*couldn't figure out what size I needed so I went with a 22k unit.
Well.... I just went out and bought one of IPL's old coal burners. So there. (Not really.)
*couldn't figure out what size I needed so I went with a 22k unit.
Basics? Like Water? Septic pump? Sump Pump? Being able to see in your barn when it is dark outside? How about two freezers full of food and two more refrigerators?No need to run everything, just the basics till shore power is restored.
A medium sized (4Kw) genset can easily go through 6-7 gallons a day.
A week or two (been there, done that) of that nonsense gets expensive.
I would much rather rotate cords and run the quiet, fuel sipping, inverter genny.
Of course, this is just my opinion.....
Everyone's situation is different,Basics? Like Water? Septic pump? Sump Pump?
We are on city water, and don't have any pumps to worry about.
I am good for a week or so if that happens.When the pumps run by the city fail, you will have no water.
Everyone's situation is different,
We are on city water, and don't have any pumps to worry about.
You do realize of course that if the grid went down the Water Co. has some seriously huge diesel pumps that pick up the load but not 100%. And the tanks will run dry in a few days on these.
Back when we had the wind storm, our area was without power for 12 days.
We still had water.
If it stops, the barrels and case water I have stored come into play.
When that is gone, the monolithic bucket filter will go into action.
I don't have a well, so for me, having a genny big enough to run a well pump would do no good.
I have a Miller Bobcat welder that is very handy for in field repairs, it is also a 20KW generator. It runs the whole house very nicely, we had an electric hot water heater before switching to on demand LP and an electric cooktop and you could tell that with the AC running when those two kicked on it was a strain but it worked.
Not very scientific but could be a reference for someone. Plenty of power but you’re going to spend 50 bucks a day in gas. I am happy to be able to run everything. I also have a quiet Honda but it wouldn’t do much, most of them have to be paired with another to get 220V or 221, whatever it takes.
I will also mention that this is not clean power and the microwave, which pulls a surprising amount of power, runs kinda fritzy.
Rhino can feel free to elaborate on any of my simple terms.
Understood,My reference was if we experienced a total black out as has happened along the coast before. None here as yet but it could still happen.
Understood,
That is why I favor the smaller units.
One can go all out and plow through all their stored gas in short order, or rotate plugs and use about a gallon a day.
For me, I have found that when the power is out, it is time to reduce consumption.
I’ve never thought to look at the sine wave,
I’ll have to look at it next time we fire it up.
Editing because purple doesn’t work well on the phone...
seriously though we just go on with life, we’ve watched a lot of tv with it, not that we have real fancy TVs or anything. Our power goes off quite often being at the end of the line of one of Boone county’s lines.
we had an electric hot water heater before switching to on demand LP