Generator suggestions?

[Brandon M]

I know absolutely nothing about generators and was wondering if its possible to find a generator that will keep my 3 tanks alive in case of an emergency for about $200-$300. Looking to power at least 5 Koralias, 4 maxijets and 3 heaters at the minimum, possibly more.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks for the help!

 

[aquaman67]

Do you have a Harbor Freight store near you?

They sell inexpensive generators.

I spent about $500 for a 6000 watt genreator at Home Depot.

This way I can run my tank and the fridge with some room lights, and TV. If you're going to get a generator, might as well be comfortable.

 

[aquaman67]

Here's the TX stores list.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/retail_stores.taf#TX

Here's an example of what they have.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66619

I'm not saying that will run what you want as I don't know the watts of everything, I'm just saying...

 

[Aristarchus]

Check craigslist also, there is usually a ton of good used ones for sale. You could probably pick up a used 1000 watt Honda or Yamaha suitcase-size generator in the range of $300 - $500. New you are looking at about $650. They will last you forever, won't **** off the neighbors(low decibel), and take up minimal space. Or if space isn't a concern you could buy one of the generators on skids from one of the places aquaman67 listed. They both will get the job done, just depends on what you want!

 

[GTriever]

First you should total up the wattage of the things you want to run, and add about 15% as a safety factor. Then you could start checking the used market, although I'd make darn sure the seller was willing to fire it up and let you check it. There are a lot of used gensets out there that have been abused or damaged by overloading them. My preference here is to bite the bullet and buy new.

 

[108reefer]

+1 for GTriever - used generators are a tricky thing. if you go for used - make sure it starts, runs and generates power (bring a saw or something that uses what you need). I live in SW Florida and get frequent outages in the summer months (big thunderstorms, and of course - hurricanes) I had used a 6000 watt generator from Lowes - worked great for many years - just make sure you run it at least once a month and use a little bit of "Stabil gas stabilizer in your tank.
I just renovated my home and added a 500 gal propane tank with a standby gen set that runs the whole house...

 

[Brandon M]

Great advice, thanks everyone.

 

[tygger]

I purchased this one about a year ago and have been happy with it. Combined with Bing cash back (currently 12%), this can be had for about $315. I also compared it to the harbor freight generators and the Powermax seems to be a better bargain.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Quiet-Pow...in_0?hash=item1c0ba75051&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[1DeR9_3Hy]

I jumped on a $550 special at home depot just before the ice season here, its 7000 watts and will power just about everything in my house including my tanks. The only thing it wont do is a fridge, and several TV's at once (those things are hogs...i would have never known..).