Back Up Generator ?

[tlc1976]

I have a 7 or 8 kw whole house generac that fires up automatically if power is lost. Run by propane because natural gas isn’t available. It’s nice for short outages of a few hours which thankfully is all I have. But for an extended outage I did the math and it would burn through $100 of propane in 24 hours, or about 10% of the tank. In cases like that especially in the winter when I need to keep the stove going I’d rather have a gas generator to run a few essentials.

 

[ben94122]

My parents live where there are quite a few vacation/second homes, empty for much of the year. When they have a long power outage, they hear lots of neighbors' propane generators kick in and run for a week or two until they have drained the tank...all with nobody home!

 

[johneh]

I am never away long enough to worry about it running out of propane
also if I were away the unit sends a message to my son's phone
indicating low fuel. I want my unit to run if no one is home especially in the winter
this way the house stays warm and I don't come home to frozen pipes

 

[begreen]

My parents live where there are quite a few vacation/second homes, empty for much of the year. When they have a long power outage, they hear lots of neighbors' propane generators kick in and run for a week or two until they have drained the tank...all with nobody home!

Had that happen around here too.
I suspect lots of generators are running right now from PA to ME. NY has lots of outages.

 

[Brian26]

Had that happen around here too.
I suspect lots of generators are running right now from PA to ME. NY has lots of outages.

Been running this $100 Harbor Freight 900 watt unit here in CT since Tuesday. I bought it like 10 years ago and it's honestly a pretty solid unit. Using my kill a watt meter it actually provides pretty stable power. I use it just to run my fridge, a few lights, chargers, etc. I'm on city water and near the water so I can get by just fine with. Runs close to 6 hours on average with a gallon of 2 cycle.

 

[billb3]

Some electronics will shut down or just plain freeze if the electric supply is not a pure sine wave and/or the frequency is off by +/-X%. Cheap generators can be fairly dirty power-wise.