So after watching some of the power outages this winter , it has crossed my mind to purchase a generator. My main purpose is the ability to run heat into the house through either electric heaters or my boiler. I have birds which can not be exposed to the odor of a kerosene heaters. So I am looking for some recommendations for a good generator. I would like to stay away from the duel fuel and not exceed $1000.

Why do you want to stay away from dual fuel ?

With a simple conversion I am able to run either gasoline or natural gas on my generator. What I really like about the natural gas is not having to refuel and it is a lot easier to start in colder temperatures.

You are not going use an under $1,000 generator and electric heat to heat a house unless it's a tiny house.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
You are not going use an under $1,000 generator and electric heat to heat a house unless it's a tiny house.

trapper189 makes a very good point. I am able to heat my big house but only because I have gas heat and only need to run the blower.

A thousand bucks isn't going to buy enough generator to heat your whole house with electric heaters .

What type of boiler do you have?

Running 'properly sized' electric heaters off a generator isn't a problem, but an older boiler without sophisticated controls would be preferred over the electric due to demand.
If you have a sophisticated boiler/controls, then by all means buy a generator with inverter technology.

Having the ability of dual fuel is great. Prolonged use with larger LP tanks or a direct line to natural can be of great benefit.
Refueling with 5 gallons of gasoline gets to be a PITA.

Before you even start you need to say how many KVA you need. Meaningful electric heat is a huge load. Ok if you can save your birds with a 1500w 120v space heater then have at it, numerous options exist. But actual electric heat is stunning amp drawing numbers.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:
Having the ability of dual fuel is great. Prolonged use with larger LP tanks or a direct line to natural can be of great benefit.
Refueling with 5 gallons of gasoline gets to be a PITA.

^^ THIS ^^

A good comparison happened during Hurricane Ike:

Me - 6500 watt gasoline generator that burns 10 gallons a day. I only owned 4 cans so had to go to the gas station and wait in line every other day. I lived in actual Houston proper so while my street was nice it wasn't very many minutes away that was sketchy. I wore my IDPA rig while fueling the generator 2x per day. It's hot & humid so there is no way I'm letting it cool down to reful so I'm risking spilling and fire from hot muffler/engine.

My coworker - approximately the same size generator but it's tri-fuel (gasoline, NG, and LP). They disconnected the grill in their outdoor kitchen and it ran non-stop. They shut if off every other day to change the oil (most owner's manual recommend either 25 or 50 hour oil changes). No trips to gas station to wait in line, no risk of home broken into while at gas station, no risk of getting jumped while filling up the generator at dusk or after dark, no risk of fire from pouring gasoline into a hot generator, no storing dozens of gallons of gasoline, no lugging dozens of gallons of gasoline.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

I appreciate the responses. Everything is giving me a variety of things to research and consider.

We just had the worst storm in 70 years here in Texas. I don't think the power grid in TX is going to get better, only worse with all the growth going on here.

I am going to purchase a generator for standyby use. Looking at 20 to 22KW. If you have natural gas at your house, there is a very good fuel source. In my opinion, the best is your own propane tank.

I recommend you do a load analysis (identify items you want on in a crisis) and add up the power required to run them. Derate this by some % (say 25 to 30%) and that is the size genset you need.

You can get a 22KW installed for $7k or so.

On the tri-fuel gens... make sure to check the capacities. As they are different for different fuel sources.

Like this one:
https://www.costco.com/firman-...oduct.100648883.html
9400 Starting Watts / 7500 Running Watts - Gasoline
8450 Starting Watts / 6750 Running Watts - LPG
6900 Starting Watts / 5500 Running Watts - Natural Gas

Call your power company and ask them for the highest KW draw you had over the last three years. That will tell you how much generator you need to run your house at full load. Then you can work out what your 'needs' and 'wants' are going to require.

Needs and wants are two separate, distinct, and unrelated things.

I have a 6500W portable generator. I have 3 X 100W photovoltaic solar panels, 12V charge controller, 1K power inverter (12VDC to 120VAC), and 3 X 100AH deep cycle batteries.

I can run the blower unit on my forced air gas furnace indefinitely. I can run the refrigerator for 20 minutes every two hours to keep the temps appropriate for food storage. I can run LED lights sufficient to read and be comfortable in the house. I can run the Mr. Coffee machine any time needed. If I time everything just right I can run the microwave oven to heat a meal. Otherwise I rely on a LP-gas grill and a charcoal grill on the patio.

I can't run my central air conditioning. I can't run the electric stove or oven. Electric heaters are out of the question, but sweaters and coveralls are there when needed. Amazing how comfortable the bed can be with 2 or 3 GI-surplus wool blankets.

Basically, I store electrical power during the daylight hours using solar charging and the generator as an emergency back-up (6 or 8 hours of sunlight vs. 30 minutes of generator run time), and ration power consumption during the hours of darkness. 300 amp-hours of battery storage provides plenty of flexibility.

I use the same equipment for extended camping trips. A few years ago there was a power outage during the Super Bowl game, so I ran home and hauled in my outfit, powered 2 televisions at my club so everyone got to see the game. No problem, couple hundred pounds of batteries and inverter unit on a wheeled cart, couple of extension cords, couple of strings of LED lights.

Lots of options, but we have to understand the basic limitations of power storage and usage, and have a clear understanding of needs VS. wants.

Living in hurricane alley we have a lot of experience with power outages. We chose diesel because we have been without power here for up to 3 weeks and we have a lot of diesel out here on the ranch. Wiring a generator into your house circuits has to be done in a certain way for safety, you can't just plug it in. If you run it with an extension cord to appliances you will need a massive cord to carry current for distance-the generator cannot be located too close to the house due to carbon monoxide safety. There is a lot more to this than just buying a generator. I would get an estimate from an electrician who does standby generators, then you will have a better idea of what you are dealing with.

I have a honda EU2200. It's enough to run the blower/ignitor on the furnace and a plug where we make coffee (a pretty big draw actually), cell phone chargers, laptops and a lamp or two. We bought a 5 gallon external tank for it but have been fortunate not to use that yet since we got it.

It's an inverter type, so it's RPMs can drop when all the motors of the furnace are off etc. So if there's little draw, there's almost no noise or gas usage. It runs nearly 24 hours on the built in tank, so I'll get days out of the external.

Not all the luxuries you might want, but enough. And when there is no outage, it stores nice, and can be taken caping or to a picnic. I have a process where I can shut off all the breakers but the ones I want, I shut off the main so I am not backfeeding to the street, and I feed from an outside plug into the house with a double male heavy cord. It has LED plugs, so I can tell when it's hot too.

We have an old PTO generator we back the tractor up to and it will run the whole house if needed.

However it makes the tractor burn though diesel as the engine has to keep the shaft around 540 rpm.

I dealt with my emergency power supply needs by purchasing a sort of middle size portable generator with 6875 surge watts and 5500 continuous watts output. I cannot run everything at once but can run my boiler for heat but not at the same time as my well pump so I run either as needed. I run the fridge or freezer for short periods to keep the food stable. The longest I've been without power was 7-8 days in January of 2005. The generator ran continuously but I did have to shut it down to change the oil once. Kind of a hassle to have to plug and unplug things periodically but we never ran out of power. I keep 25-30 gallons of gasoline on hand always. I sleep better knowing I can maintain power during emergencies. We've had to depend on generator only 4 or 5 times in 30 years. If it happened more often, I would consider a larger standby generator capable of powering the whole house. I believe the unit I have been using cost about $650. Making up heavy duty extension cords for 220V use was another substantial outlay.

https://www.championpowerequip...open-frame-inverter/


I bought this one from Amazon for $830 a few weeks ago. It was the largest inverter generator I could find for the money. Its enough to run my gas furnace, wifi, TV, lights and two refrigerators. I bought a transfer switch from Home depot for $300 and will finish wiring it up this week.

I wanted a dual fuel but made a sacrifice for the higher power inverter generator. I figure I have two 5 gallon gas cans plus whatever gas I can siphon from our two vehicles.

get an inverter type. A newer one. The technology has come along ways in just the past few years.

when I did my whole house system back in NH, I looked at the total loads based on my electric bill for winter and summer - picked the higher

I then figured out what I wanted to make sure still ran at 100% in the event of a failure

for me it was my entire house - I didn't want to give up anything even for a short time.

I had it installed much to my neighbors dismay, I also buried a 500 gallon propane tank in my back yard and I hooked it up.

most of my neighbors complained about it, a few wrote to the HOA and one tried to sue me.

we had a massive storm which took out power for just a bit under 3 weeks in the winter - I think it was 2013 or 2014. In any event it was bitter cold - ~-10 or -15 at night.

two homes out of 70 had heat and lights, and I turned my neighbors away when they came to my door - they were the ones that didn't want me to install it

all in all, the best money I ever spent