Generators

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Bamboo Outlaw
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Generators

Post by Bamboo Outlaw »

Ok all you Florida folks, tell me about your choice of generators. I currently have an old 5000 watt unit, 6250 surge and have been running since this last Sat. I have had it many years with no issue. I need to get a bigger unit now. I used a NorthStar 8000PPG to run the farm well until I got power there. I really liked this unit. It it rather pricey compared to other units of it's watt ratings though. I don't mind the cost, but want to see other opinions before I buy. Also need to wait until some get back in stock!
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Roy
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Re: Generators

Post by Roy »

Bamboo Outlaw wrote:Ok all you Florida folks, tell me about your choice of generators. I currently have an old 5000 watt unit, 6250 surge and have been running since this last Sat. I have had it many years with no issue. I need to get a bigger unit now. I used a NorthStar 8000PPG to run the farm well until I got power there. I really liked this unit. It it rather pricey compared to other units of it's watt ratings though. I don't mind the cost, but want to see other opinions before I buy. Also need to wait until some get back in stock!
Steve,

I'm "in the dark" on this one because I don't have a generator. But I am interested in what people have to say because if the hurricanes are just going to keep coming, then I might just need one.
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Flashburn
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RE: Generators

Post by Flashburn »

wow 8000 watts is a lot of go juice.

I personally own an inverter generator by Yamaha. 2400 watt 6000 watt 3 second surge for startup.

If I was looking for anything past the cheap/loud/gas hog/dirty power generators it had better have.

clean sin wave = inverter
fuel efficient = variable rpm that also requires an inverter.

Or multiple fuels it can use.

other than than its all about who is the cheapest.

Don't get me wrong I own a non inverter back up also I use just for the house. I am not some generator snob. matter of fact my 3800 watt genny makes so much noise. My point is I wouldn't let my wallet take a hit unless I really got something out of it.

btw did you want to up the wattage because the microwave did not work on the genny? If so that because the sin wave was too dirty. My 3800 wont power a microwave for that reason.
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RE: Generators

Post by marcat »

Outlaw that big for a two horse pump wow....Good luck on it.
Marcat
PS anything else you need Might make it that way Sat or Sun.
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Location: We are less than one hour south of downtown Houston. We are located in Wild Peach, Texas located half way between Brazoria and West Columbia. Exit hwy 36 onto County Road 354. Take County Road 353 west . Go approximately 2.4 miles. We are on the left.
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RE: Generators

Post by Bamboo Outlaw »

I need the bigger unit because the old one really bogs down just running the shallow well at the house. It won't run the deeper house well, the motor trips. This is hard on the motors and may ultimately cost me money in replacing pumps. I did not try it on the farm well. It may have worked there since it is submergable where the others are jet.
Last edited by Bamboo Outlaw on Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Steve Carter
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marcat
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RE: Generators

Post by marcat »

Got several 55gal drums I use for emergancy water think u need to borrow, THinking Saturday. Will try to call yo before 8am.
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Roy
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RE: Generators

Post by Roy »

I've never had a generator before, so I'm not sure how you hook it up to the power lines to your house. Anybody out there want to give this :sign2: a clue?
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RE: Generators

Post by needmore »

Don't have one yet either but my gut tells me that we will start to see an increase of ice storms in winter so I checked them out. The ones that caught my eye were the pricey ones that work on LP gas instead of petrol. The whole system for a nice plus all peripheral inverters, electrical work etc looked like an $8,000 price tag. As I recall that unit was > 12,000 watts. An investment beyond my means but I liked that it would power everything and come on automatically and not have to have petrol. With the cost differential between LP/petrol the initial $8,000 compared to a decent petrol generator of similar wattage (maybe $3,000) would take something like 60 days of 24 hour use to make up the initial cost difference. Those are just guesstimates but no power for perhaps 5-7 days per ice storm, sometimes longer along with the usual summer outages = 10-12 years to hit those 60 days here.
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rfgpitt
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RE: Generators

Post by rfgpitt »

$3000 (or more) would buy a lot of groceries.

They need to make a smaller portable unit that runs on gas or better yet, can be manually cranked (what else do you have to do when the power is out?) to power essentials like cell phones, hair dryers and beermiester/mini-fridge (infant formula can be stored temporarily in the beer cooler). If it could have a flash light and radio somebody would be a millionaire.

You'll probably find it on the next season of American Inventor.
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Re: RE: Generators

Post by bambooweb »

Roy wrote:I've never had a generator before, so I'm not sure how you hook it up to the power lines to your house. Anybody out there want to give this :sign2: a clue?
It depends on how much you want to spend. The simplest way (Also illegal in most areas) is a suicide cord with a plug on each end. When the power is out you shut off your main breaker and any breaker to areas that you cannot power because of the size of the generator then you start the generator and plug the cord into the generator and an outlet in the house.

A step up from that is a transfer switch after the meter that allows you to connect up the generator and switch between the line or generator power. You still have to make sure you only have on what the generator can power.

Up from that is a split breaker panel that will power the entire house on line power but when switch to generator only powers the essentials, (TV and Beer fridge)

At the high end you can have a generator powerful enough for the whole house and an Automatic Transfer Switch that will start the generator when the power fails and then switch the power over to the generator, when power is restored it will switch back and turn off the generator. The system will also exercise the generator each month so you will know it will start. Up here they also have automatic block heaters but you probably will not need that.

As for the choice of generators, most of large ones that I have seen have been Caterpillar. For a permanent unit make sure you look at the noise level because it will vary a lot depending on engine and enclosure.

Bill
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RE: Generators

Post by Bamboo Outlaw »

Install a 220 breaker in your breaker box and have an outside 20 or 30 amp 220 plug on the line (depends on generator size). Have a double ended male as described above and feed 220 back into your breaker box WITH THE MAIN TURNED OFF. Be sure to turn off your breakers you don't want powered overloading your generator. This method will provide 110 and 220 to your house. You can use a plug for your electric dryer for example if you don't have a spare empty 220. Many if not most folks use this method, BUT IT DOESN"T MEET CODE! If you are careful it works great, if not someone can die.
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mike best
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RE: Generators

Post by mike best »

Three methods:

(note: more watts is better. Don't idle the engine down for less noise! Idle it up for more power, thus more watts!)

#1
Cheap, quick and easy Florida cracker method, have at the very least a 5500 watt gen with must have features like 110-220 outlets, and on board breaker so you don't fry your stuff. Stash it outside out of the storm rain and wind and run electrical cords throughout your house like you live in barn! Nothing fancy, it works, and your dog will love the fun and you might get lots of money from your home insurance! If I recall, mine ran about 6-7 hours on tank of gas.

#2
220 male plug from gen. plugged into dyer wall switch. (220 male plug, both ends of cord, you cut off the female and buy a male from hardware store). Plug it into your dryer 220 wall switch. It will charge the whole breaker box so you must turn off all breaker switches and only turn on only the breakers you need like TV, computer, refrigerator, fans, water well pump, etc. TURN OFF THE MAIN BREAKER SO YOU DON'T FEED POWER BACK TO THE POWER COMPANY AND ZAP THE LINEMAN UP ON THE POLES although they know about us anyway.

#3
120 male plug from gen. plugged into the 120 wall outlet
on your porch outside, or any wall switch for that matter. Problem is, it will only charge one side of your breaker box so choose a side by trying various wall switches. Turn on only the breakers you need. This also feeds power back to the guy on the power pole if you don't turn off the main.
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Re: RE: Generators

Post by mike best »

Bamboo Outlaw wrote:I need the bigger unit because the old one really bogs down just running the shallow well at the house. It won't run the deeper house well, the motor trips. This is hard on the motors and may ultimately cost me money in replacing pumps. I did not try it on the farm well. It may have worked there since it is submersible where the others are jet.
You might want to ask your home owner insurance to cover that if it goes out. During the Florida hurricane power outage in 2004 my 220 volt 1hp submersible well pump ran real slow on my 5500 watt gen. In fact you could barley hear it running underground cause it was running so slow and I often wish I had a bigger gen. I wondered if I was hurting my submersible. At least I had clean running water. It was about 1.5 years later that my submersible pump went out and I have to wonder if it was caused by the generator. $1295. to have a new submersible put in.
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RE: Generators

Post by Flashburn »

your well pump needs 220. I would guess. yeah it will run on 110 but not for long before tripping its thermal breaker. in the controller box.

if its just pure amps.... that would mean that your pump at 5000 watts requires 6.7hp to run alone.


thats one hell of a water pump.

mine is 1/2 hp but with out 220 it would eventually smoke.
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RE: Generators

Post by rickw »

I have a 5K generator that powers my 1 1/2hp submersible with no problems, as long as nothing else is connected. It is not eco-friendly and I paid $800 for a $450 generator off the back of a truck when we lost power from Hurricane Ivan. But when you have no power, your food is going bad, haven't showered for a couple of days, and you have no way to water the horses, you'll pay whatever it costs and don't care how loud or smoky it is. Plans are to purchase a natural gas whole house generator with an automatic transfer box when the budget allows.

The formula for figuring the output of a generator is Power or Wattage = Volts X Amps. So you can look at the amps required times the voltage needed and that will tell you the wattage required from a generator. Flashburn already gave you the hp output from a 5k generator.

I haven't seen the method I used to hook power to the house, so here's the South Alabama method:
1. Remove the breaker for the house from the outside breaker box.
2. Connect a male 220 plug to the generator and the bare wires on the other end to the removed breaker, piggy backing on the wires that go to the house and jump 2 wires from that breaker to the breaker for the pump.
3. Turn off the pump breaker and the unneccessary breakers in the house panel to power the kitchen.
4. Turn off house breaker and turn on the pump breaker when you need to run the pump.
5. When you get power back, remove the wires and plug the breakers back in.
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