longbarrel
Expert
A generator will do you not one bit of good in the above situation to get water<Actually, you do.
When the pumps run by the city fail, you will have no water.
A generator will do you not one bit of good in the above situation to get water<Actually, you do.
When the pumps run by the city fail, you will have no water.
A generator will do you not one bit of good in the above situation to get water<
It does if you have a well.
We do not have a well but we know where one is...
A generator will do you not one bit of good in the above situation to get water<
It does if you have a well.
We do not have a well but we know where one is...
When I finally got city water, the well is still there, just not hooked up to the city system.
Winner. Do you run it on occasion to keep it clear...???
nope. probably should
Comes out rusty even before though.
My well has a lot of iron in it.nope. probably should
Comes out rusty even before though.
Generacs are a bit pricey, but well worth it if you actually have an outage. Ours is now close to 10 years old, and we've never had an issue with it. Just basic maintenance. When you have a well and septic pump, being without power basically cripples the whole house. We also have a horse barn with animals, which are very hard to try to take care of without power.Actively looking for better generator. I have a small gas powered old as hell unit. Think it is 1500w. I have used it to control the fridge, blower motor, 110v well and TV.
I know I need a larger unit but have always worked my way thru it. New place has a 240v well so I know to run it I need a different generator. Started looking at the Generac (NG) units. Pricey to say the least. Basically fire and forget tho. But I am getting mixed reviews on service for them. People waiting months to get a tech over.
Looking at the Predator series from Harbor Freight now. They have a 3500w inverter but again it only has 110v options. I can bump up to a 9000w generator and have my 240v circuit. But then it is not as quiet, clean or fuel efficient.
Where we are now power goes out maybe two or three times a year. Not sure about the new place. I know for sure that power has dropped at least twice in three years, but I am not there all the time and my monitoring system is plugging a radio in.
At this time I am not preparing the generator set for mass, long range outage. Just the inconvenient few hours up to a few days worth. I have UPS to help clean the lines for electronics. I need to run the 240v well, the new fridge, blower motor on furnace (if needed), sparse lights, TV and network, maybe the new microwave.
Will work up what my amp draw will be for sizing.
Would running two of the inverter generators be able to provide me with the 240v circuit, or is that a no-no? Of course spending the money on them is now getting up there where I could possibly get a small natural gas unit to take care of what I want. Plus running two that sip fuel might be the same as running one larger unit.
Apologies to all for the pedantry, but I can't help myself. Ohm's Law (for simple DC circuits) is a statement of proportionality (in this case equality) of the current to the electric potential drop divided by the resistance.
The relationship P = I*V isn't typically given a name, but it's a result of using Joule's First Law (simplified as P = I^2*R) and using Ohm's Law to substitute as follows to yield a very useful, very simple relationship:
P = I^2*R and V = I*R
P = I*(I*R) = I*V
P = I*V
Where:
P = power [Watts]
I = current [Amperes]
V = electric potential or potential drop (Voltage) [Volts]
R = resistance [Ohms]
For those looking for a 220v option, you need to know your current needs. They do make converters that will take your 110v power and step it up to 220v. If it is built right, there should be little to go wrong with it. I intentionally purchased the smaller inverter type generator to save on fuel. I have been without power for an extended time, and many others were running to the gas station daily to try and keep their box store 6KW generators running. A gallon per hour x 10 hours per day is 2 5 gallon jugs of gas per day. Sure you can run it less, but my Yamaha goes several hours on a single gallon of gas. I may consider a converter myself for the 1 item I have that needs 220v. This one is a 3KW unit, but they make all sizes. A larger one likely isn't going to consume more power but will be capable of putting more out. Of course your 110v generator will need to be able to supply enough power to feed the larger amount of power being drawn.
Several of these are for European power, so make sure the one you select is for United States. I think this one is European but it is an example.
https://www.amazon.com/Regvolt-AC-3...er,&qid=1581781574&s=electronics&sr=1-1-fkmr0
For those looking for a 220v option, you need to know your current needs. They do make converters that will take your 110v power and step it up to 220v. If it is built right, there should be little to go wrong with it. I intentionally purchased the smaller inverter type generator to save on fuel. I have been without power for an extended time, and many others were running to the gas station daily to try and keep their box store 6KW generators running. A gallon per hour x 10 hours per day is 2 5 gallon jugs of gas per day. Sure you can run it less, but my Yamaha goes several hours on a single gallon of gas. I may consider a converter myself for the 1 item I have that needs 220v. This one is a 3KW unit, but they make all sizes. A larger one likely isn't going to consume more power but will be capable of putting more out. Of course your 110v generator will need to be able to supply enough power to feed the larger amount of power being drawn.
Several of these are for European power, so make sure the one you select is for United States. I think this one is European but it is an example.
https://www.amazon.com/Regvolt-AC-3...er,&qid=1581781574&s=electronics&sr=1-1-fkmr0
Very interesting. I had not considered a step up transformer for use with a gen set. This opens a whole new world for me. I can get the inverter generator and a step up transformer.
Not sure how well the genny will like the transformer, but I would only need it long enough to power the well pump for short periods.
I will start looking into this option. It makes sense, if the generator is built well enough to handle it. Heck I used step up and step down transformers back when I still had a W2.
Thanks for the nudge.
Started reading up a little on the topic of well pumps. I am not on site to measure at the new place right now, but the start up amperage will be a no go for the little genny and step up x-former it seems.
I just don't see how the 3500 watt inverter generator will handle the inrush current from a 240v pump.
That being said I am back to looking at a larger (gas sucking) genset, or the whole house natural gas version.