Generator question

[freax]

The power is back on for us. I want to work out a good solution for this before the next time we lose power. I tried my 750 watt inverter and it seemed like it was going to work until the ignitor for the gas came on and blew a fuse. My old generator did not work the furnace, but I have to say that I could see a flickering in the lights and hear a lot of extra noise from the fish tank circulation pumps when using this generator.

Thats the lack of a flywheel causing that flickering, I'm assuming that its a 4-stroke engine, well whenever the piston goes in and out it creates a rise in power output when its on the power stroke and a flat spot in the generator output when in the 4-stroke cycle its intaking or compressing or exhausting.

Maybe its at the end of it's life.

Doubt that, if by that you mean the fish tank pumps, nah, I've had the same issue too when on generator/inverter power, but yeah it could be your generator, seeing that its a work one then its been designed to be cheap and run power tools, halogen lights...

I am looking to invest in a Honda inverter generator. The specs look good....clean power, quiet, and better on gas then what I have now. I will be converting the furnace from hard wired to plug in for ease of switching over when need too.
Thanks again for the help, Evan

Never owned one of them as I reckon its a bit silly to add an epoxy sealed PCB board with 50 components to a generator which could be built much more simpler and with a flywheel.

But if you buy it from a place that has a no questions asked return policy then give it a try, and if it works, keep it!

This might be of some help:
http://powerequipment.honda.com.au/FAQ_Generators

Just do a search on that page for "furnace fan" and you will see a table of sizing recommendations from Honda themselves.

 

[freax]

ps..ah, you added.. I was NOT lucky, I was skilled....make no mistake Had it blown up, that would of course been a result of bad luck despite my formidable skills...

Hey, my wife was a happy camper when she could take a hot shower..of course I'm gonna play it up...who wouldn't??.

I ran it for two days off and on, connecting it up whenever I wanted the hot water heater to cycle to completion. The inverter ran just fine, as did the heater.

Nice save. Care to tell us the HP rating of the fan?

As far as RFI, the extension cord I used was 12/3 with spiralled conductors. Not trying an AM radio, I've no idea how much the little unit broadcast. But a twisted cord will reduce field generation significantly, a parallel flat one is not good however.

j

I'm more concerned with the potential hazard of having someone run a cheap chinese inverter in their home connected to a long extension cord, and then wonder why the AM broadcast band is wiped out and they can't get any radio stations on the dial anymore. Then those people getting killed because they didn't hear that Hurricane, Snow or Flood warning come over the radio.

Which is a valid concern in Australia as we don't have a dedicated weather band in the VHF regions, we have AM BCB and FM BCB and shortwave, and FM is very hit or miss when it comes to weather warnings, if someone can't pickup ABC radio on FM then their only option is the AM BCB, or Radio National on Shortwave.

And if you drive 1 hour in any direction from here inland the only thing you're going to pickup is the AM BCB or Shortwave.

Its a very dicey situation to be in, and I didn't want that to be a factor, hence why I bought a bhi DSP and built it into a small box so I could run headphones on it and 2x 14500 batteries.

But the best purchase that I've made recently would have to be an iPad 3, a 10 hour battery life and being charged from USB is nothing to snort about, Jailbroken of course..

 

[jneutron]

Nice save. Care to tell us the HP rating of the fan?

I did. Well, it's draw at 60 hz at least. .94 amperes on the rating plate.

A small puppy.

j