school me on generators, (that wont break my budget)

[Phillygunguy]

Hi all. First time posting in the disaster prep forum
I'm buying a house in a rural area PA which last winter many homes had power outages. I'm looking to get a generator that is enough to run a house a little over 1300 sq foot it has well water that runs on electric as well as I need for refrigerator and washer dryer. I was looking at generac one's that run on LP with an auto start but they run about $2000 anyone know of any generators cost under a grand that can do the job ? I'm kinda of new to generators too

[SPQR476]

I have an Aurora diesel that has been pretty darned good, but I don't have a ton of hours on it yet. Somewhere around $1250 delivered, IIRC, but it was a few years back.

[Phillygunguy]

I have an Aurora diesel that has been pretty darned good, but I don't have a ton of hours on it yet. Somewhere around $1250 delivered, IIRC, but it was a few years back.

Does it have or take an external tank ? And how many hours can you run on it ?

[SPQR476]

http://www.auroragenerators.com/gene...58&id=13028031

This is the one that I have, although they make an enclosed version with the same power section, and a bunch of other options. It's a China Diesel, but it's put together pretty well. Tank holds 3.3 gal, runs for 10-12 hrs in spec sheet, and I've found that's about right. I haven't run it for that long at a stretch. You can easily set it up for external tank, but for continuous use, you may want one of the water cooled versions. This one works great to turn on for high load periods and top off battery banks.

It says it's only rated to run at 3,000ft elevation or below, but that's overly conservative. I bought it when I lived at 1000ft, and I now live at 5,200 ft, and it runs perfect here.

[Phillygunguy]

http://www.auroragenerators.com/gene...58&id=13028031

This is the one that I have, although they make an enclosed version with the same power section, and a bunch of other options. It's a China Diesel, but it's put together pretty well. Tank holds 3.3 gal, runs for 10-12 hrs in spec sheet, and I've found that's about right. I haven't run it for that long at a stretch. You can easily set it up for external tank, but for continuous use, you may want one of the water cooled versions. This one works great to turn on for high load periods and top off battery banks.

It says it's only rated to run at 3,000ft elevation or below, but that's overly conservative. I bought it when I lived at 1000ft, and I now live at 5,200 ft, and it runs perfect here.

Ok cool thanks

[brown3345]

I see that the web site says that it is "Built to UL and CSA Standard 22.2 No 100 (ETL Certified)" I have no idea what ETL Certified means but it looks like it was never officially certified by Underwriters Laboratories but it meets their specs. Don't know if that is a big deal to you but for some it might be a deal breaker.

[SPQR476]

From the research I did before purchasing, ETL is electronic testing labs, around since 1896, and includes the same testing, manufacturing site inspections, etc., as the UL or CSA certifications. Honeywell and a bunch of others use ETL certification on some products, and as far as I know, it's universally accepted as a NRTL.

[zimm17]

Since you're going to need an automatic transfer switch installed my a qualified electrician... have them do an "energy audit" to see how big of a generator you need. You want to be able to run your A/C or heat, etc. A dryer is a massive pull on a generator. There might even be online calculators you can use.

My dad had a big generac installed, I think it's a 25-30kw monster to run dual zone A/C, but that sucker was $20,000 installed. Or you can skip the A/C, dryer, or any type of electric heat source (stove, heat pump etc) and go with a nice portable and have a manual aux panel put in to control certain circuits like your well pump.

[Phillygunguy]

Since you're going to need an automatic transfer switch installed my a qualified electrician... have them do an "energy audit" to see how big of a generator you need. You want to be able to run your A/C or heat, etc. A dryer is a massive pull on a generator. There might even be online calculators you can use.

My dad had a big generac installed, I think it's a 25-30kw monster to run dual zone A/C, but that sucker was $20,000 installed. Or you can skip the A/C, dryer, or any type of electric heat source (stove, heat pump etc) and go with a nice portable and have a manual aux panel put in to control certain circuits like your well pump.

I'd love a generac but on a budget the ones I saw were in the $5000 range didn't know they could be as high as $20000

[zimm17]

And double the price for install and an automatic transfer switch! I'm no electrician, but they had to re-do every ground wire in the fuse panel in order to do the transfer switch too. Oh, and run a gas line.

That's why I did this: $900 generator and $250 for transfer panel and outdoor plus. I can power the bare essentials without running extension cords everywhere. The little Honda 2000 will run all day on a gallon of gas. The EU3000 is even better (and electric start), but is close to $3k....

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...60#post2061960