[Elecraft] OT: Whole House Generator - Update

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Perhaps it is saying the obvious, but when considering the power
requirements of a home determine how it is heated. Here in Oregon, in the
land served by the Bonneville Hydroelectric dam, a great many homes like
mine are heated electrically. We have a forced air system that employs 3
electric "burners" each drawing 60 amps at 240 vac - more than 43 kW for the
furnace alone. Of course, on startup they draw far more than that for the
first minute until the coils get hot, so a sequencer brings each "burner" on
line one at a time over a period of a few minutes. On cold winter mornings
it's not unusual to see the mains voltage sag from 125 to 118 or less even
if we don't have the furnace running, thanks to all the other electric
furnaces in the neighborhood.

73, Ron AC7AC 

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Saturday, September 9, 2017 2:16 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: Whole House Generator - Update

On 9/9/2017 10:43 AM, Doug Hensley wrote:
> I'm was pleased to hear K3, K3S & KX3 owners consistently reporting
whatever hash their units were producing had no ill effects on their
Elecraft radios during the period their generator was running.

It is quite common for generators to produce RF noise that radiates on power
wiring and is received by nearby antennas. The solutions are 1) bonding the
frame of the generator to the house ground with short, fat copper and/or 2)
a serious multi-turn ferrite common mode choke on the cable from the
generator output, as close to the generator as possible. 
Obviously, proper bonding of all grounds is critical to #1 working.

Square footage of a home affects the electrical load ONLY if the generator
must run HVAC an system, and the load of that system is likely to be MUCH
greater than everything else put together, except a well motor. A larger
generator is likely to put out more RFI and be more difficult to suppress.

73, Jim K9YC

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