I really should plan things better... last year, I bought a very nice 2000W 120V Honda generator. That was sufficient for my needs at the old home. Then, I moved... new house has a well. I'm guessing what I have won't be sufficient, but I'm not 100% sure since I'm not well familiar with well pumps, and I also hate to have to buy a second generator, and I'm not sure how to tell.
I can't tell much about the well, except that it is on its own service panel with a single 240V breaker, each half of it 20 amps. They said the well is 250 feet deep. The pressure tank says it is 33.4 gallons and currently reads 50PSI. Can I safely assume the generator can't power this, even if I could figure out how to convert 120V to 240V and wire it in (it's hard wired of course, no convenient plug)? I can do math but I would also guess the full 20 amps aren't actually used by the well pump, so I probably can't figure out how much power it need just by calculating the maximum that can go through that service panel. Why do they require 240V anyway? Seems it could be done easily with 120V.
Anyway, am I out of luck? Do I need a 240V generator and if so what would a suggested wattage be? Could I do something cheaper/clever that'd use the generator to charge up a battery which could then power the well pump for brief periods?
I can't tell much about the well, except that it is on its own service panel with a single 240V breaker, each half of it 20 amps. They said the well is 250 feet deep. The pressure tank says it is 33.4 gallons and currently reads 50PSI. Can I safely assume the generator can't power this, even if I could figure out how to convert 120V to 240V and wire it in (it's hard wired of course, no convenient plug)? I can do math but I would also guess the full 20 amps aren't actually used by the well pump, so I probably can't figure out how much power it need just by calculating the maximum that can go through that service panel. Why do they require 240V anyway? Seems it could be done easily with 120V.
Anyway, am I out of luck? Do I need a 240V generator and if so what would a suggested wattage be? Could I do something cheaper/clever that'd use the generator to charge up a battery which could then power the well pump for brief periods?