Briggs & Stratton 6250 runs whole house during power outage!!

[@thomasreed5980]

My son and wife came home with "a large generator" the day before Tropical Storm Harvey, Aug'2017 hit Houston. I got it on a couch and we fled our home the day the storm hit. We had over 4ft of water when waters peaked, and it fell in the water, while still in the box. After the storm waters receded, I put it in storage for about 3y. Then, took it out after the freeze of 2021 and had it serviced by a small engine repair shop. Then it sat in my garage until the next freeze. It started! I used extension cords to run my fridge, a couple of fans and a couple of lights with the 120's, and later added my neighbors fridge and fans with the other 120's. No problem. Power came back that afternoon, so not a long test. I then decided to have a transfer switch installed to our box (about 800-900? USD) and not have to run extension chords. Good decision because the morning while Hurricane Beryl was pounding rain, I went out, got it running and got our house running on this genee, except for and AC, oven, washer, dryer, dishwasher. It was like a miracle to go into the house, soaking wet, and see all the lights on, microwave on, fridge on, etc! Went back out to check the load; it was about 15-20%. Later that day, I added my neighbors fridge and fans and load went up to maybe 30%. I remember hearing the generator 'groan', checked the load -- it had gone up to about 65%; turns out our neighbor ran a coffee maker for a couple of minutes and came by to show me what he got with a 120v extension! Early Tuesday evening, it was getting toasty inside, and the power from the genee stopped, even though, I could hear it running. Turns out, I had not turned off the breakers for the AC's after all, and the genee breaker tripped! At first, I didn't know what had happened. I thought my luck had finally run out, and the genee was trash. I reset the breaker and started to go through the house checking outlets, and finally looked at the thermostat upstairs and saw it said "cool". Not good for a 6250/8500w genee. Turned off both AC's, and genee ran without issue. We were fortunate to get line power back on later Tuesday evening. My neighbor called to confirm city power was on and I said that our generator was running the house, including the LED outdoor lights. He told me that the city power was back on, so I went through a generator shut down, and sure enough city power was on, and so were the AC's!!! What can I tell you about this generator? This is a BEAST of a generator. Maybe I was lucky, but the only thing I would do different is have a bigger genee that could run at least one central AC during summer heat. I've been looking carefully at the MicroSoft Start kit, but have not been able to confirm that it is compatible with the Trane's, or that it would make a difference. All in all, this genee was very efficient on gas, given the roughly 36hr of running time. It was loud, but who cares when you are in the midst of a major power outage? After things calmed down, I replaced the air filter, spark plug, and oil, and it started on the first pull. I set a reminder to start it, and on Sunday afternoon, 9/8/2024, it started on the second pull. Ran it about 20min after warming up with a vacuum cleaner, no problems! I set my reminder to start it every month, ordering some spare parts (5 spark plugs, 3 air filters), and heading to O'Rielly to buy several quarts of oil), and hopefully, it will, again, deliver when needed. I'm still looking for a good tri-fuel genee that can deliver enough watts to run central air.

[@timmer9lives]

I have a Storm Responder 6250. I purchased it 2007 and have used it multiple times during outages from Hurricanes. I do the same as what you have done. I shut off the main and back-feed my breaker box. New Orleans lost electricity for 14 days due to Hurricane Ida and that generator rans for 14 days straight other than the shut downs for oil changes. I religiously change my oil after every 72 hours of running the generator. As much as I want to get an electric start, I just can't justify it yet because this generator runs flawlessly. Also, I converted it to run on Natural gas. I have a 8000 BTU ac window unit so the generator runs the refrigerator, freezer, lights and the window ac. The Storm Responder is a great gen. I wish I had one like yours, but like I said... I can't justify it yet because my old gen is still going strong.

[@thebrokeprepperhomestead2522]

Mine is not an electric start either , but it looks like it’s easily adaptable for one . What kit did you use to to run yours off NG , I want to add a propane kit to mine .

[@vikingerik80]

Yes i would like to know how to convert to natural gas too😊

[@jim-qy3kk]

a great test to verify everything is ready to work in a more serious situation. i think a lot of people have the equipment but do not completely test it until a real situation arrives. you know you are ready and that there will be no surprises.

[@tommywalker742]

Love the tarp setup

[@thebrokeprepperhomestead2522]

Hey, you do what you gotta do 😂

[@sernainternational112]

Thanks for the video

[@Tbass-yy8uc]

Don't ever back feed into your house just buy a transfer switch

[@dynamite5769]

I put a refrigerator to run only and breaker tripped . 😢 why it does not stay running???

[@thebrokeprepperhomestead2522]

@@dynamite5769 how many watts does your generator output , refrigerators will use as much as 1000-2000 watts when the compressor kicks on for a few seconds

[@tw9433]

I have this same generator and am about to get the house connection point set up. Is there any concern with electronics given that this is not an invert generator?

[@thebrokeprepperhomestead2522]

@@tw9433 I personally have not had and issues but I would say use at your own risk. I’ve had issues with my UPS not clicking back to line power while on generator so they apparently are sensing low voltage but in an emergency situation I really don’t have a choice but to use it anyway. You can use a Kill-O-Watt meter to test to see if it putting out 60hz under load .

[@shannonmacrae]

I know you posted this a year ago but can you tell me how many hours it runs everything on gas until it’s empty?

[@thebrokeprepperhomestead2522]

It really depends on how much load you are putting on it , claims are that it will run about 8 hours at a 50 percent load . It’s an 8 gallon tank . I ran it today with about 3 gallons in it and it ran 4 hours powering all the lights , tvs, a freezer and fridge 👍👍. Hope this helps

[@shannonmacrae]

@@thebrokeprepperhomestead2522 thanks so much!

[@javierramirez3522]

Can turn on the central ac

[@thebrokeprepperhomestead2522]

No , not mine . I have a 3 ton heat pump it’s just too much for my generator. If you have a 12,000-14,000 watt generator then it would be possible . I just run a few window units with mine .