Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The simplest and safest way to use your small portable or jobsite generator (approximately 1
kW-10 kW) is to run your appliances directly using extension cords and outlet strips to add
more plug sockets if needed. This way of using your generator is fairly safe, provided that you
keep your electrical plugs and connections dry and out of the weather, but can lead to a “rat's
nest” of power cords running throughout your house, and can be a fire hazard if you overload
your power cords. Realize that these small generators have limited capacity—far less than the
capacity of the typical home electrical system, so you will need to pick and choose which ap-
pliances you will run at one time on your generator. For example, my Honda UE2000 portable
generator is rated for continuous loads of 13.3 amps at 120 volts AC (VAC), which is about 1.6
kW, and can handle peak loads of 2 kW. To determine the load of the appliances you wish to
run, you can add up either the amps (electric current) for each appliance, or the wattage of each
appliance.
Power, also known as “watts” is simply the current (amps) multiplied by the voltage for
each appliance. One kW is one “kilowatt,” which simply means 1,000 watts. For example, the
tag on my refrigerator says it is rated for 6.6 amps at maximum load, which means it uses a
maximum of 6.6 amps × 120 volts = 792 watts. So, if I want to run my refrigerator off my
Honda 2 kW generator (2 kW is equal to 2,000 watts), then that leaves me 2000 watts - 792
watts = 1208 watts of available generator capacity left over to run other things, such as light
bulbs, computers, and televisions. My desktop computer is rated for 6 amps at 120 VAC (6 ×
120 = 720 watts) and my refrigerator is 792 watts (720 + 792 = 1512 watts so far), so that
means I could run my refrigerator and my desktop computer plus no more than eight 60-watt
lightbulbs off my Honda 2 kW generator. Since the plug-in adapter power pack to run my
laptop computer is rated at only 90 watts, if I chose to run my laptop instead of my desktop
computer, plus my refrigerator, that would total only 882 watts, leaving me 1118 watts left over
for running things like lights, a stereo, a small TV, etc. Now, if I replaced my old 60-watt incan-
descent lightbulbs with 15-watt compact fluorescent (CF) light bulbs (they give off light equi-
valent to 60-watt incandescent bulbs), I could run four times as many CF bulbs on the same
amount of power, which makes a huge difference when you are operating your home off the
limited power supplied by a small generator! Long-lasting super-efficient LED light bulbs that
screw into normal 110 VAC lightbulb sockets are relative newcomers in the home lighting mar-
ket. They used to be prohibitively expensive, but are now coming down in price to the point
where they are starting to give compact fluorescents serious competition. Currently a 9-watt
LED bulb gives off light that is equivalent to a 15-watt CF and a 60-watt incandescent bulb,
