Posted: 12/1/2016 8:45:26 AM EDT
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Before anything else, I am not doing a transfer switch, as this is a rental house. Part of getting this generator now is planning for future use in a purchased house that will have a transfer switch in place.
I decided on a newer, China-made brand, to get a higher wattage. Since family members are donating to the gift, I couldn't ask for a Kohler or Generac. (And I am not going to drop that coin myself at this time)..This is being bought through Home Depot with an extended warranty out to 5 years, and I will follow all the recommended break-in procedures and exercise it, per the manual. And adjust the valves at 50 hours as recommended. I will use it for now as a backup for the refrigerator, deep freeze, internet, TV, lights, microwave and garage door opener. We have a gas stove, so no big deal there, and for now, if anything happens in the dead of winter, a kero heater. Later use in another house, may include HVAC. After looking at the setup below, any advice? So here is the setup: A-Ipower 12000/9000 electric start with 50A and 30A receptacles, as well as 4 20A receptacles. Attached File A 50A Camco pigtail: Attached File A CEP power distribution box with 4 20A duplex receptacles: Attached File And finally a 30A 25 foot extension with 4 5-20R receptacles: 
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| A word of warning on the chicom generators. If you can't get parts they are worthless. I have 2- 2000W inverting generators that i bought on the cheap. Both are broke and i have not gotten bored enough to take the 2 and make 1. Once i am done making 1, i will still just have a piece of crap chicom generator that you can't get parts for and is a pain to start. |
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You don't have to put in a transfer switch. You can put an interlock on the main panel. Wire a connection off a 50 amp breaker. When you run the generator plug it in and just flip off breakers you do not need. This will get rid of all the drop cords and that device with all the plugs. Price should be the same or less.
Google using a generator with an interlock. |
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What are you doing for fuel stabilization?
You may consider draining it of fuel completely for storage (don't forget the carb bowl). A 5 gallon can of ethanol free fuel will last (for storage) quite a long time. Then you feed it with fresh pump gas you get as need dictates. |
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Quoted:
You don't have to put in a transfer switch. You can put an interlock on the main panel. Wire a connection off a 50 amp breaker. When you run the generator plug it in and just flip off breakers you do not need. This will get rid of all the drop cords and that device with all the plugs. Price should be the same or less. Google using a generator with an interlock. The house we are in has.... Interesting electrics... The panel is an ancient box with glass fuses and the wiring is the same age (1951). Grounding is suspect at best, so for this situation I opted for an isolated system (and will ground the generator to a rod with some 10 AWG wire. ETA: This is a similar, but not the exact panel we have: Attached File |
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Quoted:
What are you doing for fuel stabilization? You may consider draining it of fuel completely for storage (don't forget the carb bowl). A 5 gallon can of ethanol free fuel will last (for storage) quite a long time. Then you feed it with fresh pump gas you get as need dictates. I am lucky, in our area we have many stations with pure gas, 90 octane. I am actually in the process of cycling out our stored fuel (which had stabil in it, also) and will be putting the pure gas in my can stash with some stabil. For the 7 gallon tank on the generator, I will use that fuel, and the exercise cycle for it is 30 minutes per week, so I should be good for keeping the carb clean. |
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I am lucky, in our area we have many stations with pure gas, 90 octane. I am actually in the process of cycling out our stored fuel (which had stabil in it, also) and will be putting the pure gas in my can stash with some stabil. For the 7 gallon tank on the generator, I will use that fuel, and the exercise cycle for it is 30 minutes per week, so I should be good for keeping the carb clean. Groovy. I am cursed with Ethanol gas and it is a pox upon humanity. Another member showed me the light and let me know I can source ethanol free at a local airport, but it is still 5 bucks a gallon. |
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Unless you are set on a higher wattage generator, just be aware that it will use a ton of fuel regardless of load you are placing on it. And it definitely is iffy storing that much gasoline for a weeks worth of run time. A lot of you applications you could get by with half the wattage or even less if you are load managing. Big energy users of course are hvac and electric heating water. It may or may not power a hvac though depending on the size and presence of a hard start kit.
These two especially catch my eye. 7 gallons for 8.5hour run time and 78 decibels. |
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If that is your budget it looks like a good setup.
The only advice I have it to put a tri-fuel conversion on it to run it on whatever gas is for the gas stove. That generator will drink a ton of fuel and be loud. At minimum take advantage of the $20 military classic jerry cans if they are still on sale at ohio prep and put back 50 gallon of ethanol free fuel for later. That unit uses 4.5 gallons per hour at full load and can run 8.5 hours at 50% load on a 7 gallon tank. Personally if it were me, and this was solely for emergency use I would skip all the cords, power boxes, etc and get a honda/yamaha inverter generator. Used solely for emergency use a honda 2000 will take care of your list assuming you can alternate between the fridge, deep freeze & microwave and just run a few led lights & tv, squirrel cage on the gas furnace. This is coming from a general contractor who started with a 5KW watt coleman, upgraded to a 10KW diesel, then to a 23kw water cooled whole house with a 3.5kw honda craigslist score & Honda eu2000 I picked up at sams for $650 as the last unit clearance. I have been very very impressed with the Honda as it is now the go to for our commercial construction to just run the bare necessities. |
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Groovy. I am cursed with Ethanol gas and it is a pox upon humanity. Another member showed me the light and let me know I can source ethanol free at a local airport, but it is still 5 bucks a gallon. I switched to the 100LL for my 2-stroke tools. Cheaper than the can stuff and now when I do yard work, I smell like I am flying a Cessna again! |
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What are you doing for fuel stabilization? You may consider draining it of fuel completely for storage (don't forget the carb bowl). A 5 gallon can of ethanol free fuel will last (for storage) quite a long time. Then you feed it with fresh pump gas you get as need dictates. Your best bet for fuel is to have a monthly schedule for running the generator. That'll help eliminate fuel problems that won't become apparent until it's freezing outside and there's no place to get parts or supplies. I'll run mine any time I need to use power tools out in the yard. Also consider security. When you're running the thing, especially one that large, it's going to make a racket. Make sure you can securely lock it at all times. I've got a few steel cables I use for things like that. They won't stop a thief with an angle grinder but then again not much can. It'll stop your run of the mill heroin addict and the casual thief, which is probably 87% of your threat. That power distribution box looks really good. Haven't seen one of those since the old days doing sound and light for shows. |
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If that is your budget it looks like a good setup. The only advice I have it to put a tri-fuel conversion on it to run it on whatever gas is for the gas stove. That generator will drink a ton of fuel and be loud. At minimum take advantage of the $20 military classic jerry cans if they are still on sale at ohio prep and put back 50 gallon of ethanol free fuel for later. I have ~ 50 gallons worth of stored gas at the moment. I will add a little more capacity. Thing runs 7 hours at 100% load and 9 hours at 50% ( so about a gallon an hour at 100%) For a short outage, under a couple hours, I figure there is no major need to run it. If it is going to be a day or two, I would probably run it consistently. If I know it is going to be a long outage over a few days (which is EXTREMELY rare in Greenville), I would probably run it is cycles, just to keep the food from spoiling and have some better lighting then just my kero lanterns. If it was very cold out, I would just move the food outside.. nature's freezer. |
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Your best bet for fuel is to have a monthly schedule for running the generator. That'll help eliminate fuel problems that won't become apparent until it's freezing outside and there's no place to get parts or supplies. I'll run mine any time I need to use power tools out in the yard. Also consider security. When you're running the thing, especially one that large, it's going to make a racket. Make sure you can securely lock it at all times. I've got a few steel cables I use for things like that. They won't stop a thief with an angle grinder but then again not much can. It'll stop your run of the mill heroin addict and the casual thief, which is probably 87% of your threat. That power distribution box looks really good. Haven't seen one of those since the old days doing sound and light for shows. I have a good, thick cable lock and chains, which I can lock to my truck. I will run this in my driveway, behind my truck. When it is not in use, it will live in the garage/basement. Plus, I live in a pretty secure area. I may setup some plywood baffles around it (not too close) to help with the noise, mostly to be kind to the neighbors. |
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Why not buy a used honda? Ive been paying about 1k for used honda 6500's, in like new condition off of craigslist I thought about it, but for the same price, I get 5 years worth of warranty... so I am willing to give it a shot. It is a luxury at the moment, so there is not a lot of risk to trying it out. |
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Why not buy a used honda? Ive been paying about 1k for used honda 6500's, in like new condition off of craigslist Yes, seriously OP. Always Buy Quality. And if it is really a luxury, why not save and invest the money for now. I have lived without a generator after huge summer storms/hurricanes in the DC area for 5-7 days and survived. I did lose food in the fridge/freezer but that was the only long-term negative. Money in bank > generator for some event that might not happen. |
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Yes, seriously OP. Always Buy Quality. And if it is really a luxury, why not save and invest the money for now. I have lived without a generator after huge summer storms/hurricanes in the DC area for 5-7 days and survived. I did lose food in the fridge/freezer but that was the only long-term negative. Money in bank > generator for some event that might not happen. I did a decent bit of research and from user reviews and everything I could find, this brand seems to have positive results. I wanted the 50A circuit, electric start, and a host of other features this thing has, and to get that in nearly any other brand, was into the 2000 dollar plus range. Simply couldn't justify that with family and the fiancee. I will certainly use it and report back on the results. |
