Generator opinions...

[east_tn_emc]

I am close to purchasing a generator and would like some opinions.

I am looking at either a 6500 Watt Honda (EM6500S) generator or one of the larger Generac (17.5k Watt) generators.

I am looking for a general emergency-use generator for the home (and garage )

Any and all opinions are welcome. I have read a number of other generator discussions on the board, but would like opinions on these options.

Which way would you go, and why?



Thanks.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Both are decent machines, but the size will depend on how much you want (or need) to run at any given time.

 

[psp]

honda because they are o so quiet

 

[jimp]

If you want it for emergency, you might consider a dual or tri-fuel unit.

I have a 6500 watt tri fuel unit and a natural gas unit. I use the tri fuel in town since it can run on natural gas, gasoline and propane. The natural gas unit is fueled from a gas well.

 

[Greatbear]

I have the big Generac, and it's a fine unit. Runs the entire house and garage and practically everything in them. During Irene my power was out for six days, and life at home was normal, in an all-electric, well water-supplied house. The only downsides to a large generator are the size (of course) and the fuel consumption at light loads. The Generac is one of the most efficient of the big portables, but when lightly loaded (less than 1kw) it's a gas hog. This is where smaller generators are more practical. Of course, if your power needs occasionally go beyond 6500w, the Honda will be a disappointment. I used to have a Coleman Vantage 4800w that was remarkably easy on gas at light loads, but the gen head burned out. Replacement parts for it cost more than a new generator. It handled 90% of the typical loads in the house, but some things, like the water heater, needed to be turned off when lots of other small loads were drawing, and run mostly by itself when the hot water needed to be replenished. The Generac doesn't care, everything can run at the same time with no difficulty.

I plan on getting a small, ~2-3kw inverter-based generator for both camping and long term (overnight) small loads. Best of both worlds.

 

[nit2wn]

We have one with a Honda motor and I love it. I used dad's older one with a Briggs and it was insane on how loud it was. When that old Briggs died, I was actually happy. The Honda is half the noise and a bigger generator. If it all possible, I advise you hear one running before purchase. Those little Honda motors seem pretty good on gas too.

 

[nehog]

at 17.5 that is a big generator. Now most don't want to be run at full load (and I bet that 17.5 is peak not continuous) but my big generator shows I draw an average of about 5 KW and that is with electric heat! Sure if I hit the microwave, make toast in the toaster oven, coffee in the pot, and do a few other things, my wife dries her hair in the bathroom... the usage jumps up a bit!

Look at engine RPMs. If the generac unit is 1800 RPM and the Honda is 3600 (which is typical of smaller air-cooled units) then go with the 1800 RPM unit. Your neighbors will appreciate it, trust me!

 

[Jackfre]

What are you seeing that you like in the small inverter units?

 

[SuperSocket]

Noise, Power, Cost


Pick two that you want the most.

 

[Strouty]

Another vote for honda, light noise and good on fuel. Price is definitely higher, but you are getting all of your monies worth. As an alternative, Northern Tools has a house brand powered with honda motors, that may be an in between price point.

 

[omr]

some of the inverter style honda generators can be run in series so if you only need a small generator some of the time get 2 smaller generators and run them in series if you need more power ..

 

[rlitman]

some of the inverter style honda generators can be run in series so if you only need a small generator some of the time get 2 smaller generators and run them in series if you need more power ..

You mean, in parallel. Yes, the 1000, 2000, and 3000W Honda inverters can be paired up to double their output.

 

[2manytoyz]

I used to have larger generators. They consume a lot of fuel, even if not heavily loaded. Not an issue for a day or two, but our last major outage from a hurricane was 18 days. Gas stations that had fuel, couldn't pump it because they didn't have power either.

I've since changed my strategy. Rather than trying to power up most of the house, I made a list of critical items. Things like the fridge, lights, fan, etc. Then nice to have things, like a small TV, and a 5000 BTU window A/C. Add up the wattage, and see what you get.

As it turns out, I "needed" a lot less generator to be comfortable. I went with a Yamaha EF2400iS inverter style generator. At a 1/4 load, it sips fuel at ~ 1.5 gallons per 8 hours, and hums at 53 dB. FWIW, unless the fridge is going through a defrost cycle, it'll run everything I've listed from idle.

This generator was also designed to run a 13,500 BTU RV A/C unit, so it gets taken on trips too.

More details on my webpage: http://www.2manytoyz.com/yamaha2400.html

A conventional generator uses typically 1 - 1.5 gallons per hour. Running it for the 18 day outage we experienced = 1.5 x 24 x 18 = 648 gallons. Even if it only used 1.0 gallons per hour, that's still 432 gallons.

This inverter type generator uses 1.5 gallons per 8 hours. Same 18 days = 1.5 x 3 x 18 = 81 gallons.

Not saying you should only have 1 generator, and it must be a fuel efficient one, but it would certainly be my recommendation to make this your primary generator to run a limited number of critical loads. If you want to run any 240V appliances periodically, fire up a monster generator briefly. Otherwise you might find your resources running out before the crisis is over. Food for thought...

 

[Cheap5.0]

^^^ I did that, made a list of what i would go crazy without and what i needed to preserve $$$ (fridge, freezer, fish tanks).

After making the list, i came to about 4000KW adding 10% for irregularities in appliance ratings. I use a cheap home depot ($550) genny with a subaru engine. I can go about 10 hours on a full tank of gas with a 75% load, considering the tank of gas is about 3.75 gallons thats pretty damn good.

Its not quiet, however its not a nuisance. We have lost power for 3 days before, after the first 2 hours you dont even hear it. Kind of like how you get used to living on a busy road.

My wife is a very light sleeper, and with it running 30 ft outside our bedroom window it does not bother her. Of course, I keep the muffler pointed away from the building/trees to reduce noise.

Just my $0.02 on this. I power:

Fridge
Chest freezer
1 big fish tank, 6 small ones
all the lamps in the house
42" LCD tv
Cable box
DVD
Stereo

And i have my furnace wired so i can plug it in, which draws very little power.

When we lose power, i just deal with having to go to my parents for showers and running water. If i can afford to in the future, i would love to get a full house genny with auto switch...but for the little bit of money i have spent on this one, and for how reliable its been (4 years of occasional use, starts on the 3-4th pull everytime) i think this works well.

 

[bd8134]

I was considering a generator when Irene came through and we were without power for 4 days. I hated it, I realized how much we rely on electricity.
For many of the reasons 2manytoyz, Greatbear etc said, you should carefully consider the fuel source. I have no gas supply and only a 100 gallon propane tank for the garage heater. So it needed to be gas / diesel. The larger units consume a lot of gas and if they are running low, like in some parts of NH or they cant pump gas.
I chose the Honda EU2000 and the companion so the 2 units can be hooked up to output ~30A at 120v, no 220v.
I bought an interlock for my main fuse panel and a 30A dual breaker and ran 8-2 to a Generac outside 120v 30A box. I tested it after the panel was inspected by the town and never expected to use it in anger.
Over saturday night we lost power and it worked great.
The generators run in parallel, so quiet and nice and easy to carry around. They increase revs when the load increases. We had all the lights available, every outlet, plus I had power in garage. Pellet stove, fridge/freezer, furnace, hot water, coffee maker, dishwasher, TV, internet, no 220v but we have a combination microwave so we used the bread maker and then baked it in the microwave.
Obviously we had to be careful what we switched on at the same time but I did not trip the generators. Each unit holds 1.1 gallons and with low load is rated to run for 9.4hrs.
They worked great, very quiet and know my wife can move these herself.
For us, 2 small units is better than lugging around 1 large unit.
They are also the inverter generator so it is safe for electronics.
We got ours from wisesales.com, very nice to deal with and cheaper than anywhere I could find.
One down side. I was working on a Mini Cooper on my Bendpak 2 post. No 220v to get it down, same thing happened with previous storm.
Luckily we got power back last night so now all set.

 

[2manytoyz]

Ditto on purchasing from Wise Sales. Great people to deal with, good prices too.

FWIW, the method I'm now using is often referred to as "micro-climate". I keep one room cool/warm, depending on the season. Run the lights just in that room, other rooms only as necessary. Even during the peak of a FL Summer, a 5000 BTU A/C unit had more than enough capacity to cool the master bedroom, provided the door to the rest of the house was kept shut. I don't store enough fuel to power up the entire house, or the central A/C system. It's not necessary to be comfortable. I do store at least 50 gallons of fuel in my shed. Each 5 gallon container represents about 1 day of running the generator non-stop. I also have a 900AH battery bank, and about a 1KW solar array. The generator has become less necessary.

A Kill-A-Watt meter is a great $20 tool to own. While it won't show the start up current of appliances, it does give you the running current, along with the total amount of energy used over the course of a day. Make a list of what you need, versus what would be nice to have. Measure what it draws, add up the totals. Get a ballpark idea of what you'll need.

 

[Cheap5.0]

They are also the inverter generator so it is safe for electronics.

Is it bad to use our LCD TV with my current (cheap) generator? Id hate to destroy my LCD in peak Hockey season!

 

[bacpacker]

+100 on the Kill-A-Watt meter. Very handy in figuring out what kind of load you have for Gensets or for figuring solar or wind systems.

I ran a ham radio Em-Comm group for several years and we purchased one of the Honda Eu2000i's. IMO they can't be beat for what they are, very clean power. We were able to run in Econo mode but ran for over 13 hours and never ran out of fuel (1.1 gal capacity). The noise level is so low it really is no bother and would be very easy to quiten with an enclouse of some type. IIRC they only weight about 40lb's or so.

The parallel kit would be able to power a fair list of things in the house (not everything by any strech). We have used it running the fridge and frezzers plus other stuff by switching loads out and can get by on 2000w fairly easily. For a long term need I don' think you can beat them due to the fuel savings. 2 gallons a day would give you 24 hour coverage for the most part.

 

[66HertzClone]

I have a Cooper 12kw unit wired in at my house, natural gas fueled. It's been running since about 4:00 am on Sunday morning when we lost power due to the snow storm. I've had it now about 7 years and only problem was a failure of the starter solenoid. I called the distributer and they had a tech call me back. I told him what was happening and he told me it was the solenoid, go to the auto parts store and buy a Ford fender mount solenoid he told me. About 20 minutes later it was fixed.

I does power the dishwasher, washer or dryer, central air, or the ovens, but nearly ever light in the house and outlet work.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

We use Hondas for demonstrations of some sensitive portable electronics. They are the most trouble free and the "cleanest" power. Our experience has been that a poor generator can cause weird things to happen to the electronics we deal with.

No doubt that either would be good, though, for general home use.

 

[east_tn_emc]

Thanks for all the info everyone...especially 2manytoyz, you have me some things to think about regarding fuel consumption that I had not fully thought about.

I decided to go with a Honda unit. I brought it home today. A brand-new EM6500S. It has an electric start (battery tray kit will be here Monday). It starts and runs great.

I purchased directly from the Honda Dealer in Chattanooga. Those guys are first-rate and really took care of me.