we have a 5500k gas generator, it ran non-stop for 4 months when we built our house, now we use it for backup. It powered out entire house, tv’s, computers, microwave, all lights. We ran business as usuall with no issues. I think diesel is overkill for a backup generator, a gas one will probably outlive you unless you run it for years non-stop, plus thier cheaper.
I started this thread on 9-25-2006, I think it shows my incredible foresight.
But then again I know the guy in DC that controls the weather.:snky:
Fuck yeah!
Id fill up a truck, and play some loud tunes and drive around the rich neighborhoods like Spaulding Lake, and sell for $1500 cash nigga.
It would be like an ice cream truck. Minus the pedophilac undertones.
edit: hoooray for price gouging!
my dad just bought the 13,000 watt generac
edit: sorry, he bought a guardian…2,900 shipped
nah, that guy shoulda been SHOT.
13,000 watts!?!
Is he powering the whole neighborhood?:mamoru:
I’m pretty sure that would only power his heat and maybe the 1st floor of the house
http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?prod_id=100466723&cm_mmc=1hd.com2froogle--product_feed--D25X-_-100466723
Does he heat with electric or gas?
The blower motor on a gas furnace doesn’t have that much draw.
gas, 2 furnaces
Just had a moment of insight actually, lol. Don’t know if it would work, but I wonder if there is a way to hook up a wind turbine to the chimney for you wood furnace? And using the natural flow of the heat riding to spin the turbine and generate electricity? But then you have the issue of it prolly only making a marginal amount, lol.
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.
Natural Gas generators for the win… we used them at my old job, and they worked great. Plus with an automatic transfer switch, they’d come online after 10 seconds of outage, and the UPS’s on the IT infrastructure would absorb that with no problem. When we had the big blackout a few years ago, the system only revealed one flaw:
Make sure you have the correct output to run your HVAC system. I think we needed 220 single phase and our generator was putting out 110. So our A/C blower was running but not the compressor. Oops. Lots of fans to the rescue…
I think that was a 50kW generator that we had, but I don’t remember the price. Way overkill for most homes, but OTOH, you could go through something like this like nothing happened.
Nice if you want to spend 10-15k, by the time you buy it, get it delivered, a pad installed, and an electrician to hook it up. The house behind mine has one and yeah, to them there was no power outage. But for $699 I have heat, TV, lights and a dry basement. Add in my gas stove and I had warm meals. Sure, I have to go get gas now and then, and I can’t run my whole house just like I was on street power, but I have $9300 to $14300 in my pocket. I just can’t justify spending that much for something I might use 5 hours per year total most years, and maybe 6-7 days this freak year.
Actually, the natural gas generators for residential homes run about 4K-6K w/ auto switch (installation included). So they really aren’t that far fetched.
I currently have a borrowed Yamaha 6600DE generator that was more than adequate to run my sump, furnace, 2 de-humidifiers, lights, and my TV/ PS2/Xbox without a hitch. I erred on the side of caution, and usually once the house was heated, I shut off the breaker to the furnace, the same for anything else. The only thing that was always on was the sump.
Ironically, 4 days before the storm, I ordered a 4500 generator. Irony at it’s best. I since cancelled the order after using my buddy’s Yamaha and I plan on buying a similar 6000 or more generator. In two years or so, I will probably get a natural gas generator.
my generator’s ran from thursday night till sat night my parents house non stop and ive been using it at night at my apt in kenmore cause still no power this sucks
Consumer Reports just had a review of generators in this months issue,or maybe it was last months.All I remember is the Honda 3k watt one was ranked #1 becuase it actually put out more than specified,quiet,very efficient.Downside was the cost,they said it was $1000.:tdown:
They also have a wattage calculator on this page…
how dirty is the power?
is something like this good enough to clean up the line?
http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=2813
That calculator is very handy.
Good find.:tup:
Looks like 5000watts would be plenty in an emergency.
6000watts would be pimpin.