Generators for Carpet Cleaning

There are a couple of things to consider with your Generator for Carpet Cleaning. How are you going to use the Generator? How large of a generator will You need? Which type of generator is best, Inverter or Conventional?

How are You going to use the Generator?

Are you planning on using the generator on every job? Do you plan to use the generator only when you cannot get power at the location?

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If you are planning to use the generator on every job then you will want to purchase a higher quality generator. Normally they will have name brand components and motors that are easy to get parts for. Often the higher quality motors will be more fuel efficient also.

If you are only planning on occasionally using the generator for times when there is no power or limited power at the cleaning location then an inexpensive, conventional generator will probably work fine.

How large of a generator will You need?

You will always want to get a generator with an extra margin. Generators that are working at full capacity will blow fuses and have more problems than a generator running at less than their potential capacity. Twenty percent spare capacity is the minimum I would recommend. When starting electric motors, pumps they will usually pull significantly more amps than they are rated for.

If you know the amp draw of your equipment you can multiply by 120 to figure the wattage since most generators are rated in wattage. Be sure to add up all the equipment you will be using at the same time.

All electrical equipment is required to have a tag on it with either the amperage or wattage of the item.

12 amp vacuum motor + 12 amp vaccum motor + 3 amp pump motor + 12 amp vacuum Booster motor = 39 amps

Conversion to Watts

39 amps x 120 = 4680 Watts

Minimum Spare Capacity for Starting

4680 Watts x 1.25 =5812 watts

Recommended Spare Capacity

4680 x 1.5 =7020

For this example You could get by with a 6000 watt generator or larger. A 5500 high quality Genny would probably work but If you plan on using the generator a lot buy one with plenty of excess capacity (1.5 times peak usage).

Stagger the start of your Equipment

If you start one piece of equipment at a time and let it get up to speed before you start the next you are less likely to blow your fuse.

Don't start your Vacuum motors without the hose and wand hooked up.

When running without a load a vacuum motor will pull more amps than when under load. This seems counter intuitive but most vacuum fan motors pull amps related to their speed, not their load. This is great knowledge. If you are blowing fuses in a home when you start your portable carpet cleaner, put more drag on the vacuums and you will draw less power. This is the opposite if you have a positive displacement

Which type of generator is best, Inverter or Conventional?

An Inverter generator will use less fuel and work better for Cleaning Carpet. However most of the Inverter Generators are only available up to 3000 watts. The higher wattage inverters are a lot more expensive. This probably rules out Inverter Gennys for most Carpet Cleaners.

Electric motors are very sensitive to the cleanliness of the electrical power. They do not work well on "Dirty" power. Dirty power is power that does not have nice clean sine waves. Inverter Generators generally put out much cleaner power than cheap conventional generators. However good quality conventional generators will often put out clean power also.

Multiple Generators

Another option is to get a couple of 3000 Watt generators and only use one if you can use some power from the location and use them both when you have no power available. Two generators will burn more fuel than one big one if you are using them both but one small generator will burn less than a large generator with a light load. Most carpet cleaners running electric equipment will get at least some of their power from the location.

Fuel Consumption

Also with a 6500 watt conventional generator if you are only using 900 watts and getting the rest of the power from the location you will not save a lot of fuel, however with an inverter generator any load you can take off the generator will save you significantly in the fuel consumption of your generator.

Generators for Carpet Cleaning Summary

Conventional Generator

If your conventional generator is not running well Fix It!! If the motor of the generator is not running smoothly then your electrical power output to your machine is not smooth. Electric motors are very sensitive to the quality of the power. Grid power in the United States is very clean because of multiple source averaging.

Inverter Generators

While Inverter Generators often put out cleaner power they tend to be very expensive in a size big enough to run all your carpet cleaning equipment. Also most people cleaning with electric carpet cleaning equipment only run their gear on a generator occasionally.

Steady Load

Most Carpet Cleaners while using their generator will have a steady load, their equipment will not be turning on and off. This also points you toward using a good quality Conventional Generator.

Your Carpet Cleaning Generator

Buy a Good Quality Generator, and buy it with a good wattage margin over your usage. Leave at least a 2,000 to 3,000 watt margin. Cheap Generators usually put out "dirty" electricity. Your equipment will run better and last longer running on "Clean" Electricity.

The future of high end Portable generators is Inverter Generators. Quieter, more fuel efficient, lighter, smaller motors, more expensive, cleaner output, what is not to like? Oh yea more expensive.... but I guess we can't have everything.