"Blattus Slafaly 0/00 ? ? ?" wrote in
message ...
Rich wrote:
I'm in the market for a portable generator and just need it to run the
fridge the furnace and just small things after that. I went on a few web
sites and they seem to be geared to running your whole house instead of
just a few things to get past the storm or what ever. I live SW of
Chicago and the longest I've been without power was 3 days when a tornado
came through. I would like to buy one that would get me by for a day or
two at the most and only run the basics. What I'm having trouble with is
sizing the unit to my needs. Sump pump, furnace, fridge and some lighting
but I have all compact fluorescents.

Thanks for any advice, especially from someone that has this basic setup,
Rich


How do you expect to connect into the circuits of these few things?
The easiest way is to plug into your dryer outlet and back feed to your
electrical box (with the mains off of course). That way everything will
run normally as always. A 5000 watt generator should do you. None of them
will run for 2 or 3 days without refueling. You'll have to gas it up every
day if you don't run it all night. Now you can get a small diesel
generator and hook it up to your oil tank and it would run until the tank
is empty. That will cost you much more. 5kw will give you about 30 amps,
the rating of your dryer cable and breaker. In the US anyway.

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Blattus Slafaly ? 3 7/8

What you suggest, is not only illegal in every jurisdiction, but a potential
electrocution hazard to both the operator and any lineman working to restore
power. Simple, safe, and legal generator transfer panels can be bought for a
few hundred dollars