mook Johnson wrote:
I looking at an alternative to a large natural gas generator and looking at
a 5 - 7kW gasoline powered job with gen-tran manual transfer switch.
If its raining I can't use the generator outside. Our outages usually occur
during approaching thunderstorms or hurricanes so running the generator
outside is not possible.
I'm considering putting it in my detached garage which is about 30ft from
the house and has the fusebox. The garage is 21 x 25 two car garage.
I'm looking at installing a 20"x20" auto shutter gable vent and placing it
behind the generator with a gable fan blowing outward. The exhaust will be
plumbed outside through a thimble and the garage door will be up an inch or
so to let air in. (~400sqin area) in addition to my soffet vents.
CO detectors will be installed in the garage in case of a build up of co.
do you guys think that setup will work and be safe?
If it were me I would get a Honda EU3000is (actually I just bought
one). They are very quiet. So noise shouldn't be an issue. Then for
placement, I would choose one of these 2 options:
1. Build a small patio for it, as suggested by Chris Lewis in a
previous post, using four 4x4 posts sunk into the ground with cement
footings and cover it with a roof. Put the generator on a raised cement
pad or build a wooden pallet out of treated lumber to put it on, or
2. During a power outage place the generator a few inches from an open
garage door with the exhaust facing the door. Buy a powerful, new fan
and blow the exhaust out the door. Fans last for years and seldom fail
and even if it did quit working, it's not going to hurt anything since
your garage is detached.
The Honda 3000is (2800W, 120V) doesn't put out as much power as most of
us would like to have, but it makes up for it with it's low noise level
and fuel economy.
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/M...lName=eu3000is
As one anti-theft device (in addition to chaining it up), I've been
looking at the "Blackout Buddy". It looks like it has a radio that
comes on when the power goes out.
http://www.independentliving.com/pro...?number=628442