Who Here Has A Generator, And It Saved Them ?

[billt]

I recently picked up 2 new Westinghouse Dual Fuel 9,500 running watt generators. Both fired up on the first attempt on both gasoline and propane. These produce a lot of power for the money, and have really nice features like electric remote start, and a built in battery charging system, to keep the battery nice and fully charged when not in use.

Much like guns and ammunition today, generators are selling like crystal meth in a low income housing project. They're getting very hard to find in stock, and at a good price. Between the fires out West, the hurricanes and flooding in the South, and now with the recent snow and ice storm in the Midwest and Northeast, supply is outstripping demand. A lot of people who were on the fence, and thinking about buying, are now scrambling to buy one. I bought these 2 last December. So far we haven't needed them here.... Yet. But I fire them up every few weeks, to make sure they're ready to go if and when the time comes.

Edited February 18, 2021 by billt

[brat]

I have a two portable units like yours but different flavor. Also have a transfer box wired to run the ground floor of my house. While they have not been needed for emergencies at my 20, they have done duty during the flood at my parents and just recently at my sister's after the last tornado. Plus I use them on the farm for various duties. I start them every month with a load for 30 minutes each session and don't run ethanol fuel.  

Looking to add an up grade to a more permanently installed solution now that I'm older and we just installed an lp tank out here in the country. Saving up the coins now but I'll always keep the portables though. 

 

edit; Have since added 24k LP Generac whole house/barn and it's been used twice since installation. Once for almost two hours one cycle, so yeah, it's a nice thing to have. Still have my gas burners.

Edited January 22, 2023 by brat
addition

[jhc77]

I installed permanent mount units when I lived in Virginia. They got the occasional hurricane, snow and ice. Enough to keep me very busy and the guy that ran it part time to quit his day job as an electrical engineer at a ship yard. He was constantly ducking out to do estimates and installs. I may look into one when we’re moved in our new home. Thankfully we have natural gas at that place. There aren’t too many in my neck of the woods here in the “city” but a few do have them. With underground power it takes a lot for ours to even flicker much less loose it for more than an hour. Automatic bus transfer is nice too. About 3-5 seconds and your back up and comfy again. 

[E4 No More]

I have a Honda EM5000SX generator but have yet needed to use it.

[mikegideon]

I have a 15kw Generac that will power everything. Haven't needed it yet.

[jpx2rk]

I got one when we lived in the FL panhandle after Opal wandered thru.  I start it up 1-2x a year but sits in the shed the rest of the time  House is not wired for this, but  I can run a extension cord thru a window, etc., to run a few things like the fridge and coffee pot,  I just run all of the gas back out of it so the carb is empty & dry along with some stabil.  I'm surprised each time I start it at how easy it does start.

[krunchnik]

Purchased a smaller Generac a couple months ago-I installed a thru the wall kit that has a 50 watt plug on the outside in a weatherproof box.

On the inside wall is a dual wired 6 plug lighted receptacle-that can power a back up Black and Decker 15000 dual heat and AC unit-so at least we have a heat or air backup-and something to power the coffee maker-MOST IMPORTANT

[Jeb48]

I have 2 small inverter generators, a Honda 2000i and a Wen 1250. I have the house wired so I can run most of the 120v circuits in the house on the Honda. We have to be selective on what we actually turn on but it sips gas, unlike the big whole house units. I got the Wen for the occasional dry camping to top off batteries but it also service as a back up to the Honda and with even more selective balancing would get us through a length black out with even less gas. I do get tempted with to get an automatic unit that was big enough to run most of the house. Hooked up to my 500 gal lp tank it would be nice.

[MacGyver]

During the tornadoes in the spring, we were out of power for 96 hours.

The $400ish 2000W Honda copies are quiet and will run a fridge/freezer until stuff comes back up.

I recently switched to a gas fired instant hot water heater.  It can be run off a battery on an inverter. It really doesn’t draw much power. So, it didn’t tax it to plug it in, too.

My family decamped to a place with power - but I had coffee, food stayed frozen, and hot showers.  We could have lasted indefinitely.  

[-boatman-]

I bought one early last year and have used it for other things but I have not yet used it for a power outage. I did get it out and ready when the icing  started. The lights started blinking off and on  so I started it up but I never lost power. I let it run until we went to bed, then shut it off. I run it once a month with a partial load on it for 20 or 30 minutes.  It's very reassuring to have.

[Trekbike]

I'm in the camp of the smaller capacity generators (2200W-ish) rather than the larger capacity ones that will power most, if not all, of the house.   The larger generators are more of a "fuel hog" than the smaller generators.    I'm of the mindset, I'd rather have a more limited amount of power for a longer period of time, than more power than I would likely need in an emergency, for a shorter period of time.    Mine is a converted tri-fuel unit.    

In the event the power is off, I'm going to be in conservation mode so my energy requirements will be on the minimal side.    Cooking will be done with propane.    Heat would be with gas logs, assuming the natural gas is still on, propane if it's not.    I have some solar capability as well.     

I guess I'm somewhat okay with my current situation, it could always be better, but I find I can sleep at night at this point.    
 

 

[Dirtshooter]

Just saw this. On Sunday 2-14 about 8pm we lost some power, heat pump went off, sounded like a truck hit the house. Went out with flashlight can't see anything wrong. Long story short huge white pine limb fell across vacant house across the road, and our house and that house was attached to same transformer, it puller both of their wires off and 1 of our hot legs. About 4:30 a.m. monday everyone in neighborhood lost power until about 2pm. I shut off main breaker after talking to a guy that said may not be good for our electrical system. We have fireplace with insert and it has 2 blowers on it, I already had generator sitting on back porch with extension cords because I didn't want to have to go get it out of barn in middle of a ice/snow event. The generator had 2.4 hours when I cranked it up and would shut it off when I refueled it, Saturday morning  2-20 about 9 am we got power back, generator had 100.5 hours on it. Yea we could have done without it, but I kept the downstairs between 60-64 and upstairs around 50. That was when outside temps were 15-17 degrees. Just a tip for everyone that lives in an all electric house, get a auxiliary heat source, a floor mounted propane heater, long enough hose to keep tank outside and at least a 100lb. cylinder. They pull too much to run good on the 20lb barbecue tanks per my propane store. Be safe out there and be prepared, it will happen again, may be 2 years, 5 years or next week.

[ac3boyz]

After 2 power outages last year we bought a Ryobi 8500/10000 generator and had Lee company wire the house to take care of most of our needs.  We now can power both our refrigerator and separate freezer, most lights and our media room.  Most important, without electricity our sewer pump is out so we have about 8 hours of capacity in the tank before things start to back up. Verizon's coverage is so bad in our house that we had to get a booster? to get consistent cell service and it's connected to our Xfinity modem so that when we lose power we have no communication with the outside world.

I'm convinced that now that I have one we'll never lose power again, lol.

I highly recommend Lee company to wire it to your system.  We had 3 other electric  companies give us bids and Lee was the only one that really had the experience and a plan on the best way to set up a system for our needs.

Edited February 26, 2021 by ac3boyz

[jpx2rk]

Mind sharing how much it cost for Lee Company to do the wiring job?  I've considered something similar but never pursued it much.  TIA

[ac3boyz]

1 hour ago, jpx2rk said:

Mind sharing how much it cost for Lee Company to do the wiring job?  I've considered something similar but never pursued it much.  TIA

It was around $1100 for our house.  When I bought the generator, I had planned on just connecting it to an outlet on the porch to backfeed the system.  Found out that's a big no-no.  Hated to spend that much but feel much more comfortable with the existing setup.

[MacGyver]

43 minutes ago, ac3boyz said:

It was around $1100 for our house.  When I bought the generator, I had planned on just connecting it to an outlet on the porch to backfeed the system.  Found out that's a big no-no.  Hated to spend that much but feel much more comfortable with the existing setup.

$1100 is way cheaper than burning your house down. 

[tacops]

I have two dual fuel 5500 generators.  I have never put gas in either of them.  I have only used propane to avoid gumming up the fuel lines, but I do have the gas option.  I wired my breaker panel with an interlock for separation from the system.  I Have and outside plug on a covered porch to plug the generator supply into which, after separation from the standard utilities supply, I can power my existing breaker panel and direct power supply via the breakers.  I have a chart posted for which breakers to have on and which to have off when on generator.  I have gas heat, stove and water heater.  It has served me well and 5500 is sufficient to power everything we need except the A/C.  I don't care about the A/C, All it has to do for the heat is the furnace fan which is no problem.  It has worked very well.  I don't recommend using a microwave though.

[mikegideon]

4 hours ago, ac3boyz said:

It was around $1100 for our house.  When I bought the generator, I had planned on just connecting it to an outlet on the porch to backfeed the system.  Found out that's a big no-no.  Hated to spend that much but feel much more comfortable with the existing setup.

Backfeed is tricky. You better know what you're doing. Mine is a 240v/50a backfeed, with separate breaker for the genset. All the wiring is right sized. Current monitoring is via this...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G37ML2R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Spigot and suicide cord below

Edited February 26, 2021 by mikegideon

[xtriggerman]

2 hours ago, mikegideon said:

Backfeed is tricky. You better know what you're doing. Mine is a 240v/50a backfeed, with separate breaker for the genset. All the wiring is right sized. Current monitoring is via this...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G37ML2R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Spigot and suicide cord below

I do the same as you with a 1800 rpm 8Kw single cylinder diesel. I get 24hrs of summer time whole house on just 5 gallons of fuel.  Back feeding is fine as long as you do it right like you have there.  Between the 220 outlet wire size and REMEMBER to all ways flip the panel main to off before back feeding takes place, its the cheapest way to power up your home.

[jpx2rk]

how far away is  your gen set up and the connection points to feed the house FROM your main breaker panel for the house.  My main breaker panel is close to the front of the house, so setting a gen up in plain sight is not good IMO.  Noise wise yes, it's away from the living areas of the house, but in plain view from the road in our subdivision.

[ac3boyz]

Our main breaker is on the north end of the house.  main circuit board is in the laundry about 10 feet to the south.  Lee ran wiring from our circuit board to just outside the garage, on the opposite end of the house.  Now we only have to roll the generator outside of the garage to plug in.  Also, it's not visible from the road and thus hopefully less susceptible to theft.

[tnhawk]

I've had a 10k generator for backup power for about fifteen years.  It's been needed less than a dozen times.  It gets started and run briefly on a regular basis as it is powered by gasoline.  I had to replace the battery a few years ago but otherwise it's been ready when needed.  I also have a small honda generator when portable power is needed.  

[kmostell]

Does anyone have any experience with the Patriot Power generator with the solar panels for charging? I have a Generac 15000 gas portable that will cover basically my whole house once the transfer switch, etc is installed but am looking for something smaller, quieter, and more portable than that monster for just one or two small devices in the house... curious about how they perform. Thanks!

[Quavodus]

I don't have one but, need to get one. A friend at work got one last Winter and it pretty much saved him. His power was out for about a week. He got one that is only gas. He looked for one that was also able to run on propane but, couldn't find one. 

[monkeylizard]

I borrowed a very loud Craftsman genset from a friend after the 2010 flood for the first few days before power was restored. It was a lifesaver running fans, dehumidifiers, lights, and battery chargers.
I bought a much quieter Honda EU6500is inverter after that and have never used it. I run it occasionally to keep it operational but that's it. My in-laws borrowed it once this past winter when their power was out for a couple of days. It worked great for them. Kept the TV, fridge, and lights running.

I'll probably sell my 6500 at some point and get a 2000-3500w sized one like a Honda EU2000/2200 or a Generac iQ3500. That Generac is SUPER quiet (44 dBA) but at 109lbs. dry it's not the easiest thing to move around compared to the 47lb Honda which is pretty dang quiet (48 dBA) itself.

Edited July 21, 2021 by monkeylizard