[The Cajun]

I've got a 15KW turned by a 30HP diesel tractor and I can't carry the whole house. Certain things kick on at the same time and you have a problem. Central air has a big start up surge current by itself, you can hear the diesel load up just with it kicking on.

Lots of people ruin their generators after a storm by trying to power up too much, especially the smaller 5 and 7.5KW units or they ruin the engines by not changing oil every 24 hours (engines without oil filters).

[patton]

Yeah, but...

My 7.5 KVA will run the entire house, excluding only the A/C. Heat is GFA, but we use wood instead... so really, it is running only a fridge, freezer, lights, and the computers/TVs.

Now way that needs even a SURGE of 7.5

[sitetest]

Dear The Cajun,

Yeah, what you said. ;-)

I know that we typically only run about 2500KWH in a month (maybe 3500 in a really, really hot summer month, or a bitterly-cold winter month).

That comes to maybe 4KW per hour on average, or thereabouts, over the course of a month.

But the refrigerator only comes on for a few minutes at a time, and then stays off sometimes for a few hours. The washer and dryer aren't on continuously, the dishwasher, maybe an average of 90 minutes per day.

And the heat pumps, thank God, are not on that much. And the electric furnace thingy in the heat pump is only on in the worst weather, for limited periods.

But when those suckers are on, boy do they suck juice.

sitetest