[homerb]

With the tornado and hurricane season approaching, I figured it would be a good time to get a good discussion going on generators, or backup power in general.

What kind of generator are you using?
What kind of fuel does it run on?
How often do you need to use it? (or are you using it now?)
How do you wire it? Extension cords or a transfer switch? Are you running the whole house, a portion of the house, or certain outlets?
Any other backup power solutions?

Any techniques you have learned for using a generator?

Any survival stories?

I have a Generac 7500 EXL that I bought from the pawn shop for $250. It's 7500w / 13,500 peak watts. Whoever had it before me took the electric starter from it, so I have to pull start it, but it starts on the first pull. It's LOUD, but reliable.

I have 50 amp interlock that feeds the inside sub panel and isolates it from the main panel outside. The main panel outside has breakers for the a/c, furnace and stove, so the generator will run everything in the house except those 3 things. The generator has a NEMA 14-50 plug on it, so that's what I used for all the connections, including a 10 AWG, 4 conductor extension cable that I run across the back yard to a detached
porch.

I also have 2 400w battery backups in my living room and home office to keep the cable box/dvr running (it takes 10 min to reboot) and computers in the office running until I can switch to backup power.

We just had some bad storms come by last week and the power went out in the next neighborhood so I figured it would be a good time to test it and run some gas through it. It ran everything in the house including the washer, dryer, hot water heater if I ever needed them but id probably just keep those breakers off to save fuel.

Funny, before I bought the generator the power went out all the time. In 3 years since, I've never had to use it.

I was thinking of converting it to run on propane so I could store a big tank.

I've also heard of "microturbine" generators. Anyone heard of used one?

I was also thinking of buying an enterprise class battery backup, 3000w or so, one with bad batteries for cheap. I could then just get a bank of car batteries to extend the runtime. I could use that to power certain rooms in the house so I don't have to run the generator and attract a bunch of attention to the house.

Anyways, let's get a good discussion going here. Im interested to hear what you all have to say.

 

[vsheetz]

I have a 5500 watt portable (wheeled) gasoline power generator. Connected as/when needed via a generator inlet nearby the breaker panel. Mechanical lockout on the breaker panel - so can power all circuits (of course cannot provide for large loads such as air conditioning).

I maintain a few five gallon cans of fuel on hand, plus can readily siphon from my pickup truck (dual 19 gallon tanks, of which at least one is usually pretty full).

Not in an area of bad weather (SoCal), so seldom need to use - but am prepared if/when needed.

 

[frenchelectrican]

For in Wisconsin which I have a home and shop and it did have two slow speed diesel generators and they are staionary one is at 5 KW and the other one at 20 KW and got a bit of use of them. { both of the generators sound like old Faribank Morse engine and both are two stroke diesel }

In France I have a diesel unit as well but that one is 10 KW it used for both home and work purpose and that one dual set up so it can be a hevey portable or can mount on the trailer { most of my time I rather leave on the trailer due bigger fuel tank ( 200 liter = apx 58 US gallons }

The Wisconsin set up I have dual set up transfer swtich and it is enabled to be run in automatique or manual mode { The reason why two due I have two generators plus I have 480V triphase in the shop } it have plenty power to keep the shop lit up and the house as well and the transfer switch will change generators as need depending on the load itself it will swtich over to larger one or go to smaller one.

The longest power outage I have it was 3.5 weeks ran the big one most of the time almost nonstop for that usage { as far for fuel supply I have 2500 liter tank so it did cover a bit plus if the tank do go empty for some reason I can swipe from my trucks due all are on diesel fuel so that is a pretty big plus for me }

In France I just swiped from my pick up or service truck if need more fuel for generator.

The longest I have that running in that area was 9 days to handle 3 houses { with extendison cord none are attatched to the CU ( Customer unit aka breaker box for ya ) that time got mixed bag of ice and snow storm couple years back.

But for stateside I do have larger trailerable generator that used from time to time that one is 150 KW { 6 cylinder Detorit Diesel @ 1200 T/Min ( RPM ) }

any bigger I dealt with couple compaines they can provide me much larger unit as need to.

I know you mention mircoturbine.

I have see couple of them allready in France they work as CHP { Combined Heat et Power } and they work the best with using Natrual Gaz or Propane Gaz and they are very clean burning and Oui Of course they can burn on Diesel fuel if need to { if that model have dual fuel set up } and they are not cheap to buy but if you leave them running a bit you can recover the cost of the mircoturbine.

I did caught you say about car batterys let me give you a serious head up the car battery they are NOT design for hevey run down like what we call them deep cycle battery the proper deep cycle battery you will see them labeled on them and they can come in variation of size { Make sure you vent them outside or have exhaust fan run 24/7 to keep the battery fumes out otherwise kaboom ( hyrogen gaz is very flameable so you will get some hydrogen gaz during charging some case discharge as well so make sure you vent them )

If more question just holler one of us will help ya

Merci,
Marc

 

[homerb]

I did caught you say about car batterys let me give you a serious head up the car battery they are NOT design for hevey run down like what we call them deep cycle battery the proper deep cycle battery you will see them labeled on them and they can come in variation of size { Make sure you vent them outside or have exhaust fan run 24/7 to keep the battery fumes out otherwise kaboom ( hyrogen gaz is very flameable so you will get some hydrogen gaz during charging some case discharge as well so make sure you vent them )

If more question just holler one of us will help ya

Merci,
Marc

It's just going to be one of those little "shop" projects. You can buy surplus battery backups from old companies going out of business for CHEAP. They usually have dead batteries, which is why they are so cheap. They come in either 12V, 24V, or even 48V systems. You can even get them rack-mountable, like a "blade server".

I'll use a set of sealed "Gel cell" batteries. This is supposed to be a cheap project, so I'm not going to spend $250 on optima batteries, but I'll find the "cheapest set of good batteries I can find".

I'm pretty experienced with electronics, I used to work at a car audio shop, which is why I'm willing to do this type of project. It would be nice to be able to run a few important areas of the house without the generator in case I run out of gas, or if I don't feel like attracting unnecessary attention to my house.

 

[homerb]

The starter motor is missing from my generator!! It was funny when I was at the pawn shop, the guy couldn't figure out why the heck the electric start wouldn't work. I was able to knock down the price by $100 because of it.

It only takes one pull to get it started anyways.

But I would like to know where I can find a starter motor for it. It's a Briggs 15HP OHV engine. Not sure if it's a specific part or something that's common across lots of different engines. If anyone knows what the part number is or where I can find one, that would be great.

 

[Missouri Bound]

I've got an 8kw Generac wired to an automatic transfer switch. When the power goes out the generator starts in about 30 seconds. Runs on LP, auto tests itself once a week. Protects the 8 most important circuits. Best of all I don't have to do anything when the power fails. This is great especially if I am not home, the refrigerator and freezer are protected.

 

[frenchelectrican]

Just about any small engine shop will have this type of starter in stock even starter/alternator shop as well.

The new stater will cost anywhere from 100 to 200 Euros.

Just make sure you get the model and seral number off that engine that will speed up the correct starter for this motour.

And also check the solind { a switch } connections to make sure they are good and tight as well if loose connection it will kill them pretty fast.

If the battery is good shape you should be allright with it.

The OHV engine genrally easier to start than flatheaders and they will use little less fuel as well.

When you start up the engine expect to have them run little over normal 3600 RPM once you get a good load the RPM will drop a little to pretty much right on 60 HZ.

I know some gaz generators some of them can have dual or tri fuel set up it mean it can burn on propane gaz or Natural gaz some of them are factory installed and some are aftermarket item so it will varies a bit.

Nice thing about the LP gaz or Natural gaz they can run much longer peroid as long you have fuel supply { but it will be wise to check the oil from time to time unless your engine do have automatique oil shut down when the oil level get too low it will turn engine off }


Merci,
Marc