I bought a big azz generator because of this storm

[dsculley]

I bought a 5.5KW for Hurricane Ivan, ran it for about 3 weeks. Fast forward to 2018, I took it to a friend in the Marianna, FL area that was affected by Hurricane Michael. He ran his well for his house and livestock for over a month before power was restored. Having one around is good insurance. Fortunately, I now have one for my house that runs off natural gas and starts automatically any time the power is out.

 

[Luisyamaha]

Bad memories! I had to run my 7.5Kw for two whole months after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. And I was one of the lucky ones. Some people it took a year to get their power back. BTW, only ran it at night, mostly.

Luisyamaha

P.S. What can be the expected life, in hours, of a well maintained 7.5Kw Briggs & Stratton. Mine has about 700 hours right now.

 

[Rsadams]

You can't go wrong owning a generator....

 

[msinc]

Luisyamaha

P.S. What can be the expected life, in hours, of a well maintained 7.5Kw Briggs & Stratton. Mine has about 700 hours right now.

7.5KW should be about a 13-15 hp Briggs....You should see at least 2500-3000 hours out of a generator engine that is well maintained. Kinda hard to beat a generator to death too bad. Not like for example a lawnmower where my wife stalls it out hitting a metal rod, backs up and tries again!! Run synthetic oil and keep Star-tron in the gas.

You can't go wrong owning a generator....

Yep, it's like owning your own distillery...you will find friends you didn't know you have!!! I have two and as soon as the power goes out the phone rings!!!

 

[Rsadams]

7.5KW should be about a 13-15 hp Briggs....You should see at least 2500-3000 hours out of a generator engine that is well maintained. Kinda hard to beat a generator to death too bad. Not like for example a lawnmower where my wife stalls it out hitting a metal rod, backs up and tries again!! Run synthetic oil and keep Star-tron in the gas.



Yep, it's like owning your own distillery...you will find friends you didn't know you have!!! I have two and as soon as the power goes out the phone rings!!!

Some real good advice , one more thing is I am sure it has a fuel cut off valve so once every few weeks , crank it up plug in something ( light , fan , etc ) let it run for awhile or until it warms up all the way then close the fuel shut off valve and let it run till it dies.... You will never have a problem with it and you know it's ready to go when you need it... I keep mine ready and have done this for years , it cranks every time.... With lawnmowers , weed whackers , chainsaws etc that don't have fuel shut off valves I run them dry and never have a problem with them when I need them...

 

[dave@aDave]

I had a 20Kw Generac installed 5 years ago using natural gas. It is air-cooled. Original battery with installed trickle charger. No worries about stale gas or antifreeze. Also had 2 Digital Load Managers and Automatic Buss Transfer installed. It starts up and runs a self-check once a week.
Wife and I live in an all-electric house of 2,500 square feet (heat pump, water heater, kitchen stove, clothes dryer, etc). Works like a champ. Never any problems.
Used a licensed, bonded, insured, workman comp company who handled the whole deal including permits and inspections.
Natural gas has less BTU's than Propane so you lose about 10% with natural gas. But natural gas is a lot cheaper than Propane.
Hint: When you're 73 years old, it's still DIY even if you only write the check!.

 

[perry42]

I have an 8K generator that was used for 5 days when the last hurricane zapped north FL. Being able to keep a frig and freezer running along with a window A/C, fans, lights, and microwave was a blessing. I am considering converting the gen to run on propane (a 100gl tank).

perry42

 

[T-shooter]

Just got a new Champion 7,500/9,375 watt and wired it up to the house electric using an interlock switch in the main home breaker panel. A lot to learn over basic wiring. For one, I had to unbond the neutral in the generator and also it shouldn't be grounded since it's located in a separate garage for weather protection with it's own separate electrical supply. I ran the exhaust to the outside through the wall. One of my concerns is the fuel usage. It will run 8 hours on 6 gallons at a 50% load. I store 60 gallons of gas (safely) but still that's only 3-1/3 days running 24 hours. I should be able to run it about half the time and make the fuel last a week. About $1,000 invested besides the fuel supply. I've been lucky and never had the power out over a couple hours in the winter but when hurricane Ike came through Ohio (2-1/2 million without power statewide), my power was out 14 hours but some people nearby had it out for over 2 full weeks. At least it was warm weather. I used an older outlet I had for a hot tub that I no longer have. It's 8 gauge and the 40' cable from the generator to the inlet is 10 gauge. I hope it was a waste of money and I never have to use it.