generator for hurricane season

[greatunclebill]

there was alot of discussion about batteries vs inverter vs generator in another thread. with my wife being on o2 with cpap at night, im looking more toward a generator for hurricane season. i'm thinking as long as we need a generator i may as well power the 7 cf freezer and a cheap $99 110v window air conditioner along with the o2 generator and 2 cpap's. the question is, not knowing the exact requirements of everything, what's your best guess on the wattage i would need on a generator? at sam's i was looking at a couple generators:

first black max, $299, 3650 running and 4650 starting watts.

second black max, $999, 7000 running and 8750 starting watts w/ electric start and battery.

are these too small, in the ball park or overkill? thanks.

[PaulaO2]

I think doing overkill in this situation is best. That way you have the power you need without worrying about overloading.

Check out some homesteading websites and see if they have any articles on generators. Mother Earth News or Back Home are two decent ones. I suggest the second more than the first.

[Sleepster]

first black max, $299, 3650 running and 4650 starting watts.

second black max, $999, 7000 running and 8750 starting watts w/ electric start and battery.

You need to add up the wattage of the air conditioner and the freezer. My guess is the smaller one will do the job.

[PaulaO2]

Do a Google search for "what size generator". I just did and got some good hits. There's some sites where you can check off what you have and it will add it up and tell you what you need.

[cbramsey]

Paula is right. You need to plan for future needs a generator will need to supply in addition to the items you mentioned.

It's not like you are going to be generating electricity for the entire neighborhood.

[PaulaO2]

On one of the sites, I did a quick run through of the basics (water pump, fridge, freezer, UPS, and the nuker) and came up with 7770 watts. But then the water pump would not always be on (and can't easily control when it does) and the nuker wouldn't either. I could even take off the fridge and use ice.

And that's using their numbers, not the real numbers off the back of the devices themselves.

[EyesWideOpen]

To be safe you'll need 1500 watts each for the air conditioner and the freezer. Both of these will draw considerably more power when the compressor starts, that's why the generator has those peak numbers. As for the CPAPS, they are only 90 Watts each, and I don't know anything about the O2 generator, but I wouldn't think that it would use too much. I would go with the 7000 watt version. It'll give you a little spare power for a light or two. You can always unplug the freezer for a couple of hours at a time, and then let it run for an hour to add additional power temporarily.

I have lived through many power failures so I have played with these a lot. Make sure that you have a supply of stabilized fuel available. Nothing is more frustrating than having a generator that won't run because the gas went bad. Run the generator with a load on it at least once a month to keep it running well.

Good luck!

[CHanlon]

I've got a 4800 W generator that I've run a fridge, 7 cf freezer, some lights, a UPS, computer, dsl modem, router etc off. No problems at all. Now, that's not including an air conditioner, but hey.

[JumpStart]

there was alot of discussion about batteries vs inverter vs generator in another thread. with my wife being on o2 with cpap at night, im looking more toward a generator for hurricane season. i'm thinking as long as we need a generator i may as well power the 7 cf freezer and a cheap $99 110v window air conditioner along with the o2 generator and 2 cpap's. the question is, not knowing the exact requirements of everything, what's your best guess on the wattage i would need on a generator? at sam's i was looking at a couple generators:

first black max, $299, 3650 running and 4650 starting watts.

second black max, $999, 7000 running and 8750 starting watts w/ electric start and battery.

are these too small, in the ball park or overkill? thanks.

I use a 6.8kv portable for virtually everything but my main house air conditioning, and it has worked very well in the past. It has surge capacity of 8.7kv. And as noted in prior posts, it is hooked into my main circuit breaker panel, so I could select any items to run/not run as I chose. The normal usage includes two refrigerator/freezers, washer, dryer, house lights, microwave, a separate a/c for a room in the garage in which we can sleep, and everything else EXCEPT: Main house a/c, and, since I have electric ovens, I have not endeavored to use those. It easily accomodates computers, routers, etc. and cpap w/humidifier. I do have a gas range top, which doesn't draw any electricity (except for the miniscule spark to light), which, with the microwave, serves my cooking needs. I could also use at least one oven, but would have to select some other items not to run at the same time. The unit also runs my whole house heater (again, gas fired but electric fan to distribute heat). Since power outages where I live typically occur during summer (hurricane season), heating my house is NOT generally an issue. Cooling is. :grin:

Sounds like mine is just a fraction smaller than the second black max you describe. Mine also has the electric start, which is NECESSARY for something that size which is not used frequently, unless you have the strength and stamina of a bull elephant!

[JumpStart]

You need to add up the wattage of the air conditioner and the freezer. My guess is the smaller one will do the job.

Correct. And be sure you add the starting, not running, wattages for any motor driven items - a/c, freezer, refrigerator, etc.. It will always be the largest number for each, and you always need to account for the surge a starting motor creates. But you can also always select which items will run continuously, and which infrequently, when using a generator. Plug or unplug. This will increase the number of items you can use on a given generator. For example, a refrig doesn't have to run 24 hrs/day. I also found that the usage figures for my particular equipment were frequently less than the "general" number given on sites such as you find for calculating totals on the internet. If you are close to a given generator max, when considering what to buy, I would recommend larger - we ALWAYS add stuff!