On Jan 22, 3:15*pm, DS wrote:
We live in the country and the power goes out quite often. So I bought
a 5000 watt generator, properly connected, which powers the furnace,
the water pump, the freezer anbd refrigerator and several light
circuits.
I'm told it is not wise to operator sensitivre electronics such as big
TV sets and computers on generator power. In fact I'm pretty sure
thats hiow I blew a DVD/VHS unit last year. And the digital read out
on the refrigerator has lost part of its alphanumerics.
My question...what is and is not safe to run?.
Will a surge protector ahead of the device in question prevent a
problem?.
I actually ran a small TV without a problem but not for very long.
Would appreciate a reply from some electrical guru.
ds

The problem is more a matter unstable & unfiltered than surges I don't
think a surge protector would help.
A really good UPS might though. We lived on our generator for 2 weeks
following a storm a few years ago, I finally freaked after a week &
booted a computer to make sure the internet hadn't forgotten me. I was
probably lucky, it didn't seem to do any harm, but it was up less than
an hour.