Yet another emergency home generator question.

CalifEd said:

Just a note of caution.
I had some work done on my place that required updating my electric service.
The local Edison guys came out to upgrade the in-ground transformer at that time too. BTW, one of the most professional group of workers I have ever seen.
I mentioned to one of the workers that my neighbor had just installed a generator that would kick in automatically if/when the power would go down.
They made a quick trip next door to make sure the work was done right and it wouldn't energize the main line rather than the neighbors house.
I guess if you bubba it, you can mis wire something that could cause damage and/or injury.

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When we had our whole-house generator installed, our city-owned electric utility had to do the final inspection and approval.

This is our electrical service connection before the installation:



And after:



The big box contains the all-important automatic transfer switch to prevent backfeeding into the city's electrical system. It also contains load shed relays to keep the generator from being overloaded, plus an emergency shutdown switch. Despite the latter, our city also requires a second, external "Big Red Button" shutdown switch. Impressive, eh? Not a job for amateurs!

dave1918a2 said:

In My previous house I wired in a 4KW generator in prep for Y2K.Of course nothing came out of that, but I did use the generator twice in the coming years. Up here I have a Generac system that came with the house. Called the people to check it out and found out it wasn't even a year old. Hope I never need it, but it's reassuring to know it's there.

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My whole house Generac generator made its weekly run this morning. That is always reassuring to hear.

We used to do the portable generator thing but as we got older, I knew that there was no way that my wife would be able to deal with that if I were no longer around. A few years ago, we had a Generac 22kW whole house generator installed and it has given us considerable peace of mind. Power outages here in cornfields and cows country occur approximatley 3-4 times a year and usually last 2-4 hours. Last year, a windstorm caused a power outage that lasted 3 days. It was nice having that Generac during that time.

prairieviper said:

We used to do the portable generator thing but as we got older, I knew that there was no way that my wife would be able to deal with that if I were no longer around. A few years ago, we had a Generac 22kW whole house generator installed and it has given us considerable peace of mind. Power outages here in cornfields and cows country occur approximatley 3-4 times a year and usually last 2-4 hours. Last year, a windstorm caused a power outage that lasted 3 days. It was nice having that Generac during that time.

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Thats how we started out had a gasoline portable, took it outside and plugged it in to our electrician installed outlet. Could run the well and other necessary items. Just a simple flip a few breakers and we could do all that was necessary up here in this desolate area.

We get many outs and went for the whole house Generac. Power outs are normally at least 6 hours, many a bit more and we had a ice storm that was measured in days. Course most all generator runs happen in the worst part of our rather nasty winters.

Rustyt1953 said:

Both of my next door neighbors have generators.

I have extension cords.

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After a 27-hour outage in November a couple of years ago that ruined everything in the fridge, my gf had a 13kW Generac NG installed. Set her back $15k, which I thought was a bit steep, but she had to have the service panel replaced as well. Self-tests every Friday. Her next-door neigbors just have a Jackery (?) battery backup which at least keeps the fridge going for a while, but I joked that she should have had a couple of 20A outlets installed on the outside wall they could connect to by throwing an extension cord or two over the fence. No outages since, of course

I went old-school when I built the new house, with a whole-house battery backup (4 x L16 batteries) and an old Onan 3-cyl. diesel genny with a 25 gallon tank. Got me through an 84-hour outage during an ice storm. No outages the last couple of years but I'm still glad I have it. It's definitely a "hands-on" system as the genny likes to see a constant load when charging the batteries and running the house but so far, at my still-slightly-sprightly older age, I can handle that OK.

We have a Kohler whole house generator that runs on NG.
It will power the whole house when needed. It runs every Monday to self check.

prairieviper said:

A few years ago, we had a Generac 22kW whole house generator installed and it has given us considerable peace of mind. Power outages here in cornfields and cows country occur approximatley 3-4 times a year and usually last 2-4 hours. Last year, a windstorm caused a power outage that lasted 3 days. It was nice having that Generac during that time.

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That's the type of generator I got back in 2017. Even though I live in PA I'm only 45 miles from Baltimore. It was either Hurricane Sandy or an ice storm around Baltimore that caused a power outage that lasted for a week. With my medical issues I don't want to have the power down for that long.

An aside for those of you thinking about getting a generator. Check your HOA covenants if your property is subject to them. I checked the covenants and came to the conclusion that I needed to get the HOA's blessing. So I got the application from the HOA and copied off the entire Generac web site and attached it as an exhibit. I couldn't think of anything else to do. The initial response was approval with a screening requirement. Then I suggested that the manager look up my property on showmystreet.com to see the photographs of my property. The final decision was an approval for my generator and the screening requirement was dropped.

StrawHat said:

Because we travel two months of the year, we felt a whole house generator would be the better choice. I do not need to be there for it to come on. If we are not home, it will keep the plumbing from freezing and the freezers from thawing.

Kevin

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Ditto. I was in Japan during a big freeze here a couple of weeks ago. I'd left the thermostat in away mode, so it was maintaining 50° inside the house. It was reassuring to see on the thermostat app that temp remained steady inside as my Kohler app showed my whole house generator chuggin' away for the eight hours or so the power went out.

I've had a 15,000 watt portable generator since before Y2K and in the old house, I wired in a 200 amp manual transfer switch so it would run the whole house once it was wheeled into place fired up and plugged in. I also inherited an older 2250 watt Coleman generator from my parents that is at least 30 years old and I keep it serviced and it runs like a top. At the old house, the power was continually going out because we were on the end of the line. When hurricane Ike blew through, by moving those 2 portable generators around with my tractor, I was able to keep 5 neighboring households up and running and nobody lost anything in their fridges/freezers.
Now I live in town and all our service lines are underground and the rare outages usually last a very short time. I did bring both generators with me when I moved and in the 10 years I've been in town, the power has only been down for about 6 hours once. Once again, my little 2250 watt Coleman generator got passed around and kept 3 different folks from losing anything in their fridges/freezers. (One neighbor was undergoing post cancer IV treatments at home and her medications were in their fridge, so they got priority.)
In town, gasoline generators are our only choice, since this section of the plat does not have access to NG and the city will not allow larger above ground LP tanks. So far, (knock on wood) my 15,000 watt generator has only been started a couple of times, just to exercise it but in this plat of brick homes IT IS INCREDIBLY LOUD and is not ideal. It is comforting to know it is ready to go and I can string extension cords to keep the neighbors critical needs met for a longer period if need be. I do need to pick up a couple more extra heavy duty 100 foot (10ga) extension cords because I seem to have lost a few in the move.

I have 2 vent less gas fire places one in the basement and one in the leaving room. I am all set when it comes to heat. Just last week had a Generac 18,000 watt installed, so now I guess I am covered both ways.

bgrafsr said:

We have a Kohler whole house generator that runs on NG.
It will power the whole house when needed. It runs every Monday to self check.

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We have a 20KW Kohler automatic whole-house system that runs from a very large propane tank and does a weekly self-test. The local dealer comes every fall and changes the oil and checks it out. It has a self-test/system status screen that you can check yourself. We are in a pretty remote Rural Electric Cooperative region that got set up when FDR was president - and it shows. Don't know what we'd do without it.

erikpolcrack said:

We have a 20KW Kohler automatic whole-house system that runs from a very large propane tank and does a weekly self-test. The local dealer comes every fall and changes the oil and checks it out. It has a self-test/system status screen that you can check yourself. We are in a pretty remote Rural Electric Cooperative region that got set up when FDR was president - and it shows. Don't know what we'd do without it.

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Our Generac runs its exercise weekly (although that is easily changed if you prefer every two weeks, etc.) We have our Generac serviced yearly. The service includes:
Drain/Replace Oil in Generator
Replace Sparkplugs
Check Air Filter- Replace as needed
Clean Generator Interior
Test Transfer Switch Operation (power will need to be shut down for this)
Check Generator Battery and spray terminals with anti-oxidant if needed
Reset Maintenance Reminder on Generator
Update Generator Firmware

Krogen said:

Perhaps this isn't a direct answer, but you might consider my solution. I have a gas-fired boiler in my heating system. The installer put a standard 120 V ac pigtail on it and plugged it into an outlet. All it needs is power for the controls and pump, much like your gas-fired furnace - not much power at all. I had expected a hard wired connection in a junction box and thought the installer was a sloppy hack. That is until I thought things through. I can unplug the boiler during an outage and plug it into a small generator, or even plug it into the inverter on my pickup. I quickly saw the advantage despite the backwoods appearance.

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I have not read the National Electric Code in quite some time ( retired ), and unless the code has changed. There is a section about plug in connections on non portable equipment. As I recall, that may very well be a violation regardless of how practical it is.

prairieviper said:

Our Generac runs its exercise weekly (although that is easily changed if you prefer every two weeks, etc.) We have our Generac serviced yearly. The service includes:
Drain/Replace Oil in Generator
Replace Sparkplugs
Check Air Filter- Replace as needed
Clean Generator Interior
Test Transfer Switch Operation (power will need to be shut down for this)
Check Generator Battery and spray terminals with anti-oxidant if needed
Reset Maintenance Reminder on Generator
Update Generator Firmware

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I recommend that you have the valve lash adjustment added to the scheduled maintenance routine. The clearance is specified as .002-.004 inches. If that clearance is lost due to valve seat recession, the exhaust valve will burn since it is essentially staying open, and it is a major repair.

prairieviper said:

Our Generac runs its exercise weekly (although that is easily changed if you prefer every two weeks, etc.) We have our Generac serviced yearly. The service includes:
Drain/Replace Oil in Generator
Replace Sparkplugs
Check Air Filter- Replace as needed
Clean Generator Interior
Test Transfer Switch Operation (power will need to be shut down for this)
Check Generator Battery and spray terminals with anti-oxidant if needed
Reset Maintenance Reminder on Generator
Update Generator Firmware

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If you don't mind me asking, what do they charge for that? The company that installed my gf's 13kW Kohler want $300 for the annual checkup. (They also want the genny connected to her wi-fi, which she will not do.) The same company also put in her Triangle Tube NG boiler a few years ago and want the same annual service fee, but apparenty they "can't" do both on the same service call for less because of "different technicians", which I think is a load of horsepuckey.

Someone once said, "a specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less" which would seem to be the case here

oldbrownhat said:

If you don't mind me asking, what do they charge for that? The company that installed my gf's 13kW Kohler want $300 for the annual checkup. (They also want the genny connected to her wi-fi, which she will not do.) The same company also put in her Triangle Tube NG boiler a few years ago and want the same annual service fee, but apparenty they "can't" do both on the same service call for less because of "different technicians", which I think is a load of horsepuckey.

Someone once said, "a specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less" which would seem to be the case here

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The local plumbing/heating company that installed our Kohler comes every fall and the same technician does the annual service on our Lennox hot-air furnace at the same time.

I have had a Troy-Built 7500KW with 10,500KW peak load for 20 years. About 12 years ago, we moved and instead of running extension cords all over, I had an electrician install a 220V plug in a box outside and ran wiring back to the panel. He also installed a manual lock-out where you have to turn the main power off before you can switch to the external plug. I would recommend this option for rare outages and if someone is home most of the time. Long vacations in the winter are a risk, but we don't take them in the winter anymore. Troy-built and DeWalt sell a generator this size for $700. The electrician ran about $500 including parts, so together a way cheaper alternative to Generac.

My generator is on wheels and sits in my second garage. I start it every so often and it performs perfectly. It runs the whole house. We do not use the clothes dryer when running the generator, but will run a 220V well pump and everything one needs for a couple days of power outage.

oldbrownhat said:

If you don't mind me asking, what do they charge for that? The company that installed my gf's 13kW Kohler want $300 for the annual checkup. (They also want the genny connected to her wi-fi, which she will not do.) The same company also put in her Triangle Tube NG boiler a few years ago and want the same annual service fee, but apparenty they "can't" do both on the same service call for less because of "different technicians", which I think is a load of horsepuckey.

Someone once said, "a specialist is someone who knows more and more about less and less" which would seem to be the case here

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I pay $525 for a yearly contract. In Spring they come out and service/maintain the AC. In Fall, they do the furnace and the whole house generator. I pay a one time fee.

it gives me a 10% discount on repairs if they are needed during the year, plus I have priority if any unit goes out.

glowe said:

I have had a Troy-Built 7500KW with 10,500KW peak load for 20 years. About 12 years ago, we moved and instead of running extension cords all over, I had an electrician install a 220V plug in a box outside and ran wiring back to the panel. He also installed a manual lock-out where you have to turn the main power off before you can switch to the external plug. I would recommend this option for rare outages and if someone is home most of the time. Long vacations in the winter are a risk, but we don't take them in the winter anymore. Troy-built and DeWalt sell a generator this size for $700. The electrician ran about $500 including parts, so together a way cheaper alternative to Generac.

My generator is on wheels and sits in my second garage. I start it every so often and it performs perfectly. It runs the whole house. We do not use the clothes dryer when running the generator, but will run a 220V well pump and everything one needs for a couple days of power outage.

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Sounds like what we used to do. I assume your genny runs on gasoline.

When a catastrophic storm took down power lines we had no service for a week. Unfortunately, the gas stations had no power either so eventually I ran out of gas. THAT was what caused us to go to a generac NG genny.

Golddollar said:

My whole house Generac generator made its weekly run this morning. That is always reassuring to hear.

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Ours is set to go off at Dinner time on Thursday. One Thursday we went out to dinner. Friday morning I heard the clock and alarm system beep. I sat in bed waiting for the genny to start. It didn't.

I looked out the front window, the back and the side windows. All the neighbors had lights lit. OMG!!!

Got up and went to the backyard. Found that the battery was dead. I copied the part number and luckily a local shop had one in stock. Before I left the house I called the power company.

Replaced the battery and it still wouldn't start. Called the service company and they were to be over that afternoon. It had been raining and the sump pump was pumping it's heart out. Got prepared to bail, and decided not to open a fridge or freezer door. OMG my beer was getting warm.

Long story short, the Power company got the power back on just in time before the sump overflowed. Turned out a bird had crawled in the connection that went only to my house, fried himself and blew a fuse.

Also, the battery went dead because the genny was trying desperately to start the day before, but it didn't so it drained the battery. The starter needed to be replaced.

Best laid plans......