Racinbob 11,048 #26 Posted December 24, 2023 16 minutes ago, wh500special said: I dumped my regular 5kW generator a couple of years ago for a smaller inverter unit. I read that enough cautionary tales about blowing the circuit boards in modern furnaces and refrigerators that I wanted something a little more refined. But there is no denying the allure of that giant hunk of cast iron from a romantic perspective. Steve That problem is caused by the total harmonic distortion. It's best if it's 3% or lower. Definitely no more than 5%. Most portable units are close to 20%. That will kill sensitive electronics. The manufacturers don't like to disclose this. An inverter like you chose solves the issue but there are some generators that are <5%. Our furnace runs a self diagnostics every time it starts. With our previous generator it would (fortunately) refuse to fire up. I went on the search for a generator with a low THD. I talked to several manufacturers including Generac and it was a no go other than their inverters. That was several years ago and things are changing. I did find one that was <5%. We've had it several years now with zero issues. Like Sparky said, it's nice to have everything usable in an outage. In our case we just don't use the electric dryer or central air even though we could use one at a time. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ANTPER 207 #27 Posted December 24, 2023 7 hours ago, Racinbob said: I think this is what Sparky is talking about Eric. Interlock Kit & Accessories For Your Home | Generator Interlock Kit A very simple install and UL Listed. The only real electrical work would be to jocky the circuits around so you can get the generator breaker in the right location. It's what I use and I love it. It's an interlocking device. If the main is on you can't turn the generator breaker on and vice-versa. I didn't purchase it from the company I went with a Square D simply for the sake of keeping everything Square D QO. It happened to be considerably less money too. I have this same set up and well worth the cost. Nothing like seeing you house lit up at night and all dark around you. :). Especially during the winter keep pipes from freezing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 41,064 #28 Posted December 24, 2023 I've lived in my house since 1988. The power has gone out for a total of about 5 hours! Yes we are due but what the heck! Now 7 miles away at work the power goes out if someone passes gas. We had a fire in an elevator room month's ago. Elevator Co. said the drive burned up. They showed up last Wed. to install it. They turned the power on after install and BOOM!! Flames forced the Genie out of the 20 HP motor! Tripped the breaker to a transfer switch and the 2 big Cats outside were off and running! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wh500special 2,168 #29 Posted December 24, 2023 On 12/23/2023 at 6:48 AM, ebinmaine said: …The engine is a K660 or K662 depending on where you read… I forgot to mention in my first post that Kohler’s model number denotes displacement. In the late 50’s they changed the last number to match the number of cylinders. Eg. a 662 is 66 cubic inches and two cylinders. A k91 is 9 cubes and one cylinder. I guessing you knew this, but just in case… Steve 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,408 #30 Posted December 24, 2023 21 minutes ago, wh500special said: I forgot to mention in my first post that Kohler’s model number denotes displacement. In the late 50’s they changed the last number to match the number of cylinders. Eg. a 662 is 66 cubic inches and two cylinders. A k91 is 9 cubes and one cylinder. I guessing you knew this, but just in case… Steve Yessir I did. That may be why I've been told it's early dated as it is. Zoom in on the ID tag. Can't see any serial or spec numbers and the tag reads K660. There's clearly a little more than 0 cylinders. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Handy Don 12,210 #31 Posted December 24, 2023 8 hours ago, squonk said: We had a fire in an elevator room month's ago. Elevator Co. said the drive burned up. They showed up last Wed. to install it. They turned the power on after install and BOOM!! Flames forced the Genie out of the 20 HP motor! Tripped the breaker to a transfer switch and the 2 big Cats outside were off and running! Not my kind of exciting, thank you. How long did it take to get back off the generators? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squonk 41,064 #32 Posted December 24, 2023 2 hours ago, Handy Don said: Not my kind of exciting, thank you. How long did it take to get back off the generators? I'm sitting at my console and get an alarm that the gens are running but there is minimal load so I knew something weird had happened. I also knew they were working on that elevator. I called our guy who was with them and he told me about the motor explosion. Just had to find the breaker that was tripped to the effected transfer switch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHX?? 48,814 #33 Posted December 25, 2023 Might be a wiring diagram under the cover? 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ebinmaine 67,408 #34 Posted December 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, WHX?? said: Might be a wiring diagram under the cover? I have a schematic in one of the books but it doesn't include the grey switch box. I believe that to be an add-on from the original user. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
