Back Up Home Generator Question

Generac caters to a certain crowd. Our Generac came with the house..the previous owners where those certain kind of people.

I bought the B&S , in '10 (after Ike), wholesale from a A/C buddy....it had 3 different re-badging stickers in the box...Ruhd, Trane, etc.
paid another buddy to kook up the gas & Frankenstein type transfer switch. it has no logic, just auto-on & auto off.

it cost me $5k all in.

these days....that same 20kw will run you 15k all in.

Costco has my same genset, on the shelf, for 5k. not bad.

 

most companies require a certified installer to install the unit or warranty is voided. I think that is why people don’t buy them themselves.

 

I noticed that Lowe's has the 20kw/20kw LP/NG for 5600. I like that it gives you the stated power per fuel source. I don't even mind having to manually switch things on if it'll save me $$$ (which I think it will). I have a great electrician who would hook it up if I went that route - just need to give him the green light.

 

the gas hook up is the problem...city inspection crap.

and I think I had to have the Power company come shut off the main to hook up the transfer switch. (bad memory)


in short...if funds allow - get a dedicated standby.

it's rare that nat gas ever gets shut off.

 

I got the Westinghouse 9500DF a few years ago and installed a transfer switch with the 10 circuits that I can run.

I’ve got an enough propane to run the generator for about 40 hours stored in a small deck box. I fill them at a propane refill vs the propane tank swap so I know that they are full.

I have never had any problems starting it up, push button start or pull string.
If you don’t run it often, or have plans to maintain it well, I’d encourage you to avoid gasoline due to maintenance. If you do run gasoline, I recommend ethanol free to reduce the potential damage *IF IT WILL SIT FOR A WHILE*.

The comments above work well for me because:

1. My power doesn’t go out regularly
2. I had a 50w plug installed in the garage with a grounding rod for the generator installed next to the generator location
3. An underground basement so I can just run a fan to cool the house in the heat
4. I was able to get most of my house on a 10 panel switch that will run everything but the AC, stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer.

Good luck with your project, hopefully you don’t have to use it!

 

and get a carbon monoxide alarm.

just because.

 

Yeah I've already contacted the gas company to rig up a meter as we have zero gas atm. Gonna run me $700 for the meter and up to 20 ft of line from the start of our property line.

 

here in Friendswood, we have all kinds of "rules".

5ft minimum from windows
10ft minimum from A/C & fuse panels

plan accordingly.

 

EDIT- added info from previous post for planning purposes

Oh…and I learned that I can’t access the 38 gallons I’m my trucks fuel tank…plan appropriately (I didn’t!)

 

Panorama Village is an older community and one of those city neighborhoods. We have our own council, mayor, and PD. When I bought the house, we had to tear down the old fence and rebuild it. I took the $100 permit fee up to the Hall and they just waved me off

 

What does that have to do with a generator?

 

When I was planning a fuel source, I thought that in addition to the propane, I could use the gas in my tank…guess I should have edited/quoted my previous post.

 

@texasrho83 Charles, there is a FB group based in Bridgeland, TX (basically Cypress) but crowd is from all over the Gulf as it happens to all of us.
I can PM you the FB invite to that group , lot of information to read up for.
They also have electrician/plumber/AC guys that they have worked with and am happy.
Can't hurt to call them up and ask some question. Let me know if you would like the invite, I will figure out how....

 

Ah. Well, in a true, 100% must get fuel emergency you could always drill a hole in the tank like the gas thieves do. Any modern vehicle will have the anti-siphon tech in it, so don't think you can snag your neighbors fuel either.

 

I have to say...

there is a special feeling when you whole house generator is running during an outage & your neighbors are in the dark.


We have an agreement. the folks to the left & right of me know I will throw a cord over the fence to power their fridge & such.


I'm civilized.

 

Usually during a power out, I am just looking to power fridge and AC, two of the most important thing in the household.
Maybe some lights, but I have camping lights all over the house and the kids are happy to use them as if we were camping.

Spoiled food and heat is the killer and that's what worries me. And my two cats.

Also, for those that are looking to do portable generator, consider doing a whole house surge protector, it will be cheap insurance vs replacing expensive appliances on the regular....

 

we know that feeling. it's kinda surreal when you see all the darkness and only 1 or 2 others in your neighborhood have the lights on.
we do send it out to our neighborhood/closer friends that they can come over and shower if needed. we're on 2.5 acre lots, so we're a little further apart from each other.

 

btw.....our 22kw runs our entire house flawlessly. 2 separate 4 ton ac units and all! very seemless operation. luckily, i put it on the back side of our garage, so not near anyone's bedroom or anything. we barely hear it running.

 

After the in-famous 2021 Winter Valentine Ice Storm in Houston, my friend got pissed and ordered three Telsa Powerwalls and solar panels.
To date, he didn't even know there was an outage, much less the power bill.

I have another friend that did something similar, 8 batteries, free night and weekend power plan, no solar panels.
He charges the batteries at night/weekend, and run off those batteries during the day.
He claims to have no problems, yet. Those battery setup is something, on a rack and wheel, so pretty mobile.

 

Those, I will say, are more of a safety than anything.
CO poisoning is real and quiet, so the further away you can get it from the house the better.
Now, I have seen setup where the "shed" is in the backyard, and the line was buried 75 ft from the house.....

 

Electrician I use is also a generac dealer. It was awhile ago but I think the quote he gave me was around 12k. We don’t have AC so all we would need to power is the well, fridge, boiler and a few other things. Everyone around us has a generac and most units I see outside of town are generac as well with a few Kohler boxes sprinkled in.

Like most things for me these days that quote is way out of my range. Started looking at solar options.

https://us.ecoflow.com/products/ecoflow-delta-pro-smart-home-panel?variant=40435774980169

This is still out of range for me but way more reasonable. You can add additional battery packs to get up to 25kWh. It’s on the short list for when I win the lottery. Ideal situation would be to convert the whole house to solar and be done with it.

Hopefully this winter isn’t going to be as bad as the Almanac says otherwise we might be in for some long cold dark days…

 

Go for it.

 

We have a pad already on the other side of our detached garage. Plenty of distance from the house.

 

I instantly knew what you meant, because I learned the same thing a few years back. With three relatively "older" vehicles. ALL of them had anti-siphon screens. I was flabbergasted, but fortunately got by without that fuel.

YES, a thousand times YES. In any and every small engine, ALWAYS.

 

I've had good luck with the fuel stabilizers.

 

We lose power at the drop of a hat where I'm at in storms, sometimes for days (cough - four days in Sandy). I had a Kohler 20kw natural gas standby generator put in a couple of years ago. The first time it kicked in when we lost power, it paid for itself.

I can run my entire house off of it - AC, heat, well pump, and all. Genuine peace of mind.

 

Speaking of power outages...........

 

It's a sign. You need a generator.

 

Generac generators will run as long as they have fuel:

How Long Can A Generac Generator Run Nonstop? | Generator Supercenter | Generators Sales, Install and Maintenance

 

22KW Generac is what we went with and it has been great peace of mind for about 5 years now. I smile every weekend when it comes on for its self check run.