Why smaller generators are better for power outages. 

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Use what you actually need Cut off unnecessary power consumption is the key for emergency

I have chosen it go with a small inverter generator and two 1000 watt solar battery power banks. Honda 2000 will run 4 hours at 50% load on a half gallon on gas. I use generator to charge battery power stations when solar is unable to keep up. I do not plan to power the whole house, only furnace fan, chest freezer, recharge phones/tablets, & recharge portable lights. Excellent advice in this video!

Be sure to change oil frequently. These have very minimal oil capacity, and no oil filter. I recommend changing the oil once every 10 gallons of fuel consumed, per quart of crankcase capacity. Because the smaller one at best , holds ~20 Oz of oil, 7 1/2 gallons is probably about right for that one, The bigger one probably holds closer to 1 1/2 quarts, so, 2 full tanks of gas is probably about right for that one. You said it right at the very end, Never turn off the generator by the ignition switch. Its better to remove all loads, and turn off the fuel valve. Stay there with it, and when the engine starts to sputter, ride the choke, to maintain mixture. That extra vacuum helps clear the emulsion tube as well as the idle circuit, as well as the float bowl. That will ensure that no liquid is left behind, that can leave behind varnish, from fuel evaporation. There's nothing more satisfying, than having a generator start on the first pull, when you really need it!

I agree totally that you need various sizes to fit the load. I have a dozen generators from a Yamaha EF-1000 all the way up to a 30,000 watt diesel generator set. The same goes for tractors. So many people try to do everything with a tractor that is too small. I have a 25 HP, 43 HP and a 110 HP loader to fit the need. It was difficult to convince my wife that I needed all these but both of my girlfriends agreed that they were good ideas.

I wrote an article for a power company many years ago about using smaller generators. Since then there are a number of cheaper inverters and solar systems which are available. I would like to add some advice to this article. First, get two heavy gauge 50 foot extension cords to cut power loss. Since the generator must be outdoors, it will allow you to power two indoor appliances at once or if connected together they will reach farther to one item. Second, get a couple indoor/outdoor wireless thermometers for your refrigerator and freezer so you only run the generator when needed. For long term outages conservation is critical. Get two or three oil lamps and a few quarts of lamp oil for lighting instead of expensive battery power lights. (an exception would be several solar yard lights that will charge up during the day and provide several hours of light for $3 or less a piece.) Next record how much power each item will use so that you can efficiently connect several items at once without overloading the generator or running it unnecessarily. Some people may require a dual voltage generator if they have 220 volt items like well pumps. Have an alternate propane appliance to replace a power hungry electric stove or water heater. A small generator will power a 10,000 btu or less window air conditioner or microwave but not at the same time. You can buy a small generator, two heavy extension cords, a couple indoor/outdoor thermometers and four 5 gallon gas cans with stabilized gas for $600 or less. Or you can buy a large automatic system for $10-12,000 that will drain a 500 gallon propane tank in a week. Whatever your needs, remember that in an emergency, conserving fuel is always the wisest choice.

Inverter generators are quieter because they throttle down when loads decrease (also saving fuel), while standard generators run at a constant 3600 RPM. But inverter generators are usually smaller, and rarely output 240 volts.

Great video! Your video is very informational for folks who are just starting to get into back up generator power. However I’m in a different league almost onto itself. I’m a power lineman for a living so I’m very aware of back up generators. I have the best of the best because I don’t want my neighbors to know we have power. My neighbors are very close by & to have an obnoxious generator running all the time will make quick enemies of my neighbors. I have the flag ship model of the Honda inverter line. The EU 7000is. It’s fuel injected & burns way less fuel than even your smaller generator at half load. It’s comparable in size to your larger Champion. When the Honda is on it is super quiet at 58 decibels on regular & 54 decibels on economy mode. It’s rated at 5500 watts with a surge to 7000 watts. I have personally tested mine to 9200 watts surge & it runs fine. With everything on including the 2-1/2 ton central air I’m using 3750 watts. I have a soft start kit for my A/C. I keep 111 gallons of gasoline at my house incase of a power outage. That’s enough gasoline for twenty days. The Honda burns 11 gallons in 42 hours at half load. That’s almost two full days between fill ups. I bought an auxiliary fuel tank that holds 6 gallons. I refill my auxiliary without shutting my generator off. I have 15 of the 5 gallon No Spill fuel jugs. Not 4 or 5. The longest I’ve been out of power was after storm Isais a few years ago. I was busy working storm work getting everyone else’s power back on. I knew my family was safe at home. Maybe you can do a review on inverter generators? Most people are unaware. You almost need an inverter to power your home. Every appliance today has a micro-processor in it. Without clean 60 cycle power they may not power up? Or if they do? They might damage it with dirty power off a conventional generator. The same adage exists. Save money on a generator & replace all your appliances after a long duration outage. OR buy an inverter generator & keep your appliances. The choice is yours?

Good video and I totally agree. We lost power here in KY last year for 5 days. I ran a small inverter generator for 5 days straight and burned less than 20 gallons of gas. You would have needed a 55 gallon drum (or more) of gas to run a larger generator.

I have been doing home backup power since the 1980's when it occurred to me that most everything is dependent upon electricity. Portable and the low cost Generac whole house standby generators use a lawn mower engine. These need an oil change every 50 - 100 hours (1 hour for the first oil change). You absolutely can't use ethanol blended fuels, these breakdown very quickly and start damaging the carburetor in as little as 2 weeks. I only use non-ethanol fuel with Sta-Bil and 1 oz of Marvel Mystery Oil per gallon, which I have tested out to 4 years so far in gas tanks, gas cans, and carburetors, without any problems. Your standard kitchen refrigerator uses a surprisingly high amount of starting power. You need a generator with 2,500 watts minimum of continuous output (not surge power) to cleanly start a kitchen refrigerator. Note that generators have wattage listed in surge power, the actual output power is only about 75% of the surge rating (multiply the surge rating by 0.75 to obtain the continuous rating). If you can only afford 1 generator, buy an inverter type enclosed in the plastic case, with a surge wattage of 3,000 watts or more. These cost more than the basic open frame 3,600 rpm generator but, are quieter, generate clean power, lighter weight, and get better gas mileage. Ideally, you should have at least 2 sources of backup power for long term power outages. A gas generator and a rechargeable 2,000 watt power station.

I have a kind of unusual situation and this was very helpful to me. I’m an American living in Ecuador and we are having droughts and are in a state of emergency now so we have mandatory rolling blackouts everyday for 4 hours a day. I’ve never owned a generator and although I speak Spanish, I’m susceptible to being “gringo’d” by salespeople as an American and sold more than I need. It’s just me and my dogs and for 4 hours a day, I realized from your video that I don’t need a huge high-wattage generator. Just enough to run a TV or a coffee maker, a couple lamps or the water heater but not all at once. The fridge is fine for that short duration. I’m really grateful for this information. I’m collecting the wattage information from the appliances I will need to use. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have saved me a lot of money and confusion in a foreign country!!

I have two generators as well.... a big 9000 and a small 3500. I am installing a transfer switch for the 9000 to run almost everything except for the central AC and water heater. At night I can power that down and run the small generator to only run a portable window unit and refrigerator and save a bunch of gas. You are dead on with this video!

You’re the best guy at welcoming questions and explaining your ideas.

Excellent presentation. Extremely important information for many people who THINK they need a big, honking generator for emergencies. During emergencies, using a larger generator can be problematic for several reasons, as you discuss.

Dual fuel generator with a few propane tanks. Propane burns cleaner(extends generator life) and is able to be stored much longer than gasoline. You can also cook on a gas grill with it.

Excellent video. You are SO correct on fuel burn being a big issue during a long duration event. Nicely done.

Great information you give. If I may add from personal experience, we were out of power and water for 10 days during the freeze we had in Texas. I own 2 Honda generators with one being the companion having the 30amp plug. I converted both of them to propane because I had experienced where one of them would not turn on even after frequent maintenance and using non-ethanol gas. When I could not start it I just switched to propane and it ran flawlessly. I also bought a couple of solar generators (power banks)that would run my essentials like fridge and freezer for about 13 to 16 hours. Great thing about this is that I only ran the generator to charge them for a couple of hours when we had no sun for several days. Other wise a couple of 200W solar panels would keep them charged while running my essential items. Redundancy is key. Thank you for sharing your video.

Great video. We have the 9000/7250 watts Predator generator. It has an 8-gallon tank. At 50% load, 3,625 continuous running watts, it can run for 13 hrs. I installed a Tri-fuel kit to run it off of our Natural Gas line in our house. NG is the primary fuel source and with gasoline as a backup. (I store 35 gallons in Jerry cans) We have a Delta Pro Power Station that is always ready in case of a power outage. It's all set up and connected to a six and ten circuit manual transfer switch. We can get four to six hrs. of use, depending on the power load. We use our generator to recharge the Power Station, then switch to the Power Station while the generator rest. This saves on fuel and keeping things quite at night. Both can run our entire house. The power station can't run our Central Air though.

This is very true!! It’s cheaper and more reliable to run Multiple smaller generators ,the efficiency is 5x better and you always always have spare parts

Good video. We lose power fairly often, and I'll pass along two more items: 1) Consider an inverter generator. Does not have to be a Honda. These vary the engine speed, all the way down to idle, as the load changes. They use much less fuel, are quiet, and are easier on your electronics (baked into all appliances these days) since the power is "cleaner" with fewer spikes, etc. 2) Also, consider dual-fuel/propane. Unlike gasoline, propane will last indefinitely. You can even run your generator off of your home propane tank if you have one. Also, no risk of spilling fuel on a hot engine. AND, you can store it safely in your house if you want since the propane dissipates quickly after it is disconnected.

Nice video and goes to my point, bigger is not better in an emergency.

Hi thanks for this. i've got 5 of them ; two 3500 watters, 2 - 1100 watters...one 1983 Yamaha 2800 watter = EF2800 model. Starts, just as good as all the newer ones....better built. !

Agree with your comment about having a large enough supply of gas. We keep 5 5-gallon gas cans of stabilized gas on hand. We have a 7,000 watt Harbor Freight Predator gas generator connected using a generator interlock. Our game plan is to run a genie a few hours in the morning and several in the evening. Gas supply should last a week. To keep our home network alive when the genie is not running we have UPS that is able to power the LAN when the generator is not running and recharge quickly. Something else is run your generator every few months to make sure it will work when you need it.

I found this to be very helpful in a power outage. AMIR wireless refrigerator/ freezer thermometer..About $19 on Amazon. Only run generator when necessary to maintain cold temperature, without opening the door. Also, I agree with the one that recommended a small power station for small electrical loads such as lights, fans, entertainment.

I have both small and large generators. When I purchased my large 9000 watt generator, I made sure it was dual fuel. If gasoline is not available, you can run it on propane. Very versatile in an emergency.

Good point on fuel consumption.

I have a 3400 watt peak generator that i use mostly in the summer when we get bad storms and it knocks out the power. But it really came in handy last week when we lost power for 3 hours and i was able to run the Furnace and lights. Everyone that can should have some kind of small emergency generator just in case.

I agree. We also have a 7000watt and a 3800 watt. Fuel consumption was an after thought. I had a generator that had carb problems when we needed it most. The smaller one is great to give the big one a break. We change out working each one every 4 hours and change the oil every 36-40 hours.

Have a smaller one as a backup, my main runs primarily on natural gas so I can power everything as long as I want. I can connect the small one to my panel was well and might use it in the winter for shorter outages. Less noise and can get it out quickly.

Good points. My little honda 2000 burns 1 gallon in 8 hours under load and runs fridge, freezer and small window a.c. simultaneously. And is quiet. I Back feed half of the panel.

Go in the middle and get a 4400 watt/36 Amp and will do everything you need. Power most rvs and will run most basic house appliances.

I built our house and wired it. I put a sub panel with its own transfer switch that runs the furnace, fridge, freezer, lights and internet. We can run our house over 10 hours on a 1 gallon tank of gas in our Honda 2000. We also have a Champion a little bigger than yours I hook to the whole house transfer switch. It has a FOB remote start and we only run it for an hour or so at a time to run heavy loads like our well pump. Our total gas consumption is about 3 gallons a day to keep the power one. With ATVs and snowmobiles we always have 20-30 gallons of fresh gas around and I have a way to get gas out of any of our 3 pickup trucks. We live in a fairly rural place but have a fuel distributor a mile away that has plenty of available fuel with backup generators. I can even take the UTV or snowmobile to get it. I drain and put fresh gas in it every fall when I change the oil. Then I run them on a load for few hours just to verify they are ready to go for the winter.

I remember during a snow storm when the city lost power. My buddy's neighbor had his generator stolen overnight. They left a broken weed eater running to make it sound like it was still out there

On the farm I have always had a gen such as Lincoln arc welder 10 hp Kohler and Kubota 5,000 and safely back feed after turning Main Breaker off. Nice but darn noisy and gas guzzlers like 12-15 gal per day. Now I just use them for the well or water heater when needed. July 2020 I bought a Predator 3500 and so impressed I bought a second one. Very quiet, reliable and uses very little gas. I back feed to an outside outlet that goes direct to my gas furnace, also to living room for T.V. and to the fridge. I have double plugs at T.V. and fridge for gen and an off switch between furnace and breaker box to isolate that gen curcuit. No extension cords, just switch from regular plug to Gen plug. Anyway it easily runs furnace or window unit, fridge, chest freezer, T.V. all at the same time with power to spare using about 2,400 watts. It has a display that tells the watts, amps, total hours. I bought an Inverter cause many regular gens don't produce "clean " energy and micro switches on new furnaces or fridge won't work or may burn out. Always totally drain gens and you know it will start when you really need it. Easy to forget when you last used it. I'm 69,, on the farm with lots of gas engines and never once wasted money on useless Sta-Bil. Drain what I can but lawn mowers sit from late Oct. till April with Reg gas in them and they always start. Usually run Sea Foam on the first tank of the season and I can't even remember the last time I did anything to a carb. Yup, another great video and really appreciate you taking time for us. Glad we survived the below zero temps.

For Computers, High Def TV, and other high tec appliances is that std generators produce "dirty" electricity. What is needed is a generator that produces a Clean sine wave that demands an inverter generator. Many furnaces will not run off a regular generator.

I purchased a Honda 2k inverter. It is capable of running our refrigerator and freezer. Also a few lights with management of loading. The larger generator I own will run all of those at same time, but likes the fuel.

I use solar ones teamed up with my champion gas/propane generator. If no sun I can charge my solar ones fairly quick which extends my fuel consumption drastically. As you know living down in Florida its a must to have alternative energy. I have been running my fridge and deep freezer 24/7 for a year now using this combo. I lost to much food and then had a hard time buying it back because of shortages after the last hurricane.

Redundancy is good. Main unit is a 22kw Generac whole house. Back up is an 8kw Generac . Both fueled by natural gas.

I have that same little sportsman generator. It's been good. I've even run a 110v welder on it.

Lots of good comments. Don't forget to spend a little more on NON-ETHANOL fuel too!

pure sine wave generator is the way to go. very quite, you can have a conversation right beside it. also great for not letting your neighbourhood that you have power

I somewhat agree. I have a large portable and it runs whole house. However, during winter etc a small one would run 2 fridges and heat during day. I may pick up a small one one day. Gas appliances besides stove here. I cant run it. Small would sip fuel and could get by. I hardly ever run my whole house just to keep my gen head happy and save fuel.

I like the simple, quiet, clean, and reliable option of a EcoFLow battery with a small solar panel. No fuel or carb headaches and no noise.

Get a generator which can run on propane and keep a bunch of filled tanks in your garage. You can store propane for as long as the tanks don't rust through which will be forever if you keep them inside a building. Be aware that if you get a 12,000 watt generator you will need a lot of propane or gasoline to run it for more than a day. I would suggest 30 or 40 pound propane tanks. You can move them around with a hand truck if you are older.

I bought an A-iPower 2000w quite a few years ago just to have something. I ended up liking it so much I bought one or their 3800w from Sams club 2 years ago. It burns 2 gallons of gas in around 8 hours. Runs all the lights, fridge, TV, and the gas furnace. I've never had issues with leaving the gas in them like I did with the old style. I believe it has to do with the sealed vent system. I also keep them in the garage where it's semi conditioned so that may play a part as well. It's also crazy how quiet it is. I can run it on the deck and full load and not even hear it in the house.

I have a small, economical & quiet 50cc 1000/800 watt Inverter generator to run my Sump Pump while my 2500/1850 watt 80cc Inverter Generator runs my Fridge, Freezer, Internet, TV & Fan,... I installed a Generator Inlet to the exterior of the Kitchen Wall then fed a wire to a 20amp Outlet in the Kitchen which is NOT hooked to the House Mains Power and this only cost me about $60 :)

I also have the champion inverter generator. They are very quiet 😊

Living in Northwest Florida a backup power source is a must if you want to keep your food in ref.and freezers from going bad. Iv'e added a couple champion duel fuel inverter generators to my preps. Run time on them is up to 22 hours per tank, you just have to run critical loads. Also added a Midea u-shaped inverter a.c. to stick in a window to keep from burning up in the Florida heat. It takes less than 6 amps to start, and runs on 3 to 5 amps. Great video and good advice.

If you live in the country and have a well, the pump is likely 220v. For us, water is the most important thing to have during a power outage. Small generators do not have 220v capability. Our generator MUST have 220v capacity at a minimum.

The main problem with the small generator is the needs of someone in the City - vs - a Rural environment. In the city where natural gas is abundant, and municipal water is supplied. You can get by pretty comfortably with say a little 3500 watt'r that only supports 120v. In the country however, where most people are on a well.. most well pumps run at 240v, and a lot of appliances are electric, so to cook it takes 240v. I don't think anyone would voluntarily take a generator that uses more gas on purpose.. but sometimes it's unavoidable as you don't see any generators offering 240v until you get into the 5000ish+ range. And even then, at the 5000watt range, it's only going to be providing around 20amps at 240. Better than nothing. But unless you've lived in a rural environment, most people don't realize how power hungry some of the 240v appliances are.

Hey sounds good but if you purchase a smaller KW gas generator it will only sometimes have 15-20 Amp outlets not a 30-50 amp outlet for multiple circuits. You will need to separate isolate only circuit you need like furnace most important then possibly some lights , outlets and tv If you go larger it will have 30 amp breaker and you can run one cord to inlet box and a interlock kit

I have a small 2-cycle 1000w ultra quiet camp generator that runs 8 hours on a gallon of gas. I paid $149 for it years ago. Never leave fuel in a 2-cycle engine and it will be very reliable. Outages here are winter, so a couple coolers on the deck (to keep food from freezing and frustrate wild animals) replace the refrigerator. I have a 8500w propane generator that will run the well pump or water heater for showers.

Get yourself a nice inverter generator. You can backfeed your whole house on 120 V if you knock down all the 240 legs in common out the hot lead on the L4 back-feed plug. That would make a great video. How to backfeed your house on 120 V only good video. Thanks.

Get a dual fuel generator and buy several 40 pound propane tanks. Runs cleaner, doesn't need fuel stabilizer, won't gum up the carb, and lasts virtually forever in storage.

For me the holy grail has been an open frame inverter generator. I can power what I need, but it's quieter, more efficient and puts out better power than a conventional gen. Also, despite my more rural setting we've never passed 48 hours without power being restored, and you could buy gas well before that. That said, I do stockpile like 27 gallons so I feel like there is no reason to go out and pick up a small inverter generator. In a severe situation I could easily ration my generator usage and extend for days and days. For example, my WEN is rated at 7,000W continuous and the spec is 10% less fuel consumption than your Champion 5500W while carrying over 20% more load. And it really shines overnight where the engine can idle down a bit.

Agreed.12 generators,Honeywell,Hondas (5)Energizer(2) yamaha ,generac Aipower,Predator.Always looking for another,Ja Ja. There is always room for another.

My suggestion is get an inverter generator with auto throttle they’re much more efficient quieter and very efficient on low loads. My 6KW continuous inverter generator is as efficient as your small generator.

You have to figure the wattage of what you HAVE to have running>>>fridge, furnace in the winter, well pump if you have one. Size accordingly. Don't need most of the rest.

Absolutely, you do not need to run everything in an emergency. The other part that I have had to deal with is the amount of fuel required to do the job. For us, with my Generac XL5500, running it for 4-5 hour in the morning and 4-5 hours in the evening, in order to keep the fridge and freezer cold, with that usage we run through 2.5 gallons per day. We have 27 gallons total fuel in storage, we should have 10 days of fuel. However, you have to run the top of the fuel tank, not the bottom of your fuel tank, so you need to put in 6 gal the first day. This unit is 25 years old now. Because newer electronics, I purchased a 3600 W inverter which should be able to run most of the things that we need during an emergency. What do we need? Fridge, freezer, furnace(winter), gas stove and to change batteries for lights and radios. What else do you really need during an emergency?

I have 2kWh battery for refrigerator. Lasts about 1 day. No noise no CO poisoning. No extension cord, no maintenance.

I've got a medium predator that works very well. I'm beginning to store gas in 50 gal portable tanks because I just went through ice storm lasting 2 weeks-yep its freaking cold without heat. I freeze dry and can food but also freeze to store foods...

Why smaller generators are better for power outages. If you have a refrigerator like most folks do and you want to keep food cold and from going bad you have to have enough watts on a generator to do that. There are 3000 start up watts required for a refrigerator then it drops back down to "around" between 200 and 300 running watts. You need at least a 4000 watt generator for a refrigerator. A small generator under 3000 watts can't supply a refrigerator.

I'm an electrical engineer. Many ask me about putting in whole house generator. I tell them when I wired my house I did make it future for whole house for a selling point for a future buyer but I would never do that. Whole house is a stupid idea as it takes to much fuel. I have a 30A generator inlet outside with breakers tied in the main panel for the transfer switch. I have to have 240v for my week pump. When I have a power outage I wheel the generator out of the garage and connect it. If I know it will be a long outage run it for about 30-60 minutes at a time and then turn off for 2-3 hours.

I have a Honda eu7000 and a eu2000. In long outages ( I went 29 days in an ice storm years ago) I could run the 2000 at night and the 7000 during the day. Both are setup to run on propane and a keep 1000 gallon of propane on hand at all times. I have the only person who was able to stay in their home the whole time in my area.

With newer appliances, I would get a GOOD true rms frequency meter and check the frequency and voltage of these smaller generators. I've seen a ton of newer smart ups battery backups that will not switch over to portable generators output. Lots of refrigerators are now using single phase to 3 phase convertors with a frequency drive to control the compressor.... not something you want to hit with dirty voltage. Washing machines are using technology very similar on direct drive units with no transmission. If you have older appliances it may not cause problems, but with modern appliances it could end up costing a lot more than the generator did.

Hard pass on gas. I went Ecoflow Delta and solar panels. Whisper quiet and free fuel for life. Perfect for use here in South Texas. We always have sun here… year round.

Four hours is a very conservative estimate, a lot depends on a refrigerators temperature setting, ambient room temp, how full or empty, any door openings. I usually run the generator until midnight then shutdown until 6-7 the next morning and never had any spoilage problems. Personally I don't like to run my generator when unattended unless absolutely necessary. Always have 15 gallons of stabilized gas on hand and rotate through this using the gas for yard equipment. Should a hurricane or ice storm be on the horizon, I'll add a 4th or 5th can to the rotation. Just do not have enough long term outages to justify the expense to purchase and maintain second generator. If you have a lot of long duration outages this strategy might be a good investment.

"... run this thing all night just to run your refrigerator ..." An alternative to a smaller generator to keep things running at night, is an inverter run off batteries. You can charge your battery bank during the day with the generator. Quite and can keep low consumption items like a reasonable sized refrigerator and a couple of emergency lights powered overnight.

Do it right , if you do replace carburetor, replace filters,gas line, sparkplug all at once. Have extras ON THE SHELF , so you don't have to go shopping in middle of a night emergency. (tools, flashlight,oil and LARGE print laminated instruction sheet at fingertips too! )

A little 2k suitcase inverter generator is great in addition to a big generator

Thanks for the heads up Facebook market place

It’d be nice if they made smaller generators with 240v outlets. Inverter generators are more fuel efficient.

One downside to the smaller units is that having less mass/inertia in the rotor, they will produce "dirtier" AC power than a larger generator. I mean distortion as opposed to a clean sine wave. So regardless of wattage required, a small one might be good enough for running lights or power tools but not good enough for running appliances, computers, etc. Sometimes a UPS might reject the input from them. I am under the impression that the new "inverter" generators should probably do a good job of cleaning up the waveform but I haven't tried one. I need a large one for a deep well pump so those were not an option.

If you're in an area known for prolonged outages why not have one that will run on propane and have a 250 gallon tank sitting out back? I say that over natural gas because natural gas can be disrupted

If you’re gonna replace the carburetor upgrade to dual fuel by HEPA. You can start propane indefinitely.

Commenting on the video for the algorithm

i bought a champion 1500 for the same reason i have a generac 3200 and a duromax 4400 propane generator. but if its a nice day and its only gonna be out for a couple hours im not gonna do the whole house

Unless it is an inverter generator you are asking for trouble, I had a small generator burn out the circuit board on a very expensive fridge. Also don't plug your TV or internet into one of these small generators. I recommend eith er a Honda 2000 or 3000 unit. I personally have a standby generator running on natural gas

If you want power through the night you will need batteries and an inverter otherwise the neighbours will be justifiably upset with you stopping them sleeping. Then you will need a really big battery charger to refill batteries while going at the usual day consumption rate. You'll have the same neighbours after the power cut so don't upset them, Maybe offer them an hour of one freezer twice daily so that they don't waste food. The prime target is to reduce your consumption drastically so that you survive a few days. Yes a power outage will put the petrol station out of business too, with nothing to pump fuel or run the computerised till system.

Propane unit with 50 amp for water pump operation. Better for water pump start up

Good but don’t forget to get oil jugs for oil changes oil change is every 100 hours

my champion 2000 watt or 2500 watt both can run for 11 to 12 hours on one gallon when used on my motorhome without A/C and after putting in a window A/C taking off both roof A/C,s will run 7 to 8 hours plus down sized microwave to 700 watts they run it with no problem saving 100,s of gas dollars, i have a 4700 watt i use on my property sometimes just to let the small ones have time off and im off the grid also have solar for sunny days

DUEL FUEL: Propane is KING for this kind of outage. Tri-fuel if U have nat.gas

Hot water heater...? Why would you need to heat water if it's already hot?

I have ecoflow deltax max plus extra batteries. That can run my refrigerator and freezer approximately 48 hr . So, no generator is needed at night

Actually refrigerators are more like 135W running. That does not include a defrost cycle but those are only a few minutes.

Nowadays solar is the way to go. Combined with a battery you could even charge the battery for 1h using the generator and run the whole day in case a hurrican trashed you panels on the roof. Or have some spare panels..

Your refrigerator or freezer will be fine overnight, especially if it’s well stocked. Another thing to consider is your well pump, if you have one. It will draw about 750 watts running and twice that to start it. Other options: Use a 12 volt deep cycle battery and an inverter to run low load devices like your internet router, laptop, cell phone chargers and maybe a few lights. With one of these you could run your whole house generator for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening while you shower, wash, cook, etc. This sort of power management will help stretch a gallon of gasoline a long way. If extended power outages are a common occurrence in your area, I would opt for a generator that runs on propane (with a big tank) or natural gas.

The Harbor Freight generators are good but consider them disposable. When they break no small engine shops will work on them and you can’t find parts for them to fix it yourself.

I have 2 small generators: a 2400w ultra quiet yamaha Inverter type,120 volt and a relatively quiet 4000 watt generac 240 volt. I converted both to tri-fuel: natural gas as default since it is hooked up to the house and I don't have to store it. As a second source I store 250 lbs of propane and as a last choice 70 gallons of gasoline. I am currently installing a 12,000 watt hour battery backup system so that I don't have to run the genertors full time for power. I can charge my batteries to supply all my critical needs in just a few hours, once a day. Next year I will install enough solar to cover all critical needs when the sun shines. The pay back, for me, is 3 years on the solar and 6 years on the battery system. As I explain to poeple I concider this an insurance policy that will pay for itself in 9 years. How many other insurance policies pay for themselves?

I have a dual fuel with 2 twenty and 1 30lb tanks and a 12 gallon fuel tank not including the tank on the generator itself. I have a bluetti back up battery that runs the internet,tv and Alexa along with two Mr buddy heaters so I won’t use the big generator u til I absolutely need to.

I would prefer a diesel generator. It consumes less but whats more important you can store diesel for years. Gas should be cycled to your car to have always fresh one.

The bigger the watts the more it drinks & loud. My champion is the 3500/4000. Not loud, it uses 4gallons for 12hrs.

My last gen test, i let it go till it shut off because fuel was out. This is the best way?

You don’t buy any generator that won’t run on propane too. It’s easier to stock up and store propane than gasoline

I BORROWED A 9000 FIRMAN AND IT WOULD RUN 12 HOURS MAX. I HAVE A NEW GENERATOR DUROMAX 4000 WILL RUN 19 1/2 HOURS.I RUN 3 LIGHTS,CELLPHONE BOOSTER AND A INDOOR OXYGEN MACHINE.

Gens : It takes, about 2 hp, rotational force, for every 1,000 watts of power produced...general rule...(electro tech fixes thse things...)

I need a generator strong enough to run my lithium iron phosphate battery chargers two of them which totals a little over 10 kw. It takes a little over 4 hours to charge up the battery bank. But my Honda generator uses 2 gallons per hour when it's running the chargers.. I need a generator that's more efficient and uses less fuel while still being able to generate 10 kw.

The hum of generators is something that people are going to have to get used to. It just so happens that everybody else makes their share of noise and l don’t say shit about it.

Tri fuel…run on propane. Backup…get a Bluetti…