AAR- Windstorm + 5 Day Power Outage

[rightisright]

Have you considered a permanent NG setup or is the seismic risk to gas lines a big factor?

Having to constantly refill w. gas is a PITA.

If you do go the gas route, Hondas are an excellent choice. I have an older 5000 watt model that I just can't seem to kill.

One thing you really want on a portable genset is a 120/240v selector switch. Most cheaper ones do NOT have one. The switch allows the full power of the genset to be sent to 120v if you aren't using 240v at the time.

[HTRN]

I'd love the diesel big blue, but it's $30k. The 11kw gas multiprocess is like $5k, and the 13kw is like $6k

$6k for a serious industrial grade production class generator and welder, that can be wired up for autostart and into a crossover switch... That's a pretty good deal as far as I'm concerned. Too bad it's a $5k upcharge for the diesel version.

To be fair, that Big Blue Air Pak is a do anything, ANYWHERE kind of machine, and you're always gonna pay for that kind of performance - hell the thing even does Plasma cutting. Also, you can figure on actual retail price being about 85% of list - Miller is notorious for list price inflation. Cyberweld for example, has your Big Blue Airpak for 25 grand.

[Aglifter]

Y'all need to look at used, or, if you have room, much larger ones. Some facilities are required, either by law, insurance, or both, to have certain size generators, which are hardly run, and meticulously maintained.

For the kind of money you're talking about, at least for NG, you can get something large enough to power a couple blocks... (Or an ice cream plant...)

[Aglifter]

Well, you're neighbors might trade... (That's a bit cruel, perhaps...)

[HTRN]

I get what Ag is saying - Diesel standby/onsite generators do show up on the used market fairly often, usually at fraction of their new price. BUT they're generally A)Huge. 50kw is fairly commonly seen, and B)3phase, which is kinda a hassle. They're also not exactly cheap. Just because they're a quarter the price new, that's still a quarter of a distressingly large number for something that doesn't make money.

Hell, Winco makes a 20kw singlephase Diesel standby, but it's like 12 grand new.. Meanwhile you can buy a 12kw LP/NG single phase standby from Winco for roughly a third the price.

As for the Miller wundergenerator, that sort of thing is aimed squarely not at facilities, but at mobile/onsite welding contractors. Especially considering it's "Do it all" design.

[Netpackrat]

You guys are horrible. Looks like I've got my generator thread whether I wanted it yet or not. I haven't had a chance to really look at my appliances yet, but I will make a few observations. Any of those big Miller multiprocess welder/generators are out of the question as well as out of my budget. That, and as HTRN pointed out, that's a high end industrial tool that I would never use enough to justify the additional cost. I don't want to lose sight of the fact that my real goal is to provide emergency power in an outage, but if I can retain some level of repair-grade welding capability, then I'm willing to spend a little more for that.

And one thing you guys aren't taking into account (not that I would expect you to) is the Alaska premium that must be applied to everything. Either the cost of buying something locally, or ordering and having it shipped up is going to add significantly to the cost of whatever I end up getting. And while I am not necessarily opposed to used industrial equipment, it's harder to find up here and the premium applies to it as well. Maybe more so, because of the scarcity and extra weight that translates into higher shipping cost.

For a generator with welding capability, I was thinking more of something like this. It would run my house, and also could be used to make basic welding repairs. I think it will even take an add-on for DC TIG on light to medium thickness steel, which is the majority of the TIG welding that I do. It isn't a Honda engine, but Kohler makes a decent engine and I could stock spare parts or eventually even a spare engine.

Otherwise, I'm likely to look for whatever Honda makes that will run the house. I'm not sure, but I think if I get one that is big enough to run my oven, it should also be capable of running my welders and compressor, just not at the same time. That's one of the things I need to look into.

There are other ways of adding some backup welding capacity that can be done independently also. If I went for a lesser wattage generator for the house, that would leave more for something like a Premier Power Welder for my Jeep (which I have wanted anyway). That would be a really good portable solution that I could use nearly anywhere that I wanted to go, short of fly-in destinations. And I would be a lot more likely to have it with me if I needed to weld away from home. Another possibility would be a DIY weldernator conversion rigged up to whatever 5-10hp gas engine I could scrounge up. I just don't have a whole lot of time for additional projects these days. None of that helps much in terms of providing compressed air, but most of the tasks that I NEED my big compressor for are not things that I am likely to be monkeying around with during an outage and/or disaster anyway.

[HTRN]

If you can get away with a somewhat smaller gen/welder, take alook at the Hobart 145. It's roughly a grand cheaper than the 185.

Frankly, I'd go for a Wildcat 200 over the 185 anyway. It's slightly better output and it looks to be a higher service life machine as well. The price difference is only about 200 bucks. Hell, the Hobart Elite and Miller Bobcat 225 are only about 800 more, and you move up to a 11kw machine.

[Netpackrat]

If you can get away with a somewhat smaller gen/welder, take alook at the Hobart 145. It's roughly a grand cheaper than the 185.

Briggs engine... Meh.

Frankly, I'd go for a Wildcat 200 over the 185 anyway. It's slightly better output and it looks to be a higher service life machine as well. The price difference is only about 200 bucks. Hell, the Hobart Elite and Miller Bobcat 225 are only about 800 more, and you move up to a 11kw machine.

I can see that's how this game is going to work... For a couple hundred more, I could have this. And for a couple hundred more than that... Anyway, that Wildcat looks like a good machine. Searching for the Hobart Elite, the Lincoln Electric Eagle 10,000 came up too. And I've had pretty good success with Lincoln thus far. Tomorrow I should have time to start figuring out what my actual requirements for the house are. Which I expect to be pretty minimal compared to the generators that we've been talking about. Probably have to plan on building a trailer for the stupid thing too, if I end up getting something like that Wildcat or larger, since it weighs 345, and that Lincoln is well over 500 pounds.

[HTRN]

I would avoid Lincoln for the most part these days. They're shipping production to China as fast as they can.

As for the "200 more than this, 200 more than that.. Err no. the next step up from the Wildcat is the Bobcat, and that's like 600 bucks over the Wildcat.

[arctictom]

When I installed my gen-set the planning came down to fuel consumption , I needed something to that ran under 15 gallons of fuel a day worst case and wanted gas not diesel , didn't want to spend 3 or 4 k for a diesel I was going to use maybe once or twice in 10 years.
I have my backup panel configured for my boiler, refrigerator, water pump, and one electrical outlet in each room.
and a 4kw Honda generator runs this set up just fine. I do not have my electric stove , water heater, or cook top in the loop to much draw. My theory is I will be cooking on my Green-egg, and propane camp stove, and can live with out hot water for a few days , or a week.
The back up panel was a piece of cake to install , and I keep the generator ( on wheels ) in the garage and wheel it out side when needed , then plug in the cable start the generator and close garage door and I am up again. The trade offs are numerous, should you vent the gen-set , or have it in a separate generator shack, how much should you power , so good luck for a basic backup system its pretty straight forward.