Specifying a Generator for Use

  January 1, 2013      Jeff Rosenblum

With cold weather upon us now there will be time when customers will lose power to their homes and will try to operate their furnaces with a generator. We receive calls whenever the weather turns bad that the furnace does not operate even when there is 110 volts present and the generator has a sufficient wattage output to operate the load. In some cases the generator may damage the controls on the unit.

The following requirements must be kept in mind when specifying a generator for use with this equipment.

• The furnace requires 120 volts ± 10%
  (Range: 108 volts to 132 volts).
• The furnace operates at 60 Hz ± 5%
  (Range: 57 Hz to 63 Hz).
• The furnace’s integrated control requires both polarity and proper Both polarity and ground should be checked before attempting to operate the furnace on either permanent or temporary power.
• Generator should have a wave form distortion of less than 5% total harmonic distortion (THD).

Jeff Rosenblum 
Technical Support
14 Years Industry Experience
Cell (330) 962-2491
[email protected]