What is the minimum watts portable gas generator to run a Yong Heng?

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rodjava

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Sep 6, 2021
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San Francisco California, 94134 United States
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I was thinking of buying a portable gas generator to run a Yong Heng compressor to use on remote sites.
A portable gas generator and Yong Heng would be much cheaper than a stand along gas air compressor like a Alkins.

What size portable gas generator should I be looking for? 2000 watts or larger?

Thanks in advance
Rod in San Francisco
 
I bought a Yongy Henger a few weeks ago. I'd read some folks were blowing breakers with just regular residential wall outlets so was slightly concerned. It's been fine at my house though. In my research I saw that some typical 15amp residential outlets were blowing breakers so if you're dead set on going the generator route, keep that in mind.

Since you stated "remote sites" you might look into some of the newish compressors that run off rechargeable batteries like those used in power tools.
 
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ctshooter said:
Have to agree - my YH puts a challenge to the 15 Amp breaker it's plugged into. Literally turned on the shower fan (same circuit) and the breaker tripped.
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Yeah, sounds like the YH pulls slightly more than 15 amps. Too bad a 2,000 watt generator like a Honda inverter can’t do the job, they’re a nice package, doesn’t take a lot of room and nice and quiet. 3,000 watt and larger get big in size and are heavy.
 
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jarmstrong said:
the Yong Heng name plate lists 1.8kw

,, that 1800 watts
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Yeah that's running Watts and 2-3 times that on initial startup!
Inverter generators crap out pretty fast on anything that resembles a "short".
Thet jyst dont like it.
Thats why the big "buffer" is needed.

A YH and a Honda EU32i would set you back almost the same as a decent used motorised diving compressor.
But then again the compressor wont run a motorhome!
 
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This is not a cheap way to do this but I tested it and it works. I have a Milwaukee MX Fuel Carry-on 3600W/1800W Power Supply in my utility room close to the YH. The Milwaukee power supply is normally plugging into a single circuit transfer switch so I can have critical things powered if I loose power. But it was pretty easy to unplug the power supply from the transfer switch and plug the power strip the YH and it's pump and fan are plugging into it. I started the pump and fan (my YH has a small radiator) and then the YH. My bottle is over 4000 psi so I did not attach it to the YH but I started it twice. It might have taken a split second longer than normal but neither the power supply or the YH seemed to care about the connection.

The breaker on the power strip is 15A and has never tripped from the YH. I had trouble years ago with a breaker tripping in my garage when I started my table saw. I did some investigating and that circuit started in a bathroom two stories above and went to 2 other bathrooms then to the garage. Saving GFCI outlets I guess. Once I gave the saw a shorter path to the electricity I stopped having breakers trip when the saw started up. I don't think the YH really needs more than 15A once it gets going but I'm sure it needs more for startup.

The Milwaukee is unusual in having a startup rating twice it's running rating. I don't know if you need 3600W startup or not or whether a generator would react the same as this battery based unit. But I'm sure if I put the Milwaukee and the YH in the back of my truck I could have a heavy but capable portable compressor.
 
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It has been many years but I have a ME degree. I also sold electrical equipment to utilities for 40 years so I know about inductive loads and the difference between volt amps and watts. But I do not see how that addresses the OP's question. If the YH and it's very limited peripherals do not trip 15A breakers - and in my house they do not - then they cannot really use much more than 1800 watts. The volt amps could be a bit larger but breakers trip on current so it really cannot be much larger. I am confident that the startup current is greater but I do not know how much greater. Normal breakers do not react to very brief loads like a motor startup.

To be a bit conservative I suggest that a generator with 2000 running watts is appropriate but the startup capacity must be greater than that. Looks like in gas generators 1800 running watts goes with 2400 startup watts. That is the minimum I would try. The next level up would be safer.
 
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Starting current for a single phase motor is typically 4-8 times the nameplate amps and lasts till the motor is at full speed (several seconds). A YH will have a startup demand of 7.2 to 14.4 kVA. This is transitory in nature and normally will not cause a 20 amp breaker to trip. It might however bog down an undersize generator to the point where it may not reach full RPM. I am a consulting engineer IRL and design building mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems. On a recent project there was an elevator installed that was required by code to have standby power. The elevator was nameplate 11.7 HP at 208 volt - 3 phase. We had to specify a 50 kVA (67 HP) generator to handle the elevator motor inrush current.
 
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I plugged in a watt meter to my Yong Heng and the start up and average running watts while filling my tank watts was 1450 watts.

Is there a reason why a a 2000 watt gas generator won't work? I'm asking because some members suggested it won't work.

Rod in San Francisco
 
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SilentSquirrel said:
What is the difference between Volt-Amps and Watts, @ctshooter

Also
The YH has a startup capacitor & no others,
Ed
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VA = Volts Amps is an absolute amount of work sent from the genrerator into the inverter and or generator.
You send 1hp into your car and then theres loss in transmission and you get less than 1hp out.
The same applies to big transformers. As the field/fase changes every 60 times a second theres a little loss in the system.
Thats why outout Watts and VA is'nt the same.

Surging Watts is higher than running Watts. Thats because an un magnetified reactor will act like a short and given time will start to react like a resistor. So start surge and settle in at lower power.
 
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7-14kVA disagrees with my little experiment with my Milwaukee battery based generator only rated for 3.6 kW. But maybe that only worked because it was batteries or something like that.

If a 2000W generator is 2000 running watts, not startup watts I think it might work. The adds I saw for 2000W generators were talking startup watts and I'm pretty sure that won't work. I have a gas generator too, it is bigger than this but not very big. But unfortunately is needs the carberator rebuilt or something. You need a friend with a generator you can test or a salesman who will let you bring the generator back if it doesn't work. You could aim safely high on size but then it will be quite expensive and not very portable.

I'm not trying to challenge anybody's calculational ability. I haven't even tried to do calculations on this. I am just observing that if the calculations don't match a test it might be worth doing more tests.
 
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I spoke with one of my coworkers, he's a retired electrical PE who works remotely for us from out of state. He has designed more generator installations for buildings than I've had hot meals. I gave him the electrical characteristics of a Yong Heng unit and he suggested 9-10kVA/KW.

Also please note the link to Cummins generator's website. They recommend their 9.5KW unit for a 1,200-2,000 watt air compressor. There will also be a significant amount of general standby power available for other purposes with this unit. Regards

www.cummins.com

Portable Generators | Cummins Inc.

Learn more about Portable Generators from Cummins, Inc., an industry leader in reliable power solutions for more than 100 years.
www.cummins.com www.cummins.com
 
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rodjava said:
I plugged in a watt meter to my Yong Heng and the start up and average running watts while filling my tank watts was 1450 watts.

Is there a reason why a a 2000 watt gas generator won't work? I'm asking because some members suggested it won't work.

Rod in San Francisco
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I think this is very accurate, it pulls (hong yeng) the 1400 watts which is near what a 15 amp breaker load is,, surge would be 1800 to 2000 on 15 amp breaker..
So when people have a load problem on a 15 amp break , there is probly an existing load on the 15 amp breaker circuit. . Or distance from breacker, etc.. I would think that a 2000 watt generator would run it.
 
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