Questions for Generator Geniuses

[Gatorubet 30325]

Hurricane season being with us, I am listening to one of my new generators break in as I type.   I had heard that even though it is duel fuel unit, and will run on propane, you should break it in on gasoline. Brand new generator and it would not run out of the box on gas, but would start up fine on propane.    I just dismantled the fuel valve and line and carburetor,  put it together again, and it started on the first pull.  So that one can stay.

I bought two little Sportsman 1000 watt 4 stroke gas inverter generators.   Got a deal, $149 per unit.  There is another 1000w Sportsman model that advertises as a paralegal unit, with two inputs built in for the Sportsman parallel kit.  See below

 

 

Mine does not have those inputs.  

The ones I bought are rated 800 running watts.  Bullshit.  It cuts off at about 660 on my Killawatt meter.   My window unit is about 700 watts at the highest. 

So - the question for those smarter than me is this:  if I buy a Westinghouse parallel kit (that brand's cord has two connecting ends that are regular 120v plug  - not some special input) to combine the two generators.   I wondering if since I have two same model 1000 watt 60 hrz inverter generators, will they work on that rig - or am I risking the $300 and messing up the generators and burning down my garage -   and having cops come and shoot my dog?

If I can't parallel the two I'm gonna return them. 

I'll hang up and listen.

 

 

[Captainant 27862]

You should hire an electrician to put in a transfer box to safely electrify your home without killing a linesman

[Pato del Muerto 52640]

My question is what is 1600 watts going to power in your home?

[Bullneck 19232]

We had a generator when we lived in Orlando.  It powered everything in the house except the A/C, (other than that, Mrs. Lincoln . . . ).  This was in 2005, after Jeanne, Ivan, and Charley hit in 2004.  Back then we had at least one power outage per week anyway, so we thought it would be a good idea overall.  I think we spent $2,000ish on it and used it once for 3 hours.  It was a pain in the ass to set up since I had to wheel the generator out of the garage to the outside of the house and go through startup procedure.  Most of the time we'd just turn on our lanterns and wait the 1/2 an hour it took for the power to come back on.  

We had an electrician install a special plug and show us how to power up and down the house before and after.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Bullneck

[Bullneck 19232]

It looked about like this, but I see that this is a $6,000 model.  Ours was around $1000 and we did some other electircal work in the house along with that plug.

Edited July 11, 2020 by Bullneck

[Treefidy 1469]

28 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

Hurricane season being with us, I am listening to one of my new generators break in as I type.   I had heard that even though it is duel fuel unit, and will run on propane, you should break it in on gasoline. Brand new generator and it would not run out of the box on gas, but would start up fine on propane.    I just dismantled the fuel valve and line and carburetor,  put it together again, and it started on the first pull.  So that one can stay.

I bought two little Sportsman 1000 watt 4 stroke gas inverter generators.   Got a deal, $149 per unit.  There is another 1000w Sportsman model that advertises as a paralegal unit, with two inputs built in for the Sportsman parallel kit.  See below

 

 

Mine does not have those inputs.  

The ones I bought are rated 800 running watts.  Bullshit.  It cuts off at about 660 on my Killawatt meter.   My window unit is about 700 watts at the highest. 

So - the question for those smarter than me is this:  if I buy a Westinghouse parallel kit (that brand's cord has two connecting ends that are regular 120v plug  - not some special input) to combine the two generators.   I wondering if since I have two same model 1000 watt 60 hrz inverter generators, will they work on that rig - or am I risking the $300 and messing up the generators and burning down my garage -   and having cops come and shoot my dog?

If I can't parallel the two I'm gonna return them. 

I'll hang up and listen.

 

 

If you have 2 inverter gens they need to be the same amperage and voltage.  Connect them with parallel cables

Do they have 30a outlets?

Edited July 11, 2020 by Treefidy

[Pato del Muerto 52640]

1 hour ago, Bullneck said:

We had a generator when we lived in Orlando.  It powered everything in the house except the A/C, (other than that, Mrs. Lincoln . . . ).  This was in 2005, after Jeanne, Ivan, and Charley hit in 2004.  Back then we had at least one power outage per week anyway, so we thought it would be a good idea overall.  I think we spent $2,000ish on it and used it once for 3 hours.  It was a pain in the ass to set up since I had to wheel the generator out of the garage to the outside of the house and go through startup procedure.  Most of the time we'd just turn on our lanterns and wait the 1/2 an hour it took for the power to come back on.  

We had an electrician install a special plug and show us how to power up and down the house before and after.

Thats a 220 V plug iirc

[Bullneck 19232]

32 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Thats a 220 V plug iirc

Yeah, I don't really remember exactly what the plug looked like except it was big and different than anything else in the house.  

For our purposes we didn't match our solution to the problem very well.  Should have gone much smaller, something would have run a few lights and a fridge.  Or, get one of those massive diesel jobs that will run your entire 6,000 sq. ft. mansion.  

[Gatorubet 30325]

2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

My question is what is 1600 watts going to power in your home?

My main generator will run what I need.

    O have

 

But as a back up, I wanted something to keep my refrigerator  (700 max watts) and one portable room A/C (700 watts) and a 5000 BTU Frigidaire unit (440watts) going if my main generator crapped out.   I only need to power up the refrigerator every 4 hours in a shutdown, and If I can run one AC for about four hours at night I can go to sleep and get a good night's rest. 

I can run the Frigidaire on a Tailgator 2-stroke for four hours just fine.   But I wanted an inverter and thought that would give me the capability to lend an AC and generator out to some elderly neighbor if need to - if it could run on 800 watts. 

[Gatorubet 30325]

2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

My question is what is 1600 watts going to power in your home?

I have a transfer switch.   I have an old 4000 watt generator that refuses to die, in addition to the 9000 watt and the two 1000 watt ones I just bought.   I also wanted the option to run the ACs off the transfer switch with my old unit and run the refrigerator off another via extension cord.   Basically I want options.  

[Jkwellborn 6750]

You should hire an electrician to put in a transfer box to safely electrify your home without killing a linesman

Yeah he’s talking about just plugging something in not running the house. You can also safely electrify your house without a transfer switch.

[CHIEF 5095]

My buddy that lived across the street from me in Cedar Park was from Biloxi, he had a 500 gal. propane tank buried in his yard and a 10k watt generator in a metal box next to his a/c unit at his house on the coast. During Katrina, the power was out over a month but he was good to go.

CHIEF

[DaggerHorns 3102]

8 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

My question is what is 1600 watts going to power in your home?

This was my first thought.

Yoy barely have enough juice to charge your boyfriend’s vibrator.

I’m looking at this one as my dad use to have one with the remote start. This one is built for fucking.

https://www.ebay.com/c/1437892981

[immortal13 4059]

Get a Honda EU series....i have a 2000 watt and a 3000 watt

[Pato del Muerto 52640]

Or a natural gas one that’s plumbed to your home gas line. Though those aren’t as mobile as the big ICE ones. 

[Jkwellborn 6750]

I’m thinking about getting a natural gas generator for my house eventually. I don’t know that I’ll ever need it though. I’m in the middle of town and the power rarely goes out.

[EE2B 1565]

I’m thinking about getting a natural gas generator for my house eventually. I don’t know that I’ll ever need it though. I’m in the middle of town and the power rarely goes out.

If I remember correctly you are somewhere near me. I bought mine from Nantze Electric and they took care of everything. I got the 22KW natural gas generac with the automatic transfer switch. They coordinated everything from having the gas meter upgraded to accommodate the addition flow to scheduling the electric company to come pull the meter. They were great and I had zero complaints. The only thing I upgraded was the cable from the generator to the transfer switch. They typically install aluminum cable and I upgraded to copper. I think we were somewhere in the $8500 range all in.

[Jkwellborn 6750]

I deal with them at work. They seem to be pretty solid. I know the gas company offers rebates and stuff on them from time to time. What generator did you go with?

In reality, I’d probably get my stepdad or brother to do the electrical.

[Jkwellborn 6750]

Never mind, I should have paid more attention. I see you said generac.

[texasjacket 289]

The logic applies for generators is the same one for RSC (Safes), you are going to need the bigger one than you think you need.

[Gatorubet 30325]

On 7/11/2020 at 10:26 AM, Treefidy said:

If you have 2 inverter gens they need to be the same amperage and voltage.  Connect them with parallel cables

Do they have 30a outlets?

Not sure.  The schematic of both the parallel model 1000 watt inverter and  this  1000 watt inverter model have the same part # for the inverter/inards, and the same wiring.  The only difference is the other model has the two inputs for the parallel cord.   The parallel model uses a 30a parallel cord.   Not sure how to tell the amperage of the outlets on my model, but I assume it is the same as the other model.   Unless I am missing something. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Gatorubet

[EE2B 1565]

Never mind, I should have paid more attention. I see you said generac.

Yup. It’s been pretty solid. The only thing I’ve had to do to it outside of changing the oil is replace the oil pressure switch. I did have a fuse blow today in the transfer switch when the power blipped a couple of times so I had to order a replacement for it.