Been looking at getting a back up Generator, for the house.

My main reason is that I run a wood boiler hot water heating system and burn the wood in the garage and then run hot water to the house to heat the house.

If the electricty goes out I lose the circulation pump and now I have my water sitting in the lines not moving.

any way the goal is to be able to power the Circulation Pump, the Furnace Blower motor and the Forced Air Fan on the wood boiler. Overnight.

Should not be to much for a draw at all.
Furnace Fan house, 1400Watts,
Circulation Pump, say 700 Watts,
Force Air Fan Wood Boiler, 700 Watts,

so max for those is 2,800 Watts.

any way found this near my home,
Portable Generator

does $575 for a used for 45 days 5,500KW Generator a good price,
Has Briggs and Stratton Engine 10HP engine

it woudl seem to more than fit my needs and I would be able to get run time out of it for overnite use.

your thoughts and Ideas.

Thanks sublime out.

 

That's a bit on the high side, over 1000hrs if they ran it except when fueling. I know B&S can be tough, but that's very near the end of service life for any small engine. The price is also way out of line with what it is- you can get a much larger used generator for that price.

 

Check craigslist you might find something. In the Ithaca, NY area there are 2 4500 watt ones going for $200 each.

 

Sublime... you can lessen 1 issue if you antifreeze the boiler system. Kryo-tek is a good non toxic boiler antifreeze. 50/50 is a good mix. it'll save you for 10 days(about) at freezing or worse

 

Yeah, but there is the issue of heat if the circulation stops.

 

Anti-freeze is okay in a sealed boiler system. Not all systems are like this, and have a fresh water input to maintain pressure. Mine's like this so feeding anti-freeze into the boiler could in theory make the water in the sinks/showers/ice maker toxic if there's any backflow.

Which for me there is IF I shut off the main feed to the house AND open the cold water tap in the basement which is how I drain the plumbing to service it.

I agree with the other posts that's a bit high of a price for a nearly-worn out generator - a little more hunting on ebay and CL and you should find a more affordable unit with less hours.

One thing I'm glad I installed along with my generator was an automatic transfer switch, which I got on ebay.

When the power goes out, I walk outside and plug the generator in to the twistlock I have hanging out the basement window, fire up the generator, and the transfer switch automatically clicks over a few circuits to the generator. Boiler/water pump, sump pumps, fridge, etc. Critical stuff.

I have a 2-y/o he needs cold milk and a warm house in the winter, and I need a dry basement

I used to have my server farm's UPS on the generator, but I increased the number of batteries so I can run that on battery for about 46 hours, so the generator now has appliance duty.

 

Pay attention to the Cedar Rapids Iowa area for ads, after the ice storm last spring, there wasn't a generator to be found, many of them are for sale lately.

 

I would look for a generator powered by a Honda motor, B&S motors don't last as long, noisy and are gas hogs.
You don't want to load a generator to its maximum continuous power rating. Read carefully generator specs and not let the maximum peak wattage fool you when purchasing as the lower continuous wattage is what you need.
I have a construction grade MultiQuip 6,000 watt powered by a 11 Honda that has many years of trouble free service, hour meter broke 5 years ago at 1,200 hours use. Granted a pull start not electric but I got it almost free.
A auto start generator with a transfer switch running off natural gas or propane if that's you heating gas would be a nice system vs gasoline.
I bet you would pay almost anything being without a generator in the winter during a power failure.

 

Wattage numbers can be misleading. Pay attention to how many amps are available at the plug(s) and how many different circuits there are. You also need to know what your start up amps are compared to running amps. A 10,000 watt generator won't do you any good if it only has 1 20A circuit and you need 25 amps of start up power.

 

Thanks for all the replay's on this.

after doing some thinking and looking I am gonna pass on the used one,

and go with this unit, Sears Craftsman Elec Start Generator I cost more than the used one sure but I have a 2 year old at home and dont want the house to get to cold with him around and not to mention all the food in the fridge and freezer.
and I like the idea of the Electric start. I know them little batteries will die out but I alway's have a jump pack ready and avaible at Home. It is one of those items I just alway's have. Plus it still have the pull start back up to use also.

Thanks for all your thoughts and Idea's on this.

PS. My Wood Boiler is an open loop system and it holds roughly 50 gallons of which I seem to steam off 30 gallons every winter that I have to add back in through the coures of the winter.

thanks again
sublime out

 

You can't beat the Sears Gold Label garden tractor series batteries, they crank out 310 amps yes a lot plus have the anti sulfating properties added.
I have three of 'em that are over five years old still going strong and they are
not expensive.
You might want to check to see if the generators come with the ability to run on different gases like propane as gasoline will go sour sitting monts at a time.