Portable Inverter Generators

[casstony]

With the prospect of power shortages in the summer I'm again considering buying a generator to power the fridge and some other items in the house. The Honda EU20 and Yamaha EF2000 are obviously good quality but expensive (and a rip off compared to US pricing). I'm wondering if others have had a good run with cheaper units.

One I have my eye on is the Cromtech Outback 2.4KVa, supposedly a well made Chinese generator in contrast to the cheap and nasties.

There's also a Briggs & Stratton sold by Bunnings but every one of their motors I've had starts burning oil before too long.

All comments welcome.

[xelasnave]

Hi Tony,
I picked up a Full Boar or Bore from Bunnings to run my daughters gaming computer.
2 kva with remote or key start for $750.
Its been used well over the past year and I am very impressed.
I went to buy a spare one recently but all they had similar was a Ryobi at another $150.
I dont like that brand so I didnt get another.

Alex

[casstony]

Thanks Alex, that one gets a decent score on the product reviews site.

[tlgerdes]

Hi Tony,

I have had a cheap 2kva for 6 years and still going well. Can take a little too get started when I don't use it for 6 months, but as it is an electric start it is no back breaking effort.

The only thing to remember is that they like clean oil. You need to change it around every 40hrs of use.

It actually provides better power over a 30m extension cord than a Honda EU20.

Get at least a 3kva unit and make yourself a 3pin male to male adaptor. That way you can cut the main breaker, then plug the gen into any house socket and power the whole house.

Just remember to disconnect gen before reconnecting the main breaker.

[leon]

No mate stay with the Honda 2KVA we have had it for some 6 years and it fires first go every time and runs our entire rig.
It has never failed and is dead quite, yep, agreed a bit more expensive, but one gets what they pay for.

Leon

[gary]

Sorry Trevor,

This advice is negligent.

Firstly, nobody should ever have a 3 pin male to male cable laying
around the house.

All it takes is for is for someone to plug it into a live outlet
and they could injure or kill themselves.

Secondly, if the user does not open the main breaker in the fuse box
or if the main breaker is faulty, you will put 240V back up the line.

If there is a linesmen working on the line elsewhere and they have
assumed the line is safe to effect a repair, you could kill them.

I recommend to edit the post to redact the advice in question.

Best regards

Gary Kopff
Member IEEE

[PhilTas]

Plus one for Gary's post.
A male-male 240V extension is fraught with danger.
Phil

[casstony]

Yeah I might give the male-to-male plug a miss for safety reasons, but I'll keep my eye out for sales in the next couple of months.

According to AEMO there will be a several hundred Megawatt shortfall across Vic & SA in the summer, with excess generation available in the other states, but we might have blackouts on very hot days even if everything runs perfectly. If a generator or state interconnector unexpectedly trips offline (which does occasionally happen) there will be more blackouts.
https://www.aemo.com.au/Electricity/National-Electricity-Market-NEM/Data-dashboard#medium-term-outlook

[drylander]

Last summer I got a sparky to set up the house to take a genset in blackout situations. Cost a couple 100 dollars but worth it. No hassle throw the switch and fire up the genset and carry on. I use a 3kva set and it runs a single room a/c (inverter)as well as all the house hold
Pete

[casstony]

Not a bad Idea Peter. What had to be changed to allow the generator to be hooked up?

[xelasnave]

The oil???
Alex