Clean generator power

[mikefamig]

politics123
 
That's an interesting idea. One difficulty though is to identify wat is sensitive and what is not. I say this because I ran my entire house on a portable camper generator 7x24 for 7 days and had no problem. I understand that some devices can be damaged over time or the generator power can shorten their lives if run very long but which devices are sensitive? What do you protect and what don't you protect? Even a refrigerator or water heater can have electronic controls today.
 
Mike.

 

[pete_c]

Over the years relating to IT projects here have installed generators for offices - banks in the 1990's and gas and oil facilities in the 2000's.
 
It was always a massive UPS that took care of one or more floors in an office on 24/7 with a generator backup using kerosene or natural gas.
 
I brought one office UPS home that was given to me after switching one office to a UPS (in a room) that took care of most of the office.
 
It did have a bunch of new batteries in it (IE car battery size).  Never did hook it up though.  It was a PITA to move though because of the weight.  Over the years disassembled it piece by piece and threw it out.
 
On a side note working on one project (site) in Texas that was new and before there was electricity; local IT person cranked on generator leaving a few Cisco switches and routers on.  The power surge did trash all of the Cisco switches at the time.
 
In retrospect relating to discussion at hand; really the best way but not that practical is to have a whole house UPS running 24/7 (large and expensive) and using the generator as a backup to the UPS system.

 

[mikefamig]

OK so I've been doing a bunch of reading and this is what I've learned so far:
 
1- Total harmonic distortion is is the measure of power quality or lack of it to be correct.
 
2- THD is greater in cheaper generators because components to create a pure sine wave is very expensive
 
3- THD increases with load on the generator
 
4- THD less that 5% is widely accepted as safe for sensitive electronic equipment found in most homes and <3% is ideal.
                     Both Cummins and Kohler 20kw residential standby generators spec is stated as <5% THD
 
With all of the above in mind it seems like the most practical and affordable way to be assured that your equipment is safe is to install a whole house standby generator rated at <5% THD. It just doesn't seem practical to try to improve the power from a portable generator.
 
Bottom line is that with what I've learned so far I am going to continue to use my portable generator as-is and hope for the best. It is a 10kw generator and other than an electric hot water heater (4500w) the gen hardly ever breaks a sweat. I can even switch the hot water heater manually when the electronics are not running.
 
Mike.