Generators..What to Purchase

If I were to see about a generator to run my house, and could afford it, I would go for a Honda eu7000i. It wouldn't run the whole place, obviously, but it would run my small room A/Cs, the fridge, my computer stuff, and a microwave or toaster oven. It is quiet enough that it wouldn't annoy the neighbors. Only thing it may not be able to keep up with would be the electric water heater.

This gives lessons for buying a S&B house. For example, having the refrigerator and other appliances run on CNG, as well as having a backup CNG generator would mean that a power outage would mean little to nothing, even for an indefinite amount of time.

For me, the ideal portable generator would likely be the Champion dual-fuel 3400 watt inverter model. Come the weekend, it gets gasoline Friday and Saturday, then propane Sunday. That way, the carb bowl is empty.

j-d wrote:


Then recently, a 220 unit could be connected to both 110 legs of a house breaker panel WITH PROPER DISCONNECTION FROM THE GRID!!! Still couldn't heat water or run A/C, but way better than having only half the light switches in the house dead...

Where I live, power outages occur at the time of year the A/C unit is covered up for the season. Wind, Rain, and Cold Weather mean "Furnace" and in my case I just run an extension cord from my Inverter (3500 W) to run the fan on my gas furnace.

Record power outage for my house was 3 days back before I owned a generator. Luckily we had a fireplace. At times like that I don't care as much about whether or not the light switches work, I'll use a battery powered "Lantern". The Furnace is definitely missed but no more.

Ralph Cramden wrote:
I'd bet he's on his way over to the parking lot sale at Hazard Fraught Tools to pick up a 12hp 4500 watt noise and fume generator.

We have an onboard ONAN 4KW in the coach, so RV generator's not much of a priority. Being able to use the RV genset to power the house... now that could be. At a minimum, I should install a 30A "Buddy Outlet" so I could use RV extension cords to bring power into the house.

But a remark about the Open Frame gensets got me thinking. Some of us have 220 VAC equipment that would be good to be able to run on a genset, and the bigger open frames will usually allow that. Inverter gensets, and constant speed ones like our ONAN, will not. It isn't enough to say "It can't run the Central A/C, so no need for 220." Now when there could be pumps, etc. the 220 option should be considered.

Then recently, a 220 unit could be connected to both 110 legs of a house breaker panel WITH PROPER DISCONNECTION FROM THE GRID!!! Still couldn't heat water or run A/C, but way better than having only half the light switches in the house dead...

2oldman wrote:

Dave H M wrote:

So how come after all this hubaloo we have not tried to identify the needs? :h

Because OP is gone.

I'd bet he's on his way over to the parking lot sale at Hazard Fraught Tools to pick up a 12hp 4500 watt noise and fume generator. Especially since they're giving away 9 LED aluminum Never-N-Stok flashlights.

Dave H M wrote:
.....snip.....
So how come after all this hubaloo we have not tried to identify the needs? :h

Because it is easier to post opinions based on brand and color. We have a dozen or more members who are programmed to auto-reply to certain questions, regardless of the wants and needs of the OP.

I tried
I asked about location, surroundings, and other people

I think he went to read the provided links and watch some YouTube demos reviews

Dave H M wrote:

So how come after all this hubaloo we have not tried to identify the needs? :h

Because OP is gone.

Someday somebody is going to retort that ,,,,
I'm a Harley rider and I love that loud Pop Pop , I want my genertor to sound like that"
:B

Only one poster gave thought to what the note on "emergency" meant.

I use an open frame genny with 220 outlet for the stick home power so I can power up both sides of the service panel.

I obviously have to shut down things like the AC and water heater when on emergency power. Open frames are the big bang for the buck and it doesn't seem to bother the neighbors on five acre lots here.

I also have an inverter for camping.

So how come after all this hubaloo we have not tried to identify the needs? :h

Kayteg1 wrote:
We camp at the beach right now. Me and next neighbor have Honda EU3000.
On the other side, 3 sites away a guy is running open frame generator.
When all 3 are running, standing close to Hondas, I hear the open frame.
Honda are quiet when you just charge the battery. Once you start AC, you can hear it, but there is difference between hearing it and have it annoying.
Than we have great topics about Predator gen sets. Would I not bought the Honda 15 years ago for $900, I would be tempted to buy cheap.
Power-wise, 3000W generator will run AC and charge batteries at the same time, but for using oven or coffeemaker you have to shut down AC

UPDATE.
The neighbor with open frame left ugh... but the neighbor with EU3000 could not get it to perform (even the 5th wheel has single AC, it is big one) and brought two EU2000 to work in parallel.
They seem to work pretty hard and yes, the noise does get annoying.
The campground does have quiet hr and Host is retired deputy, so no matter what you run, it has to die by 10 PM.