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Home Generator

Jefftowz

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Looking to buy a emergency generator for the house, just to run a fan or 2 and the refrigerator.... Any thoughts?
 

2Driver

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Id stick with Honda or Yamaha I have Hondas. Be sure its an inverter not just a construction gen set

Also look up the start up load draw of your fridge. It is a whole lot more than the running draw. You need to be sure you get plenty of generator.

Last get the right ext cord. A standard outdoor 16 gauge or even 14 cord can cook.
use 12 gauge if you are running 50’ There are charts you can use to
determine the correct gauge size
 

SHOCKtheMONKEY

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I've got a Yamaha 2000
Runs my fridge, freezer, TV, and some lights. Will also run my FAU if I need the heater. Just ran it a few weeks ago when we had a rolling blackout.
 

DLC

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What we have set up at my Ca house, is a Yamaha 4500 watt generator, it has a 30 amp twist loc plug And I plug that into my 30 amp RV socket tied to the house.

you have to shut your main breaker off to only Feed your house and and Make sure all heavy use items are shut off ac pool pump hot tub etc, you will need to keep the 2 pole breakers turned on to get power to both legs of your electrical panel.

make sure you have extra fuel at the house at all times At least 10 gallons!!! Or be able to use propane and fuel (gas ) , some gen sets are multi fuel

propane is a great fuel for generator as it can sit forever and not go bad.
 

2Driver

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What kind of wattage?

Id just do the math on what you plan to run.

Again, get the running load and more important the start up load on the fridge. Then add the other stuff to your fridge start up load. Fans aren’t much at all but heating element is like small cooktop appliance , hair dryer space heater etc. are big.

I think Honda bumped up their 2000 to a 2200. You might get by with that depending on what you are running. It’s the start up load on fridge and ac units that get you. LOL and keeping your wife off the hair dryer.
 

Spudsbud

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What we have set up at my Ca house, is a Yamaha 4500 watt generator, it has a 30 amp twist loc plug And I plug that into my 30 amp RV socket tied to the house.

you have to shut your main breaker off to only Feed your house and and Make sure all heavy use items are shut off ac pool pump hot tub etc, you will need to keep the 2 pole breakers turned on to get power to both legs of your electrical panel.

make sure you have extra fuel at the house at all times At least 10 gallons!!! Or be able to use propane and fuel (gas ) , some gen sets are multi fuel

propane is a great fuel for generator as it can sit forever and not go bad.

This !
 
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jeteater1

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What we have set up at my Ca house, is a Yamaha 4500 watt generator, it has a 30 amp twist loc plug And I plug that into my 30 amp RV socket tied to the house.

you have to shut your main breaker off to only Feed your house and and Make sure all heavy use items are shut off ac pool pump hot tub etc, you will need to keep the 2 pole breakers turned on to get power to both legs of your electrical panel.

make sure you have extra fuel at the house at all times At least 10 gallons!!! Or be able to use propane and fuel (gas ) , some gen sets are multi fuel

propane is a great fuel for generator as it can sit forever and not go bad.
That's how I have mine set up too.
 
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240Hallett

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You can borrow mine...

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sintax

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something that @DLC touched on thats super important, if you're going to do it properly, you're going to want to wire in a proper transfer switch and panel. This will ensure you dont backfeed through your power distribution lines.
 

Paradox

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I definitely would look at the Hondas. They are a no brainer. I have a 6500 for the house and a 2200 for the road and they never fail. I keep a 30 gal. fuel caddy filled (with gas and sta-bil) and run up the generators every 90 days or so. I switch out the gas once a year.
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nameisbond

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I forget the specs but had a Generac at my old house. It was great. Not too loud.
 

Echo Lodge

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Good info here too

 

CLdrinker

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I just got a Westinghouse 2500. I like it. More power than Honda about the same noise. Half price of Honda.
 

rivermobster

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Looking to buy a emergency generator for the house, just to run a fan or 2 and the refrigerator.... Any thoughts?

Last time the power went off at my house, I just ran some long power cords out to my toy hauler generator for the refers.

I have UPS"s on all my computer stuff, and having candles for light was kinda cool while the power was out.
 

X Hoser

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I would do it right. Generac 22K, (19K on natural gas I believe). Whole house, automatic transfer switch. Installed for around $7500. Run everything including the A/C. I did this in my arrowhead house. Can't tell you how many times it paid off!
 

SoCalDave

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Keep in mind that most of the time your power is shut off is due to high temperatures and more power demanding to rolling blackouts or over stressed transformers.
Keep that in mind when your sitting there in front of that little fan...
 
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Mandelon

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We have two of the HONDA 2000's. They have a cord that joins them together, to make 4000. I bought them for work, and usually only need one at a time. But to run larger compressors or a welder we needed a second one. Easier to carry around than a larger one.
 

jeteater1

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I would do it right. Generac 22K, (19K on natural gas I believe). Whole house, automatic transfer switch. Installed for around $7500. Run everything including the A/C. I did this in my arrowhead house. Can't tell you how many times it paid off!

I had a customer over in VOE with a natural gas auto generator. Back in 2003 or 4 had a $ 2000 gas bill one month years ago and she wasn't even there. Power was out for two and a half weeks.
 

WhatExit?

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I've been looking but there are so many choices that I've came down with paralysis by analysis...




I was in Costco yesterday - they have a large Firman dual fuel (forget what it puts out) - I was thinking maybe I should buy one from them and just take it back if I'm not happy with it
 

TITTIES AND BEER

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Keep in mind that most of the time your power is shut off is due to high temperatures and more power demandeading to rolling blackouts or over stressed transformers.
Keep that in mind when your sitting there in front of that little fan...
Not in Ut most of the time either wind or one of our good Mormons had to much to drink 😂
 

Your ad here

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I would get a 3000 Watt Honda or take a hard look at Yahama. If you have time wait for a Honda EX4500 to come up for sale. 4000 continuous running watts, electric start, and quiet. Only downside is no pull start.
 
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Sherpa

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I’d like to get the HF predator 3000 inverter gen a try. All of the HF predator gems are reverse engineered rip offs of Honda. But for a sub-$800 unit, it should work pretty decent. We too have the gen in our camper to run the house and garage fridge if needed
 

adam909

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I live in a area at the base of the mountains where every time the wind blows or some one farts they shut off the power.. After dealing with cords strung all through the house I installed a transfer switch.. Best thing you can do, pretty cheap as well, under a grand.. I can power my entire house except my ac. I run a yahahaa 3400 inverter genertaor and no problems.. They shut my power down saterday and sent me a notice they may shut it down tomorrow.. Fuck our govener
 

X Hoser

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I had a customer over in VOE with a natural gas auto generator. Back in 2003 or 4 had a $ 2000 gas bill one month years ago and she wasn't even there. Power was out for two and a half weeks.
I never experienced anything like that. Most of the time power was out for a few hours, maybe a 12? I guess you could calculate daily cost by flow, (units), per hour times cost per unit? In arrowhead we were more concerned about winter months and keeping us warm and the pipes from freezing. Down in the flat land obviously would be more concerned with the summer months and running the AC, which I'm sure would use more gas running the ac compressor than the heater. Worth checking into. I'm sure they have an app to monitor the use?
 

DLC

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I would get a 3000 Watt Honda or take a hard look at Yahama. If you have time wait for a Honda EX4500 to come up for sale. 4000 continuous running watts, electric start, and quiet. Only downside is no pull start.

Ive ran this one for 6-8 years, works great and remote start up to 65 feet super quiet

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TPC

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Forget Harbor Freight. Get Honda or Yamaha and don't look back.
We're currently installing back up house connection for a Honda 7000.
 

Bigbore500r

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H20 Toie

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i did the Honda 2200 and did a propane conversion, this way i can run gas or propane, with propane i never need to worry about it going bad
 

copterzach

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We have a Generac 30,000 KW. It kicks on after the power goes out automatically. I don’t remember exactly how long. Few minutes. And kicks off when power comes back on. Runs on propane. Runs everything. Like power never went out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

WhatExit?

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I just got a Westinghouse 2500. I like it. More power than Honda about the same noise. Half price of Honda.

Amazon has the Westinghouse 3500 for $843.09 - is this the gen you're referring to being ½ the price of Honda?


i did the Honda 2200 and did a propane conversion, this way i can run gas or propane, with propane i never need to worry about it going bad

Which conversion kit did you use?

I found a Honda 2200 propane conversion kit on Amazon for $269.13

This company offers a propane and NG conversion but it's $399.99

As these prices go up it makes it easier to justify spending more for more output. Too many choices...
 

CLdrinker

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Lol yup that is the one. I paid $630 last week off amazon.
 

CLdrinker

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If your not going to move it around constantly buy the predator 3500. That’s what I was going to do but it’s to big for my use.
 

WhatExit?

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If your not going to move it around constantly buy the predator 3500. That’s what I was going to do but it’s to big for my use.

The bigger ones are interesting but I think I'm going to start with a smaller inverter generator unit - probably a Honda EU2200i) as I can take it off roading/camping and have it at the house for emergencies. It'll likely be good enough to power the fridge (I checked the surge watts) and I figure I could always get the mate for it and pair the two together for more juice.

I'm probably going to buy from Home Depot and pay it over 6 months with zero interest unless I can find a better reason to buy elsewhere.
 

WhatExit?

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So if the Hondas are 2200 watt max and 1800 watt running and I pair them together - I assume it's 4400 watts max and 3600 watts running. And both together are about $2200 which seems good for that much power. Am I missing something on these numbers?

And I just realized there's more to consider...elevation...here's what I read and I need to figure this out before I go camping in the mountains with it...

Honda does not have high altitude kits, the higher in elevation a small engine is operated the smaller the jet size in the carb would be.
From sea level to 2000’ you would use the stock jet the carb came with from Honda.
From 2000’ to 5000’ feet the first smaller jet for that carb.
From 5000’ to 14000’ the second smaller jet for that carb.
Dealers in high altitude areas are very knowledgeable on high elevation operation.
 

WhatExit?

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Dkahnjob

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I have a Generac 15KW home stand by generator and it kicks on automatically when the power goes out. It is natural gas powered.
A few weeks ago we were without power for 36 hours and it carried the house well. Not 100%, but enough to be comfortable.
 

lbhsbz

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Anybody looking for a low cost inverter generator this thing's on sale today only (Home Depot) - super low price of $299.99


Not for sale in CA...not CARB approved
 

DarkHorseRacing

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I have a Kohler 10KW startup, 8KW running portable generator. Electric start, has both 220A and 110V outputs (and a converter for the 220V). Runs on gasoline. I paid about $1000 from Home Depot as I recall.

I got it after the Arrowhead fire of 2008 and I've wound up using it several times. I bought some heavy duty extension cords and splitters to power fridge, freezer, etc. I always run Stabil in the gas I store for it, and cycle the gas out of storage in vehicles if I don't burn it in one year. I've considered paying for a manual transfer switch and 30A 220V input plug so I can just hook it up to the whole house so I can stop running extension cords from the garage into the house.

My father lives out in LA and they put in a whole house generator in 7 months before the Woolsey fire and for two weeks they lived off the whole home generator. Cost them about $7000. It runs on natural gas.

I would go with a whole home generator if I though I wasn't going to eventually move (can't take it with you). Whereas the portable generator works anywhere I take it.
 

Jefftowz

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I’m seriously cons this one from Costco, This company I guess is a huge manufacturer of Gens for many other companies.
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WhatExit?

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Not for sale in CA...not CARB approved

I don't pay attention to that sh!t anymore since I escaped. I only wish you and all the other Californians on RDP could get the hell out. Hope you're doing well
 
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