smstork1007 said:

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Yes there are. For example https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sportsman-8-750-7-000-Watt-Dual-Fuel-Digital-Inverter-Generator-with-50-Amp-RV-Outlet-USB-Port-and-4-GFCI-120-Volt-Outlets-GEN85KIDF/312402800

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Looks like a good option. Anyone have experience with this unit or additional thoughts?

One more question: anyone aware of a larger portable generator that could plumb directly to a natural gas line if needed?

Larger, portable, NG and low <5 THD? That would be the holy grail.

In regards to "clean" power, would freezers and refrigerators be ok to run on a generator without any kind of surge protection?

Is it mostly electronics which require you to worry about "clean" power?

The compressor and fans can stand a high THD but if it has circuit boards, as a lot of current models do, they can have issues.

AlaskanAg99 said:

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Larger, portable, NG and low <5 THD? That would be the holy grail.

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Tons of demand.... And no one makes one.

Westinghouse has one on their website 12,500W but it doesn't appear they actually make it and send it to their retail partners.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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AlaskanAg99 said:

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Larger, portable, NG and low <5 THD? That would be the holy grail.

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Tons of demand.... And no one makes one.

Westinghouse has one on their website 12,500W but it doesn't appear they actually make it and send it to their retail partners.

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Link? Haven't seen that one.

https://centuryfuelproducts.com/generators/conversion-kits

This site sells natural gas conversion kits for many generators. There are some YouTube videos showing installation on some generator models.

My plan is to pick a generator that advertises the THD and install a conversion kit.

Don't know squat about THD, but I ran the entire house last week on a Generac GP17500 Portable Generator. I didn't run too many sensitive devices other than the TV over an antenna connection. I didn't notice any issues. Our furnaces are gas fired, but it supplied plenty of power to run the blowers, oven, stove top, washer/dryer, dishwasher and pool pumps. I only got the thing in preparation for hurricanes, but it sure came in handy for the ERCOT ****show.

I don't see anything on the Spec Sheet that talks about power quality. Maybe one of you can tell me what I screwed up last week.

Here's a 12000 Watt on Amazon. I don't know how good it is though...

https://www.amazon.com/DuroMax-XP12000EH-000-Watt-Portable-Generator/dp/B01M0N8256/ref=pd_di_sccai_2?pd_rd_w=CepI7&pf_rd_p=c9443270-b914-4430-a90b-72e3e7e784e0&pf_rd_r=T3BXW0ZFT1MBM7BM6BR2&pd_rd_r=a87fd9da-e39d-488e-a811-c782ed244ecb&pd_rd_wg=YgNp1&pd_rd_i=B01M0N8256&psc=1

ag_pete09 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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AlaskanAg99 said:

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Larger, portable, NG and low <5 THD? That would be the holy grail.

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Tons of demand.... And no one makes one.

Westinghouse has one on their website 12,500W but it doesn't appear they actually make it and send it to their retail partners.

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Link? Haven't seen that one.

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https://westinghouseoutdoorpower.com/collections/generators/products/wgen12000df-generator-dual-fuel

Sorry, 12,000W not 12,500... But notice everywhere they say to buy shows it out of stock. Maybe it truly is out of stock... who knows...

But if you look at the specs they show the THD to be <5%

Yes, saw that one.

Sorry, thought you were referring to natural gas availability from Westinghouse.

Their largest generators have THD<5% but some of their slightly smaller are 23%.

I'd buy that Westinghouse in a heartbeat.

And to find out, I sent them a message via their feedback support tool. Gimmie.

Bottlerocket said:

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One more question: anyone aware of a larger portable generator that could plumb directly to a natural gas line if needed?

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When you're narrowing down your options on which ones you want to buy, take a look online to see if they have NG conversion kits available for them. I know there are for some of them and I'm not sure if they need to be dual fuel for the kit to work.

AGSPORTSFAN07 said:

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Here's a 12000 Watt on Amazon. I don't know how good it is though...

https://www.amazon.com/DuroMax-XP12000EH-000-Watt-Portable-Generator/dp/B01M0N8256/ref=pd_di_sccai_2?pd_rd_w=CepI7&pf_rd_p=c9443270-b914-4430-a90b-72e3e7e784e0&pf_rd_r=T3BXW0ZFT1MBM7BM6BR2&pd_rd_r=a87fd9da-e39d-488e-a811-c782ed244ecb&pd_rd_wg=YgNp1&pd_rd_i=B01M0N8256&psc=1

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Considering you're not able to find that model online anywhere, if you're wanting a generator, better get it while it's available.

AlaskanAg99 said:

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I'd buy that Westinghouse in a heartbeat.

And to find out, I sent them a message via their feedback support tool. Gimmie.

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Been chasing that generator since mid to late summer. Lowe's online had it in stock for a day or two twice since then and that was it. None of the other retailers seem to get any inventory of it. I didn't pull the trigger either time unfortunately as I wasn't expecting a power grid failure due to a hard freeze in Texas! Westinghouse used to tell me when to expect it to pop up again when I asked, but now they seem to just point me to their website to sign up for notifications. Oh and by the way, I had previously signed up for notifications and never got any kind of of communication that it was back in stock. Just happened to check almost daily.

Bottlerocket said:

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One more question: anyone aware of a larger portable generator that could plumb directly to a natural gas line if needed?

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Winco. They are pricey though.

I have an old 5000 watt portable generator that I've used here and there after hurricanes to keep fridges running via extension cords. But I'm thinking I might go the interlock route and upgrade my portable generator one of these days. DUMB QUESTION: Why would I need more than 12,000 watts in this portable setup? Aren't I limited by the 50amp plug, unless I want to run extension cords too? Just curious when I see these 15000+ watt portables.

Depends on what you're trying to run. The start up amps will be higher than the running amps.

If you're trying to run your ac and a few fridges you have to looks at the startup requirements of all as the max load.

Yes, I should have been more clear. Aren't I limited to 12,000 running watts by the 50 amp plug?

AlaskanAg99 said:

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I'd buy that Westinghouse in a heartbeat.

And to find out, I sent them a message via their feedback support tool. Gimmie.

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report back if they contact you!

Take my money!

Kenneth_2003 said:

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AlaskanAg99 said:

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I'd buy that Westinghouse in a heartbeat.

And to find out, I sent them a message via their feedback support tool. Gimmie.

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report back if they contact you!

Take my money!

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Good luck- been there done that multiple times over past 6 months.

Nobody Knows My Name said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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AlaskanAg99 said:

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I'd buy that Westinghouse in a heartbeat.

And to find out, I sent them a message via their feedback support tool. Gimmie.

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report back if they contact you!

Take my money!

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Good luck- been there done that multiple times over past 6 months.

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Called today and got a ticket for them to call me back, haha!

lctag said:

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Yes, I should have been more clear. Aren't I limited to 12,000 running watts by the 50 amp plug?

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Watts and amps are two very different things. 50 A is not what you're limited to vis--vis the 12,000 W power. The 50 A is the " volume" of power to that circuit

At least that is my uninformed recollection. I'm not electrician but I have watched a crap ton of YouTube videos about generators in the past 10 days

Yes P=IxV.

A 50A breaker will limit you on generator size.

However, breakers have two elements, thermal and magnetic. The magnetic part acts during a fault. The thermal part acts on overload. You can actually find the curves for your breaker if you are good with google. So, for instance a 10% overload (55A) might not trip the breaker for 5 minutes or longer. This gives you capability for handling start up current, which is a short time event.

Saying all that, I would not put anything larger than 12 kw on a 50A breaker. If you plan to run on natural gas then there is a derating associated with that and you might want to try to find a unit with 12kw on natural gas.

Thanks to all that responded. I appreciate it. I'm obviously fairly ignorant on the issue - since I've always just run extension cords. I figured since I was planning to upgrade my portable I might as well get an interlock and 50amp plug for house. I was just wondering if I should even look at any of the portables that tout 15,000+ running watts since I didn't think that could all be accessed through a 50amp plug. Thanks again, I always learn something on here.

How are you guys calculating the wattage load you intend to use during an outage is you can size your generator?

I think a lot of people are learning a ton quickly on the issue. No need to apologize, if you've got a question there are probably dozens of others that do as well. I'm no expert at all but I do know on a portable you're going to run into significant limitations:

Fuel, gas, propane, natural gas, all have pluses and minuses.
Run time, before you need to change the oil
THD issues, don't want fry your electronics
AMP/Watt limitations, how much of what can you run

So it's very important if you're going to plan to use a portable to determine what it is most important to you to run, then determine what the best solution is for your budget. For my wife and I, it's AC in summer, now heat in winter (which never would have been on my list prior), and keep the fridge and the freezer. But the AC/Fridges are the highest use and require a big bump in amp's to get the compressors started. So you have to learn about your devices, add up the starting amps for all and see what generator will work for you. Or...you make decisions of what's necessary, or save up longer for a larger generator. When it comes to the AC there's a 'cheat' by installing a soft start/easy start capacitor that will allow you to sort of eliminate the startup amp requirements.

I've learned a ton through a lot of these threads. The other thing is if 1 generator won't cut it, get a smaller one to run just your electronics, like the Honda 2000i. You only run it when you need it and you can leave the larger generator to run your larger appliances.

My house has a 30amp transfer switch and a sub panel for well pump, heater blower, refrigerator, and 3 light circuits. I need to have an electrician come out and install a plug for generator and buy an rv extension cord to power the panel.
I'm looking at the Honda from Home Depot linked earlier but I see it has a 50amp outlet on it. Can I run that into the 30 amp transfer switch? Or do I have to look for generator with a 30 amp outlet?

Like many others on this board, I've been doing a bunch of research and looking for the perfect generator setup that checks all of the boxes. Unfortunately, I don't think a cost effective turnkey solution exists. I want to install a 30amp inlet and interlock and eventually get to where I can run on natural gas and not have to worry about gasoline storage. I am concerned about frying electronics so I focused on finding a generator that had low THD and a readily available NG conversion kit. One of my top contenders now is the Northern Tool Powerhorse 9000ES. It claims to have <5%THD. I'm only trying to run a couple of refrigerators, some lights, fans, and a window unit so I estimate the load to be around 3500 running watts. Once the warranty expires in two years, I'll do the NG conversion and have a plumber set me up with a place I can quick connect a NG hose. I figure by converting to NG the generator will only make about 5000-5500 running watts which should still be enough for what I'm trying to do.

How is the 9000 dual fuel as far as noise? A screamer or not so bad? How long does it last on propane?

ag_pete09 said:

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Pretty much how it's gone for me.

I have a Honda 2000 and Champion 9000 dual fuel.

Only issues I have are when I let the battery go down on the Champion, the pull start won't work (even when warmed up), and never been able to get the propane to work.

I think I lucked into it, but this champion open frame is supposed to be one of their few non-inverters with <5% THD. Pure luck on that though as I didn't realize when I bought several years ago.

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How is the 9000 dual fuel as far as noise? A screamer or not so bad? How long does it last on propane?