Generator question

TravelinDog wrote:

Kpackpackkelley wrote:
It’s hard on the generator and electronics if your generator dies under load.

Pure nonsense.
I run my gen all night when we go hunting in the boonies and nobody else is within miles.
The night temps are below 0° and we run 2 1500 watt space heaters. Sometime the gen runs out of gas and it just sputters and dies. There has never been any damage to the gen or the heaters or inverter.
I've done the same thing while running the a/c.
If there was any danger of damage to your gen by letting it run out of gas it would warn you about it in your owner's manual.

You’re probably right I just like to turn the loads off and let it run awhile .
Generator’s cost to much for me to take chances.

2oldman wrote:

TravelinDog wrote:
The night temps are below 0° and we run 2 1500 watt space heaters.

If this is in an RV I'm curious as to why you don't use the furnace..

I do too.

You edited your reply and now my response doesn't make sense. The first response said "In an RV?" and I replied "I do too".

TravelinDog wrote:
The night temps are below 0° and we run 2 1500 watt space heaters.

If this is in an RV I'm curious as to why you don't use the furnace..

From the Onan RV Generator Handbook:

"Turn off air conditioners and large electrical loads and allow the generator to run for 3-5 minutes before stopping, to allow the generator to cool down."

But they're just the manufacturer - what do they know?

Kpackpackkelley wrote:
It’s hard on the generator and electronics if your generator dies under load.

Pure nonsense.
I run my gen all night when we go hunting in the boonies and nobody else is within miles.
The night temps are below 0° and we run 2 1500 watt space heaters. Sometime the gen runs out of gas and it just sputters and dies. There has never been any damage to the gen or the heaters or inverter.
I've done the same thing while running the a/c.
If there was any danger of damage to your gen by letting it run out of gas it would warn you about it in your owner's manual.

When the power company blows a transformer and the power in your house goes out - does it cause damage to electronics? Not likely.

That said, I don't see the need to run a generator all night if not running the A/C unit. We had to do it one time when the wife had to use a rental oxygen concentrator and we didn't have time to make other arrangements. Now with a few modifications, we are able to operate everything from the batteries.

maillemaker wrote:
He said:

"Nobody runs a generator overnight for electronics..

That's right. Thank you.

People do indeed run their generators all night long.

He said:

"Nobody runs a generator overnight for electronics.

The only reason I'd fire up my generator is to run the AC or, rarely, the microwave. Everything else runs on batteries fine.

2oldman wrote:
Nobody runs a generator overnight for electronics. Your camping neighbors will not be pleased. Get an inverter.

I take it you've never been at a campground when it's hot out and the power fails.

5-10min later you usually start to hear the generators being started up. We've done it plenty of times. If the campgroud owner complains, I point out that they failed to provide power as contracted.

2oldman wrote:
Nobody runs a generator overnight for electronics. Your camping neighbors will not be pleased. Get an inverter.

People do indeed run their generators all night long.

I've done it in Walmart, rest areas, casino parking lots... Park between a couple of trucks running their reefer full tilt, and you probably won't notice the Onan...

And yes, it helps block out road/train noise quite nicely.