I've had a few houses in the past and got by with my little Honda EU2000 generator (1600watts continuous). The first house (rental) I ran around with an extension cord doing one thing at a time (coffee, check, toaster, check, plug in fridge). Then I got smarter and the next couple houses had reliance controls transfer switches on the critical loads. I have a new house and I'm looking to do the same, but thinking about a battery set up so I don't have to run the Honda outside unless it's absolutely necessary.
Critical loads on new house: 2 Fridges (kitchen/garage), garage door openers (same circuit as fridge 2), outlets in living room (lights, router, modem, LCD TV), in winter the gas furnace can be run. I could also wire up the bedroom/bathroom circuits and leave those off during the day and turn them on at night in order to get ready for bed. Pretty minimal. But until I move in and measure stuff with my kill-a-watt, it's just a guessing game right now. But I like to brain storm and plan ahead.
I figure by skipping all the 240v stuff, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, etc I can get by for a few days "camping" in the house. I'm on city water and sewer and have propane for the cook top and furnace.
Is a server rack battery and inverter set up and decent solution? Or should I up my generator size to say a Honda 7000? A big solar array is further down the planning stages. I'm just trying to get a reliable back up solution to our new house as soon as possible after moving in. I also really don't like going to bed with a gas engine running in the back yard.
Critical loads on new house: 2 Fridges (kitchen/garage), garage door openers (same circuit as fridge 2), outlets in living room (lights, router, modem, LCD TV), in winter the gas furnace can be run. I could also wire up the bedroom/bathroom circuits and leave those off during the day and turn them on at night in order to get ready for bed. Pretty minimal. But until I move in and measure stuff with my kill-a-watt, it's just a guessing game right now. But I like to brain storm and plan ahead.
I figure by skipping all the 240v stuff, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, etc I can get by for a few days "camping" in the house. I'm on city water and sewer and have propane for the cook top and furnace.
Is a server rack battery and inverter set up and decent solution? Or should I up my generator size to say a Honda 7000? A big solar array is further down the planning stages. I'm just trying to get a reliable back up solution to our new house as soon as possible after moving in. I also really don't like going to bed with a gas engine running in the back yard.
). LED bulbs are so amazing.