Tax Free Weekend 2017

[rman]

A couple of questions, not sure how this works,but do I just go anywhere (costco, walmart, HF) and the tax will automatically be omitted on qualifying items?

2nd, what about a generator - something powerful enough to run necessities if a 'nader blows a transformer, reliable enough to not suck, and cheap enough to... well, I'm cheapish.

Any decent Harbor Freight Generators? Am I better off finding a deal on ebay or amazon?
Costco units?

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[Vaquero]

Harbor freight are hit or miss. I've got one that's reliable.
Right now I'm running the RV off a Champion from Cabelas.
If you find a Champion on sale it's very much worth it.

 

[rman]

how many watts should we be looking at? I guess the essentials would be the fridge and garage freezer. after that then the basic stuff like phone chargers, laptops, foot spa and massage recliner.

and here's a noob question. how the heck do they work? Do you run extension chords, or is there an input on the external fuse box on the house?

the EF-0 that hit 2 or 3 weeks ago left half the neighborhood without electricity for about 36 hours. Or 12... i don't remember.

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[rman]

7500w champion is 899 at home depot.

$600 I would do it.
$900 means I'm going to research for a long time trying to justify it, and end up with a backup battery the size of a coffin and a government contract for 900 sq ft of solar panels.

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[Vaquero]

2000 or 3000 watt will run a fridge and freezer fine.
No sense in getting a 7500.
A 3500 will be plenty for your use and remain portable and storage.
Use cords for ease of use. If you use the panel on the house, you get into codes and crap. Plus, the generator will try to power all circuits in the house and may not be up to the task.

 

[Mikewood]

Just take the wattage divided by the voltage 110 to get Amps. 7000/100 is 70. That's peak or surge. The actual maintained amperage will be less. The plugs and breakers will tell you. Buy extension cords rated for the amperage they will carry. Don't try to run 20 amps on a 12 amp extension cord.

There is not a main connection on most houses for a generator. An electrician can add one.

Keep in mind this is dirty power. Modern electronics like a nice smooth wave and what you get from little generators is jagged so you can burn up your TV, refrigerator and electronics. I would get a battery backup to run the electronics.

You also need to maintain these gennies. Most require oil changes every 10 hours and lots of gas in cans. They make a lot of noise so you need to chain them to something heavy or they grow legs. Buy a small AC unit to cool one room of the house and plan that to be your do all room till the power comes back on. Lawn chairs etc.

 

[Davetex]

What Vaq said. I've got a 3500 watt Champion to fall back on. Even has remote start. Champions are damn good generators for the money.

 

[rman]

Thanks guys. As mentioned, tge necessities would be the fridge and freezer.

Would the jagged wave damage these?

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[fishingsetx]

Thanks guys. As mentioned, tge necessities would be the fridge and freezer.

Would the jagged wave damage these?

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No. As stated a 3500 watt would be plenty. The only things that "could" be damaged would be sensitive computers or electronics and that is not very likely.

We ran the fridge, freezer, small window AC, and all the lights in our house as needed, the TV, Xbox, and even still had cable for a week after Hurricane Rita and for 2 weeks after Hurricane Ike off a craftsman 3500 watt. This was tied into the main breaker after we pulled the meter. We just left the central heat/air breakers off and only ran the microwave after we shut everything off. Oven and water heater were gas so we could even cook and had hot water.

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[rman]

i wish we had gas here. not used to all electric. then again we use energy ogre and our bill is about 50-75% lower than last year with TXU

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[F350-6]

Just a couple of things to keep in mind when looking at Generators. Most are advertised in peak watts. Ignore that and look for continuous watts rating. A 7,500 watt generator likely only has around 5,000 continuous watts available.

Next look at how many circuit breakers you have for regular 120 power. If it's only 1 20 amp breaker, then you've only got 2,400 watts available unless you rig a cord to work off half the 240 plug.

Also check the size of the gas tank and the run time (which is likely advertised at 50% or lower load, so factor that in.)

 

[fishingsetx]

i wish we had gas here. not used to all electric. then again we use energy ogre and our bill is about 50-75% lower than last year with TXU

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Yea our new house is all electric (no gas out here unless you go propane). We are also limited to Entergy and Entergy only for electric. It was sure nice, at our old house, to be able to just pull the meter, hook up the generator, put the window unit in the bedroom window, and run everything except the central hvac and the microwave!

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[rman]

Just a couple of things to keep in mind when looking at Generators. Most are advertised in peak watts. Ignore that and look for continuous watts rating. A 7,500 watt generator likely only has around 5,000 continuous watts available.

Next look at how many circuit breakers you have for regular 120 power. If it's only 1 20 amp breaker, then you've only got 2,400 watts available unless you rig a cord to work off half the 240 plug.

Also check the size of the gas tank and the run time (which is likely advertised at 50% or lower load, so factor that in.)

hmmm... our current rented house has 2 panels, our new house should have 2 as well..

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[F350-6]

I wasn't referring to the house. Check the generator to see how many circuit breakers it has. It may have 4 or 6 plugs on it, but if there's only 1 breaker running all those plugs, you're topped out at 20 amps.

 

[rman]

I wasn't referring to the house. Check the generator to see how many circuit breakers it has. It may have 4 or 6 plugs on it, but if there's only 1 breaker running all those plugs, you're topped out at 20 amps.

yeah i was just looking at a generator and realized what you were saying. makes way more sense lol

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[Mikewood]

Thanks guys. As mentioned, tge necessities would be the fridge and freezer.

Would the jagged wave damage these?

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Possibly. I have run them without issue but I have also burned up the "frost free" heating coil on one and the refrigerator started frosting over. It was a $20 fix but still...

It can get you out of a jamb but just don't expect much. Another option is a hotel. Hurricanes can tear quite a swath of damage but usually the power is back on 72 hours to a week. We were out for two weeks with Ike and knowing what I know now I would have sent the wife to stay with her parents and just stayed at a hotel vs sweating it out I houston heat that summer. Particularly since homes two blocks away had power within a couple days.

 

[fishingsetx]

Possibly. I have run them without issue but I have also burned up the "frost free" heating coil on one and the refrigerator started frosting over. It was a $20 fix but still...

It can get you out of a jamb but just don't expect much. Another option is a hotel. Hurricanes can tear quite a swath of damage but usually the power is back on 72 hours to a week. We were out for two weeks with Ike and knowing what I know now I would have sent the wife to stay with her parents and just stayed at a hotel vs sweating it out I houston heat that summer. Particularly since homes two blocks away had power within a couple days.

Only problem with the hotel scenario is all the food you loose by not keeping the freezer and fridge running, not to mention having to replace the fridge and freezer! A small window unit is less than $150 and works wonders!

If you are worried about the sine waves from the generator tearing up stuff, pick up an inverter generator. They are more expensive, but much quieter and WAY more fuel efficient!!! I can run my 2 yamahas (combined 4000 watt surge 3200 watt continuous) for 8 hrs at 75% load on 2.2 gallons of fuel! My old 3500 watt craftsman would take 7 gallons and only ran 6 hrs.

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[rman]

right now I'm looking at a champion dual fuel, and very efficient on propane.

and the main reason behind this would be to keep the garage freezer and refrigerator going. with 4 kids we keep the food stocked.

hotel wouldn't be a horrible idea though, I'm a Hilton diamond member and can book a free nigh (or a few weeks) with basically no advanced warning.

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[locke_n_load]

Word to the wise - If you have multiple breakers on your generator, you probably won't be able to pull the advertised wattage from a single outlet either - My generator is rated at 3200/4000 (continuous/peak), but in reality, it is two different windings/circuits, so the max you can pull from any one outlet is 17 amps (1600/2000 watts continuous/peak from any one outlet, 2000watts divided by 115 volts is 17 amps). May make a difference if you want to run an a/c window unit that requires more than that to start (compressors usually take a good amount more watts than the advertised running watts to start up).