Generator?

[kyle1745]

Ok guys after the recent power thread... any thoughts on where to get a good small generator? I want to get one to power the furnace, and maybe a space heater. I can't imagine it would take much power with a gas furnace.

[wishIwereAnExpert]

HD is your friend. I got a 5500 watter, which powers gas furnace, exhaust fan and water pump for the hot water radiator system, fridge and freezer, AND about 3/4 the frog lights (ran out of juice at that point). So, I think a 2500 would easily meet your needs.

-Solly

[kyle1745]

So any thoughts on rough cost? With all the frogs now it would be too tough to move them all like I did last time when we lost power in a ice storm for 24 hours.

[wishIwereAnExpert]

I think you're looking at $3-400 or so. Well worth it IMO.

-Solly

[kyle1745]

I'll have to check it out this week... at minimum Id like to be able to run the furnace and my basement space heater.

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Stay with generators that are atleat 3,5oo watts or more. If your power goes out in the middle of winter and you don't want your collection to turn into ice pops you will need it. i hear horror stories all the time about peoples losses when thier power went out for no reason in he middle of winter and everything they had died right away or later from respitory problems and such from the temperature drop.

[sports_doc]

I am in the process of getting one myself.

Whole house units need an electrician to set up a subpanel and the units can run 2-3K or more, but that allows a large part of the house appliances to stay running and can be done without any disruption in power if installed professionally. (they click on when the power clicks off).

the portable units need to be started by hand, gas fed and then power cords run from the unit to the various appliances you want to run. Cheaper yes.

IMO go bigger when you get one. 5500 or more. You WILL find a need to run other things (ie Refrig, water heater, lights in the BR, garage door opener, ect ect) and consider still having an electrician put in the sub panel so that you can just tap into that (can put the outlet outside near where you would run the generator).. then it is just one cord from the unit to the outlet and thats it.

YOu do need to be home during the event to run the portable units though...not helpful should it occur when (we) are on vacation...

Shawn

[kyle1745]

Thanks guys... while I would prefer the whole house one, im not sure Im ready to drop that much $$ on one right now.

Honestly just the furnace would be enough to run, I could live without the rest and just open the vent in the frog room if I needed to.

At most I would not expect to ever have to go more than 2 days without power, and we rarely keep enough food on hand to worry too much about the fridge.

Thanks for all of the links and Ill have to look into them.

So the basic idea is that you plug the generator into your dry outlet and then shut down the breakers to the rest of the house?

Originally Posted by kyle1745

So the basic idea is that you plug the generator into your dry outlet and then shut down the breakers to the rest of the house?

For the whole house ones you put in a sub panel next to your main and run jumpers to the mains or a large enough breaker in the panel. When the power goes out you shut off the main breaker in your primary service panel and start the genator. the generator will feed to everything in your house and if its to much of a draw on the generator just shut off the breakers to the stuff you dont need to run during the outage.
If you lived closer to me i could to the installation for you for 150.00 in about 3 hours.(not including the cost of the subpanel and wires, about 75.00).

[kyle1745]

Ya I get the idea for the whole house ones, but what about the smaller ones?