Quote:
Originally Posted by ITD
Dan, I don't want to insult you here, but I find this hard to believe. Even small ACs use a lot of power, trying to run one with a generator that is too small will severely shorten its life if you get it to start. You need to make sure your generator is large enough to start the compressor and keep it running, if you want to run 3 of them, then you need even more capacity. The smallest mini I could find required 9 amps to run, at 115 volts this is over 1,000 watts, just for the outside unit. To run 3 of these units at the same time requires a large generator. Again, under powering these units can burn them out. I would hate to see you with a large replacement bill.....
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Believe it! I think what you are missing is the fact that all three indoor units work off ONE condenser you are not running three condensers for three indoor units. The three indoor units draw very little power, 1 amp or less if I remember correctly as it is basically just a small fan motor. The outdoor unit runs on 220 volts but I do not remember the amp draw.
My Honda generator has a wattage use meter and with all three indoor units running on high AC and whatever else I had on in the house like misc lights, large screen TV, two refrigerators, etc, etc. I was drawing 3300 watts off my 6000 watt portable generator. Hardly under powered. The other thing you must remember there is no huge start up surge of power required like most AC condenser units. Mini-splits are run with an inverter driven, frequency controlled compressor motor, that allows the compressor to soft start and also to run at reduced output instead of cycling on and off.
As an fyi, the electrician for Home Energy looked at my generator and confirmed that it would easily run all three units and have plenty of left over capacity and told me not to worry about it at all.
Dan