# $600 Built In Tri-Fuel sips 17 cents an hour!



## RAnst4038 (Dec 27, 2011)

I’m not working, just living on savings taking care of my 85 year old father now that Mom died. But after 4 days without power during the recent tree limb snapping fest I set out to find a cheap emergency generator.
I decided on the Champion Model 46514 3500 watt at Tractor Supply for $299 because of the low price & solid 5 star rating everywhere I looked.
After getting it I thought about how much it would suck lugging it out & hooking it up in a three-foot blizzard, so I decided to build it in.
The place I wanted to put it was under the front porch. Which was rotten & leaking bad into the basement every time it rained. So I had to completely replace the front porch down to the 4x4s before I could even start the gen install. But that’s a different forum.
With what parts & materials I already had on hand I still had to spend $300 more to install the generator for a total of $600. But now I have piece of mind that I won’t have to evacuate Dad. But due to the ridiculously small Doc attachment limits here  you will have to go to ac-generators : ac-generators and look in the Files section to see the story as $600 Tri-Fuel Generator Install. Captured beautifully by my new Canon Power Shot ELPH 300 HS. I picked the right camera too. Rick


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## SonnyT (Sep 20, 2010)

Sounds like you got it under control and had a nice build! Just wondering how much you can run with 3500 watts? I need to get one someday, but have been leaning toward a 5500 watt or so.


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## RAnst4038 (Dec 27, 2011)

SonnyT said:


> Sounds like you got it under control and had a nice build! Just wondering how much you can run with 3500 watts? I need to get one someday, but have been leaning toward a 5500 watt or so.


It all depends on your power needs Vs money you want to spend.
I have the advantage of being a Heat & A/C Mech so I have handy tools like a recording amp probe. I just hooked it to one main leg feeding the house at a time. Turned on everything & found out that the load was really unbalanced. The frig, chest freezer, garage & washing machine were all on the same leg. While the other had only the furnace & not much more. After swapping some breakers around I got it so both legs never got above 12 amps. And this is just for emergencies. Your not going to turn on the toaster oven, microwave & coffee maker at the same time. You have to run the place like Green Acres.


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## Johnny Spimony (Jan 13, 2012)

RAnst4038 said:


> I’m not working, just living on savings taking care of my 85 year old father now that Mom died. But after 4 days without power during the recent tree limb snapping fest I set out to find a cheap emergency generator.
> I decided on the Champion Model 46514 3500 watt at Tractor Supply for $299 because of the low price & solid 5 star rating everywhere I looked.
> After getting it I thought about how much it would suck lugging it out & hooking it up in a three-foot blizzard, so I decided to build it in.
> The place I wanted to put it was under the front porch. Which was rotten & leaking bad into the basement every time it rained. So I had to completely replace the front porch down to the 4x4s before I could even start the gen install. But that’s a different forum.
> With what parts & materials I already had on hand I still had to spend $300 more to install the generator for a total of $600. But now I have piece of mind that I won’t have to evacuate Dad. But due to the ridiculously small Doc attachment limits here  you will have to go to ac-generators : ac-generators and look in the Files section to see the story as $600 Tri-Fuel Generator Install. Captured beautifully by my new Canon Power Shot ELPH 300 HS. I picked the right camera too. Rick


Well welcome here, along with me, and I hope that you can get some answers for any questions you're looking for!


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## Apple211 (Jan 29, 2015)

HI guys - thanks very much for posting this info.


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