Load limits
- Thread starter garlicGuy
- Start date
400 amps is 96kw.
All depends if they actually need that much power. Most places here are 100 or 125 amp.
I have a 7kw gen set that handles everything I need.
I meant maybe can't run the dryer while heater up my Swanson's TV dinner and fish sticks in the toaster oven while welding and filling truck tires.
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
Impossible to answer such a question without a lot more detail about the actual loads in the house
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
It's not too big in the sense that it won't function. But it's likely going to waste a massive amount of fuel as I doubt many homes use anywhere near that much power
BigGarage
Well-known member
I'm certain that will be in his 2nd post
TractorJeff
Well-known member
If he is like some people, he wants the house the same all the time. Whether he actually has the multiple air conditioning units running or not.
walta
Well-known member
Yes, It would be great to have the huge gen set and go about your life as normal right thru any outage.
Consider a gen set that size is going to run its weekly self-test and burn thru a lot of fuel. At my place a 15-minute weekly self-test would burn 3 times more fuel than power outages would burn. If the fuel is coming from a tank on site when the outage does happen how full will the tank be when you need it? How will you feel paying hundreds of dollars to refill the fuel tank and the only outage you can recall was 5 minutes last year?
I understand large gen set do not like to operate lightly loaded and burn much more fuel per watt of power produced lightly loaded.
It is a great luxury but at what cost?
Walta
Consider a gen set that size is going to run its weekly self-test and burn thru a lot of fuel. At my place a 15-minute weekly self-test would burn 3 times more fuel than power outages would burn. If the fuel is coming from a tank on site when the outage does happen how full will the tank be when you need it? How will you feel paying hundreds of dollars to refill the fuel tank and the only outage you can recall was 5 minutes last year?
I understand large gen set do not like to operate lightly loaded and burn much more fuel per watt of power produced lightly loaded.
It is a great luxury but at what cost?
Walta
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quickfarms
Well-known member
Generators are happiest running about 2/3 of there capacity. This is especially true for diesels.
What you need to do is look at your actual power usage to determine what the correct size generator is
What you need to do is look at your actual power usage to determine what the correct size generator is
Lassen Forge
Well-known member
I way oversized ours for emergency power at our house, 22KW 230V figuring 2 things - 1, if I needed to run everything at once (including the wall heaters), and the well pumps kicked on, would it cover it?, and 2, if I was running the generator at low capacity (say 2500 watts) it would be barely sipping fuel.
Both scenarios played out, one winter we needed the wall heaters, electric oven, well pump, and shop... no problem. When not, however, it would stretch the 350 gallon propane tank almost a month.
Side info - One, we went with Propane as we had the tanks installed, and while propane is not as thrifty as, say, diesel, it also doesn't grow algae and fungus... since we were setting up for a potential "dimished grid situation", we wanted enough to keep the power on for quite a while if needed, ergo it lasts indefinitely without degradation. Also I already had experience with a propane portable genset at altitude, so knew the consumption issues and that running a correctly tuned genset with little to no drag induced from the rotor/stator interaction from having low demand (the more demand = the more drag from the generator = more fuel needed to spin it)...
Both scenarios played out, one winter we needed the wall heaters, electric oven, well pump, and shop... no problem. When not, however, it would stretch the 350 gallon propane tank almost a month.
Side info - One, we went with Propane as we had the tanks installed, and while propane is not as thrifty as, say, diesel, it also doesn't grow algae and fungus... since we were setting up for a potential "dimished grid situation", we wanted enough to keep the power on for quite a while if needed, ergo it lasts indefinitely without degradation. Also I already had experience with a propane portable genset at altitude, so knew the consumption issues and that running a correctly tuned genset with little to no drag induced from the rotor/stator interaction from having low demand (the more demand = the more drag from the generator = more fuel needed to spin it)...
Steve from Socal
Well-known member
Unless you have a nearly consistant 50 KW load roughly 200 amps that generator would be very inefficient. A 25 KW gen set and battery bank for surge demand would perhaps be a better fit?
wyliesdiesels
Well-known member
my troll/spam meter is close to maxing out on this one.I'm certain that will be in his 2nd post
Metal-Marc
Well-known member
OP is mining bitcoins in his basement. He needs all the power he can get.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Same. New poster, very specific question, odd wording and a profile Pic.
This is spam
BigGarage
Well-known member
And yet the all-day suckers never notice anything is wrong and continue to offer help.
