Question about Generator

Ugahunter2013

Senior Member
I just bought my first generator. A 3,600/4,000 watt gass Ryobi generator. Several questions i have are...it has 4 115v plug ins. I plan on running 3 of my freezers to it which are 575ish watts each. That will leave 1 outlet. If say i want to run several low wattage items like a small fan, phone charger, coffee maker, etc.....can i plug them in to an adaptor of sort and plug that into the outlet that is left?

Also, how long can i run a generator continuously? Assuming it is kept woth gas in it? I have no experience with generators and dont know what to expect out of them. During Irma we were without power for 10 days and keeping a dozen coolers full of deer meat, veggies, etc full of ice was a pain.
 

rospaw

Senior Member
Start freezing some ice .... just in case.
3 freezers will be a load if two of the compressors start at the same time. Not sure about Ryobi stuff and if it will handle it.
How long run time ..... Not sure about ryobi but a 5k honda i ran for 13 days/18hrs a day with no issues. Few day 24hrs days.
Start freezing water bottles, ice blocks ect.
 

WayneB

Senior Member
coffee maker is a HIGH power user, everything else you should be good to go.
I have run generators for months, changing oil one day a week and they are still running.
 

SGADawg

Senior Member
It should run 3 freezers. Stagger start them. Electric motors use 2 or more times as much power to start as they do to run. Plug one into a running generator, wait a few seconds then plug in another. Then the 3rd.

Run time is only limited by gas capacity. Let it cool for a few minutes, refuel, remove any load, start it back up, plug things back up and go again.
 

lbzdually

Banned
Start freezing some ice .... just in case.
3 freezers will be a load if two of the compressors start at the same time. Not sure about Ryobi stuff and if it will handle it.
How long run time ..... Not sure about ryobi but a 5k honda i ran for 13 days/18hrs a day with no issues. Few day 24hrs days.
Start freezing water bottles, ice blocks ect.

This. 2 liter coke bottles work the best. Fill them about 80% up with regular water, then freeze overnight. If you can find a timer that controls outlets, that would be great. Run 1 timer on 2, so that you know only 2 can be on at any given time.
 

JackSprat

Senior Member
This. 2 liter coke bottles work the best. Fill them about 80% up with regular water, then freeze overnight. If you can find a timer that controls outlets, that would be great. Run 1 timer on 2, so that you know only 2 can be on at any given time.

Two gallon plastic bags make really good ice blocks, even in good times.

As far as the generator and freezers, if the freezers are full they can easily go 3 or 4 days with no power, IF YOU DON'T OPEN THE DOORS.

You could easily run one freezer on the generator for 3 or 4 hours a day, and run another one the next day and so.

As far as making coffee and so on that's why God created percolators, dutch ovens and cast iron skillets. A full 20 gal. propane tank, a GOOD camp stove, and a supply of lanterns will keep you going for a long time. Even a fireplace can be used for cooking.

i like perc coffee anyway.




My family survived several severe freezes in Atlanta, heating the house enough with the gas cook stove, and Mom cooking for the entire neighborhood because we were the only ones with a gas stove. We even had hot water because we had a gas water heater.
 

Ugahunter2013

Senior Member
Im not using bags/blocks of ice. THat is why i got a generator so i wouldnt have to. I would rather get 20lbs at the twice the ice for 1.50 than take up freezer space freezing water

I have a ton of quart bags of creamed corn, peas, veggies from the garden and of course deer. I know the freezers will last if not opened, but i dont want the stuff i have inside to thaw in the least bit and then re freeze. Then all of my stuff is frozen together. Dont ask how i know this. Again, not trying to be a smart butt, but i got a generator to avoid doing this. I can condense everything in the 3rd freezer to fit in 2 freezers. I just have a hard time understanding how a 3,600 watt generator cant handle 2 575 watt freezers at the same time?
 

paulito

Senior Member
Short answer is like previously stated, the quoted wattage on darn near everything is the running wattage. For something like a freezer, AC unit, even a big table saw, it has a higher "peak" wattage when it starts up. Long story short, yes your generator "should" run all three but if the compressor of all three decides to cycle on at the same time it will likely trip the breaker. Check the peak wattages and see what they say would be my suggestion. If you can condense into two i certainly would. During the snow storm i ran my stand up freezer for 2 days off my Ryobi 2000 with no issues and was pulling other stuff off the other outlet.

Coffee makers do pull a TON of power. Mine will trip my little Ryobi 2000 if i leave it on the auto idle setting. I have to have it running full out and then start the coffee and it runs fine.
 

7Mag Hunter

Senior Member
I run freezer for 2+ hrs and then Frig longer....it would take days for freezer to thaw, so as long as u run 2-3 timer per day you are good..
 

j_seph

Senior Member
What amps are the 115 plugs and what amp are the freezers
 

BassMan31

Senior Member
Im not using bags/blocks of ice. THat is why i got a generator so i wouldnt have to. I would rather get 20lbs at the twice the ice for 1.50 than take up freezer space freezing water

I have a ton of quart bags of creamed corn, peas, veggies from the garden and of course deer. I know the freezers will last if not opened, but i dont want the stuff i have inside to thaw in the least bit and then re freeze. Then all of my stuff is frozen together. Dont ask how i know this. Again, not trying to be a smart butt, but i got a generator to avoid doing this. I can condense everything in the 3rd freezer to fit in 2 freezers. I just have a hard time understanding how a 3,600 watt generator cant handle 2 575 watt freezers at the same time?

You can run all three freezers and you should be fine, even if the compressors turn on simultaneously. That generator allows for an extra 500W of startup power injection for reactive loads. Remember also the the freezers will not require their full power rating most of the time.

You're in good shape. Watch the coffee maker, though.
 
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Lilly001

Senior Member
My generator is similar to yours in power.
The reason for ice blocks is to fill the freezer. If yours if full of food you don't need it. Find the start watts for your freezers (google) and add it up. The starting wattage of the generator is what to deduct it from to see what you can run.
A full unopened freezer only needs a few hours a day to keep it frozen. So you could well rotate between if needed.
Remember gasoline will be your consumable. I would want at least one tankful a day on hand for your estimated duration.
That's my experience. YMMV
 

baddave

Senior Member
the 4000(Hi end) watts is calculated w/ 240volts -- that really just gives you 16.6 amps available .. like others say "hopefully" your compressors will not all run at one time and you'd be fine ..small loads like you listed would probably be minor .i would definitely go get some instant coffee and heat the water some other way.. and generally i wouldn't load up that gen too much .. you will play it by ear .. worse that could happen is you trip the little breakers
 

greg_n_clayton

Senior Member
I keep frozen water bottles in my freezers even when there not a power outage !! They help the freezer stay cold !! Less frozen stuff in the freezer, the more it will cycle to keep cold !!
 

acurasquirrel

Senior Member
Im not using bags/blocks of ice. THat is why i got a generator so i wouldnt have to. I would rather get 20lbs at the twice the ice for 1.50 than take up freezer space freezing water

I have a ton of quart bags of creamed corn, peas, veggies from the garden and of course deer. I know the freezers will last if not opened, but i dont want the stuff i have inside to thaw in the least bit and then re freeze. Then all of my stuff is frozen together. Dont ask how i know this. Again, not trying to be a smart butt, but i got a generator to avoid doing this. I can condense everything in the 3rd freezer to fit in 2 freezers. I just have a hard time understanding how a 3,600 watt generator cant handle 2 575 watt freezers at the same time?
Starting current of the motor used to run the freezer can be 4 to 8 times the running current. This is a short duration event and one compressor starting up should cause any issues. The issue would be if two or three compressors start simultaneously. You would easily exceed the generator rating and pop a breaker then. With that said if the freezers are full the compressor shouldn’t have to run very often so the odds of simultaneous compressor start up is small. Best bet is to just run all three and keep a pretty good check, every couple of hours, on the generator and make sure the breaker didn’t open.
 
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