41/2 hour power outage

[Tom R]

Originally Posted by Lance

Thanks everyone. The generator is a cheapie 1300 Watt I got from Canadian Tire a couple of years ago. You have to take the air filter off and inject a little gas into the carb to get it to start.

Any generator will work.

I have a cheap $125.00 made in China 2 stroke that I bought at Canadian Tire. Its a bit noisy but it works. My main system pump is an 3600 GPH Amp Master that runs on 143 W.

Tom R

[Lance]

Originally Posted by Tom R

Any generator will work.

I have a cheap $125.00 made in China 2 stroke that I bought at Canadian Tire. Its a bit noisy but it works. My main system pump is an 3600 GPH Amp Master that runs on 143 W.

Tom R

Wow, that's pretty low wattage for a pump that size. The Barracuda draws about 500 watts at 6' head pressure.
I added up the wattage requirements for the two tanks: return pumps, and powerheads add up to less than 1000 watts so I could run the Barracuda on the generator as well. The generator is rated for 1300 watts but recommends to be run no higher than 1000 watts continuously. Good to know for next time.

[PoonTang]

Lance, according to the charts I am looking at the Barricuda max's out at about 250W at 16' head. At 6' head its drawing only 80W.

[Lance]

Originally Posted by PoonTang

Lance, according to the charts I am looking at the Barricuda max's out at about 250W at 16' head. At 6' head its drawing only 80W.

Oh. What chart did you find? The one I was looking at said 500W.

[Lance]

I found a better chart. One that I can understand. At 6' head, 242 watts.

[Tom R]

My Amp Master uses approx 195 Watts to start and then the usage falls back to approx 143 Watts. All my tanks are plumbed together so the one pump completes my main circulation.

[PoonTang]

Originally Posted by Lance

Oh. What chart did you find? The one I was looking at said 500W.

Look at the pump on JL website then click on the little link thinggy.

[PoonTang]

Ya and actually the one on the reeflow website shows 242W at 6'

[Mrfish55]

If you want to know the actual draw on your system I have one of those fancy plug in the wall deals that tell you what you are pulling (can also calculate cost ) you can borrow if you want to see what your actual usage is.