Kevin, if you're just trying to accomodate peak loads, you might consider adding a small bank of batteries and an inverter. Xantrex makes a number of inverters that will simultaneously charge batteries, parallel their output to the AC input, and even act as a transfer switch so you can connect them to the grid as well. Good quality inverters can surge to 2 or 3 times their rated max power. And they're designed to do all these things, without you having to kludge more complexity onto an elegantly simple engine.
There's one other nice thing about adding an inverter and batteries. Your family doesn't end up sitting in the dark while you're maintaining the engine during an outage.
Not a very gear-grinding solution, but it makes a lot of sense if you're just trying to back up house electricity.
Feel free to email me and I'll recommend some more reading and an excellent book.
>My Wife thinks I have lost my mind lately running around testing "draws" on the appliances and other circuts around the house. I get that there can (will) be possible >overload situations, and in a perfect world, everyone buys the perfect and adequate engine and head the first time, but in the real world, there will invariably be the need >for more power.
>Wouldn't it be simpler to find or devise a load shed or load sequencer to manage the situation?
>One thing I DO know for sure is this thing had better do what I've told my Wife it will, and it had better not have much "down time"!
Kevin