Portable propane generators

[madsquopper]

Doing research online but looking for real world experience with the scenario I'm thinking of. Want the generator to power the fridge and perhaps a light or two, plus charge up the phones. Not intending on running it continuously, maybe a few hours per day to keep the food from spoiling. Also prefer an inverter generator and quiet is a bonus. If there are any specific models you prefer, please comment. Thanks.

 

[Jerry1]

I have a small gas powered Honda generator (2000W). It works flawlessly for exactly what you mentioned. If I was getting a generator to replace it, I’d look at one that uses multiple fuels. I think they have tri-fuel models which I believe is gas, propane and natural gas. Then I’d get a natural gas hook up run outside and feel pretty secure. If I could tie my grill into the natural gas hook up, even better.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, it's hard to fine a propane only. Dual fuel is easier. I bought a 5 KW dual fuel and removed the gas tank so I could put a 3/4" plywood shelf in place for the propane bottles.

Exclusive propane use. Too much experience with gummed carbs on motorcycles.

 

[Bamaman]

I would go with the Champion 3500 watt gas inverter generator with remote control and electric start. I think it may also be available in dual fuel.

The price is right and he service with the company is supposed to be excellent--if needed.

It's better to go a little more in wattage than you anticipate using. Never know when it's needed.

And have an electrical hookup that's properly installed. You don't want having a power company employee's electrocution on your conscience.

 

[madsquopper]

Looks like dual fuel is easier to find; that would be fine. Are there any big safety problems with just running the refrigerator off of a heavy gauge extension cord? 25 foot max would easily reach. I wasn't planning on hooking up any actual house circuits; just one or two extension cords. Champion seems to be a popular brand with mostly good reviews.

 

[skyking1]

I have decades of running fridges and freezers off my Hondas. First was a 1000, and it would run both a fridge and a chest freezer at the same time.
The fridge compressor will draw no more than about 7 amps at startup, worst case scenario. After it starts the run is more like 3~4 amps. My little 1000 inverter would idle right down with it running, so you have no worries about voltage drop. You could hang it out 100 feet on a 16 gauge cord with no issues.
We are in the tall trees( frequent and long power outages) and I would set it in my truck, and make the rounds of all my friends who needed it. We'd chill down their food for a couple of hours of running, put some ready food in a cooler to keep the fridge door closed, and I'd move on to the next house. I would try to chill the fridges 3x per day.

 

[Jerry1]

Agree. I ran a chest freezer, a sump pump and a refrigerator many times using my 2000 watt generator and extension cords. It’s not ideal, but it’s cost effective and it works. I’d keep the sump pump plugged in and switch between the freezer and the refrigerator to keep my food safe. Never had a problem with the extension cords - they never even got warm.

The biggest problem with a portable generator is the fuel. Buying a duel or tri-fuel will help with that. When using gas, the small generator (my Honda) will use about a gallon a day for the necessities. Get a large (say 5000 watt) generator and try to run your whole house and you’ll be filling the tank frequently. My FIL did that before he got a whole house generator and I think that thing drank about 5 gallons a day.

 

[ncbill]

Costco sells a tri-fuel generator that routinely goes on sale for those who have natural gas available.

Not an inverter generator, though, IIRC.

 

[kjpliny]

For what it's worth, I purchased the Honda EU7000IS, which plugs into an L14-30P 240VAC input box on the side of the house. It powers the whole load center using a 2-pole 30A breaker and interlock kit. I can't run the main HVAC unit, but it takes care of the rest of the house with no issue. I also purchased an MSK7000 tri-fuel kit and modified the generator to run on either gasoline, natural gas or propane. I usually use natural gas. It's an expensive unit as far as portable generators, but very quiet and half the price of one of those whole house units you need a company to install. Hondas have great resale value, and I can take this one with me when I move.

 

[MC Rider]

We have a Champion dual fuel, says 3800 running watts on gas, 3420 on propane. I have only run it on propane. Doesn't clog things up with old gas, as RobbieB says.

Seems to be good insurance, as we have not needed it for a power outage since we got it 5? ish years ago. OK that's faulty logic.


I exercise it every few weeks running a load of wash. Only problem it has had is the battery died. I found they use a weird size battery, but it is just a motorcycle type battery. Of course they charge the bucks for it. So I bent the tray edges so I could fit in a larger battery, and got a cheap MC battery on line. It can also be pull started.



Anyway, the thing is about as loud as a gas lawnmower, so not quiet by any means. Otherwise am happy with it.

 

[travelover]

Champion makes a number of dual fuel inverter generators. The 2500 watt one is popular with RVers and only weighs about 40 pounds, so not hard to lift. It would be good for a fridge, lights, etc.

 

[skipro33]

Since I live in a high fire area of California, and PG&E does PSPS (public safety power shut-down) any time the wind blows, the humidity drops and the air temperature raises to some set level, and doesn't get restored for days after the event so they can walk down all their lines to verify they are still standing, I have an inverter generator.
More specifically, it's a Honda EU7000. It is technically portable, comes with a set of wheels even. I had a propane line plumbed and I'm fed from a 500 gallon propane tank. It runs our whole house without problem since all cooking, heating and water uses propane as well.
Other than the need to manually operate and work the breakers between the genny, meter and house, it's pretty easy to use. I prefer the propane genny because the oil stays clean, same for the sparkplugs. I also don't need to constantly fuel it if it were gas. On long outages, I shut it down at night when we sleep. Ambient air temps drop at night and our 3 fridge/freezers hold plenty of chill until I fire it back up next morning.
Did I say how clean this thing burns? The exhaust pipe looks as clean as a brand new also. It has a key ignition starter so no rope pulling.

 

[Jerry1]

On long outages, I shut it down at night when we sleep.

I have a natural gas whole house generator and do the same. I don’t like equipment like that running at night when I’m not awake to watch it (react to any problems). Plus, at night, there’s really not much draw, so leaving it running doesn’t make sense. Especially in a power outage situation, I’m not likely sleeping more than 6 hours and the refrigerator and freezer have no problem going that long once out of 24 hours.

I also don’t set my generator on “auto”. If I was gone fore awhile, I might consider it, but I’m mostly home and I like to start the generator manually and make sure everything is functioning properly. It’s also the case that we have had some on/off issues with our power. I don’t want the generator short cycling. I wait for a half hour or so to make sure the power is going to stay off.

 

[old medic]

We have had a Champion 3100 inverter about 5 years. only complaint is the pull rope frays from vibration and has broke several times. A friend has a 3500 dual fuel and loves it.

 

[NW-Bound]

Champion makes a number of dual fuel inverter generators. The 2500 watt one is popular with RVers and only weighs about 40 pounds, so not hard to lift. It would be good for a fridge, lights, etc.

From Champion's Web site: "Enjoy the quiet 53 dBA for up to 11.5 hours on gasoline or up to 34 hours with a 20-lb propane tank..."

I like it. Been thinking about getting one to backup my solar+battery system.

What if I get a power outage when the battery is not charged? I thought about running a long cord from my motorhome genset to the solar shed in the back, but that's a long run.

 

[skipro33]

I have a natural gas whole house generator and do the same. I don’t like equipment like that running at night when I’m not awake to watch it (react to any problems). Plus, at night, there’s really not much draw, so leaving it running doesn’t make sense. Especially in a power outage situation, I’m not likely sleeping more than 6 hours and the refrigerator and freezer have no problem going that long once out of 24 hours.

One thing I did do and mitigates shutting down the genny at night is that I put the cordless phone, router and printer on a UPS. I have a 2nd UPS I put on the TV. The one for the phone is obvious; I don't want to miss any phone calls and I might need to make an emergency call. Cell phone tower in my remote area doesn't have a generator and it's batteries die in 4 hours after the start of an outage.
The TV UPS is mainly for when it's on when an outage hits and gives me time to gracefully shut down the TV. Also sometimes outages are very short, and it keeps spikes at bay. No use risking damage to the TV if the power flickers.

 

[skyking1]

^we have a big UPS that covers the modem and router, but my ISP goes offline when the power is out within a few minutes .

 

[ERD50]

One thing I did do and mitigates shutting down the genny at night is that I put the cordless phone, router and printer on a UPS. ....

I was wondering (a quick search didn't turn up much), but do any of the inverter generators come with a larger battery option? A few kWh of battery could power smaller/intermittent loads overnight w/o running (I guess you'd need a "top off the battery mode" to get it filly charged, then a "shut down for x hrs, or until battery hits 10% mode" or something).

It wasn't clear to me how the inverter generators work exactly - do they use the starter battery as a short energy buffer, or a separate battery/capacitor? Do they just rely on the engine ramping up fast enough (I doubt that would work).

-ERD50

 

[OldShooter]

… I wasn’t planning on hooking up any actual house circuits; just one or two extension cords. Champion seems to be a popular brand with mostly good reviews.

@madsquopper I think you will quickly find that setting up a bunch of cords is a PITA and that there are a lot more things you’ll be wanting to power. I think most of your commenters here are using a manual transfer switch, as we are at our two homes. I suggest that you strongly consider this, as I’m pretty sure you’ll want one eventually.

Our switch is in a sub-panel with breakers connected to everything we want to power. The switch is mechanically interlocked so the sub-panel can take power from the generator (plugged into a socket outside) or from the main panel. Power hogs like the electric oven, the house AC, etc. are left in the main panel. With LEDs these days, I think you could have every light in the house shining from a fairly small generator. Ours is 5KW in the city house and it is more than ample.

We also chain our nice very-portable generator to a fence post when it is outside and running.

 

[skyking1]

I'm one of the cord running guys. I don't think it's roughing it too much to have a couple of flashlights as long as my food isn't spoiling.
With my ISP going offline almost instantly, there isn't much to do but read a book lol.
I'll probably spend up for a transfer switch on the new home construction because things like that are quite a bit easier to do from the get-go.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm one of the cord running guys.

Me, too. The need for a backup generator is so rare (only three times in the past 23 years) that dealing with extension cords isn't a big deal to me.

I have a 30 amp RV power cord I plug into my portable generator and run into the house. I then plug in an adapter with three "household" receptacles, which reduces the need for a bunch of long individual cords run all the way out to the generator. I do have a half dozen or so quality 25' and 50' extension cords that get the job done if needed.

 

[NW-Bound]

If I get a generator to backup my solar+battery, the generator will be used to charge the battery, and will not be wired directly to the home. It's because I already have multiple automatic transfer switches to feed house circuits either from the grid or from solar power.

The generator output will be fed to the solar+battery system, to help the solar panels charge the big battery if solar power is inadequate.

 

[Walt34]

We use an older "ultra quiet" Honda EX4500 gasoline generator I bought after an ice storm shut off the power for four days when we were still living near D.C. I am impressed with the "quiet" part - it is enclosed in a foam-lined cabinet and the exhaust system looks like it came off a car. You can have a conversation next to it without raising your voice.

We used it several times there in part because it was an "established neighborhood" (i.e., old) and all the power lines were up in the trees so every time the wind blew the lights flickered and often just went out. Rated at 4k watts continuous it'll run the gas furnace, refrigerator, freezer, TV, computer and a few light bulbs. We can do fine with that for a few days.

Since the move to WV we've only used it once here for about four hours and once over at FIL's place before he passed away. I did have an electrician install a transfer switch which in turn just plugs into the generator. The power lines here are all underground and much newer, so are more reliable than the ones near D.C.

 

[Sunset]

I bought a generator after we had a long power failure, where I was able to borrow a spare.
I haven't used it and it's been about 10 years.

I'm wondering, could I just get a good sized inverter and run that off the car battery with the car running to cool down the fridge for a couple of hours instead of having this 3500 generator that we don't use taking up space ?

I would have a secondary use of the inverter at my cabin as I'm planning to get a couple of solar panels so we can charge up cell phones and flashlights, since the cabin has no electricity.

 

[Still Learning]

Have an alternate solution to share regarding temporary power for a frig, computers, lights, but not a whole house. We already had a Honda 2000i from boating which became the temporary power for the house due to the noise. Other than noise it still performs well.


We sold our cruising boat last year and purchased a high roof van for travel. Traveling with our dog we wanted power/AC that was independent of the van and I wanted quiet and no fuel. Decided to purchase a Bluetti portable power station; a 2,000 Ah lithium battery with inverter providing 12 and 115 volt power. The biggest draw in the van is a 13,500 BTU air conditioner which it will run for 3 hours during hot daytime hours. If sleeping overnight in the van we just plug into 115 volt power for overnight air conditioning or a fully charged battery will last 6-8 hrs at night. Have not bothered with solar panels yet. Charging from 12 or 115 volt sources has served us for our use.



https://shopsolarkits.com/collectio...ducts/bluetti-ac200p-portable-solar-generator