Why do you need a generator

Why do you need a generator

When the power goes out, a generator can keep your house warm or cool, your kitchen cooking, and your computers and phones charging. Assuming you have one.

Portable solutions will power your home appliances during blackouts, your recreational toys when you’re camping or outdoors, and/or tools on your job site. Home generator systems are installed at your home and will power at-home medical equipment, multiple home appliances, and in most cases actually start automatically during power outages.

How to Select the Right Generator For the Job

You’ve seen what can happen during natural disasters, storms and power outages. Gogopower Australia will help you with Power Generator buying guide. You know you want an alternate power source for your home. To determine how much power you require, follow these steps:

  1. What do you need to power? Make a list. Ask yourself what you will need to power during an electrical outage: just appliances and lights? Computers and home electronics, too? Some families have in-home medical equipment that is a priority, while others need to ensure they have enough power to keep stocked food supplies on ice. If you need a generator for recreational or jobsite usage, list out the toolsor appliances you will want to use at the same time. Will you need to power work lights along with your tools? What about a radio? On camping or fishing trips, how many outdoor cooking, heating or entertainment appliances or accessories will you and your family or friends be using at once?
  2. Determine what it takes to start each appliance. Ensure you’ll be able to start (not simply run) your appliances. The “starting wattage” is the amount of wattage needed to start an appliance with a motor; and it may be two to threetimes the wattage required to run the appliance. If you have owner’s manuals, check for your appliances’ listed start-up wattages (vs. the running wattage or the rated wattage). If you don’t have owner’s manuals, use our wattage calculator to estimate your power needs.
  3. Calculate your total power needs. It’s a two part equation. First, add up all the “running wattage” for all the items you wish to power simultaneously. This equals the total running watts your generator needs to produce simply to run your equipment. Next, add to that total the highest of the “starting wattages” you wrote down in step 2, above. Now you know how much power you need to start and run your appliances and equipment!

With the knowledge you now have about your power needs, you can comparison shop for generators within your wattage requirement. Warning: Never connect a generator directly to a home’s wiring! If you intend to connect a generator to your home’s electrical system, hire a qualified electrician to install a transfer switch.

All Briggs & Stratton portable generators are powered by high-quality Briggs& Stratton gas engines that offer power you can count on. Portable generators provide dependable power during power outages and can also be used to run your power tools or to make recreational areas more comfortable where there is no electricity.

 

shop for a portable generator


To shop for a portable generator, follow these steps:

  1. Determine your power needs. Portable generators can range from 900 to 10,000 watts
  2. Think about the ease of transporting your generator. Most Briggs & Stratton portable generators come with wheels, and some are light enough to carry. If you require wheels, you’ll love our never-flat, puncture-resistant wheels for easier transportation over rugged terrain like construction sites.
  3. Look for a generator with at least 10 hours of runtime. This allows contractors to make it through a full day’s work and home owners to get a full night’s sleep without re-fueling.
Count how many outlets you’ll need on your generator. This depends on how many appliances you’ll need to power at once. Check your appliances to see what type of outlets you’ll need. See diagram below for outlet types.

How can I determine the necessary power of a generator set?

There is a simple and have a look on power generator buying guide practical way to determine the necessary power of a generator in five steps:
  1. Make a list of all the appliances (charges), and machines which will be connected to the generating set.
  2. Note down for every machine the power in Watts, the kind of charge (resistive / inductive) and the Power factor or cos phi.
  3. When the cos phi = 1, then: 1 VA = 1 W. When cos phi < 1, then: VA = W / cos phi
    For electric motors (rule of thumb): take the power of the electric motor in HP and multiply it by 746, your answer is in watts. This is the general way to calculate the number of watts the generator needs for running the electric motor.
  4. Add all the obtained power in VA (watts).
  5. Add a safety margin of 20% to the result of step 4.

The conversion of the HP’s of the electric motor into the kVA’s of the generator is a ‘Rule of Thumb’ calculation, which is correct in 90 % of the cases but NOT ALWAYS !!!

When using this procedure to determine the necessary power of the generating set, you have to be sure that the power stated by the manufacturer of the generator is the real power, not the ‘commercial’ power.

EXAMPLE: If you need a generator for a 500 Watt heater, 5 strip lights of 50 Watt and a compressor of 2 HP. Adding up all the power requirements with a 20% loading gives a generator set requirement of 2.726 Kva