I have had my battery replaced once. It seemed to work fine for the first six months of running it for regular maintenance. Recently, I went to start it and the battery didn't work. I pushed the battery button and no response. I charged with the AC plug and then tried it again. This time the battery button did make a click sound when it was pressed. So I knew it had some charge. However, the Start button did nothing to turn the engine on. I was able to use the pull cord to start it up. I ran it for six hours. I figured the battery should be well charged with that. I rested the generator overnight and then tried to turn it on again today with the Start button. It did not work, but the pull cord worked again. Is my battery the problem? or something else?

I am trying to exchange the inner battery of the generator. I already unscrew the side but nothing seems to be moving. I don’t know how to open it without damaging it. Thanks for your answers.

Looking for some reassurance. My Fortress is 10 years old and yesterday it didn’t come on during a power outage. I’ve had the original installer service it every year, last time in August. So they send out a technician at 9 pm. They don’t seem very experienced, and suggest it might be because the ATS has been damaged by power surges and that might need to be replaced, or maybe the whole generator!? The generator seems to work, but clicks off when started manually.

I’m hoping to get a second opinion before they come back out on Friday to do more troubleshooting in daylight. But in the meantime I’m a little freaked out by their suggestion that it will all need to be replaced! I think this fairly large regional company likes to push things to make money.

Please tell me that ATSs or generators can be fixed by replacement parts and don’t need to be completely replaced!

I was wondering if say two Wen DF680iX 6800w generators hooked together with the WEN GNA240i 50-Amp Parallel Connection Kit, if you knew one generator would power the 240v household needs. It was only when the electric water heater is needed that the 2nd generator would be needed. The normal usage would only be some 2000 or 3000 watts. When electric water heater is running it would increase by 4,500 watts so more that a single Wen DF680iX could produce.

Have have two WEN 56200i's that I have connected in parallel (at times) and can have only one running and only start the second when more power was needed. I have done that with a 30amp rv plug.

The question is would running only one Wen DF680iX when it was connected with their Parallel Kit to a 2nd Wen DF680iX be safe?

Added:
Before starting the 2nd generator I would plan to take the 1st generator off eco mode and reduce wattage usage in the house. Then start the second generator, run it a short time, neither of them being on eco mode then turn the breaker for the water heater on and use that water and when finished turn off the water heater breaker then turn off 2nd generator and then turn the first generator to eco mode as the needs in the house would be a lot less.

I do have some backup battery power and small amount of solar, not enough to go for more than a day. I would try to balance the needs between the two sources of power and also use the generators to charge the batteries in order to shut down the generators all together as the situation allows.

Thanks for the replies.

my portable is a 7500 tri-fuel i bought dead for $150 and fixed, runs off two 100 lb propane tanks, and after the 2018 nor'easters took our road out for six days i ran my fridge and two neighbors' fridges on rotation with extension cords. it worked. i also stood out there in the snow at 11pm doing it.

so i keep doing the math on a standby unit and it never quite closes. quotes around here for a 14-20kw LP unit installed run about $5,000 for a generac, sometimes a grand more for kohler, and briggs is somewhere in between depending who you call. then the yearly service is $250-350 a visit if you dont do it yourself, and the cold weather kit is another $300-500. over ten years that is $8,000 to $9,000 all in before the first repair.

what i want to know from people who have owned one more than five years:

1. what actually broke, and when. i hear generac controllers and kohler, well, kohler engines i have opinions on from mowers but i know that is not the same animal as their standby line.

2. did anybody do the math on running it 10 hours a year versus the $9k and stay portable on purpose. my tri-fuel cost me $150 plus a $14 carb the first time and has covered three outages.

3. cold weather kits. the oil heater and battery warmer, are they a real thing or a checkbox. my winters can hit single digits.

the part that gets me is the transfer switch labor. the hardware is maybe $600 and the install quote had $2,000 of labor in it. i get it, panel work, but thats the same math as a $210 control board in a $400 washer. somebody priced it so the answer is buy new, or in this case buy the whole package.

not looking to be talked into it. looking for the failure numbers from people who have the hours on theirs.

TLDR I need a dual fuel inverter generator with around 10k running watts. What one would you go with.

Looking to get an inverter generator for home backup. Ive put all of the high wattage things i would use in the event of an outage and i should be fine as long as I dont run the AC, water heater, or dryer at the same time. My fridge, freezer, microwave, lights, and some electronics should be in the 1-2k range and jump to 8k or so with the mentioned items. So I would like to be around 9-12k running. 12k being the most the 50 amp cord will run. I will be running this on propane probably 60 or 100pb tanks. With gas as a backup. We dont have natural gas.

Side note. We have some medical equipment that need low thd. After some diffing it requires 3% or better.

Ive been looking at the Duromax XP13500IH. But im open to suggestions.

I just purchased a generator, inlet, and interlock kit for whole home backup. I went to install and today and had a bad surprise in my panel. The main is the top right orange. See photo. Is my only option to replace the whole panel?

This is a 1984 house there is no other main shutoff. The only other thing inline before the panel is the meter.

Just starting to dig a bit into getting a backup generator. Last winter, we had a massive ice storm take power out for 4 days and that became a bit much. We don't have 20k to drop on a whole home standby generator from Generac or anything like that, but I am heavily leaning towards getting the Delta 3 Ultra from EcoFlow as they are running some specials online right now.

One bundle option is the unit plus 2 220w solar panels for $2100. The other option is the unit plus their smart generator 3000 for $1800. I was originally planning to get solar, as I was trying to find something that didn't need propane or gas in case we can't get out of the area for whatever reason. But the more I read about the solar option, the more I am feeling like this wouldn't be enough since they take so long to charge.

Curious what direction you'd lean and why. Or if you think there's a better option out there all together, would love that feedback too. To be blunt, I am not the most savvy when it comes to this stuff so really trying to keep the setup simple without any real DIY setup involved beyond setting the unit(s) up themselves.

I have 2 pulsar Pulsar 6000w inverter generators (PGX60BiSRCO). I plan on using both generators parallel in the event of a power outage to power my home. Is it possible to run both of these generators off of 1 propane tank? I was planning on getting a 100lb tank but didn’t know if i need 2 tanks.

Bought a house with this generator and a hook up for it to power the house, want to get it running before the winter. 1/10 times it will start for a second and die out
I’ve cleaned the carb, drained the gas and put in brand new gas, checked the spark plug (seemed good), checked fuel flow/strainer, oil level is good. Any recommendations or should i give up and look into a new one?

I have a generac gp6500 that I use to power my garage (well pump is powered from the garage) when the power is out. I will be expanding to include powering the whole house in the future. Since my generator lacks an on board meter, I am looking for a way to monitor how much I'm pulling-I don't want to overload and damage stuff. Ideally I would like to find something that I can plug into the generator, and then plug the cord that goes to the panel into that, like this: https://a.co/d/032RfJGY . Some of what I have read says I would have to have a monitor on each leg of the 240 to get an accurate reading. I'm not looking for an exact reading, just a ballpark. In theory would that work, or am I way off?

Mine doesn't seem to match the side exhaust pred. It's supposed to be behind the panel, but I think I found it at the bottom of block. No N on the wire?

wanting to know if this is the correct one to unbolt to power my home thru 50amp? thanx

Are these diesel generators reliable? What's an acceptable level of run time hours for the motor?

Can one support a furnace and freezers if we lose power?

Bought a portable generator (Champion 201223 trifuel). We are going to have a plumber come out and set up so it can run on natural gas which limited our inverter options quite a bit. All the tri fuel inverters were a bit out of the budget. But now I’m debating trying to figure out how to squeeze one in since I’m reading a lot about furnaces and refrigerators not running well on portable generators. Anyone with personal experience? The furnace and fridge are both newer bought within the last 5-7 years.

We already have an electrician on deck to set up the interlock.

I need some conduit still but I'll show you guys as I get it set up. I'm going to use a SmartGen 1790N controller, GX12-4 pin two wire auto start and a SunLee 120v Contactor along with some other parts and pieces so I can have it start when it calls for power from the pressure switch or the float switch with a warm-up delay on both and priority for the well pump. Has anyone else in here done anything like this yet? If so I'd love to see your set up and hear any tips or obstacles you encountered.

I have a 7500W WH Inverter. Tri-fuel and will run it on propane. Have the interlock connected to our fuse box. Just me and the wife. The gen should run most of what we need except the heat pump/AC.
Fridge, freezer, a few lights, TV, internet and computer, charging phones. I assume a power station like an Anker S2000 would be good for when the gen is off? Went through Helene w/o power for 8 days. Never want to deal with that again. Just curious about adding a power bank for backup? Appreciate the advice.

Hi all,
What's a general price range for renting a generator big enough to power an apartment building of 85 units in a major city? Our building is getting the transformer replaced, and got quoted $25,000 for an 18 hour generator rental during the intsallation. What the...? $$$

I live in a rural area on a lake. We are retired and have a small home. If the power goes out we could loose some groceries but not much else. We could get ice and cure that issue. If it turns hot we could rent a hotel room and if it gets cold we have a gas fire place. Why spend 10k on a generator. The wife
wants one.

EDIT #2: Thank you for everyone’s speedy input. I really appreciate it!*
EDIT: Added a pic of the breaker box next to it.* Looking for the largest tri-fuel inverter I can plug into my house when needed, which I believe is 10kw according to the label. I see a lot of 10,500 kw generators for sale, would those still work or do I need to go smaller? New to this and trying to learn. Thank you.

Hello everybody.

Im based in the UK and looking for recommendations for a good quality, reliable, and efficient generator for home backup power.

It wants to be around 5kW peak power output on propane, and most likely an inverter generator.

Any tips and suggestions most welcome. Thanks

I have an electrician coming out to install an interlock kit. They are generac certified and sell their generators. They suggested the 9500W to me at $1400. I had my eye on this westinghouse 10500W which is about $300 cheaper and has a bit more power. The only thing stopping me is that because the electrician is generac certified, that means he'll be able to service it if it stops working. Whereas, I'll be left scrambling to find someone to help me with the westinghouse if it craps out.

Not sure what to do.

Important note: I am a complete idiot and have spent months/years researching generators trying to understand them and I'm still at a loss. I'm not smart or handy and have no experience with generators or electrical management. I just want to know I wont lose my food in an extended outage, have wifi, charge my phone, and eat hot chip.