Portable House Generator

[Eventer]

I am looking for a portable generator to run my furnace, sump pump, refrigerator and a few lights during an outage.



My house is situated on the downside of a hill that when it rains dumps all the water into my sump pump. I don't want to risk losing power and having the basement flood.



Ideally, I would like to have a generator switch over automatically when I lose power, but I think that is too expensive. I have had a quote from a local contractor of over $6,700 including the electrical work for the auto switch-over and a 15kw generator.



The contractor who bid on the electrical work recommended an 8kw minimum generator.



I would also prefer a propane powered model since I have a 500 gallon propane tank and would not have to refill as I would a gas engined model.



Honda makes a 6kw generator but I am not sure if it will be enough. I need to check all the electrical equipment requirements to be sure.



Troy-Bilt makes a 7550 watt generator with a max 13. 5 kw output (peak?) but I have heard that Briggs & Stratton engines are noisy, much more noisy than a Honda engine.



Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[bmoeller]

Go to www.northerntool.com They have what you need.

 

[KBennett]

Here is a company I have been looking at for small diesel generators:Ramco



It looks like they have what you need.

 

[Casey Ray]

Eventer,



I wanted to do the samething you are doing when I had my electrical recently upgraded. Explained that I wanted to power my house through the fuse panel via my generator. Contrator talked me out of it, saying 1st it could be done but very expensive and must be done correctly or I could possibly electrocute a power lineman by back feeding the system and them not knowing about it. He did have a solution, they installed a couple of outlets, one in the kitchen, one in the living room that will are fed from my generator. They installed about 10' of heavy guage cord that plugs into my generator so that I can power the 'fridge and have lights and such when the next big one hits out here in So Cal. I could have had any number of outlets, but I only have a 3500 generator.



According to some professor at UCLA, So Cal is gonna have a major Earthquake before Sept 5, 2004. Guess I'm ready, if I am at home when it hits.



Casey

 

[Eventer]

I had a quote from an electrician of $850 to wire my sump pump, frig, furnace and a few outlets into a breaker box in my garage - next to the main box - to run off a generator.



Hoof Hearted, you are correct about back-feeding electricity into the grid. That is why I want a professional to do it for me. For the liability issue if nothing else.

 

[klenger]

According to some professor at UCLA, So Cal is gonna have a major Earthquake before Sept 5, 2004.

Cool, I'll be close to the beach after it happens.

 

[mazdarotary]

There is a unit called a Gentran that wires from the existing breaker panel to a three position switch setup. You wire the commercial side off to the existing house loads and the other side of the switch wires to an outlet on the gentran unit. Under commercial power the switch would be in the commercial setting. When you have an outage you would go down and switch the 6-10 circuits in the gentran to the emergency setting and the fire up the generator(actually visa-versa generator first). The third position of the switch is off but that dosen't really matter. This way you have no risk of back feeding the power grid or burning up the generator when the power comes back on. These units are not super expensive,and wire in really easy with out any added outlets. The units even have a twist lock male outlet built into them that you plug the generator into. I would suggest maybe not doing that unless the generator is fairly close to the unit. But the unit can be hard wired to an outlet in a remote location so the noise of the generator won't be heard. Remember you always want a female plug coming from the generator. Good luck let me know if you have anymore questions.





Chris

 

[KBennett]

Gentran sounds like a good idea.



My idea is to get a big contactor or motor starter and wire it to a 50 amp breaker on the main panel. The contactor would be energized by the main power. If power drops out then the contactor would drop out and another one would pull in to feed the emergency sub panel.

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[QRTRHRS]

I use a Generac Megaforce 6500 watt/8125 peak with the Gentran 7500 watt transfer switch. The generator is noisy and trust me, three days of using it gets old. I have a rancher with the panel under my bedroom so the generator sits at the other end of the house. I think it was 6 guage that I ran that 70 odd feet plus. Beats no power though. My biggie is the 220V deep well pump which will momentarily slightly dim the lights. I also run my oil furnace, fridge, microwave and enough lights and recepticles to be comfortable.



I worked with a guy who put in a 13kw VW diesel setup with some kind of automatic startup device. It's been two years though since I last saw him so I forget the particulars. He used a small garden shed for the generator which contains the noise well. He also put a 275 gallon fuel tank in the shed.



I think Home Depot was selling Coleman units that ran on propane that were reasonably priced, not sure. Propane means fixed unit ie; more money up front.

 

[willyslover]

Generators are fine and I agree



Eventer. . did you ever look into a well build and large size french drain on three sides of your home... not very pricey to build and will move a ton of water out of your path. . and iff you have a large potiental problem. . build a big one

 

[tractorface]

What kind of panel do you have

I have a 10kw propane powered Winco generator pad mounted at my house. I got it used for simply hauling it away! Anyway I ditched the automatic transfer switch because my house has a 200A panel and the switch was only rated 100A. I want to be able to pick and choose what runs and what does not when the generator is on line so I needed to be able to feed the entire panel with the genset... ... The low dollar solution... ..... If you have a Square D panel like I have you can purchase a mechanical interlock kit that allows you to use a branch breaker to safely back feed the panel. The breaker back feeding the panel must be installed in the uppermost right 2 spaces in your load center. Anyway it is a low cost, inexpensive, SAFE device. It mechanically interlocks the main and your back fed breaker so (as long as the cover is on the load center) there is no way to turn both breakers on simultaneously. If you need further info I'll be glad to help.



Your main must be a QOM2 type breaker found on most 150A-225A single phase Square D load centers.

 

[Eventer]

willyslover,



Yes a french drain was already in my futue. The way my house sets, all the water runs east to west. During heavy rains I have a river about 10 feet from the east side of the house with the sump pump on that side pumping water out the west side of the house.



I need to figure out how big to build the french drain. I would need to make it at least 30 - 40 feet long to get past my house and empty where the water naturally runs westerly through my backyard and down the hill to the creek.



tractorface,



Sounds intriguing. If I can do it safely, it would save me hundreds of dollars. I will have to look at my box to see what brand it is.

 

[PJereb]

Lyndon,

I meant to post a reply earlier.



You said you just wanted a "portable generator to run my furnace, sump pump, refrigerator and a few lights"



Your furnace should draw about 5 Amps at 120 Volts at the most, since it only has to run the fan, and ignition for the propane.



Depending on the size of your sump pump (maybe 1/3hp) it will draw about 2-3 Amps at 120 Volts.



Your refrigerator should also draw about 3-4 Amps at 120 volts as long as it is a newer model.



Five 60 watt light bulbs would take 2. 5 Amps at 120 volts.



So to run all of that stuff, at the same time would require about 15 Amps at 120 volts which is 1,800 watts.



A 6. 5kw generator would be WAY overkill, but would allow you to also run other high draw appliances like Microwaves (700-1800 Watts), toasters, and tools etc... .



If local code allows I would just use a double throw safety switch, not any sort of automatic switch. You could install the double throw switch to be able to select between your utility meter, or your generator. If you shop around for a 100 amp 2 pole double throw safety switch you can get one for under $500. The size of your main panel will dictate what size of transfer switch you will need.



Cutler-Hammer makes some

100 Amp catalog # DT223URH or DT223URH-N (about $500)

200 Amp catalog # DT224URK-NPS (about $1400)



Something else you may think about is not hard wiring the generator in, you may be better off installing a large receptacle at the transfer switch and a cord to go between it and your generator, so you can take it in out of the weather, and service it. With how little you will be using your generator I would just buy a nice portable gasoline powered unit, maybe a 4500 watt Honda or something similar. Like everyone else said using some sort of transfer switch is critical to avoid harming or killing a Lineman, also most utilities require that you inform them that you have a generator. They will want to see a permit, and may even want to inspect it to make sure it is safe.



Feel free to email or PM me.



Peter