portable generator math

[@macmcleod1188]

Great video by the way. Thanks for making it.

[@BoaticusRex]

Thumbs up for spelling your name right! This comes from a Kristofer who randomly saw this in his feed.

[@KrisO1976]

Woooo.... weird stuff. My name is also spelled Kristofer. It's very rare to see another. Even weirder.... your tag... my gamertags, email, screen names, etc. are all Freakusaurus Rex.

[@BoaticusRex]

@@KrisO1976 are you my dad?

[@KrisO1976]

I always wondered if i had another kid out there. Could be. I was a hoe back in the day.

[@macmcleod1188]

Oh the purpose of the solar generator is that you can run your refrigerator after you lose power while the storm is still tearing everything up outside. It will also allow you to turn off your generator for 4 to 8 hours per day if it looks like you're going to be without the ability to get more fuel for a while. Also a solar generator allows you to carry 1000 watts of power around the house for things like electric razors, lighting in a back bedroom, etcetera.

[@KrisO1976]

I hope to one day get some solar panels and batteries. I recently moved to where I am now. Hurricane Ida put 2 foot of water in my old house, destroyed a few cars, etc. Afterwards, insurance where I was went up to $15,000 a year. Soooo.... here I am now where my insurance is about $3000 a year. Hurricane was to weak and to west to do any damage this time. I didn't lose power, but there are a lot of trees near powerlines around me, so it will eventually happen.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@KrisO1976 I recommend you start with 400 watts portable panels in a 2000 watt battery backup pack. Pretty cheap on sale, it's a great way to loan power to friends and family, it's really useful when you first lose power before you can set up the generator safely. My thousand watt battery and panels cost $780. They have already paid for themselves in saved food. Plus it just feels good to run my window unit for about 2 hours and 15 minutes on hot summer days. While it is directly only 30 cents worth of electricity, it causes the central air conditioning to run less and that consumes 36 cents per hour worth of electricity. Today, the setup with 2000 Watts and panels runs about $250. During our last disaster, we went 4 days before we could get propane. The battery and panels helped me make it all the way until propane refills became available again.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@KrisO1976 oh, and the wen been a great generator so far. I'm at about 300 hours. It's so easy to start with the electric start key and I don't have to clean all the gasoline out after usage when I use propane. Don't forget about the dual regulator though. They cost about $50 and they save a lot of hassle. You can even change the empty tank for a new full tank without turning off the generator as it runs on the second tank. Or you can let both tanks run to empty and then put two tanks on it and you're good for another 20 to 26 hours.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@KrisO1976 Hopefully, you'll never need it. 🙂

[@macmcleod1188]

I use a wen 4750 and solar panels and a 1000 watt battery. Next year I will expand that to 3000w or 4000w. I also bought a 60 watt baby dehumidifier. If you get your propane tanks filled at u-haul, you can get 4.5 lb which will run them over 12 hours a piece. Then if you buy a dual regulator, you can go 24 hours between tank changes. You have the option of multiple tanks or buying a 30 gallon tank for your backyard which will have to be refilled professionally. I own six tanks. Remember that you have to change the oil at least once a week of continuous operation. Some people recommend changing the oil every 24 hours of operation but I have just topped it off. These generators are so inexpensive that I'm not going to pay $6 a day for oil in order to extend the life of the generator from 1,500 hours to 2,000 hours. The benefit of 1000 watt generators is that you can run a single window unit on them very inexpensively. Well I am spending $30 a day on propane, a person with a small generator could spend about 6 dollars a day. Smaller generators also have the benefit of being very cheap so you can have one of them as an emergency backup for your main generator in case it breaks. It's best not to use gasoline unless you are a very precise person who's going to clean it up when you're exhausted after power is restored. Also, I am unable to run the Madea 8000 BTU on my win generator. It trips the GFCI circuit. This is a known problem with problems in the GFCI circuit standards and inverters.