generator?

[olebama]

My brother asked me this question. He is looking to get a generator to run freezer and refrigerator. In the 70s or 80s, he borrowed a generator from a neighbor to run the refrigerator. It "ran" the refrigerator but it wouldn't cool. I recall some discussion somewhere about the generator not producing a good sine wave.

So, to the question, how do you tell if the generator will make a refrigerator cool? Someone said put a small "dorm" refrigerator on it and if it works, the full size refrigerator should work. I would assume a Honda brand would work, but they are pricey.

Any thoughts?

[geron]

That's a new one to me. Never heard of it. So far can't find anything on Google referencing such a situation. Seems logical however since modern refrigerators have computer (electronic) boards in them. Good Luck.

[cowgirlup]

From what I've read you need a big enough generator (out put) to run a full size refrigerator.
I just bought a small solar powered unit with the understanding it will only power our smaller emergency fridge.
On the website it gave examples of what each of the units they sold would power and for how long before recharge.

Our portable gas powered generator at 13,500 watts will power almost our whole house including furnace, full size refrigerator and full size freezer.

[crashdive123]

The size of the generator does not matter as long as it is big enough (output watts) to power what you need. Some appliances will be labeled for their wattage. For those that aren't, multiply voltage (120) times amperage (should be stamped on equipment plate) to calculate wattage. 120 volts X 10 amps = 1200 watts.

What comes into play with many generators is exactly what olebama stated, that the output is a little off. I had two generators (still do) and during an extended use post hurricane they both worked OK, but I noticed that it took a lot longer to make ice. Not all that big of a deal, but it means that my freezer (and anything else) was not running as efficiently as it should.

If the output is off by a little (say 56 hz versus 60 hz) then the equipment will not run as efficiently. If it is too far off it could damage the equipment.

I changed over to an inerter type generator. There are many on the market - I chose Honda. These have a pure sine wave output that is actually 60 hz. Everything runs great. A friend has the Predator brand which is about half the price of the Honda. He likes it.

[olebama]

Thanks, all. So, from what Crash says, he needs an inverter type generator. This helps a lot.

[Ceorlmann]

I recently took my family to a motor sports store where we got to discuss generators. This store sold Honda brand inverter generators of various power capabilities. We both liked the one that's rated for 7000 watts. That said...

We use a Craftsman brand inverter generator that has worked for us since North Carolina. It has two A/C outlets plus a USB outlet and a car outlet. It's a pull starter. It's recommended to turn it on for a half hour once a month. I haven't always kept to that, but every time it's been needed it's never failed us. We use it to power both our full sized refrigerator and a chest freezer. It's only rated 2200 watts, but for the critical stuff like a refrigerator it works.

[woodyz]

We bought and put in a GENERAC after our big ice storm in 2014

Have had couple of outages and it has worked fine, runs fridge an upright and a chest freezer + the house

Runs off a propane tank which we already had

Uses a lot of propane when it runs, but that's better than being in the dark all all of my food going bad

Once it was paid for there is a small maintenance charge each month, they come look at it about every 3 months, but it's never broke down yet

Other than them hounding us to upgrade, it's been a great buy