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When my friend decided to prepare for hurricane season recently, and he wanted to purchase a generator, I decided to put together an Excel spreadsheet so that I could facilitate picking out the right generator for him.  Using the spreadsheet, I am able to calculate a variety of characteristics of each generator under consideration, for comparison to one another.  After careful consideration, my friend purchased a Briggs & Stratton EXL8000 (similar to this one).  This baby has 8000w steady-state, 13,500w surge, electric start, and much more.

Not only can generator characteristics be normalized and compared, you can also compare them to your utility power.  Using the spreadsheet, I found that running a generator will usually cost me about 5 to 6 times in terms of gasoline alone!   Click here to download the Electricity Consumption Calculator spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel 95 format.    As I think of new calculations, I will add them to the spreadsheet.

You will need to find out how much your appliances use at both steady-state, also known as continuous, as well as surge.  Most motor driven devices' surge factor is somewhere from 2X-4X steady-state.  That is, if a motor draws 1000 watts in its steady-state, and it has a 2X surge factor, then it momentarily draws 1000 X2 = 2000 watts when it starts up.  Air conditioning units have a high surge factor, from 3X to 7X I recently read.  On the spreadsheet, I plugged in what I believe to be educated guesses at what my surge factors would be.  I estimate that they would be similar for you too.

Click here to see how we hooked our gen to our home.

Misc Links

Do It Yourself - Electrical Forum

Post: Portable Generator Gasoline Consumption Analysis

 

 

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