Back-up generator systems
- Thread starter Cosmos
- Start date
Here you go....hopefully answers some of your questions.
bwi.forums.rivals.com
OT - whole house generator
AKB - I’m looking to have a natural gas powered generator installed in my home which is capable of switching over and running all my electric when the power goes out. Can anyone recommend a brand and give me some idea of the estimated cost? Thanks
bwi.forums.rivals.com
Yes so far so good !! It seems before I got one the power went out all the time, now 2 yrs and never needed it! Lol. But it’s automatic. The power goes out it kicks on, power on , it turns itself off
Every week come on for half an hour, to recharge battery etc and check itself out
Glad I went whole house instead of pissing around w a portable. We have like 22 (24?) KW. Does everything including the air
My neighbor got one for 12k. Two years later the power went out and it did not work.
I have a couple portable generators for work. I am thinking about having the electrician do whatever he has to do so I can plug in my generator and have a a couple circuits running if I lose power. All I really need is the heat, a tv and the fridge. He gave me a guestimate of $500-$800.
was thinking along the same lines as you. My first and second story have separate HVAC units. Thinking if I run a portable with a junction box I can get away with just powering the necessities like the fridges and freezers, and 1 floor of HVAC. down here in NC we lose power at least once a year due to hurricanes or ice storms. I don’t think enough to justify a whole-house but enough to justify a portable with a junction.
although, the last hurricane we lost power, my neighbor’s generac ran flawlessly for 3 days straight and allowed us to plug in our fridges and freezer so we didn’t lose any venison or breast milk. He’s VERY happy with his generac.
I have arranged to get one, a Generac 16v. They are back ordered now because of the heavy demand especially in the south due to hurricane frequency. Mine should be installed in about a month. I have some special issues with running a long gas line as a result of restrictions in my neighborhood about placement of the unit. My cost will be around 8k including the outside pad, permits, etc.
We installed a Generac whole house (16KW) installed 5 or 6 years ago. Was originally going for a 10 KW, but the installer upgraded us to 16 for no extra charge. Works great. Runs for @ 15 minutes every other week for self maintenance. The longest it has run since installation has been 6.5 hours. Very happy to have the backup power when needed.
I have a 15 kw Honeywell which is essentially a Generac with a Honeywell name plate. Put it in 2 months before hurricane Sandy hit. It ran for 19 hours when it hit and did its job. The most it has run since that time was for 5 days during an ice storm. It was a life saver. It's now a lot less stressful when power drops and I hear the generator kick on.
Having said all that, Kohler and Cummins are better than Generac, but will probably be more expensive.
Having said all that, Kohler and Cummins are better than Generac, but will probably be more expensive.
For years I've considered installing a whole-house generator. I lose power a few times a year and it is indeed a pain. I've got a well, so losing the ability to pump water into my house is the biggest nuisance. I don't have natural gas available, so it would have to be propane or diesel fueled.
But I started looking into the total cost of ownership and quickly realized that I could stay in a hotel for less money per day than the per day cost of running the generator. I would need a 20kw unit and the cost of fuel consumption would easily reach $200/day to run the thing. On top of the $20K upfront cost, I never thought it was worth it.
I do have a small gas-fired generator that I use to run my sump pump in the event of a severe rain event.
So just keep in mind that if you lose power for an extended period, say a week or so, the fuel cost is not insignificant.
But I started looking into the total cost of ownership and quickly realized that I could stay in a hotel for less money per day than the per day cost of running the generator. I would need a 20kw unit and the cost of fuel consumption would easily reach $200/day to run the thing. On top of the $20K upfront cost, I never thought it was worth it.
I do have a small gas-fired generator that I use to run my sump pump in the event of a severe rain event.
So just keep in mind that if you lose power for an extended period, say a week or so, the fuel cost is not insignificant.
I have a small generac and it is worked fine. The only advice I would give is to make sure you get enough juice. My generac gp 3250 is underpowered and will pretty much only start up a refrigerator. I got it to help tenants who might lose power. It is reasonably transportable, but not as powerful as I would have hoped.
I have a portable Generac 5500 generator. I had an electrician install a transfer switch so it is wired into the main circuit panel for around $500. Transfer switch prevents having the generator and power lines feeding the panel at the same time, plus it prevents you from electrocuting the linemen for the power company.
Steps to follow when switching to generator.
Turn off all breakers
Flip transfer switch
Start generator
One by one turn on breakers
NOTE: Do not turn on refrigerators, hot tub and ac simultaneously. Each is a power hog when initially plugged in so they will overload the generator.
I have NG hot water, furnace, dryer, stove, oven, fireplace and grill so I don't need a bigger generator.
Steps to follow when switching to generator.
Turn off all breakers
Flip transfer switch
Start generator
One by one turn on breakers
NOTE: Do not turn on refrigerators, hot tub and ac simultaneously. Each is a power hog when initially plugged in so they will overload the generator.
I have NG hot water, furnace, dryer, stove, oven, fireplace and grill so I don't need a bigger generator.
I have had the 22K Generac whole house for 4 years and have been very pleased.
bwifan
Well-Known Member
Had a Kohler 30kw commercial grade installed recently. With a ATS gives me peace of mind, if we are away on vacation. Had a 500 gallon propane tank dropped in the front yard. Cycles on once a week and definitely get a service contract with a good company. Mine powers the whole house including the pool and also leaves some room for the addition to the house we are putting on..... We did not want to have to worry or think about what rooms might have power so we paid for the whole house. Living in south florida hope we never have to use it due to a hurricane but we sleep well knowing we are all set. Many people are putting them in now, including many friends and family still back up in PA.
an easy hack is to cut (hack!?!) the 110v romex going to your furnace (assuming it‘s natural gas furnace) and splice in a male/female plug/receptacle ( available at any decent hardware or home improvement center, about $10), with the male spliced on the furnace side and the female on the lead from the service panel...
i’ve got a Honda eu2000i suitcase generator that’s quiet as a baby’s ass - and when I lose power ( couple times a year... I’m in a wooded area where most of the utilities are strung ) I can run a decent gauge extension cord to my furnace, unplug the furnace / plug it into the extension cord.... a cheap way to keep you cozy in a winter power outage...
that little Honda will also run my fridge, router, and as many lights as I want to plug in... got me through a 6 day power outage after a epic March windstorm here a few years back ... plus I can use the little Honda for tailgates & camping and whatnot ..
Generac and Kohler are go-to brands... personally I would be wary of Large, hyper-expensive internal combustion mechanicals sitting idle so long, even with the monthly cycle-on Programming...
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Ran 60 amp 220v circuit to detached garage 90' from house panel for welders in 1998. Before Superstorm Sandy wired 7000 watt portable genny to 30 amp circuit in garage. Ran whole house, less 2 electric ovens, for 13 days. Room ACs.
I have a whole house generac generator and I'm very pleased with it. As someone else mentioned above, it tests itself every week and when our power goes out, it kicks right on. we've had ours for almost 15 years now. Keep the oil and filters changed and it'll run like a champ. Ours runs on propane. I would highly recommend a generac. It comes in handy up here in Maine.
I have a 2079 sq. ft. house and installed a 16 KW Generac December 2019. Put it off for many years.and finally convinced wife and did not use it until November 2020. Kicked on 20 seconds after.power went out and ran flawlessly for 29 hours. This is a little small for my house but it.only limits us if AC and either electric dryer and electric stove on at once. I can work around that. Most dealers.quoted 22KW , but it really is not necessary unless you want to run everything in your house at once. My neighbors wife saw us living normaly and now wants.to get one installed. My wife now agrees that it was worth the cost. $6500 with transfer switch 650 for gas upgrade and 150 to block 2 basement windows. Best $7300 bucks as we get older and probably adds value to the house.
an easy hack is to cut (hack!?!) the 110v romex going to your furnace (assuming it‘s natural gas furnace) and splice in a male/female plug/receptacle ( available at any decent hardware or home improvement center, about $10), with the male spliced on the furnace side and the female on the lead from the service panel...
i’ve got a Honda eu2000i suitcase generator that’s quiet as a baby’s ass - and when I lose power ( couple times a year... I’m in a wooded area where most of the utilities are strung ) I can run a decent gauge extension cord to my furnace, unplug the furnace / plug it into the extension cord.... a cheap way to keep you cozy in a winter power outage...
that little Honda will also run my fridge, router, and as many lights as I want to plug in... got me through a 6 day power outage after a epic March windstorm here a few years back ... plus I can use the little Honda for tailgates & camping and whatnot ..
Generac and Kohler are go-to brands... personally I would be wary of Large, hyper-expensive internal combustion mechanicals sitting idle so long, even with the monthly cycle-on Programming...
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They exercise every week for 20-30 minutes, not monthly. Mine is 9 years old and still running like a champ.
Any chance you have done any DIY electrical work around the house? I installed a transfer switch in my house. Was not that difficult (mine took a tad bit longer than anticipated because the previous house owner has 1 million wires running into the panel box). Took a few hours. Can find them at Home Depot. Gotta take the time to understand what circuits and what loads they will be pulling to best balance the two sides though. I can run pretty much everything I need off of the transfer switch below and a 7500W generator. (most lights, well pump, sump pump, fridge, freezer, boiler for heating system).
Reliance Controls 30 Amp 10-Circuit Manual Transfer Switch 310A - The Home Depot
This 10-circuit, 30 Amp manual transfer switch is designed for fast installation (indoors) in a home, office or small business. It is completely pre-wired and enables the electrical system of the building
www.homedepot.com
There is no better way of ensuring that your power doesn't go out than to purchase a backup system.
😂😂😂
bwifan
Well-Known Member
I am fine with that if it keeps all the hurricanes away so be it! 😂😂
I've had my GENERAC 20KVA for over 5 years and it's the best home investment I've ever made. Weekly 5 minute excercise run. Yearly maintenance and warranty is approx. $400, but you can DIY if you like. I worked for the electric company and always said that the first thing I would buy when I retired in 2005 was a whole-home stand-by generator. Alas, it took me 6-7 years before I got it. Mine is a natural gas unit since that's what I heat my home with.
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Did he have it set ready to run? He should have realized something was wrong way before two years because they can be programed to run on specific days, time of day and duration.
Maybe yours is different. My Generac doesn't charge the battery by running. It has an internal charger that keeps the battery charged using power from the utility.
To run my place I need a 20KW generator. My only fuel option is LP. Let's say I lose power in the dead of winter and need to run my heat, which in my case is electric.
Assume the actual load is 16KW.
Fuel consumption rate at that load is ~3 GPH
Cost of propane is $2.50/gallon - that's $7.50/hour to run
24 X $7.50 = $180.00
OK, less than $200, but the cost of propane is a variable and could be higher.
I want to run a subpanel to my basement and am planning to have the electrician set this up at the same time. I also have gas hot water, stove, fireplace and furnace (not oven or dryer, but those aren't urgent to have). I think I'd just want my two refrigerators, hot water, furnace, and family room (tv, modem, router) set to hook up. Then I'll buy a nice Honda generator that I can use for camping and tailgating too.
an easy hack is to cut (hack!?!) the 110v romex going to your furnace (assuming it‘s natural gas furnace) and splice in a male/female plug/receptacle ( available at any decent hardware or home improvement center, about $10), with the male spliced on the furnace side and the female on the lead from the service panel...
i’ve got a Honda eu2000i suitcase generator that’s quiet as a baby’s ass - and when I lose power ( couple times a year... I’m in a wooded area where most of the utilities are strung ) I can run a decent gauge extension cord to my furnace, unplug the furnace / plug it into the extension cord.... a cheap way to keep you cozy in a winter power outage...
that little Honda will also run my fridge, router, and as many lights as I want to plug in... got me through a 6 day power outage after a epic March windstorm here a few years back ... plus I can use the little Honda for tailgates & camping and whatnot ..
Generac and Kohler are go-to brands... personally I would be wary of Large, hyper-expensive internal combustion mechanicals sitting idle so long, even with the monthly cycle-on Programming...
upload images
An even easier hack - if you have an electric dryer that has a 30A 220 outlet, just get a dryer cord and connect it to the generator. Plug it into the dryer outlet, and voila - 30A at 220V at your disposal.
Just don't forget to open the main breaker.
The only thing I know is to change the oil when told, which for me is about once per year. It has 3 lights green no worries yellow maintainice needed red get it down now
That’s it
Thanks , I planned on getting it done in the spring after my 29 hours of running.
I have a 16 kw Generac. I was between the Kohler and Generac. I work in commercial construction, so I was leaning towards the Kohler. It was a little more expensive...but the electrician (who sells both) steered me towards the Generac. The key factor was service. Generac outsells all others by a wide margin and repair parts are always available. He said it sometimes takes weeks for Kohler parts.
I also have 2 load sheds and whole house surge suppression.
It's been a year and it's kicked on probably a half dozen times.
We have crazy outages at times where power goes in and out...not a brown out because we actually lose power, but it comes right back on...just to repeat. We had an instance where the generator kicked on and off 4 or 5 times in a 10 minute period. I had the electrician modify the settings so mine doesn't kick on until power has been out for several minutes.
I would also suggest you set the exercise time for the middle of the week during the day...when people aren't around.
No regrets. I grew up in a rural area in Southern MD. We lost power when a mouse would fart, and on well and septic...it sucked. I don't want to deal with that again and we elected to build in a neighborhood fed by overhead lines and mature trees...and a generator needed to be part of the discussion.
Most of our neighborhood has Generacs, but 1 has a Cummins. It's smaller and I think a little quieter...for what it's worth.
I also have 2 load sheds and whole house surge suppression.
It's been a year and it's kicked on probably a half dozen times.
We have crazy outages at times where power goes in and out...not a brown out because we actually lose power, but it comes right back on...just to repeat. We had an instance where the generator kicked on and off 4 or 5 times in a 10 minute period. I had the electrician modify the settings so mine doesn't kick on until power has been out for several minutes.
I would also suggest you set the exercise time for the middle of the week during the day...when people aren't around.
No regrets. I grew up in a rural area in Southern MD. We lost power when a mouse would fart, and on well and septic...it sucked. I don't want to deal with that again and we elected to build in a neighborhood fed by overhead lines and mature trees...and a generator needed to be part of the discussion.
Most of our neighborhood has Generacs, but 1 has a Cummins. It's smaller and I think a little quieter...for what it's worth.
I know how to open the main, but wondering if there is negatives/downsides to this approach for a novice like me? I've never heard this option before and it sounds pretty easy. I know one would need to manage what they operated relative to the size of generator and some things come on on their own due to thermostat controls, which requires managing the load very important e.g. if the electric water heater, a/c, refrigerator all cycled on at once.
I've got a gasoline powered generator with 4500/7000 surge watts.
An electrician friend told me he has done this before. You are essentially backfeeding the panel through the dryer breaker. Consider it to be the "main" in this instance. Most dryer outlets are 30A, 220V, so the max load you could serve from the panel would be 220V X 30A = ~6KW.
bwifan
Well-Known Member
Yup... I have a 30kw Kohler... Most people told me 20kw and under go Generac anything over 20kw go Kohler. Kohlers are work horses and ours cycles on tuesday mornings for 15 minutes. Ours kicks on via ATS after a 5 minute outage. It's a beast... Powers the whole house and left us a bit of room for our addition on the house. Plus if we are away and a hurricane hits we don't have to worry.
Where I live in Chester County is the end of the PECO lines. If our own trees don't snap wires during even moderate storms- somewhere East of us does. We got the 23 Generac so it can power the whole house. Runs 10 mins/week on Saturday at 11am. I pay my electrician neighbor $100 and a few beers on the patio for annual maintenance. I live at the bottom of a hill in an area just above a creek so the water table can get high quick. I NEED the power to start my sump pump whether I happen to be home or not. There is a bit of a "luck of the draw" on the machines. Mine has been awesome- but another neighbor- who bought the same size gene and had our same friend do the install/maintenance has had big issues and ended up with a Generac Warranty issue after paying multiple repair guys big $ and missing our on use of power during a week long outage. That hurts. A luxury for sure- but well worth the money for the piece of mind!
I'm in Chester County also and have had my issues with PECO. Not just outages but twice in one year had my heat pump blown out by power surges that were caused by trees taking out a 35KV line that fell onto the 5KV line that served my neighborhood. The second time it happened, the house closest to the incident caught on fire.
After that incident, PECO refed our neighborhood from the 35KV line and put in new transformers. The service reliability is better, but we did lose power during the December storm and were out for about a day.
Ice storm in WV for the last several days. Trees taking out power lines left and right. I think I mentioned I have a Genrac 22kw (24kw) plumbed in to the natural gas line. Power went out last Thursday w a bang, 5 sec later the genny kicked in. We got power back Friday night. Lost it last night. So we r warm n dry. Everything runs etc. biggest problem is no cable or internet!!!!
I can hot spot off my phone, I think att gives like 5gigs free but I don’t know how much that is
I can always use LTE on the phone, but I can’t get on my work computer unless I hot spot it. And since they don’t pay for the hot spot I won’t use it too much. !!
I can hot spot off my phone, I think att gives like 5gigs free but I don’t know how much that is
I can always use LTE on the phone, but I can’t get on my work computer unless I hot spot it. And since they don’t pay for the hot spot I won’t use it too much. !!
