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theora55 t1_j1qv7f0 wrote

Reply to comment by Tronbronson in How prepared are you for these long power outages? by VegUltraGirl

Power goes out and my neighborhood is so noisy with generators, houses all lit up. It makes sense to run the heat and fridge, but a lot of people have to have every convenience.

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oldncrusty68 t1_j1rdh7j wrote

On my general 6500 it isn’t any quieter if I run less appliances. So we use lighting so we can actually see

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Snotrockett t1_j1regyi wrote

That's the thing. Whether my generator is running one light bulb or the whole house it's using the same amount of gas and making the same amount of noise.

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eljefino t1_j1s6mi0 wrote

Its governor keeps it at 3600 RPM to make 60Hz power but you are saving gas by using fewer appliances. Many people over-size their generators and aren't operating in the "sweet spot" of efficiency- 50-60% of full output.

Gas itself can be hard to come by in an extended outage, so it pays to plan.

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Snotrockett t1_j1qyvkq wrote

The difference between being able to power your entire house vs running individual extension cords to things in a house is minimal at best.

A 5000 watt generator will power 90% of an average house.

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ozzie286 t1_j1r3a8c wrote

This. Most people have a furnace that's wired in, so you can't easily plug it into a generator. Just make damn sure you turn off the mains when you plug in the generator! And if you have LED lights, the additional power drain is minimal, might as well use them instead of wasting batteries.

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BoomerTookMyUnicorn t1_j1wk3wi wrote

This here. We lived in Vermont (my son lives in Maine now) and got by with a wood stove and a small generator. Even with some space between homes the drone of four or five generators was terrible.

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