Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire BackUp Generator

Both of you need your heads examined. Look at their fuel consumption requirements. Virtually all my neighbors including our home have back up generators.

The Generac 7000kw unit listed below is a fairly common unit here and it consumes .97 gallons per hour at 50% load. That gets expensive real fooking quick unless your property has free gas. 100 gallon tank will get you less than 3 days and I'm speaking from my neighbors experience as power outages are a way of life here.
http://www.generac.com/all-products/generators/home-backup-generators/powerpact/powerpact-6561

Here's a fairly typical setup for my area back in the hills and is what we run.
http://www.amazon.com/Westinghouse-WH7500E-Portable-Generator-Starting/dp/B009PVNAUW

Don't forget to size accordingly.

I use a 15+ YO Homelite 4400peak. It has a B&S 8hp engine. House is wired like the OP's. I run my well pump, two refrigerators, chest freezer and several lights & outlets with it. While I prefer Honda nowadays, this thing sat unused for 9 years with pre ethanol gas in it. Pulled it out two years ago to make sure it still worked. Started on first pull!
Just my .02 worth.

I picked up a dual fuel champion from Costco, it's a 7500 W, they had them on special for $600, so I couldn't pass it up.

I have no illusions about it running the whole house, but it'll have enough juice to run the well, furnace and keep the fridge and freezer cold.

To me dual fuel is the way to go, use propane to start it and run it on gas if you need to run for extended periods of time. Also with propane you never have to leave gas in the carb or tank or have to deal with draining old fuel.

While I'm a big fan of Honda engines on equipment I use frequently, this generator is just for emergency power and simply won't get used enough to justify the added cost of a Honda genset.

And speaking of cost, you can run the gammut of a transfer switch and import genset for ~$1k, to $5-10k for auto starting diesel genset that'll power the whole house.

I put the big coin into a high efficiency wood burning fireplace that is large enough to heat the whole house. I figure it'll pay for itself in defraying our gas bills over the years.

If you never travel and therefore expect to be home every time you have a power outage, get a Honda or Yamaha inverter type generator along with a transfer switch sized to your needs. I brought up Wise Sales when I first joined this site, as I was working in Chicago at the time. I still highly recommend them. I have purchased both Honda and Yamaha generators from them, and wouldn't buy any other portable. They're that good.

If you travel at all, get an automatic standby system. We travel, and have 14Kw propane automatic 200A backups at both farms. They've worked perfectly, and it's peace-of-mind when you're away, even if only for a day or two.

Your recommended setup is great, IF you or somebody is around to start it when there is a power outage and to put gas in it when it runs low.

If you travel and need something that senses an outage, starts automatically, and can sense when the grid is back "ON", then a Generac is the way to go.

I never said that it was the most economical setup.

Double check your well amperage. It usually takes 2 or more times the normal running current to start a well pump. Size your generator for that load and you should have plenty of power for the rest of your stuff when the well is not pumping.

Jocko, hope I didn't offend as my intent was to inform the real world cost of generators.

The permanent standby gens ain't cheap to run.

My neighbors 15KW Generac went through a 250 gallon propane tank in less than a week and they said they were being conservative in their useage.

Generac no longer posts fuel consumption for their units on the spec sheet. Instead they have a mathematical equation.

MUCHO DINERO to operate. !!!

There is a difference between having a portable backup generator and a standby generator.

My house was wired for me to be able to disconnect from the grid and plug my gasoline powered 5000 watt generator into the house. This worked well for keeping the fridge, freezer, heat, and a few lights running while I was home.

I was hunting out of state a couple years ago when the power went out and had to coach my wife through getting the power going via cell phone. We got it done but it was a bit of a pain.

We decided to install a natural gas 17,000 watt standby generator with automatic transfer switch. Just before Christmas last year we had an ice storm. Our power went out....20 seconds later the generator kicked on. It ran for the next three days straight. We used all the power we wanted including electric oven and microwaves for Christmas dinner. When my gas bill came, I could barely notice a difference!

Also, if you have a sump pump, the standby provides peace of mind when traveling.

405wcf

I have no experience with the propane powered generators, so you made me curious.

Not trying to be a wise guy, but Generac does list propane consumption:

http://gens.lccdn.com/generaccorpor...n-series/0k8458-guardian-16-22kw-hsb.pdf

They claim a 16,000 watt unit uses 1.99 gal/hour at half load and 3.57 gal/hour at full load. My belief is that I used much less than half load most of the time. At half load that is 48 gallons per day. Michigan current propane prices are a little over $2/gallon. If we figure the generator runs at 1/4-1/2 load, that is basically $50-$100 per day. Ouch!

I like natural gas!

405wcf

i run 3 frig's,one freezer,lights,tv,and a window air unit on my 5500watt
generator.

No offense taken.

I don't know if the OP is usually home or often out of town.

If home, then Honda.
Else, Generac.

Yes, this.

Tf

I have an interest in the slow speed diesel, like the lister clone..would power a generator fine. Very fuel efficient and lasts forever. They will run on just about anything flammable..
I have A multi quip welder that has 2, 50 amp outlets on it. It will run 2 houses. It ts powered by a 3 cyl kubota. Not very fuel efficient but not that bad for emergency use..

I didn't intend my post to be the most fuel efficient method. Further, I don't know how many hours a day the generator would be required. I made the comment on capabilities of the generator and the amount of fuel it might require.

After the big ice storm that hit us back in 2009 a friend said that instead of gasoline or propane fueled generators he was looking into buying an emergency generator driven by the PTO on his farm tractor as farm use diesel fuel is cheaper and a business expense.

If I was a farmer, that is exactly what I would do. One of my brother in laws has a generator that will run his whole house, it runs off the pto of his small orchard tractor.

Just be thankful this isn't a chainsaw thread or you'd have to buy the biggest Stihl you could start by hand in order to prune the roses. Translated to generators, that means you need a Honda EB10000, suggested retail: $5400.

I don't see a compelling argument over fuel usage of emergency equipment item during an emergency. If you've spent good money on good equipment, it's fuel usage is trivial when you are the only place that's lit up when it's dark everywhere around you. For those of you in places with NG, that's a plus. It's cheaper. It also means you live residential/suburban. That's not the way I've ever chosen to live. I always have an adequate amount of gasoline, diesel, propane, food, water, and life's other necessities, which only makes simple sense when living a rural life without other people near you.
I have 10kw PTO generators for the Deeres along with portable standbys at both farms, and that's in addition to the automatic units that exercise themselves on a weekly basis. They even let me know via wireless that they've run. Do they use propane when they run? Sure they do, especially when the power is out for hours or a day or two. I don't have access to NG, so propane is it. But everything electrical works, and if I have to refill a propane tank at the end of the event, so be it. Life goes on- the freezers and their contents still frozen, the pipes and septic not.
The only reason I have or ever use any manual/portable units is if a power outage occurs WHEN I'm home. I wouldn't (and don't) own a home that doesn't have automatic backup, regardless of how much $$ it takes to run it.

Wanted to thank everyone for their input. Once I realized I was looking at this all wrong, it got a lot easier to figure out what I wanted to do. Because this was a "emergency" type back-up only I didn't need something large enough to run the whole house. I also realized I don't need to run "everything" wired into my switch-over at the same time. I can run the heater and refrigerator on and off through out the day and then turn them off to run the well to fill jugs and get showers. Then turn the well off again and run the refrigerator or heater when necessary. This allowed me to go with a 5000 watt Honda. It should be able to more than handle what I want. Where I live I can't imagine being without power for more than 3-4 days at the most so gas would be fine and I normally have enough fuel around for snow blowers, lawn tractors etc. I may add a few more 5 gallon cans just to give me a couple more days. I went with one that uses 6.3 gallons in 11 hours at half load (which would more than run the heater) 7.5 hours at full load. Through careful use I may be able to get by 10 gals a day. Using lanterns and our grill to cook I think I'm in pretty good shape. Not to mention I can always rob gas from the mower and extra vehicles. Again I hope I never need it, but at least this has forced me to come up with a plan and I thank you all.

This is what a backup generator is all about. Thanks for verbalizing what some of us were thinking but unable to express.