Generator to run three RV's?

pianotuna wrote:
Having done lots of power measurements during outages at my house, I found I could run all the important circuits from a 2800 watt kipor generator.

We tend to think of maximum loads--but really I could do fridge, freezer, furnace, most of the lights, router (for wobbly wide web) computers, laptop, garage door openner and block heater for the car. I used a manual transfer switch with six circuits. the Kipor did not overload even once.

RV is not exactly a sticks and bricks..

13.5K AC 13A (1560W) run
RV fridge heater approx 300W
electric heating element in water heater 1200W
converter charging batteries up to 1200W at full load (supporting battery charging duties plus 12V appliances and lighting)
Entertainment, 200W for average LED backlit TV of 32"+ size
And so on..

A potential of 4150W.. Granted not all of those devices will be on or running full tilt, but the potential is high that with three campers attached to one 6Kw gen that at least two campers will be drawing enough other loads that the third camper will lead to enough load to shut down the party..

Pooling generator resources isn't going to save money on fuel either, the smaller gens can be more fuel efficient than a big whopping gen when being under light loads.

I have a 8500W gen with a 13HP engine for my sticks and bricks, it definitely uses more than twice the fuel of my 4Kw gen for my RV with a 6.5HP engine under light or no loads. That bigger engine is very thirsty but I needed that 8500W gen to support my sticks and bricks 220V water well plus a few other 220V items. Otherwise I would have used my 4Kw gen but it is 120V only output and 4Kw would just barely be enough to fire up the water well pump (it is 3/4HP pump in 320ft deep well so the surge is pretty high).

Something else to consider, the bigger gen you go, the much louder it will be, somewhere I have a link to a video I took with a sound meter for my 8500W 13HP gen, very, very loud.. I use good quality hearing protection when I am near it when running.

Weight is another consideration, I used a tractor with front loader to pickup and move my 8500W gen, it weights 230 lbs without fuel, add in 6.5gallons of fuel and now it weights 280 lbs.. Needless to say, mine stays exactly where I planted it.. Moving it even on wheels would not be much fun.

The OPs solution really is for each RV owner to bring their own gen, put them on 50ft extensions in different directions to keep them remote from the campsite for more comfortable sound levels.