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Talk to me about generators

Yotota

Yotota

Truck nerd
Joined
Jun 6, 2020
Member Number
1870
Messages
1,302
Loc
SW WA
Finally moved to a house with some property and a shop, up on the side of a mountain, 5 acres of awesome and a solid 10 degrees cooler than down in town. Also a shitload of work and endless projects but that's another story.

The power situation up here is fragile. We've already had a couple short outages in the last month from poles getting hit down in town. I would LOVE a hard mounted automatic backup generator powered by a big propane tank (~$12k installed) but that's not in the cards for now. So instead I'm shopping for a portable unit to get me by for 2-3 years at least. We have some electrical work planned already so the contractor will be installing an exterior Generator feed plug, and now we need a generator.

Something in the 8000-9000 watt range would get us by to keep the fridges and freezer cold, run our two pellet stoves, run the range hood over our gas cooktop, keep the LED lights on, maybe give us a bit of hot water, etc. Edit: oh and the well pump... Kinda important.

Hondas are the gold standard, but ~$3-4k.

Generacs are affordable, but some are loud.

Hazard Fart has the cheap Predator generators which seem to be decent, but also on the loud side. There is a new "Super Quiet" model though.

Or... ???

Never owned a generator before, what should I know? Thanks!
 
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Also, for a slightly louder unit I had the thought to just build a plywood/foam board insulated doghouse to maybe muffle the generator a bit. It would have to be vented of course, and then duct the exhaust out and away, so I'm not sure if much could be gained for that amount of work.

Another thought was to run the generator on the other side of my shop, which is a good 100' away from where the plug will be. A bigass extension cord won't be cheap but also not a deal breaker...
 
We had the 8500 constant (10k starting, which is what most brands put on the side) generac from Costco. It was $1000 and had efi and electric start.

Wasn't exactly quiet, but not super loud.

The only thing I kinda wished I'd had was propane option. We had a ~250 gal tank at the house and it would have been nice to not have to keep filling it up with gas.

I don't think running it of ~5 gal tanks would make any sense.
 
HossCat said:
Hobart Elite generator welder. 2 birds, one rock.
Click to expand...
Hmm, I had once considered welder/generator units and then forgot about that option.

Years back I bought a bunch of Miller Bobcats for my service crew to use all around the facility. Those were cool.

Off to the interwebs I go for more shopping...
 
Yotota said:
The power situation up here is fragile. We've already had a couple short outages in the last month from poles getting hit down in town. I would LOVE a hard mounted automatic backup generator powered by a big propane tank (~$12k installed) but that's not in the cards for now. So instead I'm shopping for a portable unit to get me by for 2-3 years at least. We have some electrical work planned already so the contractor will be installing an exterior Generator feed plug, and now we need a generator.
Click to expand...
How big of a generator are you looking at that it was 12k? I posted in the thread in GCC on this same topic, I have a 16kw whole house generac with automatic transfer switch that cost me $3500, plus about $800 for install of gas and wiring. Powers my well, electric stove, electric dryer and everything else with no problems.

I also just bought a generac GP8000 for our other place and it kicks ass too. I wired in a plug like you are describing and just plug the genny in there. It is not quiet though.
 
Wheelerfreak said:
How big of a generator are you looking at that it was 12k? I posted in the thread in GCC on this same topic, I have a 16kw whole house generac with automatic transfer switch that cost me $3500, plus about $800 for install of gas and wiring. Powers my well, electric stove, electric dryer and everything else with no problems.

I also just bought a generac GP8000 for our other place and it kicks ass too. I wired in a plug like you are describing and just plug the genny in there. It is not quiet though.
Click to expand...

Wow, maybe I'm not shopping well enough?

To run EVERYTHING except the shop, I'm looking at 20kw units. Those run in the $5-6k range delivered. Plus install, plus electrical components, plus big MF propane tank and install, plus tax, seemed to be right around $12k all-in.

Nothing is cheap in the PNW for good contractors these days so that might play a part in this.
 
I have a 7KW XG7000 Generac, Runs most of my house (2300sq ft) including 1 zone of central air. Generac doesnt make the XG series anymore they rolled it to their commercial XC line. Worth looking for a used one or bumping the budget for the XC. XG and XC both have pressurized filtered (spin on filter) oil systems, not the low end splash lube most portable generators use.
 
My lil Honda 2500W that I purchased 25 years ago STILL starts one pull
I have done nothing but oil changes, maybe a sparkplug once

Family has a few of the built in Generac thingy's, they require a electrician if you don't know what or how to hook the switch box. But, I call my grandma (98) when the power is out and she usually has no clue that the power went out :laughing:
On that, they are on propane, you are stuck to getting on the propane guy showing up, and their schedule . When everyone needs propane at the same time and there is a foot of snow, it can take a while.

Loud, mine is sure as hell not quiet, I just move it further away or around the corner

We also have a Bobcat Welder when we need big things to run like well pumps, but the little one will run freezers, microwaves, and the entertainment system, you just are not going to be doing it all at once
 
I just picked up a HF Predator to run on a transfer switch to run the essentials minus AC units. It was surprisingly not as loud as I was lead to believe. Just did the break in period a couple of weekends ago. Need to change the oil then install a transfer switch. Have too much going on so I’m hoping no hiccups this hurricane season :homer:
 
Yotota said:
Wow, maybe I'm not shopping well enough?

To run EVERYTHING except the shop, I'm looking at 20kw units. Those run in the $5-6k range delivered. Plus install, plus electrical components, plus big MF propane tank and install, plus tax, seemed to be right around $12k all-in.

Nothing is cheap in the PNW for good contractors these days so that might play a part in this.
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To be fair, I had an existing propane tank since that is what I use for everything else. I got it from Northern Tool with free shipping to my door for the $3500 mentioned. I had to move it into place with my tractor and then hired the plumber and electrician to finish the install.
 
I bought a Honda 2200i for the house and wired in a little 4 circuit transfer switch. Powers the fridge, ceiling fans, lights, entertainmemt system, and with the propane kit from hutch mountain, I don't have to deal with gas. Only 4 circuits, but it's plenty for the times we don't have power.

Huge win for us.
 
I have the older version of this one, my dad bought it 20 years ago to build our house. I put a natural gas kit on it in addition to gasoline as we have a line from the city.

www.contractorsdirect.com

Multiquip Generator 3600 RPMS GA6HRS Honda GX340

Product DetailsMultiquip GA6HR Honda GX340 6 kW GeneratorsWhen your job demands a power source versatile enough to handle changing requirements, Multiquip's portable generators are the only option.FeaturesChoose from recoil or electric startAll Models include:100% copper windings for maximum...
www.contractorsdirect.com www.contractorsdirect.com

It is loud, but it is a tank, and pulls way above its rating IMO. We ran it about a week ago overnight when the power was out, it ran 2 fridge/freezers, 2 deep freezers, lights, TV, modem, ceiling fans, a portable AC unit, and the pool pump the whole time because I forgot to turn it off.

It will basically run our whole house besides the main AC and hot water, we have a natural gas range and grill.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
I bought a Honda 2200i for the house and wired in a little 4 circuit transfer switch. Powers the fridge, ceiling fans, lights, entertainmemt system, and with the propane kit from hutch mountain, I don't have to deal with gas. Only 4 circuits, but it's plenty for the times we don't have power.

Huge win for us.
Click to expand...
we are about to build, I think we are just going to do this
I don't need the whole house to work, just right where I am at the moment :beer:
 
SomeGuyFromOlympia said:
we are about to build, I think we are just going to do this
I don't need the whole house to work, just right where I am at the moment :beer:
Click to expand...
This is the transfer switch I used;

www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com

Reliance Controls R104B1 Pro/Tran 2 - 15-Amp 120V 4-Circuit Outdoor Transfer Switch

Buy Reliance Controls R104B1 Direct. Free Shipping. Check the Reliance Controls Pro/Tran 2 - 15-Amp (120V 4-Circuit) Outdoor Transfer Switch ratings before checking out.
www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com
 
Well I shopped and googled like crazy, figured out the specs I need, talked to my electrician, and clicked buy. As badass as a surplus 10kw diesel Fermont gen set would be I ended up sticking with commercial and ordered a Westinghouse WGen12000DF dual fuel. Propane powered makes more sense as we already run tanks for other uses, and I need something with low THD for running electronics in the house. So many gen sets have over 20% THD which will smoke electronics pretty quickly... 5% is the recommend threshold. Not many options that checked all the boxes so hopefully this thing actually ships in a few weeks like it's supposed to.

Thanks for all the info!
 
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Matching transformers are not hard to find. I run one on tech circuits where I need better waveform.
But then, I got mine surplus out of a big ol' piece of 80s computer electronics.
So you could live with substantially uglier THD if needed. In fact, the rated THD may never be actually achieved, for that matter.
Anyway, it's not really big thing if stuff doesn't work out at first - which is never does. A good isolation transformer will smooth things out as nice as you'd ever want.
 
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