Generator

Millie said:
What does this run on, regular gas? And what can it run for you? All I want is a fan, fridge, a light, a way to charge stuff up, and my router, and maybe the well pump, which I suppose I can get a manual pump for. I've learned the last few days it's claustrophobic in the complete dark (a light), my phone is not that smart, so I can't get online (my router), I hate the heat (a fan!), and I like cold water (fridge), and it would be nice to flush the toilet without lifting a big thing of water. What do I need to get that done?
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Small generators can run a fridge fan light router and charge a phone, but won’t operate a well pump. My well pump is 20A, leaving me only 10A to spare for my lights and appliances etc. You’ll have to upgrade to at least a 5kw generator for a well pump with a 30A plug.
 
Ikarus1 said:
EPA warranty rating given on the engine, basically certifies the engine will meet emissions for z number of hours until the cheap Chinese rings on the cylinder gives way.
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Good news is the rings are very cheap, a few dollars.

I’m not sure about the small invertor predator, but the bigger predator engines last. They are used on everything, very popular for gocarts and racing now.

This is key to small engine maintenance if your running the heck out of them.
 
Brandon1 said:
Small generators can run a fridge fan light router and charge a phone, but won’t operate a well pump. My well pump is 20A, leaving me only 10A to spare for my lights and appliances etc. You’ll have to upgrade to at least a 5kw generator for a well pump with a 30A plug.
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Ok, so if I get a manual pump, I might be ok with a small generator to just do the basics, right?
 
mj1angier said:
@Millie one like this would run the items you listed, just maybe not all at one time:
https://www.amazon.com/Champion-2000-Watt-Stackable-Portable-Generator/dp/B0041K09D8
They are a good product, a step below Honda but above Harbor Freight. You can also hook 2 of them together to run more/ bigger items- window a/c, well pump...

It runs on gas, weighs in at 48 lbs and is quite.
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Thanks for the info, this is very interesting stuff.
So then I'd need a way to keep gas on hand somewhere....
doing research on all of this...
 
thecarman said:
Have you found a way to hook a manual pump to your well?
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Once I get past all the storm stuff I'm going to call my plumber and ask him to come and have a look and see what can be done. He installed my pump, so I figure he can figure it out. I've seen some that are just basically plastic tubes you lower into the well, pull them up and there's your water, but I'm thinking more along the lines of the old timey ones you used to see on peoples porches, with the handle you move up and down...if you're of a certain age, you know exactly the one I'm thinking about! LoL.
I'm sure there must be several ways to get the water out, and I'm confident he'll be able to help me figure out the best way for me to do it.
 
Honestly it's just easier to store water in a tote before the power goes out than it is to pump it out of the ground, esp. when you have 250ft+ well like we do. You can use the water periodically to water gardens, etc and just refresh it from time to time.
 
Ikarus1 said:
Honestly it's just easier to store water in a tote before the power goes out than it is to pump it out of the ground, esp. when you have 250ft+ well like we do. You can use the water periodically to water gardens, etc and just refresh it from time to time.
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That's why I am curious what kind of solution @Millie comes up with. Our will is deep like yours, and I have no problem running it off our generator, but would be interested to see if there is an option that doesn't require fuel to draw the water
 
thecarman said:
That's why I am curious what kind of solution @Millie comes up with. Our will is deep like yours, and I have no problem running it off our generator, but would be interested to see if there is an option that doesn't require fuel to draw the water
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last time I checked into it, 12V deep well pumps were way expensive to use solar power or anything else. Best thing is to either have an alternative source is: spring or some other water source, and/or clean storage
 
Ikarus1 said:
last time I checked into it, 12V deep well pumps were way expensive to use solar power or anything else. Best thing is to either have an alternative source is: spring or some other water source, and/or clean storage
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I have an old beat up spring box at our mountian place and a project with that is on the list. I remember seeing somewhere there was a project that a guy made some form of drinking fountian type system with a constant flow and then had it runoff into his spring and creek. I think he built a basic rock filter system in it as well. I have other filters but it would be good to get it out as clean as possible to stsrt with.
 
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Millie said:
Once I get past all the storm stuff I'm going to call my plumber and ask him to come and have a look and see what can be done. He installed my pump, so I figure he can figure it out. I've seen some that are just basically plastic tubes you lower into the well, pull them up and there's your water, but I'm thinking more along the lines of the old timey ones you used to see on peoples porches, with the handle you move up and down...if you're of a certain age, you know exactly the one I'm thinking about! LoL.
I'm sure there must be several ways to get the water out, and I'm confident he'll be able to help me figure out the best way for me to do it.
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It depends on how deep your well is, and how far down the water is. In some places it is too far for a hand pump to provide enough pressure to get the water up.
 
AF7577AD-41D1-497D-97EC-9FDCDA0E5230.jpeg

Got the generator from my sister and BIL. Started up on the first crank and seems altogether solid. I like the fact that it has a fuel gauge and hour meter. Sorry about the crappy photo, but there are pictures online.
 
Trying to remember but if @Millie is east of I-95, well maybe very shallow. My moms is 30 ft. But even that is hard to pump/ lift up to surface.
Short time, stored water is easier.
When storing water, you need two stocks- drinking and other. Drinking is what needs to be pure and safe. This is water that you will put into without any treatment, aka- a glass of water to drink. Other water will be cooking, bathing, toilet, pets... If cooking with it, you need to get temp high enough/ long enough to kill bad stuff. You don't want this to have stuff like heavy metal, pcp, radiation.. but can filter out things like mud and crap. Bathing water can be unfiltered but not if you have open wounds. Toilet can be waste water to push the turds down with, lol. Pets... we give ours clean water then they drink from puddles, so...
 
depending on how much water you get falling from the sky, a long term solution would be off-grid pumps, rainwater storage (cisterns are best), and purification. Just like anything else, choose any 2 of the following (time, money, quality) and depending on your DIY skills, you can have a long term solution. On our next homestead, I plan on having multiple sources of water with multiple ways to move it around.

There are more options out there now than a few years ago, thanks to the proliferation of solar. Here's a pump that will run on AC or DC with a wide variety of voltages but prepare for sticker shock....
https://us.grundfos.com/products/find-product/sqflex.html
 
mj1angier said:
Trying to remember but if @Millie is east of I-95, well maybe very shallow. My moms is 30 ft. But even that is hard to pump/ lift up to surface.
Short time, stored water is easier.
When storing water, you need two stocks- drinking and other. Drinking is what needs to be pure and safe. This is water that you will put into without any treatment, aka- a glass of water to drink. Other water will be cooking, bathing, toilet, pets... If cooking with it, you need to get temp high enough/ long enough to kill bad stuff. You don't want this to have stuff like heavy metal, pcp, radiation.. but can filter out things like mud and crap. Bathing water can be unfiltered but not if you have open wounds. Toilet can be waste water to push the turds down with, lol. Pets... we give ours clean water then they drink from puddles, so...
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I have no idea how deep our well is, but not far from our house (half a block?) there was a working hand pump on a porch. We used to think as kids that this was really fun and cool.
 
Mike V said:
Ready to bite the bullet. Anyone familiar with this brand? This model? @Ikarus1, how do I figure out the expected life of this engine?

https://www.electricgeneratorsdirec...MI5uXQ85rL3QIVzA43Ch0UoQDJEAEYASABEgJ2NfD_BwE
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Yup, I posted this above:
I bought a Champion 100263 last year from Electric Generators Direct. It is a dual fuel inverter generator rated for 2800/3100 watts on propane/gas. Since the break in run, I have only run it for 20 minute exercises every couple months. We've had a couple short outages since I bought it, but I can run my fridge and a few lights on a 1000W sine wave inverter and 12 volt battery, so haven't needed to fire up the Champion yet.

I am happy with it so far, but obviously haven't really tested it. I got two 30 lb propane tanks to feed it and have not run it on gas. It's got an electric starter in addition to the pull rope, and can be connected in parallel with another unit to increase capacity.

I will add that I haven't wired anything into a transfer switch yet... I am just running cords for now, but plan a critical loads subpanel with transfer switch in the future. I have also been pleasantly surprised by how quiet it is.
 
CZfool68 said:
I have an old beat up spring box at our mountian place and a project with that is on the list. I remember seeing somewhere there was a project that a guy made some form of drinking fountian type system with a constant flow and then had it runoff into his spring and creek. I think he built a basic rock filter system in it as well. I have other filters but it would be good to get it out as clean as possible to stsrt with.
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If you have a constant flow, you can build a water ram system from pvc fittings that will pump water uphill to your storage tanks. Works great in the mountains.
 
Millie said:
I have no idea how deep our well is, but not far from our house (half a block?) there was a working hand pump on a porch. We used to think as kids that this was really fun and cool.
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You may want to look at the Bison brand hand pumps. They are made for deep and shallow wells, and fit in with your existing pump.
Just remember, if it is deep, you will be lifting 1/2 lb of water per ft of depth on each handle stroke.
 
Mike V said:
Ready to bite the bullet. Anyone familiar with this brand? This model? @Ikarus1, how do I figure out the expected life of this engine?

https://www.electricgeneratorsdirec...MI5uXQ85rL3QIVzA43Ch0UoQDJEAEYASABEgJ2NfD_BwE
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It should be on the EPA warranty sticker and in the manual if its specified at all. That may be a different manual than the generator manual itself. Generally 250-500hrs on consumer grade engines. And of course, YMMV depending on maintenance. If you follow the book, use good oil, good plugs, keep gas fresh and keep the filter serviced then they will last a long while
 
Gazengine said:
You may want to look at the Bison brand hand pumps. They are made for deep and shallow wells, and fit in with your existing pump.
Just remember, if it is deep, you will be lifting 1/2 lb of water per ft of depth on each handle stroke.
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Thanks, I'll check into these. I appreciate all the info I've gotten!
 
Ikarus1 said:
It should be on the EPA warranty sticker and in the manual if its specified at all. That may be a different manual than the generator manual itself. Generally 250-500hrs on consumer grade engines. And of course, YMMV depending on maintenance. If you follow the book, use good oil, good plugs, keep gas fresh and keep the filter serviced then they will last a long while
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DurhamDad said:
Yup, I posted this above:
I bought a Champion 100263 last year from Electric Generators Direct. It is a dual fuel inverter generator rated for 2800/3100 watts on propane/gas. Since the break in run, I have only run it for 20 minute exercises every couple months. We've had a couple short outages since I bought it, but I can run my fridge and a few lights on a 1000W sine wave inverter and 12 volt battery, so haven't needed to fire up the Champion yet.

I am happy with it so far, but obviously haven't really tested it. I got two 30 lb propane tanks to feed it and have not run it on gas. It's got an electric starter in addition to the pull rope, and can be connected in parallel with another unit to increase capacity.

I will add that I haven't wired anything into a transfer switch yet... I am just running cords for now, but plan a critical loads subpanel with transfer switch in the future. I have also been pleasantly surprised by how quiet it is.
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Thanks for the info. I am still not sure I understand all I know, but I do know that I want dual fuel, and an inverter generator. And this Champion has gotten a lot of really good reviews. And at 3400 watts it will be far more than I need for what I want to do.
 
Mike V said:
Thanks for the info. I am still not sure I understand all I know, but I do know that I want dual fuel, and an inverter generator. And this Champion has gotten a lot of really good reviews. And at 3400 watts it will be far more than I need for what I want to do.
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Champions are solid. Not super sexy like Honda, but they get the job done. Price of a Honda you can get two and last about as long. Dual fuel is nice. 3400 watts will run 90 % of stuff in a house, just not at one time. Best plan is to get watt meter and see what each item pulls so you can plan what items you can run at same time:
https://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4460-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B000RGF29Q
 
Honda generators are hands down the best in my book. Through what I've done at work I've dealt with 2k, 3k, and 7k units. We run them all day long, 10-12 hours at a shot. They always produce, they're quite and they use little fuel. If you plan to run it ALOT, Honda is the hands down answer. I didn't get a Honda for myself but I got a Champion that runs on propane or gas. Less money and flexible fuels.
 
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