Advice on portable generator?

[mrodgers]

Originally Posted by Cheshire Figment

But the post that I quoted said 5000 kilowatts, not 5000 watts or 5 KW. 5000 kilowatts equals five Megawatts.

Ah ha, I do see it now. Missed the "k" the first time around.

[rock_doctor]

A day or two after the power comes on make a mad dash to your local homedepot with a 10% lowes coupon (from the post office) and get the biggest generator you can get your hands on 10kw preferably but no smaller then 5 or 6kw. Usually they get a ton of returns after a storm that they now have to clearance out as used... Once you do this you will need to get an electrician to install an interlock switch and a outlet outside to plug your generator into. So when the power goes out you plug you gen into the outside outlet and flick a few switches on the panel and you are good to go. Just to remind....that generator is as loud as a lawnmower so they are subject to "being borrowed" (permanently) in the middle of the night... plus it is going to burn 5 or 6 gal of gas in a 8-10 hr period. So you can crank though quite a bit of fuel in a week. I have a 5kw with a 8.6kw serge gen that i wired up myself (wire my house so i know how to do it) and it does work find for those necessaries. Since you are on a well that may mean you are not horrible close to your neighbors and that is to your advantage. Do some serious research and decide what will work for you. If you do have.... 6 or 7 grand to spend you can get a very nice permanent diesel setup that will run for days and carry the whole house. Don't let your husband see this he will not sleep for a week... It is a guy thing...

[North of Mouse]

Originally Posted by Cheshire Figment

This might be a bit of overkill, and definitely will not be portable!

Trust me, it is not overkill, and ours is portable (at least to where we need it from our outdoor garage). We have a 5,000w also, and it has wheels. We use it for our well, freezer, refrigerator, selected outlets and lights, also blower for our fireplace heater (for winter). We had our electrician wire our home so we could shut down one panel, and then plug the generator in. We would never try to run an AC though. To me now, that is overkill . Fans are very welcome, and sufficient in a pinch.
Also, my dh does start it often and runs it awhile. It's the best "insurance" we've ever purchased :-)

[EMAW_KSU]

Originally Posted by North of Mouse

Trust me, it is not overkill, and ours is portable (at least to where we need it from our outdoor garage). We have a 5,000kw also, and it has wheels. We use it for our well, freezer, refrigerator, selected outlets and lights, also blower for our fireplace heater (for winter). We had our electrician wire our home so we could shut down one panel, and then plug the generator in. We would never try to run an AC though. To me now, that is overkill . Fans are very welcome, and sufficient in a pinch.
Also, my dh does start it often and runs it awhile. It's the best "insurance" we've ever purchased :-)

A 5000 kw generator would power 2000 to 4500 homes.

[shortbun]

Originally Posted by Cheshire Figment

This might be a bit of overkill, and definitely will not be portable!

pretty sure they meant 5000watts, not kilowatts. 5000kw would be a small power plant, ;O

[North of Mouse]

Originally Posted by EMAW_KSU

A 5000 kw generator would power 2000 to 4500 homes.

You're absolutely right, meant 5,000w LOL - had kw on the brain

[North of Mouse]

Originally Posted by Pooh_Friend#1

I always see portable generators in pawn shops, maybe you can get one cheaper there?!

Wouldn't go that way personally. You never know how they've been serviced, taken care of. They need to be run every so often, and to us it was well worth the price of a new one several years ago, and the best "insurance" we ever bought

[Mkebound]

I have a 3500kw, 4000 peak portable generator.

It runs my well, the fridge, basment freezer and a few lights. It cost me $400 before one of the hurricanes a few years ago and has been great. I lost power here in CT for 9 days after the October snowstorm last year.

My well draws 1200kw when it kicks in, and it doesn't run all the time.
The fridge draws 650kw and we have a big one.

The big draws in a house would be a microwave, electric dryer, AC & electric stove. If you don't need to run those during a limited power outage, why spend thousands when a few hundred dollars will keep the fridge, freezer and well running?

[lovetheduck]

We also live in CT, and when the power goes out it's usually for at least 5 days. I would suggest getting the biggest unit you can afford. Once you're making the investment, it would be great to run a few lights, one tv, internet, garage doors. Sometimes it's the little things that make the most difference.
And don't forget the water heater!

[North of Mouse]

Originally Posted by Zhoen

Not that being without power for days in a heat wave while my kid had a tummy bug wasn't just AWESOME... but DH and I have decided it's time to look into a portable generator. We're on a well, so when we lose power, we lose water, as in--the toilets don't flush-- and that seriously stinks, no pun intended. We lose power for days whenever there's a hurricane, and it's getting really old. This was the first time we actually bothered to relocate, and only because she was sick, but I'd like to never have to do that again.

We're looking at the portable ones, since the other type run many-thousands-of-dollars. Ideally I'd like to be able to run (1)the well (2)the fridge (3)a room AC in the summer (in the winter we've got a wood stove, so we're fine).

Any recommendations on how much wattage we should be looking for, brands to seek or avoid, etc?

We *feel* your pain We have a Generac 5500 with/Storm Surge to 8500 and it works great. Our house is prewired where we can flip one switch, then plug the generator right in. We have pre selected outlets we want to be on it - refrigerator, freezer, fireplace fan, a few lights, extra outlet, our well. That's it. We didn't try for a AC - figured we could make do with fans.

Can't remember the price - $500 - $600 sounds about right. It sure is the best thing we have ever invested it though

We haven't used it in a while, but that's just fine - it stays ready My dh starts and runs it about once every 6 months - has never failed to start right up! We keep extra gas in cans which we *rotate* fairly often to keep it good.

[lost*in*cyberspace]

The November issue of Consumer Reports recommends the 5,500 watt gasoline powered Generac Gp5500 5939 for $670.