Generators and Refrigerator/Freezers/Curling Iron

[prmckay1]

Just got power back after a horrible ice storm --

We ran on generator power for 5 days in town, 16 on the farm --

Only personal incident we had was the Daughter's Chi (expensive curling iron) refused to work -- everything else was perfect.

Had a neighbor who refused to use a generator -- told of horror stories of refrigerators/freezers and generators ---

I'm unclear (except for possible low voltage) as to what a fridge/freezer would care about generator power -- don't understand the 'Chi' -- but it's a ceramic heat element.

Any thoughts?

[JP]

It is possible that low voltage can cause those type of problems.

[prmckay1]

I can vouch that the voltage was 120 -- and the 'CHI' wouldn't come on --

[JP]

Ok I had some time and did a little research on the Chi curling iron, I think the problem is it needs 60Hz and the generator was not putting it out, that curling iron has fine electronics that require specific voltage specifications. It’s not your typical heating element; it has electronics that quickly heats it to high temps. There have been many problems with them in Europe even with voltage converters, due to the fact that they operate at 50Hz while we use 60Hz. Only the travel iron is approved for use on foreign electrical systems, while your generator is not a foreign electrical system, I think that the electronics could not handle the Hz the generator was outputting. After all if volts and amps are good it’s the only thing left and makes sense. Could also be the possible reason why some other things have problems on generators also, which seems to be another reason to pay close attention to the electrical specs of anything you run off a generator.

[prmckay1]

JP --

Thanks for doing the research -- I was thinking the HZ might be the issue -- but I don't know how to test. 

Really, I was just glad that the CHI was the only thing that didn't work.

You're 100% correct -- Generator power isn't the 'best' -- and some things aren't going to be happy!

Thanks!