poor man's back up generator

[Chic Rustler]

picked this thing up used for $300. it's 5500 watts and just had a fresh tune up. then I bought 5 gas cans that were 5 gallons each and filled them up, along with the tank. treated all the fuel with sta-bil and marvel mystery oil. the most important thing is the fuel cans are sealed and air tight. I'm hoping to get a year out of the fuel and if not used by then I'll run it in my lawn mower and cars and then refill for next year.

 

[Chic Rustler]

with the price of the generator, the costs of the gas cans, fuel, additives, and electrical supplies I'm up to about $600 total investment. you can't get a new 5500 watt generator for $600 after taxes and a transfer switch runs between $500 and $900.


not too bad for a poor boy

 

[CrealCritter]

Not trying to tell you how to run your business bro. But you might want to consider going with a larger diameter wire on those mains. It's apparent they got pretty hot. I see some brown behind and on the sides of them.

 

[wyoDreamer]

DH invested in the high priced parts to hook our generator up to the house. Then decided we were moving back to WI, so we didn't install them into the house in WY. They made the move to WI but are still in the boxes in the woodshop.

He is thinking about asking a friend who is an electrician to come and hook us up, just to make sure it is done proper. The wiring in this old place is kinda sketchy, so we are hoping our friend will catch any previously done mistakes and can correct them. We haven't seen him for a while so we will also get to visit and DH will throw some ribs in the smoker and make a party out of.

 

[Mini Horses]

I don't "do" electric but that breaker was sure a fire threat! Scary.

 

[CrealCritter]

it's 6 awg on a 60 amp breaker, it's ok. some idiot had a 60 amp breaker in there running a welder with under sized wire. the breaker melted down and everything over heated. I don't know when it happend but that what I found when I opened it up. so i replaced the breakers that were melted and tightened up everything. of I have any more issues I'll replace the breaker box. it's tool small anyway. I want a bigger panel with more breakers, a bigger main (like 80 amps) and 3awg wire feeding it so I can run a welder maxed out and not trip the main.

but that's another day. for now I just put the welder on a 40 amp breaker and it should all be ok

I'm glad that idiot wasn't you!

I've always went down 10 amp on 6/3 copper with ground to a 50 amp 220 breaker. I've not had a oven/stove throw a 50 amp breaker yet. Wife even had a turkey in the oven and all 4 burners going at the same time and didn't throw the breaker, amazingly...

When I went through the wiring here on the farm and switched out panel boxes. I found some really good deals on new mains, subs, and breakers on eBay.

 

[Mini Horses]

I have a deep well and 30 head of livestock ... I called my co op to get correct size of gen I needed to be sure I could run the well pump. Then, had them install a piece of equipment on their meter base into which I can plug in my gen. They supplied correct plug-in cord for using. Paid Monthly fee for 3 yrs. While it can power house, not all things...like water heaters & oven & well at once, I just flip the breaker off for some. Also, bought gen with battery start, so I don't have to pull. It does start easily by pull, however. Never needed to use the system. Have used gen, starting at least once a month...for drill.

 

[Chic Rustler]

after some work and breaker changeouts were are in business. I got a ground buss Installed, all the bonding straightened out and it's ready to go.

 

[Chic Rustler]

I we t over everything with the wife on how to do it. and did a test run tonight. it ran every light and fan in the house and shed, the refrigerator, and deep freezer. then for fun I turned on the coffee pot (900 watts) and the microwave. with all that on I got a little bit of a flicker when the microwave kicked on. so I'm betting that was pretty close to max.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Not trying to tell you how to run your business bro. But you might want to consider going with a larger diameter wire on those mains. It's apparent they got pretty hot. I see some brown behind and on the sides of them.

it's 6 awg on a 60 amp breaker, it's ok. some idiot had a 60 amp breaker in there running a welder with under sized wire. the breaker melted down and everything over heated. I don't know when it happend but that what I found when I opened it up. so i replaced the breakers that were melted and tightened up everything. of I have any more issues I'll replace the breaker box. it's tool small anyway. I want a bigger panel with more breakers, a bigger main (like 80 amps) and 3awg wire feeding it so I can run a welder maxed out and not trip the main.

but that's another day. for now I just put the welder on a 40 amp breaker and it should all be ok