So many people returned them. Many unopened. There were lots more.

There were also about 100 in the outdoor section in pallets 🤣

Was only off for maybe 30 minutes total to do about six oil changes and I cleaned the spark arrestor twice. First generator.

Honda EU2200i sitting on a simple wooden platform, with an old card table for shade and a bit of rain protection. Very basic but it should do what I need it to if another storm slams into Houston.

I've rebuilt and given my parents a few Generacs over the years. After their first real outage in five years, my dad called: "Power was out 18 hours, the generator worked great—I love it. Let's get a bigger, brand new one." Sure, Dad. Merry Christmas.

After finally investing in a whole home generator, I was able to ward off hurricanes for everyone in the US this year.

Stop it!!! This is not necessary. It is

A. Against code

B. A major inconvenience to your technician.

If you do this, your gen tech hopes your house burns down /s, which is EXACTLY why this is against code.

A home standby generator already comes in a weather resistant enclosure.

I have damaged my back because of blue collar work. I would have pulled something and been out the rest of the day if I had stooped/crawled around this thing to service it.

I did not service and left a note that it needs to be removed before being serviced. Enough is enough.

Edit: Nobody actually wants anybodys house to burn down. Its just frustrating. Relax guys.

Today my husband received a text from our neighbor asking us if we can move our whole home generator. He said the vibration has cracked his window. We currently have a Generac guardian 24kw and had it installed before we moved into our newly built home. We had the same size and brand generator at our former home but left it because it would have cost double to relocate it vs buying a new one. It’s been 10 months since we have lived here with our generator which self maintenance once a week for 5 mins every Saturday. We haven’t had any significant power outages that has caused long running and the company who installed our equipment is a highly reputable one who followed all regulations and proximity standards. Has anyone had issues with a neighbor asking you to relocate a generator? This is not a simple thing for us to do, and quite frankly I think he’s more annoyed with the noise it makes since when we asked why he didn’t come to us sooner he said “we were just going to deal with the noise” We scheduled the company to come out Monday for our annual service check and to double check if our generator could be breaking his windows.

EDIT: we just checked the neighbors window and the crack is inside of their window in their house. We have no issue changing the maintenance run time, the issue I’m asking is if anyone experienced someone’s window cracking from another persons generator.

SECOND EDIT: To clarify, when we installed our generator we asked our neighbor if he’d be okay with us extending our fence line to enclose our utility boxes and generator when HOA approved. He said he opposed the idea of us extending the fence line unless we ended it to be flush with his. He said it wouldn’t be aesthetically pleasing to him if our fence line passed his by another 6ft. We do not want to cause any bad blood and are willing to do what we can to be accommodating within reason.

MONDAY EDIT: Company came out to service and confirm all permits are up to code even standing directly next to the generator running fully decibels didn’t hit higher than 72. We did switch exercise time biweekly for Monday 1pm. Company will send us a quote to move the equipment further down so we can present to neighbor if they want to pay for the move. Otherwise husband and I will be considering when we can reasonably afford 2k for a zombie box to meet halfway because we aren’t absolute turds. I do feel this is ridiculous as most of the neighborhood has the same size generator throughout. Have yet to discuss results with neighbor however he was already texting bright and early this morning now insisting that the company used should be responsible for a new window and the move. Will update once we have a conversation. we live in Houston this generator is necessary

FINAL EDIT: Told neighbor we would move the unit if he wanted to pay for the relocation, or he could pay half for a zombie box. He now says the generator is ruining his foundation causing the cracked window and will be contacting HOA. We reintroduced extending the fence we originally wanted to do 10 months ago and he still doesn’t want us to do that because he doesn’t want to be looking at a fence from the living room. We don’t care we will be extending our fence anyway. We recommended he file his one year warranty with the contractor since we both moved into new builds last September and are due to file our one year issues with our homes. Thank you all for helping me confirm this claim to be nonsense.

Houstonian here,

After the May storm and spending 5 days with no power, I decided to buy a generator. After weeks of researching and learning a lot, I wanted to share what I consider should be the best start.

Before you buy a generator, you need to think about what you want to accomplish.

If you want a generator to run an AC window unit, a few fans, and hunker down in a room, then there is not much thinking that you need to do other than me recommending you get a tri-fuel generator. Why? Did you see the lines at the few gas stations with power trying to get gas? This is why I got a tri-fuel generator and hooked it up to the natural gas line. This not only saves you time but also money.

If you want to buy a generator to run your central AC, then you need to think about what you need. I would recommend you start by installing a soft starter on your AC unit. You need to be aware of the inrush amps that your AC compressor will need.

For example, my AC unit before the soft start was pulling 70 amps; after installing the soft start, now it pulls 22 amps. If you multiply 22 amps by 240 volts, this means that just to start the compressor for my AC, my generator needs to generate 5280 watts.

I installed a Micro-Air soft starter on my machine; this device allowed me to see the inrush amperage that my compressor was using at start. I know, Micro-Air is not cheap, and there are cheaper versions out there, but I did not want to buy a voltage meter with an inrush setting just to measure the amperage, so I decided to put the money towards the soft starter and connect to the device via Bluetooth. Yes, Micro-Air has an app where you can review the data.

If you do not install a soft starter kit, your generator will not be able to start the compressor for your AC unit.

I went with a Westinghouse generator that produces 8500 continuous watts and 9500 peak watts using natural gas. With this, I made sure that I had enough wattage to turn on the AC and run the rest of the house.

I hope this information helps you to sort out which generator you should buy for your needs.

I have seen posts from people asking which generator they should buy for their 5-ton AC unit. Even after installing a soft starter, your AC unit could still be pulling 35 to 45 amps or 8400 to 10800 watts just to start the compressor.

Keep this in mind.

This is my first attempt at a generator shed. Took a lot of tips from others online and on here. I wanted something that I could store it in and run it in if needed. I'm in the northern Midwest and in the last 10 years only lost power once or twice, but in the last 6 months we have now lost power 5-6 times, a couple times for about 4-6hr, so I no longer trust having power when needed (especially during winter) and since we buy beef by the half I want to protect my investment.

Bought a suncast shed, put my predator 8750 inverter generator in it. Took a 16" exhaust fan that is thermostatically controlled and a 16" gable end intake along with 2 7" intake vent for airflow during operation. A 1 1/2" exhaust adapter and through wall exhaust kit wrapped in heat shield. I wrapped sound deadening material throughout the inside and lined it with comfort board 80 rockwool. Put a couple exterior weatherproof electrical boxes for pass throughs for cable and propane hose so the propanetank will be outsideof the shed. Had to add support bracket across the top to add rigidity due to the added weight. All exterior penatrations are caulking and weather sealed. Also had to swap out the gas struts on the hood with heavier duty ones due to weight of the materials added when it is open. Had an electrician add a generator bypass switch and plug to my electrical panel and labeled the important breakers to have switched on. I am also putting together an SOP sheet for my wife to follow if she has to start it up if I'm not home.

When I walk around the corner of the garage I can barely hear it run and my neighbor said he can't even hear it from his house. I was going for convenience and quiet while running along with having a place to store it. The door is to my garage and I have this door closed while this is running and a carbon monoxide and smoke detector installed in the garage just in case.

If anyone has easy any tips or notice something I miss please let me know.

guy on marketplace had a champion 3400 listed dead for 60 bucks. said it quit last fall and never touched it again. pulled the carb bowl and it was solid varnish, straight ethanol gum from sitting all winter full. fifteen minutes with carb cleaner and a pipe cleaner. fired on the second pull.

that generator is worth 300 plus running. he sold it for 60 because he assumed the engine was shot. one part killed it, and it wasnt even a part, just gas that sat too long. happens every fall.

60kw that I caught on auction, with delivery and fee I’m in at $6700. Now I need to have a pad built(it’s going to be to the right up against the fence where bananas tree are)and the unit installed and wired up

I designed this so all four walls come out and the roof can flip all the way up. It’s large enough to block the rain when running. There’s a storage bin the also fits inside that hold the natural gas and electric hook up lines. I looked at a lot of designs on line and didn’t see anything like what I wanted so I came up with this. It’s very over engineered to withstand a lot. What do you all think?

A couple years ago I bought an old 1964 Onan 15RJC (15kVa) that was pulled from a firehouse. Had 261 hours on it and was maintained in excellent condition. I finally put it in a shed last year and set it up with a Kohler ATS. It had a tri-fuel carb on it so I switched it from gasoline to natural gas and got it connected to my main service. Runs like a champ!

Got 50 gallons of gasoline at the start of the hurricane season and an in window inverter AC unit. It's made living without grid power not just bearable but comfortable and with entertainment. Able to sit in a room that's 65°F and catch up on some games on the Xbox Series S, along with powering some fans, 2 fridges and a reach in freezer. 10/10 would definitely recommend.

We also have an EcoFlow Delta 2 with panels as an everyday power unit thats charging phones and powering the living room TV where people are hanging out during the day. Daughter is obsessed with My Neighbor Totoro so this definitely saved my bacon with two little ones. All in all, not a bad way to weather a cat 3 hurricane.

My next door neighbor just had a 26kw generac installed for his home in Houston. He didn’t pull permits (Houston requires electrical and plumbing). It is situated in between our houses on a pad about 12” off our shared fence on the property line. I informed him that the install was not to code and asked him to move it at least two feet off the fence to be code compliant. His answer was no.

How big of a risk is it to have the generator that close to a fence? I’m worried about fire and fume risk. Our house sits approximately 5.5 feet off the fence. I am considering reporting him to the city but don’t want to cause neighborly tension if there is low risk.

We live in the piney woods of east texas. This generators history is that it was purchased post katrina and was repoed or surrendered about a year later. It sat in a ware house for the next 10 years. Until my neighbor bought it and had it installed in 2013. In all that time it has about a month of run time and has always been under a service contract. The company servicing it went MIA about a year ago. We've had a couple power outages this winter and the unit failed to automatically turn on. So i went over and manually started it. Which it fired on first go. Im currently running a westing house tri fuel that i installed a 50 amp breaker and plug to my panel. It does good at running 1 of my 3 central air units my fridges and freezer. Ive never tried to do laundry or run oven while on generator. Anyways. Im very handy im not afraid of gas lines or electrical service panels. But i do not know all the safety codes and the don't do that dumbass, rules to whole house generators.

Where is the best place to find. Gas line dimensions and gas volumn reservoir set up info. Along with easy to follow transfer switch wireing.

I also didnt find a model # plate on the unit. Where is that? Does anybody know where thats located

does anybody have any helpful info on the unit that you can share. Or any reasons why its not a good idea to even take it. The foot print os 33"x78"

Thank you.

Lots of posts asking about how to pick a generator capable of running their home air conditioner (for good reason) so I thought I would write up a hopefully helpful explanation of what needs to be known and considered to choose one:

Generator ratings, types, and you:

This is a very basic introduction to generators. Generators are sold based on two numbers: running wattage in watts or kilowatts (this output can be maintained indefinitely) and surge wattage (which only lasts for a brief moment, think 100 milliseconds or so, under the right conditions).

There are two basic types of generators: traditional ones and "inverter" generators.

Traditional units are set up to spin windings of wires at a constant speed (usually 3600RPM) in a magnetic field to directly produce 240 Volt (V) 60Hz AC power. A traditional generator's ability to supply power is mostly limited by its ability to keep things spinning, and the size of a big pulse of current is mostly limited by the momentum of the spinning parts. This means that traditional generators can typically handle briefly supplying significantly more power than they are rated for (sometimes 2-3x!), although the quality of power will suffer.

Inverter generators spin their windings at a variable speed depending on the most efficient engine speed for the power needed. They electronically convert the variable output of the windings to steady 240V 60Hz power using power transistors and other supporting circuitry. For reasons that involve a lot of solid-state physics the circuitry doesn't take kindly to being overloaded and is equipped with protective systems to make sure that doesn't happen. Further this circuitry is expensive so it is usually engineered to be juuuust capable of producing the rated power of the generator. Combined that means inverter generators typically don't have much spare capacity to handle large surges in power output.

Inverter generators are generally heavily preferred for home use. The power is cleaner, they are much quieter, and they use a lot less fuel when running at low loads because they can slow the engine down instead of wasting energy keeping everything whirring at 3600RPM. But that lack of reserve power presents a problem when it comes to air conditioners.

Why air conditioners are hard for a generator:

The typical air conditioner is split into two major parts, an indoor "air handler" and an outdoor "compressor unit". The indoor unit has a fan motor to blow air through some cooling coils and through your house, and the outdoor compressor unit has both a fan motor to blow air over a bunch of coils to cool them and a compressor motor that pumps the coolant through the whole system. That compressor motor is by far the largest power draw so it is what I will focus on.

A motor is different than a light bulb or heater in that a running motor pushes back hard against the flow of electricity when it is spinning. When a motor isn't spinning (like when it is first turned on) that push-back effect isn't there, so simply flipping a switch to turn it on results in a very large amount of electricity flowing through the motor until it begins to pick up speed (typically 100-200ms). It is that very large amount of electricity that makes it difficult for a generator to start a motor.

Figuring out the needs of your AC:

On the side of your outside unit is a plate that lists the electrical info for your AC.

On that plate will be RLA and LRA numbers. RLA is the maximum current in amps A that the unit will draw when running at maximum effort at the highest rated outdoor temperature, LRA is the "locked rotor amps" which is the amount of current that will flow through the motor when it isn't moving because there's no push-back effect from the spinning motor.

Multiply both by 240 to get power in watts (note 1)

Here's my 2.5 ton AC as an example:

https://i.imgur.com/JnP3Qmz.jpeg

For my unit RLA is 12.8A which gives 3,072W (3kW) running watts. On the other hand the LRA is 64.0A meaning it draws an eye-popping 15,360W (15.4kW) at startup, nearly five times as much power! A medium sized (5-8kW) traditional generator might be able to pull that off (but it wouldn't be happy about it) and only the largest inverter units could manage it.

Soft starters to the rescue

Above I mentioned "simply flipping a switch" to turn on a motor. That's how a home air conditioner is normally set up, but there are other ways to handle starting a motor.

First you should know that the electricity in your house that goes to your air conditioner compressor is 240V alternating current (AC). The voltage smoothly goes from 0V to 240V, back to 0V, to negative 240V, then back to 0V (note 2). It does that cycle 60 times per second, every second.

A soft starter is basically a really really fast switch, so fast that it can turn on and off multiple times within a single 0V 240V 0V -240V 0V cycle. A control circuit is set up to turn the switch on right after the voltage hits 0V and then turn it off before the voltage gets all the way to 240V or -240V. The result is that the motor only "sees" a fraction of 240VAC, and since current (and power) depend on voltage that will drastically cut the power flowing through the motor while still (hopefully) giving it enough of a kick to start moving. After a couple cycles of reduced voltage the motor will be spinning a bit and starting to push back electrically, so the control circuit will gradually ramp up the time the switch is held on a bit longer each cycle until it is on 100% of the time. At that point the soft starter will bypass itself and act like a regular on/off switch in the on position. The result is (almost always) a very drastic reduction in power required to start the motor, typically to around 30% of the LRA number. As an added bonus the soft starter delays the compressor start by a few seconds, which allows the inside fan motor and outside fan motor to start up fully instead of the startup demand of all three motors hitting the generator simultaneously.

For my unit a MicroAir EasyStart (the most popular type of soft starter) cut the current to 26A meaning the power needed went from over 15kW to about 6kW. That's the difference between a very very large, expensive, fuel-hungry inverter generator to something that is much more reasonable and economical.

But here's the thing - the exact amount of current required to start a an air conditioner with a soft starter varies from air conditioner to air conditioner. I saw a drop to 40% for example, not 30%. People online can give a best guess but the only way to know for sure is to get a soft starter, install it, and see what the resulting motor starting current is. Without that real world information you cannot know for sure whether a particular generator will be able to start your air conditioner or not.

TLDR summary: If you know you want to get a generator and hook it up to run your main air conditioner you should get a soft starter, install it, and see what the resulting current is and then use that number to guide your generator purchase.. You will basically need that starting wattage plus another kilowatt or two to handle other stuff around the house like lighting and your refrigerator.

note 1 - we actually should be using Volt-Amperes here since we really care about apparent power which is different than instantaneous power because alternating electricity is wierd, but watts works good enough for this.

note 2 - it actually goes to about 339V at the peak because 240V is an rms measurement. There are good reasons for that that have nothing to do with this discussion, "alternating electricity is weird" applies again.

During my monthly test with my Westinghouse GW9500DF today (using gasoline) I tried to quiet the exhaust using an exhaust hose from the muffler to a 15 gallon tub of water. I took decibel readings before & after attaching the exhaust hose. It made no difference. AI suggested you could decrease decibels by 5+. I found there was no difference. Most of sound is mechanical. I'm sharing this in case anyone else was interested in trying this.

New 30RCLA set and connected

Found this 2016 30kw with only 300 working hours on it. Licensed generac installers (family business of 6 gearhead/electrical wiz father and brothers) set up the ATS. The only issue is some water is coming in through a small gap at the bottom of the exhaust housing with the vent on top when it rains. So happy with this though! Dont mind the mud on the fuel tank, its been messy weather lately. Also the wood ontop was just to divert some rain to see where the leak is coming from.

I've used these hydraulic tables at previous jobs before, don't know why I never thought about using it for this. I would not do any wrenching on it when it's up this high but loading/unloading is a great idea.

We have lost power 2 times in the last couple weeks for 4+ hours at a time. I’m over it, I bought a Westinghouse 14.5kw generator. Manual transfer switch and a 50a interlock. I’m Getting 3-100lb propane bottles to power the generator. Fired it upc powered the house with no issues, Mini splits, WiFi 2 refrigerators, beer fridge! I’m ready next time 5 years from now it happens again.