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Portable Generator to Run Home AC
Posted on 7/6/23 at 8:40 am
Posted on 7/6/23 at 8:40 am
I am wanting to get a generator that would run my home AC in the event of a power outage. I don't want to spend the money on a whole home. Anyone have a setup like this or know if you can find a large portable generator to run a home AC?
TIA
TIA
10
Posted on 7/6/23 at 8:44 am to LSUTiger23
i did exactly this. 12,500 generator was under $1,500. Hired an electrician to add the plug and switch for my electrical panel for about $500. I got a dual fuel. Have tested it on propane, works fine and runs everything I need it to.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 8:50 am to blacykaty
Awesome. What ton AC unit do you have in your house? What brand generator did you buy?
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:05 am to LSUTiger23
You'll need a soft-start as well for the HVAC. Amps needed to start the HVAC without one will be lacking. Also, you should size your home using a generator watt calculator before buying a generator. Bigger the generator, the more fuel they consume. Try to get the bare minimum to power your hvac, fridge, a few lights for efficiency.
I have a Firman Tri-Fuel from Costco for ultimate flexibility re: fuel availability. Wired it in myself and was pretty easy. Runs a 2.5 ton hvac with ease along with the rest of the stuff I need.
Costco had it for $700 when I got mine. YRMV
I have a Firman Tri-Fuel from Costco for ultimate flexibility re: fuel availability. Wired it in myself and was pretty easy. Runs a 2.5 ton hvac with ease along with the rest of the stuff I need.
Costco had it for $700 when I got mine. YRMV
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:27 am to LSUTiger23
There are a couple recent threads on this topic with information that will be helpful to you.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 9:30 am to LSUTiger23
if it can run your AC, it will run your whole home. the AC is the biggest load and startup of the AC is the biggest problem.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 11:35 am to notsince98
I have seen improper RPM cause less than 60 Hertz. AC won’t start on wrong Hertz.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 11:37 am to LSUTiger23
look up your model of compressor and it will tell you what it’s start up load is. Start there
Posted on 7/6/23 at 12:56 pm to LSUTiger23
A 7,500 kw generator and a window unit will work pretty damn well.
Posted on 7/6/23 at 3:35 pm to PureBlood
I had our electrician look into this for our home. We have a mix of older and new compressors. He said the older A/C compressors won't work with a portable generator. I think it had to do with the # of phases?
Posted on 7/6/23 at 4:59 pm to LSUTiger23
Depends on how big your AC is. This one will run your whole house with a 50 amp plug probably...
Posted on 7/6/23 at 5:02 pm to cbdman
The older compressors are probably Recip. That is crankshaft & piston.
They will start with a hard start kit, if you have your gen at 60 hertz.
A standard Kick Start brand across C and Herm on the regular capacitor.
Unless, you do indeed have 3 phase in your house which i doubt .
They will start with a hard start kit, if you have your gen at 60 hertz.
A standard Kick Start brand across C and Herm on the regular capacitor.
Unless, you do indeed have 3 phase in your house which i doubt .
This post was edited on 7/6/23 at 5:05 pm
Posted on 7/12/23 at 10:08 pm to cbdman
quote:
He said the older A/C compressors won't work with a portable generator. I think it had to do with the # of phases?
Virtually all residences have single phase power so that’s not the issue.
Older AC compressors have a higher “inrush” (locked-rotor amps/LRA) than newer units so they require more of a jolt to get in motion. But older compressors can definitely do well with a soft starter - I have a compressor from 2003 (R22) that has been running on a MicroAir soft starter for nearly 2 years. Its start count is somewhere around 15k and the inrush has been reduced by about 70%. My 20kW Honeywell barely feels it on startup. Here’s my write up:
LINK /
Posted on 7/13/23 at 6:23 pm to LSUTiger23
i can cool my entire house and run electronics on a less than 7kW running generator after installing a $300 soft starter on the compressor
i think my unit is 2.5T if a remember correctly? house pulls around 3000W when the AC is running
i think my unit is 2.5T if a remember correctly? house pulls around 3000W when the AC is running
This post was edited on 7/13/23 at 6:25 pm
Posted on 7/14/23 at 6:43 am to DVinBR
How can I tell what tonnage my A/C is?
Posted on 7/14/23 at 8:50 am to RetiredSaintsLsuFan
quote:
How can I tell what tonnage my A/C is?
go look at the plaque on your AC with the model/serial number. It will usually list the BTUs which you will then need to convert to tons. Google a chart, below are two examples. If the BTUs aren't listed on your plaque, just google your model number and it will tell you.
30,000 BTUs >>>>> 2.5 Tons
60,000 BTUs>>>>> 5.0 Tons
This post was edited on 7/14/23 at 5:29 pm
Posted on 7/14/23 at 10:31 am to lsujro
Microair is very nice and gives you diagnostics with the app, my issue with it is the size. It may or may not fit in the panel with the contactor/capacitor in which you'd have to put it in an external stand-alone junction box with some conduit. I went with the hyper engineering sure start. It doesn't have all the diagnostic information on an app like the microair, but it's a lot smaller and I was able to easily fit it in the panel.
Posted on 7/14/23 at 11:21 pm to DVinBR
quote:
It may or may not fit in the panel with the contactor/capacitor in which you'd have to put it in an external stand-alone junction box with some conduit.
I went this route for the simple fact that MicroAir told me what would weather it the quickest - sunlight. So I got a PVC enclosure for it just ran the wire with a cable gland. Would probably advise going with conduit and will probably do that in the future.
Posted on 7/15/23 at 7:16 am to LSUTiger23
It’s a lot easier and cheaper to just get a window AC unit and a smaller generator. Unless you get a tri fuel generator and hook it up to your nat gas line, you are talking a pretty significant amount of gas to run a generator that will run your home AC 24 hours a day.
The benefit of a window unit is you can run your window unit at night and pretty quickly cool a bedroom down to sleep. Run your appliances individually during the day when needed. It can take 2-3 hours for a bedroom to cool down if you don’t run your home AC and it warms up to 80 in your house. A window unit will get your bedroom down in 30 mins usually.
I’m not trying to talk you out of it. But a window unit and a smaller generator also has a lot of other uses. Where as a larger generator really is not very portable.
The benefit of a window unit is you can run your window unit at night and pretty quickly cool a bedroom down to sleep. Run your appliances individually during the day when needed. It can take 2-3 hours for a bedroom to cool down if you don’t run your home AC and it warms up to 80 in your house. A window unit will get your bedroom down in 30 mins usually.
I’m not trying to talk you out of it. But a window unit and a smaller generator also has a lot of other uses. Where as a larger generator really is not very portable.
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