OT / Auto Alternator for emergency Power! Any ideas?

rooster · December 06, 2006, 10:43:14 PM

Quote from: "GPster"The best generators that I have seen might set you back a little but you might find more uses for it. They're usually a red trailer and they have Lincoln on the side. GPster

I went for a steped swin wave inverter but lost the bid.

From what I understand its the gas that will eat you alive. The pricechopper approch to this is a small gen that will power the furnace 1st then switch to ice box as needed with ext cord. If the 2 came on at the same time it would be about 1600 W guessing!!!!!!!!

working on a powered fireplace grate a guy give me now dont know much about them, it seems to be missing something, cant find them on the net either, probley out of bussiness. It has a small blower that sits outside the fireplace and circulates air through boxed steel in the fires location and back out in the room. It may make some improvement.

GPster · December 07, 2006, 08:29:11 AM

Quote from: "rooster"The pricechopper approch to this is a small gen that will power the furnace 1st then switch to ice box as needed with ext cord. If the 2 came on at the same time it would be about 1600 W guessing!!!!!!!!

You could run the furnace blower full time and that would eliminate the starting surge on that motor. The refrigerater is probably going to have a hard start compressor but the amperage surge to start would be small because you're probably talking about a compressor that is only 1/4 HP. What might be a killer is a frost free refrigerator because of the defrost heaters in the evaporator coil. Maybe not so much in watts as the making everythig cold and them heating up the evaporator to defrost the ice off it. GPster

Dave · December 07, 2006, 04:24:55 PM

Quote from: "GPster"
Quote from: "rooster"The pricechopper approch to this is a small gen that will power the furnace 1st then switch to ice box as needed with ext cord. If the 2 came on at the same time it would be about 1600 W guessing!!!!!!!!
You could run the furnace blower full time and that would eliminate the starting surge on that motor. The refrigerater is probably going to have a hard start compressor but the amperage surge to start would be small because you're probably talking about a compressor that is only 1/4 HP. What might be a killer is a frost free refrigerator because of the defrost heaters in the evaporator coil. Maybe not so much in watts as the making everythig cold and them heating up the evaporator to defrost the ice off it. GPster

Whats a frost free fridge Joe :?: We got an old ice chest here and were lucky this week its cold so i put the meat out on the back porch so,s I got more room for my Tonic for mixin in the ice chest. Oh ya I like to keep my ho ho's cold too. Heck we dont even have a fridge with an ice maker but the next one is gonna have one. I do have a nice dishwasher though . Kinda gettin old but she is still a looker.
Dave

sedanman · December 08, 2006, 02:31:42 PM

Ya Know, I don't have anything of value to add to this thread, but I sure have enjoyed reading it.

sedanman

rooster · December 08, 2006, 11:02:44 PM

Quote from: "sedanman"Ya Know, I don't have anything of value to add to this thread, but I sure have enjoyed reading it.

sedanman

Just for your reading enjoyment!

I found a guy that powers a 2500 watt generator head with his 5hp International gas
engine, he used a serpentine belt and a 2 grove pulley that he grinded the center out of,
says he can run it all day long , but has to make sure the hopper is full of water when
working hard all day. I though this was cool.

Ill bet it not as loud as a 5hp B&S, and dosent use as much fuel either.

Gpster:
I checked some of the tags for amp draw, the * is 5.43, the small heater in garage
says"under 12 amps", couldn't find any tag on the big furnace but the paper work I have
on it says it has a 3/4hp blower motor in it.

The ice box that we did have ,had a switch in it to turn off the self defrost, the one we
have now dont, that I can see.
Harbor freight has a gen head on sale but it takes' a 20 hp eng to turn it full power.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=45416
Thanks for the input
Denny

GPster · December 09, 2006, 09:43:04 AM

Quote from: "rooster"Gpster:I checked some of the tags for amp draw, the * is 5.43, the small heater in garage
says"under 12 amps", couldn't find any tag on the big furnace but the paper work I have on it says it has a 3/4hp blower motor in it.The ice box that we did have ,had a switch in it to turn off the self defrost, the one we
have now dont, that I can see.
Harbor freight has a gen head on sale but it takes' a 20 hp eng to turn it full power.Thanks for the input Denny

I'd almost would guess that your furnace has a shaded pole direct drive motor that can be used for a whole house air conditioning system. That 3/4HP figure would probably be on the fastest speed that is intended mostly for air conditioning and if it's like my new furnace (Lennox) it is programable for one of the slower speeds for heat and is switched there to whatever it takes to deal with restrictions in your ductwork delivery system. If the furnace motor was programed to the slowest speed and to run full time I would imagine the amperage draw would be small. If the furnace were that new then I would imagine it has a combustion air motor and computor controls but I would think the draw on them would be small. A lot of the Frost Free refrigerators have a defrost timer that looks at the run time of the compressor and figures when to defrost from that. If you can find the timer they usually have a knob on them so you can advance them through the defrost cycle but this would be a bother having to keep up with this process but it could be something you looked at if you had problems. A 20HP load should be fairly easy to cover. Aren't you sorry you finally got that Bob Cat running. That motor would be a possibility. Did your son get that 216 Ebayed out? GPster