generator

I need to get a generator for our church. I'm thinking about 3.5 KW. we don't want it to enable us to have services. only to keep from freezing in a prolonged outage like we have had here. Just a few lights, three boilers a refrigerator a freezer. no water no AC no washer or dryer. I put one in our house last year and am familiar with switch arrangements and not to run indoors and stabilizing gas and running periodically. I am just looking for experiences with brands. I don't care for Briggs or Chinese no-name engines. but I don't know if Honda is within our budget.

government liquidations.com have dandy military generators..Some gas , most diesel..A friend of mine bought a 10K diesel unit..What a sweetheart of a generator..I installed 2 batteries and changed the engine oil and filter , changed fuel filters and flushed the fuel tank..It performs flawlessly everytime..If you decide to go military , please pay attention to what you're bidding on.. Some small "gennies" are 28 volt. Some larger ones are 3 phase only...Most are switchable for 3 phase or single phase , 50 or 60 hrtz..They are extremely overbuilt..Most are air cooled too , unless you go to a larger unit.. The 10K unit my friend has is air cooled.

Check the panels on each of the items you want to power, find how much each draws. Add them up. Then choose a generator that is at least 1 1/2 times that. 2x would even be better. What you"re looking at seems like a bit scrawny for the job. Then there"s always some guy who wants to plug in another appliance.... Is the water pump 220v? I had to get a new generator to accomodate that problem when we got a new well. I have a 4k and a 5k, and feel like I am right at my limit running things here on the farm. And we go into low gear when we are on generator power. Nothing not essential is run.

Hondas have a great reputation, probably worth the bucks. I have Briggs, don"t abuse, make sure oil is Ok, had no problems. If all you"re doing is emergency power the use time won"t be that great.

3500 Watts ain't gonna go very far towards running "lights, three boilers a refrigerator a freezer".

Most of the old military surplus generators are 3PH unless you find a civil defense one. Don't know much about the newer models. Maybe there are more newer model 1PH military gennys out there now. My military collector buddy has at least five military gennys in different sizes and four are 3PH. One is a little rope start Briggs 3PH that's no more than 5 HP. Didn't know they made them that small in 3PH. Jim

That's about 7KW short of what is needed for a bare minimum.
Use a proper transfer switch instead of some farmer fix.

http://www.generlink.com/downloads.cfm

I like my Honda. It's 12 years old.

We had freezing rain last night - it started on the first pull.

The power never even flickered.

I was kinda disappointed. . .

Remember - the bigger the genny, the more fuel you need in storage.

Paul

Big gennies start and run loads easily plus last longer.
Small gennies working their guts out burn out sooner. Read the fine print on a gen set's stated, vs. rated continuous output and at what air temperature.
Undersized and marginal gennies also burn out electrical equipment or at the very least trip them off due to low voltage and low frequency.

There are plenty of Chinese generators at 1/3 the price of a Honda, and every bit as good. Some are, some aren't. That being said, many Honda generators are also made in China.
By the way, I'm always hearing how great Honda is, but to be technical, Subaru has always been higher rated for durability and reliability. Yamaha about equal with Honda.

I've got over a dozen newer generators. All the new ones are from China, and I can't say I've had ANY problems with any of them, except small minor issues.

I've very impressed with the Honeywell 2200 watt Inverter generators for $400. See how much $400 gets you with an inverter Honda or Yamaha. I've also very please with the ETN gensets.

I've also got a Briggs powered Homelite 4400 watt gen I bought 20 years ago and it too has been fine. Crude, heavy and overly noisy, yes.

If you're going to buy something that will barely ever get used, you might want to get one fueled on propane. Not very efficient, but very good for a rig that sits around not being used.

Considering you could buy three new non-brand-name Chinese gensets for the price of one Honda that might also be from China - it's a no-brainer to me.

Not long ago, people were griping about the new cheap Japanese "crap." Now, Jap stuff is "great."

Now, your wattage is a different issue. You've got to figure that out. Starting current is the big issue - on some motors. A 3500 watt generator would not be able supply the surge-current needed if you had several things come on at once. Running current isn't near the issue that starting current is.

I took over a Generac 3500 w/8hp Briggs a few years ago. As a standby, it was terrible. Hard starting, metal fuel tank, noisy, bad vibrations. I finally took the head off of it because while it was still hard too start but I noticed the muffler was sucking in. The valves needed the stems ground for clearance to indicate the seats were worn. Disassembly revealed no seat wear. It had to be delivered from the factory with the valves grossly out of tolerance. I wish I had checked the valves when I got this thing.

Don't get a Briggs...

Aaron

The standby genny must be sized for the largest load you plan to run, otherwise it is worthless. With a little management, you can get by with a smaller generator and still run everything - just not all at once. For instance - do you throw the transfer switch and start all of your freezers, fridges, pumps, block heaters, stock tank heaters and heat plants at the same time? I doubt if you do, but if you do, you do indeed need a huge generator, and it would probably still go to it's knees.

The original poster is clearly concerned with staying within a budget. I know nothing of his situation, but I know that my boiler draws less than 5 amps. Does he absolutely need to run all three boilers at once? A fridge and a deepfreeze can be managed easily in a vacant church. Minimal or no lighting and minimal heat is all that would be needed, with an occasional fridge recharge. We are talking about a temporary situation here. Maybe he does need 10,500 watts - that might allow them to hold services. We cancel church services if the weather is extreme enough for a power outage.

I know folks who have whole house automatic start barely noticable blink automatic transfer propane fired gennys, but those folks are not on any kind of a budget.

I still say - the bigger the genny, the more fuel storage you need. I'm saying that because I've noticed many people are proud of their big gennys, but when you ask them how much fuel they have on hand they get a blank look on their face.

Paul

I have a honda em5000sx and Im not kidding, it sits around and is used maybe 2-3 times a year, but it starts on the first pull everytime. It shocks me. I got mine used from a dealer I usta work for, a new one of that size is about$2300, so ya honda is expensive, but you may be able too look for a used one for your needs. My father has a coleman, works great, but it is a briggs and stratton. Another thing about the honda, it uses very little fuel under load.

I'll purchase another 5 gallon gas can to make up for the difference between a large genny running at 60-70% for a week.
Vs. looking for a replacement genny for the burned out original undersized genny. And having run around switching loads on and off.
All considered there isn't that much difference in price when going up 1 or 2 sizes in generators.

"I'll purchase another 5 gallon gas can"

Are you just one can shy of having enough?

I'm glad you see my point.

Just kidding you BD.

I know you're prepared.

Paul

I dident wanna sound like a lier, Im glad yours starts on the first pull too! Aint it great?

Bought a new 8500 kw Generac and had nothing but trouble for three years. Occasionally would start OK when cold but always had problems restarting when hot. Returned it several times. They installed new valves, new carb and did adjustments which might work for a while but it never finally fixed the starting problems. Didn't often use it, but as the only power source at the farm when power was required it had to work. Decided enduring this constant hassle wasn't worth a few bucks and sold it to a friend (he know the problems I was having) for about 1/3 the original price and bought a 10,500 kw Honda. Never has it given a problem in the last five years. It cost a lot more money and I lost a bunch on the Generac. But just like spending a few dollars on new spark plug wires at 100,000 miles even though they might last longer, it was money well spent.

Yeah Jay - I fell in love with Hondas when I worked in construction. I've pulled on those big old Briggs engines 'til I couldn't breath. Honda's are expensive, but they are money savers on the jobsite.

One cold morning, we all took turns cranking on an old genny with a big Wisconsin engine. It had a crank like a Model T Ford. Everybody had taken a turn and failed when the foreman started making fun of us, saying he'd show us how to crank that thing. He was a big old brute, and he could really whip that crank, but he was pulling the crank out of the socket as he spun it. It finally came out and spun around and hit him right on the chin. He fell like a big oak tree and just laid there like he was dead. We were laughing so hard we couldn't even check to see if he was breathing. We drug him over by the fire barrel and he finally came to. Every morning after that I'd ask him if he'd start that genny for us and he'd just glare at me. If looks could kill. . .

I used to tell the guys that you had to crank it 'til the water boiled - and some of them would look all over for the radiator cap.

Paul

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If you are budgeted for 3500 watts, this may be out of your range. But I don't know what a quality generator that size is worth.

This is local to you. I think it has less than 50 hours but I will check tomorrow. It was taken out of a demoed textile mill in Lowell 20 years ago. Used for insurance required emergency lighting. Always stored inside. If you can't run natural gas, I will throw in 2ea 100# empty propane tanks.

It is dual voltage (115/230V) with panel. The panel may have the transfer switch and I'll check on that too. Wisconsin engine. 10 KW. $1500. It will never need replacement. Maintenance will be practically nil running on gaseous fuel that never goes bad.

See, the good Lord was right. "Ask and Ye shall receive."

If you don't need electric start, the industrial Hondas are nearly identical to the home ones, except you can't add electric start. And they're a little cheaper. If you do have electric start you need to either keep it on a tender or start it up every month to keep the battery charged.

I suggest the Honda EB5000 or EB6500 (industrial); if you want electric start the EM5000 or EM6500. You should be able to pick up an EB5000 for around $2000.