It seems to me that 1 or 1.5 K should do the job; no sense lugging around more weight than you have to.
For what it's worth, I've seen some ridiculously cheap clones of Honda generators at a local auto parts chain. They look like Hondas down to the gas tank shape and valve covers. Has anyone used one of those?

 

Rule of thumb.. at a power factor of .8 you will need 2kw per hp for motor starting.

 

If you do any welding or would lke to get a welder then check out getting a miller welder if you ever need to sell it the welder will not loose the value a plain generator would even after a number of years. Oh and you get a realy coooolllll toy!

 

Take a look at Multiquip generators, they are powered by Honda motors not those gas hog, short lived, noisey Briggs motors. Sounds like you need a generator with minimum of 6,000 watts max, 5,000 watts continuous duty. They weigh 196# without fuel, run less than a gallon an hour at rated 5,000 watts. Look for a used one as new is $1,990. I got lucky and paid $250 from a friend and it's a 7 of 10 in condition. They are a construction job site item that gets run hard and long if this means anything about their durability. I was so happy with the Multiquip (GA-6HRZ) that I gave away to the soccer team a 3,000 watt Coleman generator because it had a POS Briggs motor.
Good generator hunting.
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I have a 3000 watt yamaha generator on the back of my motorhome and it powers just about everything including the a/c it is 2800 watts continous and about 59 dbs it ways 170 lbs with fuel (3.4 gallons) and will run all day and then some. pricey $1782.00 but you can stand next to it and have a normal converation I have been very happy with this unit.

 

Grogtronics, today I hooked up the Miller 251 to the Mutiquip GA-6HRZ generator to see if it will pull it, it did but the generator knew it had a load when it came on line. It (generator) can't handle the Tig welder, a Miller Synchrowave 350 ( the big one not the newer simple ones) it will draw 131 amps without PF or 101 with PF, all above the generators output. A Miller generator / welder sounds great but a Bobcat now that's a tool. Miller rocks!
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Beemer
Yes I have drooled on the bobcats as well as the miller. I havent found the right argument yet to justify the cost of either of them yet since I already have a welder in my garage. I guess I need to move to the country so that I can buy a "back up" generator for the winter months.

 

And for winter projects, weld on! I was lucky as both welders have been paid for by copper wire cashed in (251 Miller with 30A Spoolgun) and the 350 Synchrowave (loaded every extra item) wrote it off in taxes as a work tool in less that 3 months. This made the wifey happy so I purchased a Bridgeport mill at a auction that had to be moved the same day. Lucky again as I borrowed a Pitman and moved it home. Bridgeport for $900, man needs toys.
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I have a 31' RV with a 4000 W generator. It handles the a/c, fridge, microwave, tv, and vcr all at the same time. But if you think about it, a/c isn't really on all the time, it cycles on and off on its own to maintain the temp, same with the fridge. Either way, never had a problem with the generator not handling the load.

Here's some places for generalized wattage usage. Check the items you'll be using to verify.

http://www.powerprotection.org/power...ewattage.shtml

http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricW...appliances.htm

As for continuous or peak power rating, you can't just look at one or the other. You have to enough continuous to run everything you plan to have on at one time, plus enough peak or surge above that to have available to start additional items. Its a package deal, consider both equally.

 

well for me Honda is the way to go. I have a honda 5kw and am using it for power at my grandparents for now. (rita) first start in around a year the battery was bad but one pull on the pull rope and it purred to life. not hard at all to pull either. Theres a reason why walmart has a shelf of briggs and straton parts. think about it.
-couch

 

I put together 115KW with a big Perkins diesel engine once, that would be a good one for anyones wife.

I've used the little Honda 1KW generators. Good for lights and just barely works for a skill saw if you plug in without an extention.

I built a job trailer last year, using one of the new Honda 3KW. Noise dB is rated lower than the 2KW. Literally so quiet you can stand right at it and whisper to someone. But it had electric start and it's almost too much for two people to lug around. I tested it with a drill press and skill saw at the same time, no problem. There was a problem when I tested with a pancake compressor and a chop saw, (cutting through metal), with both on their own 100 foot drop cords. The compressor would act up, but ran fine when I got rid of the cord. For stuff like that, a 5 KW is better. Those Hondas are expensive, but have nice perks.

I did a job yesterday and got a "free" 3KW Powermate generator. It's a lot like the home box type with OHV 5.5HP Tecumseh - yuck. I rebuilt the carb tonight, (probably be running right now if it was a B&S and the guy had changed the oil, but then it wouldn't have been free). I should be able to fix the sticky valves and engine gunk tomorrow. If the stator's in decent shape, I'll check it out on a few things and let you know.

 

It's going to be a while longer before the test. Valve guides are shot and I didn't make it to the shop before closing. I need an arbor press...

 

Hey Grog,

We have a Miller Bluestar 6000 (current model is Bluestar 185) welder / generator combo. We paid around $2200 for 5kw continuous on the generator and somewhere around 150 continuous on the welder. Problem is that it is heavy. But you get oh so much for your money...

Relatively quiet too, it has an OHV Honda engine.

What's really crazy is a Miller Bobcat isn't a whole lot more money!

Sounds like this guy needs a lighter unit.

As for figuring the load: Here are a couple of tidbits.

For converting wattage to amps, remember WAVE - Watts/Amps=Volts. Also works as watts/volts=amps.

Never draw more than 80% of the continuous rating. Others have touched on this too. (The 80% rules comes from codes for residential wiring.)

 

Today at Home Depot I saw a Coleman generator, 8,750 watt powered by a 13 HP Honda motor, the cart had two wheels on one end, easy to move. Brand new price reduced to $900. Sure beats the asking price of a MultiQuip 6 KW with a 11 HP Honda, they list $2,495, I paid $250 as it needed some TLC to get running again, weight of 198 pounds.
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Dan, I did the exact same thing with my Briggs powered Colemant 6500 watt unit. The muffler was for a Cub Cadet, best $30 I ever spent. I bought it new for under $500 with a wheel kit back in 1998. Ran in once and upgraded the exhuast. The gen set sees 20 - 80 hours of use a year, depending on the weather. It always starts on the 2nd or 3rd pull. I run it monthly for about 15 minutes with an electrical load. I use it to power the whole house, (oil fired hot water, well pump, lights, oil fired warm air heat, microwave and tv). When the well pump kicks on it's a full load at startup. When this one craps out I'm upgrading to a 10K electric start unit, then the wife and kids can handle power outages when I'm away.