[PLUG-TALK] Emergency backup generator - suggestions?

Sat Jan 3 08:08:07 UTC 2026

Unless you hunt and have an elk or a couple of deer stored in your freezer,
the value of the food in there is probably not worth the cost of
The gasoline to keep it frozen.  You also need to be cooking with gas to be
able to eat it during the outage... ;-)

Ted

-----Original Message-----
From: PLUG-talk <plug-talk-bounces at lists.pdxlinux.org> On Behalf Of Eldo
Varghese
Sent: Friday, January 2, 2026 11:45 AM
To: Off-topic and potentially flammable discussion
<plug-talk at lists.pdxlinux.org>
Subject: Re: [PLUG-TALK] Emergency backup generator - suggestions?

My recommendation:
a) what Ted said re: 5kw range not being able to handle your furnace /
heater. The 5kw range is at best to keep your lights+fridge+internet up and
running. Larger gensets will need regular maintenance+testing like Ted said
b) If the goal is to maintain whole home backup, I recommend solar+battery.
-Eldo

On 12/25/25 12:13, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> I have a 5k gasoline genset I've also maintained a 50kw genset.  Both 
> are/were Generac manufacture.  Couple things I've learned over the 
> years about gensets:
> 
> 1) liquid fuel gensets are a PIA.  The gas ones the carbs need 
> cleaning every spring the diesel ones grow crap in the fuel tank if 
> the fuel is left sitting, both types you have to commit to running at
least once a month.
> Natural Gas is what everyone uses if they have it available.
> 
> 2) Engines are engines, cooling system hoses corrode over the years 
> and leak, basically all the usual crap that goes wrong with engines 
> goes wrong with genset engines.  The generator part isn't what needs 
> maintenance.  If you don't know how to fix small engines and bigger 
> car engines (I do) you will be forking over money for maintenance of those
engines.
> 
> 3) Small 5k engines don't have enough mass/intertia to maintain steady 
> frequency when load is applied unless their output is fed through an 
> inverter.
> 
> 4) You need to think about a transfer switch there are local laws that 
> apply.  You can't just run a cable from a genset to the side of your 
> master breaker box and have at it that's a code violation.  A 5k 
> genset cannot power a whole house.  To do it right with a 5k you would 
> replace the breaker panel with a new one and a sub panel that fed only 
> 5k's worth of stuff - refrigerator/freezer, a few lights, etc. then 
> the transfer switch goes between the main panel and the sub panel
> 
> 5) A 5k genset won't power your furnace/heater.  A power outage you 
> might save your refrigerator's $2 bottle of milk with a 5kw genset but 
> you and your wife will be freezing your butts off.  That's generally 
> enough with most married men to end up pulling the plug on the genset
toy/experiment.
> 
> 6) NW Natural requires anyone connecting a natural gas genset to have 
> a minimum monthly buy on natural gas.  When I was managing a 50kw 
> genset we calculated that out to be around 24 hours of power a month.
> 
> 7) Larger whole house gensets need to be exercised periodically so you 
> know that they will actually work when needed.  But if you exercise 
> them too frequently you wear out the transfer switch.  They also need 
> at least a 24 hour exercise period since quite often faults in cooling 
> systems won't appear unless the genset has been hot for multiple 
> hours.  The current place I work at has a genset - I told this exact 
> thing to our facilities guy who is in charge of it - he ignored me - 
> well 2 times now the genset failed 6 hours into a power outage and 
> shut itself down.  Each time it caused a lot of shouting in the 
> C-Suite and I've repeatedly stated the need for an annual
> 24 hour test - but I'm just the IT guy who supposedly doesn't know 
> anything about gensets.... <eyeroll>  I only have documented pictures 
> of repairing the 50k genset transfer switch at my last employer - 
> while the entire system was hot (that's 440v electrical power 3 phase 
> applied) a repair I designed and completed myself...
> 
> What it boils down to is - 5k genset - you are just an amateur playing 
> around - good luck - 50k whole house - that's better - but - you need 
> to basically exercise it for a day 2 times a year - you will also end 
> up every other month of the year paying for natural gas you don't use 
> - unless you have other gas appliances - so you think you are so smart 
> because you don't heat with natural gas anymore - that's gonna cost
you...smart guy... LOL.
> 
> Ted
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PLUG-talk <plug-talk-bounces at lists.pdxlinux.org> On Behalf Of 
> Keith Lofstrom
> Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2025 7:29 PM
> To: plug-talk at lists.pdxlinux.org
> Subject: [PLUG-TALK] Emergency backup generator - suggestions?
> 
> After configuring the Emporia Vue and learning what my branch and main 
> electric power comsumption like, I plan to learn about, then purchase, 
> an emergency generator.
> Wild guess, about 5KW, inverter, self-start.
> 
> Portland dodged a bullet on Wednesday ... the 50MPH windstorm we 
> expected around noon shifted about 200 miles east (tormenting 
> agro-Americans, not Portland yuppies).
> 
> BTW, 200 miles is a quarter inch on my 9 inch desk globe; not far at all.
> Weather operates at global scales incomprehensible to local minds.  
> Anyway ...
> 
> The last time we had a 50 MPH wind, lines went down and our PGE power 
> was out for a week, restored with by a crew from PG&E that drove here 
> from California.  My little 1KW Honda wasn't quite big enough to start 
> my natural gas furnace motor AND the glow plug to ignite the gas.
> 
> I want enough local generation for that, plus refrigerators, some 
> computers, and a future ground-well heat pump (which may use a LOT of
current).
> 
> Even if I no longer heat with natural gas, I will keep paying the 
> monthly for the Northwest Natural Gas hookup, so gas is available for 
> a tri-fuel generator (gasoline, tank propane, natural gas).  Or fuel 
> the mostly-unused gas furnace, if the heat pump fails.  Or the air
conditioner in a heat wave.
> 
> 
> I may also provide survival electricity to improvident neighbors.  
> Much more to learn and think about.  I may need more than 5KW, the Vue 
> will help me decide.
> 
> My goal is reliable, simple, maintainable, and efficient.
> 
> An INVERTER generator, so that the output power is 60Hz and 120V 
> regardless of load, while the generator engine can run slower and use 
> less fuel with lower loads.
> 
> That hypothetical efficient generator will cost more than a Harbor 
> Freight one-speed cheapo.  I will pay more for quality and durability 
> - it might save lives.
> 
> How durable?  I'm 72.  My MD wife has kept her father alive to 107 so 
> far, and she has more ambitious plans for us, with world-class 
> gerontologists on speed dial.
> A few decades from now, we hope to sell this house to young geniuses 
> who will live longer than us.  Some of our European friends live in 
> 200 year old houses.
> 
> -----
> 
> ANYWAY, many of you will have opinions about the above; start a 
> separately titled thread to discuss them.
> I omitted a zillion of my own opinions.
> 
> For THIS thread, I hope to learn from plug-ers who HAVE EMERGENCY 
> GENERATORS for their home or their workplace.
> Or plan to purchase one soon, and have researched options.
> 
> What's good?  What's bad?  What do you WISH you had bought?
> 
> What features and constraints should I add to my wish list?
> 
> Keith L.
>
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