OT: Generators, what all do you have?

i have a briggs and straton. The cost, you will find will vary, based upon electric start, max watts, and for instance, Hondas, are the quietest ones, but you will pay for it and the name.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11551690#post11551690 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmerrick
Does anyone run a natural gas unit tied to the house that automatically fires up when power is lost?
Click to expand...

That's what mine is two posts up tmerrick.
 
It actually is not too loud. I have not gone through a power outage with it yet. I have had it for a year and a half. But it runs through a twenty minute cycle every Monday and I don't think it would really bother me too much.

I hired my neighbor who is a licensed electrical contractor to install it for me. He did lay a concrete pad for it. His cost was $600 and it took him and an employee a full day.

Just the fact that I could be out of town is a godsend if I have a power outage. I can live with the decibels.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11551690#post11551690 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmerrick
Does anyone run a natural gas unit tied to the house that automatically fires up when power is lost?
Click to expand...

I have a GENERAC unit that runs off of my propane (it will run off of natural gas also). We live in rural Elk Grove and don't have natural gas. In any case the unit is great. We bought it a Costco 6 years ago. It comes with a transfer switch and will support about 60 amps. We use it to run our refrigerator, freezer, well pump, fish tanks, Koi pond pumps, and some house circuits including our TV and DirecTV and internet equipment. When the power fails it waits about 30 seconds and then starts the generator motor, waits for it to come up to speed and then cuts over the dedicated circuits. When line power is restored it waits about a minute and then cuts back to line power and shuts off the generator. It also does a test once a week to make sure everything on the generator side is working and alerts us (via a red light) if the test failed. We have been very happy with it. As a side note we had SMUD come out an inspect the installation to verify that there is no way for it to back feed the line and put their crew in danger.
 
No doubt about it, a standby generator offers the ultimate protection.

I found out that just having in-tank circulation via-UPC is not good enough in the Winter. After 10 hours of no power my tank was down to only 69 degrees so I got lucky and found the Champion generator at Kragens.

Someday I will upgrade to a standby generator.

James
 
hey i bought that 200$ champion from kragen and it works like a champ! started on the 2nd pull after oil and gas was put in it. I had it running my 2 fridges and my tank with all the lights on and it was working great. not sure about the sinewave as well but i hooked it up to the most critical things which were at teh time the tank and the fridges. It was an easy 200$ well spent. If my food would have gone bad, i would have lost over 200 in food and if the tank died, well we all know how much we put in our reefs.
 
Me/us: I need a $300 generator to protect my reef tank.
Wife: But I thought you said those corals only cost $15 each...?
 
I ran a Coleman 3500 I got from HD
It had a big gas tank on it, and wasn't too loud, but nothing like a Honda!
It ran almost everything at Fragmented's house ;)
But I've been wanting to get rid of it because it just didn't have the power to run my air compressor, (Which was the whole reason I bought it!!!)

So I need a bigger one now because I sold my last one.
hehehe..
 
Generac 5kW here, and it is OK, but dang loud. We were w/o power from Friday 9AM to Tuesday 8:30AM. While my tank is down right now, the wife has three FW tanks (total of about 110 gal), and it is NICE. My input is if you like your neighbors, spend the extra $ and get a quite one. If you have to go over several nights, it is nice to be able to run it between midnight and dawn. We shut ours off because it is so loud between 11PM and 7AM. It ran the refers, the tanks, several lamps, the TV and such, and a MW ( and here and there an iron) without a sweat. Still, the quiet ones with AUTO-on, full house w/ auto disconnect is NICE (that reminds me, I need to buy some lottery tickets).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11553054#post11553054 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WarrenG
Me/us: I need a $300 generator to protect my reef tank.
Wife: But I thought you said those corals only cost $15 each...?
Click to expand...

LOL! Yeah, explain that one away!
 
I have a Champion 6500. I purchased it at Schucks- Kragen down there.

I run my 90 gal reef- everything, but my top off and my 45 in plasma and my cable box and cable router for internet and still have power left over( I even ran outside xmas lights last year just for fun) I think my neighbors hate me now.

It works great as long as your home when the power goes out. I have been looking at the natural gas auto Generac by Orion. I am going to purchase a whole house unit that they have at Costco for 3500.00 soon. I travel alot with and without my wife. This way I dont have to worry about someone hooking everything up, It will just come on by itself and power the WHOLE HOUSE.
 
Honda EU2000is here. Found the deal on Craigslist. The generators at HomeDepot or Costco would have worked for my tank, but decided to get something to take to parks,beach,camping, stargazing, etc... Awesome generator, so quiet and portable and has it's own inverter so you can run a laptop directly from it.
 
I have a Champion 6500. I purchased it at Schucks- Kragen down there.

I run my 90 gal reef- everything, but my top off and my 45 in plasma and my cable box and cable router for internet and still have power left over( I even ran outside xmas lights last year just for fun) I think my neighbors hate me now.

It works great as long as your home when the power goes out. I have been looking at the natural gas auto Generac by Orion. I am going to purchase a whole house unit that they have at Costco for 3500.00 soon. I travel alot with and without my wife. This way I dont have to worry about someone hooking everything up, It will just come on by itself and power the WHOLE HOUSE.
 
McMastercarr.com has a foam sound absorber that I've used around my reef tank and various air compressors and it works really well. Part number: 5692T49 It's 1" thick flexible foam with an adhesive back. I line a 3 or 4-sided box with it
 
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