Generators

[Kalena]

I think thiis topic may have already been explored in this forum, but i coulldn't find it. We are preparing our household for future emergencies and are considering a generator. We are interested in an efficient AND quiet one. What recommendations do people have?

Mahalo nui!

[lavalava]

Hondas are the quiet ones but also very expensive. Generacs are bulletproof but pricey and have the potential to be house wired. We got ours at Costco and are happy with it.

How many watts do you need/want?

Gas Propane or Diesel?

Moveable or Stationary?

[MattKarma]

The Sun. It's FREE! :-)

[knieft]

http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19423
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2087

Plenty of discussion.

Efficient, quiet, ok. And inexpensive? Not gonna happen.

Cheers,
Kirt

[leilanidude]

The Sun. It's FREE! :-)
----------

The sun don't shine during big storms that may last for days...

[terracore]

Kniefts second link doesn't work, I think he meant this:

http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20874

[terracore]

The "which type is best" seems to be divided into four camps:

1) Those who use generators frequently, and choose expensive quality generators that can be repaired locally repeatedly (they can run forever).

2) Those who use generators infrequently, and choose the most bang for their buck in the mid-range. Simple repairs and maintenance can be performed locally but anything "too deep" into the generator to fix will cost more than replacement.

3) Those who use generators frequently, and choose from camp 2 because the cost of replacing the mid-range generators over time amortizes out to be about the same as keeping old faithful running forever, and this way, they get to upgrade to newest models/features every few years.

4) Some generators are just junk, they are usually lower wattage no-name Chinese units that are practically disposable. They are usually in the $299 price range. They may last for more than one storm and will always start up when you do your monthly check, but afterwards will never work when the power goes out and you actually need it to run. It will leave you frustrated and without power, and nobody (locally or elsewhere) can repair it. You can find these generators for sale at the Maku'u market.

[MattKarma]

My 800W "All Power" (#2 & #4 above, terrifyingly cheep) was something of a goat to break in; I don't need to use it often, and because I have batteries I can carry a 1700W load with it (which again, I don't do very often). After owning it a while and learning it's secrets I have no problem starting it any time, and it runs reliably. Loud though (but not as loud as when new).

[1voyager1]

After going 6 days without power after Iselle, we went over to Costco and picked up a Champion dual fuel 7KW [actually only 6.3 KW on propane fuel] electric start for $750.
We chose a 7KW [6.3KW] from what our needs were, or would have been if we'd have had one to get us through Iselle's aftermath.
And we wanted the propane fuel option.
Running daily to try to get ice was a PIA that, more often than not, was a complete waste of time and effort.
Water for showers, power to cool refrigerator and freezer, power and water to run the washing machine, those were the bare necessities we went without after Iselle.

After the last wind storm, we went without power for 3 days.
We had warm showers daily, kept the refrigerator and freezer cold, had running water in the house when needed and only ran it for 2 hours about noon and 2 hours again about 4pm.
And, I did over load it once pushing it to see how much it could deliver.

7KW was a good choice for our needs.
Anything smaller would not have come close to being worthwhile, and anything larger wouldn't have been worth the expense.

[MarkP]

I am not saying that anybody is wrong. I however have a honda eu2000i that is good for 1600 watts continuous. I use it as a back-up to my 2100 watt solar PV system. It does what I need although it struggles when the reefer starts while the dehumidifier or washing machine heater is on. If money were no object I would get the eu3000i. That would match my inverter very nicely.

Point being I can't imagine what I would do with 7 kw.

ETA: My inverter is actually an APC SmartUPS3000. It feeds the power of the external source, usually grid power but in my case generator power, through to the loads, shunting off some power to charge batteries. That's why I mention the generator matching the inverter. Right now my power never flickers while on battery power but if I want to use the generator to help, the generator is more easily overloaded than the inverter is and I have to be careful what I run. My ideal generator would actually be an engine driven 60 volt DC generator that would charge the batteries directly while the inverter carried all the load. In such a scenario the UPS would always carry the load up to ts limit, which as I have mentioned appears to be sufficient at 2700 watts continuous for my needs. I could then go with a DC engine/generator of a small size that would run efficiently near full throttle for long periods. The inverter would pull from the batteries during the peaks but on the whole the batteries would gain ground.