Portable generators

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JOhnH

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Following up with the whole house generator thread, how about a discussion on smaller, portable generators.

I have a 5.5k portable "Lowes Special". It is reliable and puts out a more than adequate amount of juice for me, but after about a week the noise will drive you nuts. (Actually, a few hours is sufficient for those of us that are already close). And it is a real PITA to have to crank it up every few hours to keep the fridge cool, or if you want a cup of coffee or to run the microwave, etc.

I am considering one of the Honda or similar "super quiet" generators. The 2000W one might be enough, and it is about half the price of the 3,000 Watt version ($999 vs $1,999). My 5,500 variety cost around $400 a few years ago.

And I would love one that just idles along sipping gas while under minimum load, but will rev up when the fridge or other device kicks in.

I would like to put in a manual transfer switch so I wouldn't have to run a half dozen extension cords, but that seems like overkill for a small genny.

What is a good sensible choice for this?
 
Well, except for small and portable thing, I've always had a soft spot for the old Listers. They are quiet, in that old, low RPM engine kind of way...

 
I have a GenTran manual switch. Runs 6 circuits, or four if you bridge the two center ones to run a 220v circuit, like a well pump. Has load meters so you can keep the legs balanced. Cost a little over $200 iirc. Installed it myself, and ran the feed cable outside the house to a weatherproof box so my 5KW genny can run out in the cold without fear of CO2 or infiltration. Nice to have, I power the furnace, living room lights, TV/stereo entertainment, the fridge/microwave and the well pump. As long as I don't power up the whole load at the same time, the genny keeps up just fine. It's an Powerhorse, sold by Northern Tool I think. Some OHV Chinese engine. Quieter than the old Briggs powered model I had, which was one of the power up on demand models. That one seemed to bog when the 220v came in. Don't think it was doing the well pump any good.
I'm set up for being snowed in for a week. Probably not high on your list down there down there in FL.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
I have a GenTran manual switch. Runs 6 circuits, or four if you bridge the two center ones to run a 220v circuit, like a well pump. Has load meters so you can keep the legs balanced. Cost a little over $200 iirc. Installed it myself, and ran the feed cable outside the house to a weatherproof box so my 5KW genny can run out in the cold without fear of CO2 or infiltration. Nice to have, I power the furnace, living room lights, TV/stereo entertainment, the fridge/microwave and the well pump. As long as I don't power up the whole load at the same time, the genny keeps up just fine. It's an Powerhorse, sold by Northern Tool I think. Some OHV Chinese engine. Quieter than the old Briggs powered model I had, which was one of the power up on demand models. That one seemed to bog when the 220v came in. Don't think it was doing the well pump any good.
I'm set up for being snowed in for a week. Probably not high on your list down there down there in FL.
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Snow? Yikes!
No, snow isn't a problem, and Nate will probably miss us, but who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of the Weather Channel!
 
JOhnH said:
...I would like to put in a manual transfer switch so I wouldn't have to run a half dozen extension cords, but that seems like overkill for a small genny. ...
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I don't know why the size of the genset would affect a transfer panel decision. I have two different setups, both with manual transfer panels, one at our lake place with a hardwired 13.5KW LP genset and one at home with a 5KW gasoline portable. Note I am not switching the whole house; In each case the main panels have all the house circuits and the transfer panels support a subset: furnace, gas cooktop (for ignition), some lighting, fridge, well pump at the lake, etc. The expense of automatic start and automatic switching is more than I want to pay.

Transfer panels are kind of expensive, but I installed and wired them myself so the overall cost was not too bad. No way would I want to be chasing around with extension cords, particularly trying to connect the furnace. At home I do have to unroll a cable, set up the portable genset outside, and plug in but that's not too bad.
 
When I had my fifth wheel, I had a sweet set up using just a 1000 watt Yamaha invertor generator, batteries, and a 120 volt invertor. I had 3 deep cycle batteries, and a 2500 watt pure sine wave invertor. I could run a hair dryer, or even the microwave, without making a sound outside (not together, of course), running off the batteries and invertor. Then, during the day time, I would run a 1000 watt /54 decibel Yamaha invertor generator from like 10am to 4pm to recharge the batteries. As long as I put the generator in the bed of my truck before starting, you couldn't even hear it and I could have run it all night anyway.
One time we were camped in a rustic federal camp site, with the generator running. A park ranger came by to remind us about the generator running times, and I thought someone had complained...while standing about 20 feet from my truck (with the generator in the bed, running) I asked him if my generator was too loud. He said, "I don't know, I haven't been here yet when you are running it." I told him it was running now, then literally had to show him because he didn't believe me. He laughed and said I could run the generator 24 hours a day if I wanted.
 
Honda had a bunch of their small generators positioned on the Osh grounds this year; driving I think mainly cell phone charging stations. I commented on how very quiet they were - you could easily carry on phone convo with it right next to you.
 
My Honda EU6000iS connects to a bypass switch and powers my whole house. No problems so far. The switch is to prevent back-feeding into the grid and killing the linemen that are repairing the grid failure.
 
JOhnH said:
I would like to put in a manual transfer switch so I wouldn't have to run a half dozen extension cords, but that seems like overkill for a small genny.

What is a good sensible choice for this?
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You might take a look here:
https://www.interlockkit.com/

If they have a kit for your panel, it's a good, inexpensive alternative to a transfer switch, and it has the advantage that you can power any circuit in your house. Transfer switch panels usually only power a small subset of circuits.
 
We use a 6250 watt, starts on the first pull. Wired to hook up to the house panels. Not a pain at all other then having to go outside to start it up real quick obviously. Would be great to have something like the variable rpm hondas. For the cost though, not really worth it for us to get a Honda or similar for the amount we use our current generator.
 
I have a Generac 7550W, and I do wish it were quieter. We used it for 5 days following Irma before we got our power back. I put it in an open area under our barn roof and connected it via the subpanel in the tack room. This got the noise and exhaust away from the house, but it was still loud enough to be annoying any time we had to work in the barn or feed and water the horses.

Not that I'm kicking; I'm very glad we had it. I couldn't run the air conditioner, but we had lights, well pump, TV, ceiling fans, microwave, stove top, refrigerator and freezer, etc. Downstairs in our basement family room, with the ceiling fan on, the temperature was perfectly comfortable. I had to use circuit breakers to select loads (switch off the fridge & freezer to run the well pump, etc.), but that's not much of a hardship.
 
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