Generator questions???????????

Mike,

Unfortunately, the extent of my generator knowledge was used on the first post.

Figuring out sizing isn’t that hard though. Pretty much every electrical device has an amp rating listed on it somewhere. Watts = amps X volts (volts is almost always 120, 240 for dryers and some other big things).

Keep in mind that electric motors have running watts and startup watts. My 1/3HP sump pump is around 800 watts when it’s running, but when it first kicks on it draws about 1400 for the first few seconds.

I now have a 5550 watt generator at my house, with an 8550 peak. It runs my natural gas furnace (basically just the big blower motor), sump pump, a light in the living room, 19" tv, my laptop (not worried about power because it’s being coverted to 15 volts DC), and a small fridge.

I’m going to look into a UPS for my desktop PC, and if it would be capable of filtering the generator power.

Well, my generator has a 10HP gas engine, and when my sump draws 800 watts I can hear the motor lug a bit, so I would say your “exhaust windmill” might make almost enough power to run a single christmas light.