Portable power generators ~

[rosie]

Oh boy, thought this one would be fairly easy, but I do not have a clue on what type of portable power generator to purchase.

I have googled it to death, and I am more confused now then when I started.

My needs are just for a back up power source, for emergencies, do not require one for health related equipment.

Would like to hear from anyone who is using one that they are quite happy with, or any suggestions would be very welcomed.

I have never used one before, and do not know of any one that has one. So I am a newbie, zippo knowledge. Gas, propane?

Will be buying one in Canada, once I understand what kind I need to go for.

Thanking everyone in advance, as I know you guys will pull through on this one.!

[john.d]

Personaly , i would get an older one (without the fancy electronics) . It depends how much you want to spend though and what you want it to do . Ive stayed off grid a few times and its not nice having the generator noise for long periods . Im currently building up a back up system with limited funds . Ive got a good inverter/charger , some solar pannels and some batteries but im saving up for a better battery bank .
You can use a generator to charge battery banks too so you dont have to have the constant noise
fork lift batteries are a cheap option if you have the space .
Hope this helps
John

[rosie]

john.d, it certainly does help! You have just answered one of my first questions, less bells, more reliable. Thank you!

Cost not so much a factor, will be buying the generator when selling the house to scale down. I know it is the "portable" one that I require, and one that is "lady" friendly.

in love & light

[scanner]

Hi Rosie hope I can help you , what are you powering ? you need to add up all that takes power ie lights / sockets etc and what you are powering off the sockets applances etc. The better models are Honda type you can get super silent and you need about a 7 to 10 kilerwatt type to run a small house, this is normally like 7kva or 10kva the larger the kva the more power output you get if that makes sense ,if it's for survival I recommend a diesel type, you can buy them from ebay , if not a petrol type is fine. But remember the larger the KVA the more output . Hope that helps .

[Anchor]

The first questions to ask yourself is how "portable" do you need it. If its for a house backup then it can live in a shed on a slab, and be about 400Kg But if you have lifting equipment it can still be "portable"

You also need to tell us how much time you think it will be needed for, hours, days, weeks, etc.

This will inform your thinking about fuel storage. In Canada this may mean too cold to store Diesel; whereas here in Australia Diesel storage is not so hard. The main fuel choices are Gas (Natural gas, propane, butane), Gaoline (Petrol), Diesel. Each have advantages and disadvantages, and storage requirements.

And as the previous poster mentioned, you also need to know what you need it for so you can size the generators output correctly.

Some things like washing machines, air conditioners, fridges and freezers have induction motors that can take up to 6 times the power to start them as to run them. This means you may need a much bigger generator than you think if you want to run these loads.

Also, generator power is often quoted peak in the marketing, you need to be sure of the continuous rated output - I got caught myself that way. I have a Honda 2EU which was quoted as 2Kva, but the rated output is only 1600W.

I think you have a couple of rounds of questions to answer before more advice can be given

John..

[Wood]

If you want to store fuel (and not use renewable energy like sun or wind) I think it might be a good idea to get a generator that uses the same fuel that your car. That would mean either gasoline or diesel.
It might be useful one day, who knows

[Anchor]

If you know how to exploit it, your car has a generator in it that (usually) is good for between 400va and 1kva depending on your car. Having a small 12v 300W inverter handy for connection to the car is a good last ditch backup plan.

I agree with getting the fuels to be common for the main things. I have a diesel car, diesel genset, my tractor is diesel. But there are some things that are impractical to run on Diesel - also diesel engines on many items really push the cost through the roof. I could have bought three petrol generators for what I paid for my diesel one - but diesel is safer to store and the diesel engines are amazingly resilient.

Alas you dont get diesel engine powered chainsaws !! So there comes a point where you just know you will need to store some gasoline (and two stroke oil). This is what steel jerry cans were made for. Expensive, but the best.

In a SHTF scenario - having a range of fuels and items that run on then is handy as you can canibalize things and diversity is good in the worst cases.

John..