GENERATOR - R-pod Owners Forum

Author

Share Topic

Topic Search

Topic Options

hogone

Senior Member

Joined: 09 Apr 2013
Location: St. Louis
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1042

Calendar Event: GENERATOR
Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 7:34am

looking into getting a new generator for home use. looking at approximately a 7000-9000 size. any recommendations? not necesarily looking for top of the line, but a good all around dependable brand. or are they all about the same? appreciate any suggestions. hogone

Jon & Pam
2013 RP177
2010 F150
2017 HD Streetglide
2009 HD Lowrider
CHEESEHEAD

furpod

Moderator Group - pHp

Joined: 25 Jul 2011
Location: Central KY
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6128

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 10:52am

My brother worked on them both for the Army, and as a civilian, he says Generac if gas portable. I bought a XP8000E for the house, it has only been put into actual use once in the 5 years we have had it, put 35 hours on it, that plus firing it up every couple months we are near 45 hours now. No issues, nothing in the house it won't run, except the heat pump, (and it may, just never tried it, we heat with a wood stove). It will run our 80 gallon water heater. Wink

One thing we learned in the '09 ice storm that had us without power for 7 days, neighbors for twice that, a hot shower goes a long way to making things better.

The best thing is to figure out what you HAVE to keep powered, and what you want to keep powered, and size from there.. (probably what you already did, since you know what size you are looking for)

Ours goes through about a gallon an hour of gas.. we are actually looking at getting a smaller one, just big enough to run the pod a/c, as that will also be large enough to run our HAVE to loads in the house. Fridge, chest freezers, and aquarium. The Yamaha we are looking at runs about 6 hours on a gallon of gas.. 8 hours on a full tank.

OH, and my brother says, "no they are not all about the same"...

Craneman

Senior Member

Joined: 12 May 2013
Location: Tokeland,wa
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 387

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 10:52am

I bought ours at home depoe for around 700.00 and wired in a transfer switch for about 300.00 mor than enough power. Runs everything except hot water and furnace. Did this six years ago. It is a 6000 watt with a Yamaha engine. One thing I wish I got a electric start.

Moe

Jo and Gary, 2010-174,2011 F150

Jo and Gary
2010 174
2011 Ford 150

fwunder

Senior Member

Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Location: New Jersey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1676

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 12:06pm

Several years ago I bought a Generac XP8000E

Kinda funny that it was cheaper than the Yamaha 2400ISHC I just bought!

Anyway, it's more than enough to run the whole house - well, furnace, two fridges, etc. Like Craneman says, the electric start is great. And the price was right.

It's loud, though. In our neighborhood it's not a big deal cuz the houses are so far apart and I can place it on a side of the house w/30 foot cord so it doesn't bother us inside.

I wasn't brave enough to install transfer switch and hook-up port on side of house, so I think I paid an electrician about as much as the genny cost me.

I could have easily recouped the cost if I charged for hot showers, and refrigerator/freezer space during Superstorm Sandy! We used it for two weeks straight. It burns a little less than 1 gallon per hour and I usually keep 15-20 gallons on hand. Newer cars seem impossible to siphon from. We usually run it about 4 hours on and 6 off. Get's the refrigerators and freezers back down and hot water refreshed.

fred

2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!

hogone

Senior Member

Joined: 09 Apr 2013
Location: St. Louis
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1042

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 1:46pm

ok, now start coming the goofy questions!!! couldn't find the gen xp8000e on lowes website. they did have the xt8000 which is not even an identified series on gen website. obviously their are differences in the series, but what are the real main issues?

Jon & Pam
2013 RP177
2010 F150
2017 HD Streetglide
2009 HD Lowrider
CHEESEHEAD

fwunder

Senior Member

Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Location: New Jersey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1676

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 2:25pm

You're right. Looks like Lowes isn't selling that model anymore. Here's the Generac Link:

http://www.generac.com/all-products/generators/portable-generators/xp-series/xp8000e

That's the one I have. I think I paid something like $1300-$1400. I do remember they were on sale. Perhaps it was a special model built for Lowes at the time, but the specs are the same as the Generac link.

Of course, if I could have afforded it, I probably would have gone with the Honda EU6500iS!! I saw one up close and running. Couldn't believe how quiet it was.

fred

2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!

fwunder

Senior Member

Joined: 04 Oct 2013
Location: New Jersey
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1676

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 2:42pm

Ya know hogone. I think my memory ain't so good. Wife tells me we paid more like $1800.00 for the Generac. That makes more sense with what they are asking now. Sorry.

2014 RPod 178 => MyMods and Buying Habits
2008 4Runner Limited 4.0-liter V6
Yes, those are wild ponies dining on grass while dumping tanks!

Sleepless

Senior Member

Joined: 07 Jun 2013
Location: Titusville, FL
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 556

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 3:05pm

Originally posted by furpod

The Yamaha we are looking at runs about 6 hours on a gallon of gas.. 8 hours on a full tank.

That really sparks my interest. We normally run a 5500 watt unit at home, but it is loud and is a gas hog. With a gas hot water heater and several other gas appliances (my mentality from living too long in the Midwest) we can survive with a much smaller unit. We have a large heat pump for our main living level and a small one for our upstairs space. When we do need cooling or heating, the 5500 watt unit runs the smaller heat pump, but we only need to run it for a short time. Otherwise, a small generator will suffice.

Could you give me the model number of the Yamaha you are looking at?

2014 R-Pod 178 (OUR POD)
2009 Chevrolet Avalanche

hogone

Senior Member

Joined: 09 Apr 2013
Location: St. Louis
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1042

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 3:55pm

i'm a little slow!!................just realizing you guys mentioning a gallon of gas an hour; if out of electric for a week and running steady it would cost $500-$600 bucks easy!

Jon & Pam
2013 RP177
2010 F150
2017 HD Streetglide
2009 HD Lowrider
CHEESEHEAD

techntrek

Admin Group - pHp

Joined: 29 Jul 2009
Location: MD
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 9059

Posted: 27 Feb 2014 at 4:26pm

I've been through this decision process, and have evolved my preference over time.

If you are considering a permanent generator, something the companies that sell them don't mention is they are expensive to run. My 12 kw genset uses a minimum of 1.5 gallons of propane an hour and 2 gallons per hour fully loaded. At $4/gallon a long outage would cost $144 per day to keep it going 24/7. My electric bill averages $200 for an entire month.

An alternative that didn't exist when I bought my Generac is one of the Honda/Yamaha inverter-gensets. Since they can run at idle with a light load they use less gas - a lot less. They make larger models that will run most of your house - my parents just bought a 6 kw model that outputs 120/240 volts. However, it still burns a decent amount of fuel since it is large. I now have a Yamaha 2 kw model (120 output only) and a special setup hooked up to my Prius (120/240) to handle baseline loads overnight and during the day (when you usually only need 200-300 watts). The Prius burns 0.13 gallons/hr running most of the stuff in my house, and the Yamaha about 0.18 running the pod.

If I had to do it all over again I would get the Honda or Yamaha plus a cheap - and loud - gas-guzzler 8-10 kw contractor special to run the big stuff for an hour or two per day (well pump and water heater). That also would give me redundancy in case one of them failed. The biggest savings comes from NOT using a huge generator when you only need a few hundred watts, and that is 2/3 of the day.

Something else that will save you gas no matter what you run - you don't have to run everything in your house 24/7 during an outage. Fridges/freezers have "thermal carryover" and can safely go 8-12 hours w/o power if you keep them closed and they have fully cooled down. Power them for 2 hours in the morning before you leave for work, then for several hours at night starting when you open them to make dinner, and the rest of the time you should be ok. Stock up on milk jugs filled 3/4 with water in any spare space in your freezer to help. You may have an exception if you have one in a garage during a 100-degree heatwave. That may require several more hours of cooling during the day, but otherwise you can save a lot of gas through load management.

Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual

GENERATOR - Event Date: 27 Feb 2014 - 27 Apr 2014