Thinking about a small generator.

[ducatiz]

Before we put a whole-house natgas generator in, I had a harbor freight 4000/3200w generator that handled quite a bit very well.

I had a 6-circuit transfer switch which used an L14-30 plug-in from the gen.

I had it running two refrigerators, the furnace fan, and two light/outlet circuits in the house.

A typical home fridge uses between 5-8 amps.  Modern ones use less and don't need a huge margin for startup. 

[lethe]

Mike(lethe) could answer this one since he installed one in his place...

lethe, to the black courtesy phone, lethe to the black courtesy phone please

What I have is overkill for his intention.
He wants simple and what I have is complex and had I not done it all myself, pretty expensive.

[MendoDave]

We have a Generator down at the place in inglenook. It's a Kohler. The thing always starts by the third pull if not the first or second.
No fancy electrician work. There is an outlet in the pump house, so I made a double male pigtail to run half the house off of through that circuit.

I just shut off the main when the power goes out so as not to supply the rest of the neighborhood with electricity and then shut off anything else that isn't necessary. Mostly the refrigerators are the main concern, and I can run the well pump off it. So with the propane water heater (instant On) We can get a shower once a day and the fridge will stay cold if you run the generator two to three times a day for a half hour each or so.

The Kohler works fine but The Honda is better. But it's not like I use the thing all the time...

Up here in Klamath Falls I got nuthin. A few years ago the power went out for 20 minutes or so and I had to reset some of the clocks. I guess if the power went out for a long time i would shut off the water and leave town for a few days.