other small loads or something. But you cannot safely patch into your internal wiring without a transfer panel, and your landlord will probably not let you do that work, though I suppose you could just have an electrician come in and do it anyway

But dont be tempted to make some kind of double headed extension cord and use it to just plug the generator into your apartment wiring. Those kind of cords are very dangerous!

If anyone remembers "Green Acres" they had a cute gag on there. There was only one 9 amp outlet driven by an old generator, so Mr. Douglas (Oliver) labled each appliance cord with the amps it drew. Mrs. Douglas would enevitably add it up wrong and overload the generator.

In real life, that would work. I have a coffee maker that will just barely run with my 1000 watt inverter which is tied to a deep cell battery. I can run the TV OR the coffee pot, but not both.

Daniel

Yeah, I have a very nice 400 watt inverter (800 watt peak) that I use with my Jeep to run or recharge all sorts of stuff and it always surprises me how much (or little) power different things actually need to run.

A friend of mine wanted to borrow it to take to burning man but after we looked at what he wanted to run he finally broke down and bought one of the smaller honda gensets.

One of the biggest problems of running a generator indoors is the exhaust. If you cannot get rid of the exhaust you may end up causing health problems as I doubt any gas engine is completely clean burning. You may consider putting it in a bathroom, closing the door, and opening the bathroom window to isolate it from the rest of the house. It would also make adding gasoline safer as there is less to catch on fire in a bathroom and water available instantly if needed to put a fire out.

Honda generator has built in inverter. Does this mean I can plug the powercord from generator to the apt power switch? Should I buy extension cord? what kind of extension cord that can withstand that much power?

I got link of Honda power http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gensup.asp Is the EU 3000 good enough to run the electric stove / fridge?

i think i can get buy with 300 watts.

I don't think that you will want to get a generator capable of running an electric stove. It's much more efficient to get a quality camp stove and use that instead.

Don't ever run a generator in-doors, even in a bathroom or other enclosded area. It's an invitation to disaster since the CO is oderless and colorless. It will kill you before you know it's a problem. It would be VERY embarassing to slip in to use the bathroom and die while sitting there.

Yuck!

Daniel

Don't ever run a generator in-doors, even in a bathroom

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I dont think that you're being quite emphatic enough about this. Is IS possible to fully combust a hydrocarbon fuel so that no CO is produced. A perfectly setup burner say in your hot water heater has a good chance or producing almost none, or very little CO. This is why some people can live for years after the flue falls off their water heater in the basement. However, if the mixture isn't quite right, or the burner dirty, or the airflow wrong, or a hundred other little things that might effect combustion then it can start producing a large and lethal amount of CO with no warning to you at all. However, you cannot set a 2 stroke gas engine up to burn so cleanly as to produce no CO. It will kill you if you breathe the exhaust in a closed space. Just opening a window doesn't count, this isn't like those catalytic heaters that just need some extra O2 added to the space, CO gas has an affinity for your red blood cells and it doesn't take much to make you sick, nor much more to kill you quietly in your sleep. Dont run it in the bathroom. If you dont have a balcony to set it out on you cant do this. It would be better to dangle it out a window, but it will kill whoever it falls on then...

Does this mean I can plug the powercord from generator to the apt power switch

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no! the only legal and safe way to connect a generator to your house wiring is to use a transfer switch. If you are not allowed to install something like this since you're in an apartment the ONLY legal way to run things is via regular heavy duty extension cords. Unplug the fridge from the wall and plug it into one of the cords plugged into the generator. It would be silly to run the stove off the generator get a camp stove!

The reasons for not just plugging your generator into the wiring is mostly that the electric company doesn't want you electrocuting their linemen working down the block if you forget to turn off the main breaker. The reality is that I dont really think there is much danger of this since if you were feeding the whole neighborhood from your generator it would blow a fuse before it had run a whole second. but most importantly is that the electric company will sue you and leave your power off if you get caught doing this. If, god forbid, you have some problems with the wiring while you're doing this and have a fire or any damage or anything at all and your insurance company gets wind of it they will cancel you immediately. Your landlord will evict you quite legally if you get caught doing this, if somebody gets hurt or not. Dont do it, plug a power strip into your generator and run a few extension cords for the fridge and the TV and the coffee maker. Plug in a couple of CF lamps as they use very little power and run your chargers for flashlight batteries.

While you can run larger items, I would strongly recommend sticking to only powering things that you can unplug yourself and that have regular 120vac plugs on them. A microwave, fridge, toaster oven, hot plate, window AC. Smaller items are fine as well, but larger items like Dryers, stove, central AC, basically anything that takes 240vac or is hard wired forget it.

Which is again why I would go back to the Honda. It can power any single item you can plug in a standard 15 amp 120 volt outlet. As for cords, I would try to use #12 regular extension cords for larger loads or to get in the house. #14 would be the minimum size you should run on the 2000i.

james couldnt ya disconect the main breaker and be safe?wouldt that isolate genearter from city power?

A stove hot plate sound like a good idea. It doesn't use much power at all. I will get it. If Katrina remains at category 1 level when it reach Canada, I have to batten down the hatches and wait it out.

Canada? Here I thought you were down south Personally I would be more worried about an ice storm in the fall or a blizzard in winter.