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Posted by David Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Friday, February 05, 2010 at 18:41:12 :
In Reply to: Re: If you were a real PW man... posted by Tom Petroff (IL) [64.12.116.76] on Friday, February 05, 2010 at 17:20:36 :
Different kinds of equipment are sensitive to different sorts of ugly electricity. Refrigeration compressors are very sensitive to voltage drops, but don't care about spikes and noise. Computers don't much care about voltage or frequency since the first thing that happens inside the box is the line voltage gets converted to DC, but they're much more sensitive to spikes, noise, and glitches. The main problem with most small generators is poor voltage and frequency regulation. Most of the spikes and noise on line power comes from outside your house, especially major industrial facilities switching big loads on and off and running large motors with solid-state controls. In terms of the kinds of power problems that bother computers, a portable generator is probably better than grid power.
On the other hand, anything that runs on an induction motor, but especially refrigeration compressors, is liable to stall and/or overheat if the voltage or frequency droops too much. If you ever have a brownout rather than a blackout, pull the plugs on all refrigerators and freezers right away.
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