Wanna buy a generator

[Roert42]

Large manufacturing facilities built in smaller towns, because that's where the cheap labor is, have big effects on the power grids too. A lot of times the power company will make a deal with these manufactures to limit startup loads and loads at peak use times, but not always.

 

[Curious Hound]

But does anyone know anything about Total Harmonic Distortion?

Somebody does.

I only know a little about it. In your house, there isn't a lot to cause significant amounts of it. Though that may be increasing slightly. Electronic ballasts for flourescent lights and drivers for LED lights will cause some. But the current used by these in a home is so small that the tiny amount of harmonics is even smaller.

Where that plays a part is in large manufacturing plants and really big commercial buildings. Often measures arevtaken to mitigate it within the facility. In the BMW plant where I work, we had an issue with it. Due to the design of the electrical distribution system in the plant, harmonics in the body shop, where hundreds of welders are operating all at the same time, was destroying variable speed motor drives in the paint shop, where I work. Almost 2 years ago, we finally installed some large filters in the paint shop to clean up our power. It has been a successful project.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

My buddy does commercial/medical electrical. We were talking shop over some beers and I asked him how those huge apartment and office buildings are powered compared to a regular house. He said there's about 17,000+ volts coming off the power pole, which they then step down to whatever is needed...and it is easier to step it down to 480V than keep going down to 220/110V. I thought that was interesting, but makes sense.

 

[don4331]

The part I know about THD, is you never want 2 sources of power: If you need 6kW of power, you buy a 6kW generator, not 2 - 3kW ones. Getting 2 generators running in phase requires some sophisticated controls which are beyond the scope of this forum.

Similarly, you want the generator completely separated from the line current.

A diesel generator is pretty clean as only the generator is making current; gas/propane have some "static" from the ignition system, but it should be fairly shielded.

THD isn't major concern on most of the electric motors you mention - they are all constant speed. I'd put a UPS in front of the TV (I actually have that anyways) as battery is an excellent filter. Maybe UPS on the tankless water heater if you're real paranoid - it shouldn't have much power so could get away with real small UPS.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I don't like to keep all my eggs in one basket. I got 3 sources for various requirements. Things needing not much power but stay on (like the fridge and internet) are run off the solar and batteries. Amenities like TV, lights, are run off the quiet generator, which I leave room to add more if the solar runs out. Then the big loud Genny handles the occasional heavy usage, like if I need to run power tools or the air conditioner. My place is run off propane, so most of the appliances would be fine. I never run the furnace anyways because it uses 45k btus and sucks the tank dry quick (getting a fill truck here is a PITA), otherwise everything else sips gas. I just use the fireplace if its kinda cold (I'm in SoCal lol).

 

[Shran]

I have an Onan generator from an RV that I am going to eventually hook into my house and basically just to run the furnace and a freezer. I don't care about anything else, I figure winter storms are the main thing I am worried about and I just don't want to deal with frozen pipes. The furnace runs on natural gas so its power requirements are pretty minimal.

Fridge and freezer I think only draw maybe 3-400w, I could run those separately on my little 900w 2 stroke generator if I really needed to.

 

[Ranger850]

I just got a Ryobi generator for free. PO couldn't get it started and didn't care to spend time on it to figure out why. It looks brand new but he said it's a year or two. He said he ran it for a while and put it away for Hurricane season. We haven't had a bad one in a while and he tries to start it and here we are. Still has fuel in the tank so I'm thinking some "mechanic in a bottle". Carb might be locked shut. It's small has Bluetooth connection,, the owner's manual is still zip tied to the handle.

 

[RonD]

Where I live we have under ground power, no poles on the streets so much fewer power outages from "downed lines" or a vehicle taking out a pole

But not practical in rural areas

Satellite TV or OTA(antenna) will get you local news if you have power for the TV
Cable TV will often not work in most areas because they need power out at poles for amplifiers

You can use your cell phone for laptop internet, most phones have a selection to make the phone a "hotspot" so you can connect your laptop via wifi to your phone and share data connection, good to know how to do that ahead of time if you have never tried it
You can use your vehicle to charge phone and laptop batteries, not efficient but doable, as needed

 

[Mightyfordranger]

Large manufacturing facilities built in smaller towns, because that's where the cheap labor is, have big effects on the power grids too. A lot of times the power company will make a deal with these manufactures to limit startup loads and loads at peak use times, but not always.

There is a smaller town near my house with a few machine shops I've worked in but they are 15-20min away

Somebody does.

I only know a little about it. In your house, there isn't a lot to cause significant amounts of it. Though that may be increasing slightly. Electronic ballasts for flourescent lights and drivers for LED lights will cause some. But the current used by these in a home is so small that the tiny amount of harmonics is even smaller.

Where that plays a part is in large manufacturing plants and really big commercial buildings. Often measures arevtaken to mitigate it within the facility. In the BMW plant where I work, we had an issue with it. Due to the design of the electrical distribution system in the plant, harmonics in the body shop, where hundreds of welders are operating all at the same time, was destroying variable speed motor drives in the paint shop, where I work. Almost 2 years ago, we finally installed some large filters in the paint shop to clean up our power. It has been a successful project.

Interesting what did they use for the line filters? And I think that one guy is on to something with the UPS idea which is unlimited power supply if Im not wrong?

I don't like to keep all my eggs in one basket. I got 3 sources for various requirements. Things needing not much power but stay on (like the fridge and internet) are run off the solar and batteries. Amenities like TV, lights, are run off the quiet generator, which I leave room to add more if the solar runs out. Then the big loud Genny handles the occasional heavy usage, like if I need to run power tools or the air conditioner. My place is run off propane, so most of the appliances would be fine. I never run the furnace anyways because it uses 45k btus and sucks the tank dry quick (getting a fill truck here is a PITA), otherwise everything else sips gas. I just use the fireplace if its kinda cold (I'm in SoCal lol).

I'd like to get there eventually but I don't get near as much sun as you being in Ohio and I have massive oak trees around. There's a wives tale that my area that they built a specific military base here because it's the cloudiest part of America? I'm not sure lol

 

[Mightyfordranger]

Where I live we have under ground power, no poles on the streets so much fewer power outages from "downed lines" or a vehicle taking out a pole

But not practical in rural areas

Satellite TV or OTA(antenna) will get you local news if you have power for the TV
Cable TV will often not work in most areas because they need power out at poles for amplifiers

You can use your cell phone for laptop internet, most phones have a selection to make the phone a "hotspot" so you can connect your laptop via wifi to your phone and share data connection, good to know how to do that ahead of time if you have never tried it
You can use your vehicle to charge phone and laptop batteries, not efficient but doable, as needed

That's true. I'm thinking about the UPS idea to protect the "sensitive" stuff. Filter out some noise.

 

[Curious Hound]

Interesting what did they use for the line filters? And I think that one guy is on to something with the UPS idea which is unlimited power supply if Im not wrong?

I don't have any details. Thats all handled by facilities. Here is a picture of half of them. I don't have access inside the substation cage. This is the power substation for one paint shop.

As for the UPS idea, most of your common household UPS's aren't going to do much harmonics filtering. For most of them, the battery is not online with the load continuously. It is being charged and maintained continuously. But the load is only switched to battery supply when the main power feed dies. Then switches back to the main when it becomes available again. They do usually have good surge protection. But that's a whole different ballgame. To have a good quality UPS with line filtering and battery online all the time AND be able to handle a load bigger than a PC or two for a significant amount of time (greater than 15 minutes) you will be paying big, big bucks. Try pricing a 2000watt UPS by Liebert and you'll see what I mean. UPS systems are usually meant to get you by for short periods, up to 15 or 20 minutes, which is normally more than enough time to get a backup generator online to carry you through longer outages.

(Sorry. I spent 12 years handling UPS systems for Blue Cross data centers in South Carolina)

 

[RonD]

UPS is OK for brown outs and some spikes, and allows you to shutdown PC "normally" when power goes out

Not sure it would be what to get for generator power, as you have to replace the batteries in those every few years(3 to 5 years), which gets expensive if you are looking at long term use
You can get Line Conditioners, its like an electrical filter, similar to UPS but without the battery
Generators with inverters usually have "clean" power, so you can just get lower wattage Conditioner for just one outlet/ appliance that concerns you


Surge suppressors
Electricity travels close to the speed of light
I think the fastest reaction time for a surge suppressor is 9 nanoseconds, which is very fast but.................................
electricity will travel about 25ft in 9 nanoseconds
Most devices have a 6ft cord....................lol
Better surge suppressors will be a bit larger because they will have 25ft of wire coiled up inside
Just FYI

 

[sgtsandman]

I agree on the dual fuel concept. Gas is cheaper to run but goes bad after about a year if you add stabilizer. You'll use more propane for the same amount of power or the power output will be reduced but it doesn't go bad.

As far as the inverter, it doesn't sound like you need it. The only possible problem I see is if you have LED lighting. Dirty power from a non-inverter generator may be an issue with them, maybe.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I just got a Ryobi generator for free. PO couldn't get it started and didn't care to spend time on it to figure out why. It looks brand new but he said it's a year or two. He said he ran it for a while and put it away for Hurricane season. We haven't had a bad one in a while and he tries to start it and here we are. Still has fuel in the tank so I'm thinking some "mechanic in a bottle". Carb might be locked shut. It's small has Bluetooth connection,, the owner's manual is still zip tied to the handle.

You could probably just get a replacement carb off fleabay for cheap. Its probably just a standard lil Walboro. I've replaced the carb on my honda pressure washer and stihl chain saw. I run ethanol free gas now, it helps.