Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsRuns the whole house including 3-ton A/C
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2021
Texas Freeze of 2021 and wife was without power for two days while I was out of town! She never wants to be that cold again and I'm not confident that our power grid is all better now. It was time for a generator.
I've been a big Dewalt guy for years and so this was the obvious choice. Starts easily with the pull start. Setup doesn't mention that you'll need to connect the battery leads, but that was simple. Also note, you'll need to charge the battery for a while before it will start the generator, but the pull start was easy enough that my wife was able to do it (and she's not one to normally do the heavy lifting).
To connect to the house, the simplest and cheapest option would be an interlock switch, but I elected to go with the "Connecticut Electric EGS107501G2KIT EmerGen EGS107501G2 Manual Transfer Switch Kit 30 Amp, 10-Circuit, 7500 Watts, For Portable Generator" because I thought it would be friendlier for my wife and it has usage meters.
The big question for me was if it would run the HVAC. Our condenser is only 3-ton so I was hoping. Tried it out with only the furnace and condenser on the load and it all worked perfectly! I was even able to add all the other circuits (7 carefully chosen circuits - the transfer switch has 10 circuits and 3 are used for the furnace and condenser) while the house cooled. Note: I have a gas water heater, gas heat, and gas dryer, and a gas stove. I wouldn't recommend running A/C at the same time as your electric water heater, dryer, or stove. (note - anything with a heating element draws a LOT of current - ex. toaster, iron, hair dryer, curling iron, heater fan)
It's big, heavy, and it isn't very quiet. It's a workhorse for the heavy duty job site or to run the house. It does have idle control so it's a bit quieter when not fully loaded, but it's not the little kitten purring behind your tent at the campsite that some of the smaller more insulated units are.