What is a good generator?

S

Shann

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Sep 2, 2004
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I had another power outage for a little over 24 hours. Not a big deal, except that I have a really wet basement with a sump pump and when it is off that long, I get enough water in the basement to infiltrate my furnace (a project this summer is to raise the furnace another few inches but doesn't solve the problem). Also, its not real nice when the interior house temperature is 42 degrees!

I borrowed a generator from a friend of mine. I'm looking to buy a generator for the couple of times per year that I need one. Frankly, if I lost power more I would be willing to go higher end, but don't really want to spend $2K on a generator.

Any suggestions as to power needs, cost and brands? I want to run the sump pump, furnace and refridgerator and maybe a lamp. I can live without everything else for a few days if need be.
 
Their have been threads on generators in the past.

Having grown up with crappy american brand small combustian engines that never started and or never ran well, I'd buy either honda or yamaha.

Some generator models don't produce pure or relatively pure sine waves, that may be important for some applications.

The thing to do is add up the watts you need to run everything either all at once, and get once sized for that. Or you can manually cycle what's connected and get one that's sized to run the largest single load.
 
I'll second that.

I like almost anything with a Honda Engine, they are Quiet and Reliable.
 
If you want to deal with just the sump pump you can set up a battery powered system which will come on automatically when power fails. Other than that you have to figure out just what your usage will be to determine how big you want .Some like those fine Honda have a pure sine wave which you need for certain electronics especially amateur radio.
 
If you are just using it for those little power outages that only last hours or a couple days, and use it for the TV and water pumps, then probably the cheap one at Walmart will do.

If you plan to use the generator for other applications like camping, and especially battery charging then shop around and test the unit before buying. If battery charging is important, then you must test it on a charger- one of your own before purchase, as some generators have poor sign wave output and the battery charger will not work properly or worse not work at all.

With that said look at the Honda's and check out Yamaha. I use a Honda EZ-2500 and it has well over 20,000 hours on it from running it at camp in all seasons. Last year I bought the Yamaha 2800 i (inverter series) and it is super quiet, cheap on gas and will run everthing from chargers to water pumps. The idle down feature is really nice, reducing fuel consumption and noise.
 
I work on generators for a living. I am partial to Onan.
There are allot of options. Do you want a portable or a fixed unit.
Fixed are nice they will come on by themselves and run on Nat gas or LP.
Portables are cheaper but are louder and you have to run cords to what you want to run. Here is our Web site Lots of good reading.

http://www.cumminsonan.com/residential/products/naturalgas

-Eric
 
Mate of mine has a rural place with natural gas supply out of the ground - he runs a Capstone microturbine set up - electricity and hot water (and heating when he needs it) I think the smallest is 30kw but clever units.
 
I have a Honda EU... very quiet, portable, runs on just about everything I toss in her (old, new, various octanes).. will hardly sip fuel when not pulling much, and when pulling more, she will ramp up production. Starts every time, and works great.. But very pricey for its watts. Perfect for me, often need to travel and work in various parking lots.
 
I have the Honda EU3000is and while it is expensive, it is also very reliable and quiet. When it is turned on, you can have a conversation in a normal tone of voice next to it.

One night a storm knocked a tree limb into the power line going into our house. I called the power company and they came out to inspect it. After inspecting they started looking down the street and asked if any of the neighbors had their power out as well because they could hear a generator going down the street. I pointed to the Honda sitting about 5 feet away from us and said it was probably that one they were hearing. They couldn't believe how quiet it was.

Many campgrounds will only allow Honda EUs and other similar quiet generators. Like has been mentioned it also produces very clean electricity for running computers and other electronic equipment.

It is expensive but could very possibly be worth the expense.

Chad
 
+1 on the Honda. I've used an EU2000 for some time running my equipment out in the field. I can run my instruments and two 4 1/2" grinders on it and you can barely hear it run. They'll idle down when you aren't pulling any current, and they pick back up pretty quick. You can carry the 2000 around by hand without any trouble, too. Nice and light. I think they go for about $850 around here. Well worth it, IMO.
 
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