# Looking for real-world fuel consumption comparisons



## PeteCress2 (Jun 7, 2020)

Been using an EU2000i + Companion with the initial plan of only running one most of the time and using the other for redundancy and to deal with overload situations.

House cruises at 800-1200 watts, but when we need to make coffee, make toast, or run the microwave it tends to trip the breaker on a single EU2000.

Also, I just went from a 6-circuit transfer switch to a 10-circuit switch - and the extra 4 circuits which will probably add a few hundred watts to the house's "Cruising Speed".

Consequently I am finding that I run both gennies all of the time just bco the convenience of not having to run out to the garden shed and start/stop the second gennie.

A family member needs a 2K gennie, and I am figuring on giving her one of the EU2000's and replacing it with something big enough as to not need a second unit running in parallel - leaving the second EU2000 to serve simply as backup in case the newer/larger unit fails.

So I am looking for an inverter gennie over 4KW that won't drink too much gas putting out, say, 2,500 watts most of the time.

Can anybody point to "Real World" gallons-per-hour numbers for various inverter gennies running at 2,500 watts?


----------



## tabora (Sep 6, 2018)

You may want to consider the EU3000is. Honda EU3000iS Model Info | Super Quiet 3000 Watt Inverter Generator | Honda Generators


----------



## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

PeteCress2 said:


> Been using an EU2000i + Companion with the initial plan of only running one most of the time and using the other for redundancy and to deal with overload situations.
> 
> House cruises at 800-1200 watts, but when we need to make coffee, make toast, or run the microwave it tends to trip the breaker on a single EU2000.
> 
> ...


hey pete
what fuels do you have available on your site?
if you have natural gas, think the honda eu7000is..
with a tri fuel kit.
yea it is fuel injected for the gasoline... and is real good on fuel.
and is electric start too.
and they make remote kits for them.
wired as well as wireless..
the eu2200i runs well on natural gas too!

the big thing is cost per kwh on any gen system..
and yes the eu3000i does have electric start.

just look at the cc's on the motors...
the little eu2000i units sip fuel.. gx100 engine
but on the eu7000is they use more just to sit at idle.. gx 390 engine so almost 4 x the engine size.

i have 2 of the eu2200 units that i can run at the same time if needed..
or drop back to just one.
are you all led on your lights?
and look at better microwave units that are better on the watts consumed.
lol
also gas range toaster!!
i have one of the camping toasters in case we loose power as the gas stove will run without power.
there is always a way!
grin!


----------



## PeteCress2 (Jun 7, 2020)

Yes, the lights are 100% LED and I found that the microwave need not be a problem if Power Level is set to something less than full.

But testing over the past few days has revealed another offender: an older refrigerator that draws up to 1,700 watts at startup and close to 1,000 sometimes when running. I am guessing these are worst-case numbers and that it is doing something energy-intensive like defrosting the freezer side.... but those are the numbers I am seeing.

Funny thing is that back in the pre-LED lighting days, the two EU2000's served perfectly well during a number of outages - one of them 9 days long. Same old reefer, although maybe I got lucky on the auto-defrost feature not running during those times.

In my ignorance back on Day-1, I bought a fancy-schamcy APC transfer switch that does everything but talk, but all those features introduced new potential points of failure and the thing went bananas during the recent 3-day out age so I replaced it with a sensible/simple switch-only unit that does ten circuits instead of six and allows me to easily troubleshoot/check individual circuits by just flipping switches for individual circuits between "Gen", "Off", and "Line" with a _Kill-A-Watt_ meter in series with the line from the generators.

But now, with all 10 circuits on "Generator" the house cruises on more like 1,400-1,600 watts instead of 800-1200.

With the new unit it is trivial to just flip all the switches except the one serving the offending refrigerator to "Off" in order to let the thing start up.... but the high continuous load of that reefer and the chance of another startup surge still lurk.

1,700 + 1,600 = 3,300 possible watts, so the chances of tripping an EU3000 seem significant.

I had not considered the EU7000 on natural gas.

That seems appealing - especially in light of total consumption not being such an issue considering use only during fairly-rare outages, and the reduced hassle of storing gasoline.

But five grand for an EU7000 plus whatever it takes to run natural gas far enough away from the house to assuage my carbon monoxide paranoia seems like we're approaching the $8,000-$9,000 it would cost to install one of those "Whole House" automated gennies - which would give us AC, washer/dryer, electric stove, and dishwasher.

With that in mind, a "Whole House" gennie with a single EU2000 as survival-backup seems now to be on the table - assuming it could be sized to accomodate all of the above.

OTOH, maybe it's time for a new reefer without that heinous startup surge or the high continuous load plus a few days of live testing with the two EU2000's to see how things hold up.

What are your thoughts?


----------



## ToolLover (Jan 13, 2020)

@PeteCress2 :
Where are you getting the prices of the stand by generators?
My new 16KW Generac was only $3600 delivered.
It powers the house excluding the electric oven and dryer.
Here is one possible source: https://www.auctiontime.com/listing.../manufacturer/generac?DrilldownAction=CatManu


----------



## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

yea pete it is fridge time for sure.
my fridge is only 1 amp as run.
and the chest freezer is the same.

click here for the generator connection page

that page has a pix and parts list for the meter setup i did on my system.
if you are to run 240 on the generator system then change the meter box to the larger box and add an extra 4 line meter.
i have t set for 125 vac input right now..
and i can run up to 4 of the eu2200i generators if needed.

yea the eu 7000is is a good gen set!!
if you run any of the honda gen sets off the natural gas, the emissions are way lower!!
to do the natural gas generator part it is on the site as well.
it all depends where your natural gas connection is and where you need the generator inlet.

i went the interlock system, and a 60 amp inlet with 6/4 guage wire.
so i am covered for what i need.

winter is super low power for me, i ran it on an eu1000i!! no kidding!!
so a single eu2200i is over kill in winter..

map out your power is the best advice i can have..
i moved the breaker panel to an easy to get to place in the house on the main level.
no stairs etc to have to do when the lights are out..

i have added automatic led emergency lights now to the system as of this month.
pretty cool!! so less chance of issues with switching over to generator in the dark.

look at cost per hour run time on the generators..
that is what made me choose the hondas..
way lower..
and the resale is good on the eu series of hondas if you decide to up grade to the latest units in 5 years from now.

i would bite the bullet and go with the eu7000is with a natural gas setup..
I have that here as an option as well.


----------



## PeteCress2 (Jun 7, 2020)

ToolLover said:


> @PeteCress2 :
> Where are you getting the prices of the stand by generators?
> My new 16KW Generac was only $3600 delivered.


Installation: running the nat gas line, running the copper to deliver the power....


----------



## iowagold (Jan 22, 2020)

cool!
yup run fat wire!!
and large gas lines.
that way you run them only once in case you need to upgrade later.
i ran one inch line, but i am just a short 10 feet from the meter / regulator.

I like at the min 6/4 wire for the generator feed short run..
and if you are over 40 feet 4/4 would be nice.
copper is the only way to go!!
hey that brings up something!!
watch any wire you buy right now!!
make sure it is all 100% copper stranded wire.
copper clad aluminum is out there!!
avoid copper clad aluminum wire when ever you can for sure.


----------

