Generator related questions

[larjoranj]

I wasn't affected by the storm but my wife had 5 siblings who were, ranging from 1 day to 1 week. Now she would like us to get a generator on the off chance that we'll need one in the future. A whole house backup is out of the question. Way too expensive. So I thought we'd get a portable gasoline unit. Heat is the main priority. After some research every website or youtube video that addresses the subject says it's an extreme fire hazard to connect an electric space heater to an extension cord.

I have electric central heat and air. No gas. I do have a woodburning fireplace that would help. But if you can't heat your house safely with a generator, what good would it do me? I can put my food on the deck and keep it cold. I can eat canned food and peanut butter til the power comes back on. I've got several battery powered lanterns. I can do without tv or internet a few days. I can stockpile water if a storm is forecast.

I have seen you can hook up a transfer switch to plug a portable generator to and then use your home outlets to plug your devices to? If that is correct I guess that would work if not too expensive. I've read it would take a huge generator to run the hvac and the rest of the house but maybe not so much to just run 3 or 4 of the breakers and have those rooms to plug stuff into and have a little light. Any thoughts?

Edited to add - I don't understand why the dinky little cords on space heaters are safe but a 10 awg extension cord will get too hot? The cord on space heaters looks like lamp cord. In winter I plug in mine in the bathroom 30 minutes before I get a shower to get it toasty warm and my wife usually follows so it runs at least an hour and never gets hot. Rarely even warm.

 

[hog88]

I wasn't affected by the storm but my wife had 5 siblings who were, ranging from 1 day to 1 week. Now she would like us to get a generator on the off chance that we'll need one in the future. A whole house backup is out of the question. Way too expensive. So I thought we'd get a portable gasoline unit. Heat is the main priority. After some research every website or youtube video that addresses the subject says it's an extreme fire hazard to connect an electric space heater to an extension cord.

I have electric central heat and air. No gas. I do have a woodburning fireplace that would help. But if you can't heat your house safely with a generator, what good would it do me? I can put my food on the deck and keep it cold. I can eat canned food and peanut butter til the power comes back on. I've got several battery powered lanterns. I can do without tv or internet a few days. I can stockpile water if a storm is forecast.

I have seen you can hook up a transfer switch to plug a portable generator to and then use your home outlets to plug your devices to? If that is correct I guess that would work if not too expensive. I've read it would take a huge generator to run the hvac and the rest of the house but maybe not so much to just run 3 or 4 of the breakers and have those rooms to plug stuff into and have a little light. Any thoughts?

Depending on where you’re at you can get a manual transfer switch and plug installed for less than a grand. Then you need to do the calculations on what you want to run during an outage to properly size a generator.

 

[Wireless1]

First, if you consider any of my advice, first make sure you have multiple CO monitors in you space.
If heat is your concern, consider kerosene heaters. If you need gas for the generator, you probably can get kerosene for the heater, and it’s nearly 100% efficient for heating. Of course if you have natural gas or propane, you can get vent free for those, and if you have a gas furnace, you can have an electrician (or yourself) put a plug on the 120 feed that runs the controls and blower and run that off the generator.
Running heat pumps on generators means you’ve got a big generator (50 amps at 240v in many cases) and it’s hard on the generator and the heat pump. For about $300 you can get a kerosene heater and 10
Gallons of fuel (3 days) to keep 1000 square feet warm.
Then you just need a modest generator for lights, charging, and internet if those lines are not down.

 

[feathersax]

We have a Generac pull-start generator that has served us well over the years. After our 11-day siege without power during the recent Nashville Ice Storm, I can attest to its dependability. Had to go every morning to get gasoline (uses about 8 gallons every 24 hours), but the house was kept warm & comfortable. Air conditioning, microwaves, stovetops, ovens, coffee makers, etc. pull excess power, but the lights & heat work fine. Wife wants us to get a larger, more expensive unit that starts immediately when the Power goes out. I'm still debating.