Generators

Willow

Ok guys, talk to me about generators. What should I look for, ideally to run the fridge, deep freezer and maybe a couple other small appliances. Trying to keep it under 2k.

Dabutcher

Lots of choices out there. The only two brands I would consider is Honda number one and Yamaha two. Good luck. D

mhardy6647

Unless you want to go hardwired standby power -- a whole house hookup (outside) and a Honda EU7000is will keep you going, and keep any 'sensitive' electronics happy. The latter will justify the price of the former!
The Honda inverter generators are quiet (stunningly quiet) and fuel efficient, too. EDIT: I am pretty sure the Yamaha generators are of similar quality -- I just have no experience with them.

Wanna go full-on standby (i.e., auto switchover)?
Generac's what they used when I worked in Big Pharma.
Those guys -- kind of care about maintaining the right environment, especially in biotech, where we had thousands of liters of cell culture producing drugs for you and me.

(actually, we made our own power for the manufacturing facility -- but the cold storage & whatnot depended on Generac standby power)

Unfortunately, under $2k is going to get you: not enough power (Yamaha or Honda), dirty power, or junky quality. The critical question is how important is what you want to use the generator for? You might be fine with a big old-school generator from Horrible Freight (or the same basic models sold under myriad names by the big box stores of various flavors).

motorstereo

I bought one of thesehttps://www.harborfreight.com/3500-watt-super-quiet-inverter-generator-56720.html several years ago and am very pleased with it. Quiet, sips gas, and the power is clean enough to run my puter and tv which it has done many times during outages.

pitdogg2

Many folks in my area have went Generac that are natural gas.
They do have a 7.5kw model for about $2100 installed. Not sure if its large enough for your use or if its NG. Honestly if I was going to do one I'd think hard about a stand alone and not portable model.
Power gone it automatically theows the transfer switch and goes. No extension cords or do I have enough fuel on hand.

dromunds

Not to mention switching back and forth plugging and unplugging different appliances, whole house Generac type is nice.

mhardy6647

You know what the best thing about shopping for generators is? You get to compare THD specs on the AC!
https://generatorbible.com/blog/what-is-thd/

The inverter generators are pretty good. They'd probably get headless panthers on ASR, though.
Not sure how the signal to noise ratio stacks up, either.

The $900 Horrible Freight inverter generator linked to above looks good -- the question is, when you really need it one day, 5 years from now... will it work? Don't get me wrong, it might be every bit as good in that regard as the Honda that would be ca. four times the price -- but, then again, it might not.

I.e., it's a risk-based decision, and only the OP (@Willow) can decide the value of the cash outlay for the generator vs. the potential loss of... whatever he's trying to protect, or the quality of life he's trying to maintain.

motorstereo

mhardy6647 wrote: »

You know what the best thing about shopping for generators is? You get to compare THD specs on the AC!
https://generatorbible.com/blog/what-is-thd/

The inverter generators are pretty good. They'd probably get headless panthers on ASR, though.
Not sure how the signal to noise ratio stacks up, either.

The $900 Horrible Freight inverter generator linked to above looks good -- the question is, when you really need it one day, 5 years from now... will it work? Don't get me wrong, it might be every bit as good in that regard as the Honda that would be ca. four times the price -- but, then again, it might not.

I.e., it's a risk-based decision, and only the OP (@Willow) can decide the value of the cash outlay for the generator vs. the potential loss of... whatever he's trying to protect, or the quality of life he's trying to maintain.

I've had my "Horrible Freight" gen at least 5 years now and yes it does work just like it did fresh out of the box. I guarantee it will start by the 3rd pull just like a Honda even though I haven't used it in a few months. For occasional use (like when a drunk hits a pole) it's just what I need. If it was something that got used every day then a Honda no doubt would be a better idea.

polrbehr

Amazon has dual-fuel generators for well under $2000, I had the 9500W model for about 1.5 years then gave it to my mom. I liked it because it ran on gasoline or LP (BBQ tank worked fine but probably would not last a day at 50%?), but mostly because it had an electric start with a remote fob, so she could start it without going outside. It was quiet enough and provided a 240VAC 30A outlet along with two 20A 110VAC outlets if you wanted to go with extension cords.

Nightfall

I would buy Honda speakers if they made them. 😉

sucks2beme

My wife and I have talked about a natural gas whole house generator.
Power outages during storms are common around here.
The ads run on the radio all the time. I guess it's about time to
get an estimate.

Willow

We've been getting hit with some nasty storms in the past 4 years. Power is usually restored in a couple hours. But last weekend we were out for 7hrs. Some of the city still don't have power today. I just care about fridge and freezer. Electronics I don't care.

mhardy6647

Ironcally we had a power out(r)age Friday night/Saturday morning. Lasted from about midnight to about 5:30 AM. I had an early departure time Saturday morning (goin' down to Mrs. H's alma mater for the day -- it's her reunion weekend), so at 4:30 I rolled the generator out, hooked it up, turned off the PVs (three breakers... because we installed two separate systems), flipped the switch, and was able to have running water & light & stuff while I got ready to hit the road for South Hadley, MA.

The power came back on before I left, so I was able to disconnect, flip on the PVs and go back on the grid before I left at 6 AM.

Auto back-up would be nice, but, again, we don't lose power all that often (although, inexplicably, more often in the past year or so) and the expense, relative to my tolerance, is substantial.

NotaSuv

sucks2beme wrote: »

My wife and I have talked about a natural gas whole house generator.
Power outages during storms are common around here.
The ads run on the radio all the time. I guess it's about time to
get an estimate.

That was at the top of my must have list when buying our house.....after spending 7 days without power during the last hurricane I swore that I would not go thru that sweaty experince again.we have a monster natural gas Generac that runs the entire house without breaking a sweat including the laser sighted perimeter deterrents ....

polrbehr

I don't know if they've "caught up" as of today, but I can tell you Generac was way behind with getting orders out. I signed the contract in early Sept '21 and the generator was not installed until Feb 13 of this year - and the generator was shipped without the WiFi module (they said 3-6 months for those?).

I found this odd because it seemed every time you flipped through the channels on TV there was Les Stroud touting the benefits of having a standby Generac... maybe they should have spent more money on production instead of advertising? LOL

sucks2beme

Modern manufacturing is based on "just in time" parts delivery.
Unfortunately that just doesn't happen now. So anyone making anything
finds the production line at a standstill for one part or another.
The only good news is they are starting to rebuild domestic sources
for stuff. Until then, everything takes longer and costs more.
This is starting to look like a must have year for a generator.

pitdogg2

We've had more power disruptions in the last 7 yrs here than in the last 25 combined. My mother who is on oxygen 24/7 went through her entire 2week supply of tanks the last outage. Who cares about food if you need oxygen to breathe and you don't have power it's life-threatening. The tanks are only for doctors appointments when she is away from the machine.

dromunds

There are usually Generac dealers that have inventory. My mother was told by local dealers last summer that she’d have to wait until spring but I called Generac directly and they found a dealer with an inventory in a different part of the State and she had it installed six weeks later. Turned out the owner’s brother who did the install lived only about 20 miles from my mother. The really cold weather and resulting power outages in Texas and other southern states last spring led to a big run on generators, among other things. I called Kohler, Cummins and everyone was in the same boat. I made sure she got a generator made in the US, some are now being made in China.

polrbehr

I really should clarify, the Generac I committed to (18Kw) was on backorder; I could have gotten a 22Kw in late November, but the difference between fuel consumption was not subtle. And since I rely on twin propane tanks (no public gas available on my block) to run this thing, the last thing I wanted was to run out after 3 days continuous use. The smaller 14Kw backlog was even greater, and a 10Kw just wasn't going to cut it even with load shed modules - my rationale was to just be able to keep everything on without anyone needing to get involved.

And I totally agree, as more and more EV chargers get put into use, I think the power grid here is going to take some hits during peak seasons. My .02

sucks2beme

The issue is they are dumping coal and nuclear plants and replacing them with
wind. My local power comes mostly from TVA. So it's hydroelectric.
The big issue is lack of line maintenance. The new guy in charge asked for a 5%
price increase to fix those issues, and was rejected by a vote of the city council.
So every storm that comes through knocks out a bunch of power.

gmcman

If you want portable with clean power, look for a brushless generator head.

I don't know if Honda or Yamaha use brushless but those are pretty "clean"

Many of the portable units use brushed heads but many do not, just food for thought.

I have an older Coleman Powermate 11000 with a 20HP Honda Twin and a brushless generator head...I have no issues with sensitive electronics, pretty clean power but not as good as the inverter generators...but you will get what you pay for.

motorstereo

2 thumbs up to my little Harbor Freight 3500 Predator generator. Power is out now due to a tree limb and the little 3500 started on the 2nd pull (almost on the 1st). Settled down quickly (hasn't been run in months; possibly even a year) and it's currently powering lights, coffee maker, 2 fridges, a freezer, an 8,000 btu ac and a computer all on treated old gas.
So glad I sent my old Tecumseh powered gen packing as I'd still be trying to get that thing started.

Gardenstater

I have the same one which I bought on sale for under $300 after Sandy. I've only used it twice so far after that but it has started first pull and performed flawlessly. I drain the carburetor and fuel tank after using.