txsmkmstr wrote:Good Generators is a broad spectrum subject. You should define your anticipated needs and $$$'s willing to achieve the goal. I would love a whole-house set up but can't justify the price at this moment. Having endured a 3 day outage many years ago I knew I needed SOMETHING to get me thru similar situations. I initially settled on a decent Generac 5500/6500 "portable" unit. I never did get it properly hooked up (transfer switch, etc.) and used a time or two.
I had some issues with the concept. First, it was LOUD and I do mean loud. Forget trying to sleep or do much critical thinking. That also has a tendency to attract unwanted attention, although I was never starved for power. The other thing was portability - oh sure it had pneumatic tires but pushing one across a snow/ice covered yard was a pretty big challenge and not fun in total darkness. The third item concerned the output - pretty hot voltage pumping out 129 VAC. I avoided any sensitive electronic hookups such as computers or TV's.
I rethought my needs and dialed in exactly what I wanted to power for say 3 days or more. Cold beer, frozen meat, light and heat were the must have items regardless of what time of year it was. A/C would be nice but not required. We know the Honda line of inverter generators are at the top of the list (plus a few others) but the price point was again - beyond my means. Started to research Predator (HarborFreight) and Champion inverter technology units. I initially bought a Champion 2000 watt (surge) unit and fell in love with it. Super quiet and appeared to be well built. On top of that I could actually pick it up and carry it (carefully ) so no more rolling thru the snow. This took care of my chest freezer and full size fridge along with an LED floodlight or two. I made the decision to pick up a second unit and finding both on sale meant I had two for less than a similar size Honda unit. Note that inverter technology is very stable and clean power - I could use the TV and computer with it if I absolutely needed to.
I re-wired my furnace airhandler unit to have a standard plug in connection. With natural gas the fan only needed a 15 amp circuit so this solved my heat problem. I'm now able to run all my needs at the same time and put things to a nice unplanned 56 hour test just a month or so ago. All systems are go. FWIW, I did test out a small A/C window unit that I had and it would run on a single unit with nothing else. I would have to do a temporary install as I redid my old windows and abandoned the window A/C but have it available.
Something to consider when going this route is routing the extension cords into the house. I always hated running them through a window (after screen removal) and closing a towel on the cords so I installed a wall pass-through with back-to-back duplex receptacles. The common tab was removed so each inlet was separated. A double male ended extension cord was cobbled together (safety hazard if hooked up without common sense) and that connects the outside generators to the house. Now I have hot outlet (one for each generator) in the house for my cords.
Anyway - likely not what this thread is about but I have time on my hands and sick of looking at snow and the thermometer - too darn early to start drinking beer. My set-up for those interested.
Built a little caddy to shuffle them around in the garage - good for my bi-weekly test run....
Its never to early to start drinking beer. Ever