Generator-Update

[bgrafsr]

I've posted this before. We had a 14kw Kohler whole house system installed last year at our new to us home. It included the automatic transfer switch, whole house surge protector, and a new 200 amp electrical panel with breakers installed. Cost was a little under $10,000.00.
It will run everything including the AC, and it runs on natural gas.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Anyone have experience with smaller NG generators, such as this 12kW Kohler one from Lowes?

My gf in Bellingham WA is now thinking of a whole-house genny. They have relatively few outages there, but Sunday morning some idiot took out a power pole with his BMW at 4:30 am and it took the utility company 25 hours to restore power as they had a number of other outages to deal with. Her neighbour has a 1000W lithium battery pack she uses to keep her fridge running but my gf figures it's worth putting in a proper system with more capacity. She's not the "camping-out-with-the cats-by candle-light" type. (Neither am I. I have an old 6kw Onan diesel genny and a whole-house battery backup. Kept me cosy during an 84-hour outage a few years back.)

Because outages are few and far between there, she doesn't want to blow a big wad on a big installation. She really just needs to keep the fridge and HW boiler running as well as some basic circuits. No AC . At the same time, she wants something that she won't have to "fuss" with, and a small whole-house unit would probably fit the bill. Could probably even get by with manual start. The 12 circuits on the secondary panel on this unit above would probably provide enough. I can't remember how many circuits her box has as I haven't been able to get across the line since March 2020 but it's an older house and has a modest breaker box. 220v would be nice as her HW tank is electric, but she could get by w/o that for a day or so if mecessary.

She's not necessarily limited to the price range of this particular model, and I figure the necessary permits, gas and electrical bills would add another $1500 or so. But power-wise it would seem to be suitable for her needs.

 

[Golddollar]

Anyone have experience with smaller NG generators, such as this 12kW Kohler one from Lowes?

My gf in Bellingham WA is now thinking of a whole-house genny. They have relatively few outages there, but Sunday morning some idiot took out a power pole with his BMW at 4:30 am and it took the utility company 25 hours to restore power as they had a number of other outages to deal with. Her neighbour has a 1000W lithium battery pack she uses to keep her fridge running but my gf figures it's worth putting in a proper system with more capacity. She's not the "camping-out-with-the cats-by candle-light" type. (Neither am I. I have an old 6kw Onan diesel genny and a whole-house battery backup. Kept me cosy during an 84-hour outage a few years back.)

Because outages are few and far between there, she doesn't want to blow a big wad on a big installation. She really just needs to keep the fridge and HW boiler running as well as some basic circuits. No AC . At the same time, she wants something that she won't have to "fuss" with, and a small whole-house unit would probably fit the bill. Could probably even get by with manual start. The 12 circuits on the secondary panel on this unit above would probably provide enough. I can't remember how many circuits her box has as I haven't been able to get across the line since March 2020 but it's an older house and has a modest breaker box. 220v would be nice as her HW tank is electric, but she could get by w/o that for a day or so if mecessary.

She's not necessarily limited to the price range of this particular model, and I figure the necessary permits, gas and electrical bills would add another $1500 or so. But power-wise it would seem to be suitable for her needs.

Go to the Generac web site and find the section about determining the proper sized generator for its intended use and building. This will really help getting it done right the first time.

 

[Muley Gil]

Rereading this thread, I realized that in post #29 I stated that I bought my Champion generator in 2020. I actually bought it in 2010, so I've had it for over 11 years now. The only time it won't start, I installed a new spark plug and it fired right up. That plug was 9-10 years old and was the original one that came with the generator.

Needless to say, I've been very happy with it.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Go to the Generac web site and find the section about determining the proper sized generator for its intended use and building. This will really help getting it done right the first time.

She's also getting a quote from a local company she's dealt with before, so they'll do a proper evaluation. I can pretty much run my house (and charge battery backup system, which draws about 12A on bulk charge) from my 6kW Onan so I think she should be OK with 12-15kW. A bit bigger won't do any harm, of course But she doesn't have electric baseboard heat, well pump or air conditioning.

 

[gjgalligan]

Stove top burners are only 120v on all the stoves I have ever had.

 

[Jon651]

Back in November 2020, REM 3200 started a thread about home generators and I thought I would update my post in a new thread.

I had been using an existing generator wiring that had been installed before I bought my house in 2006. I had three outlets in the house and when I used my 5000w portable, I had to run extension cords and power strips and I didn't have power to my well pump.

Today, I had an electrician come out to the house and do his magic. Now, I have a cable that I run from the garage, where I keep & run my generator, about 70' away. I plug in the cable to the 220v plug on the generator and take the other end down to the house. I plug the female end into another outlet, open the breaker door, turn off the main, slide up a lock-out and turn on the generator breaker. I can run all of my 120v appliances and turn on and off the 220v ones as I need them. Mainly, I want the well pump to run, rather than haul water to flush the toilet. However, if I want to use the range, I turn off the pump breaker and turn on the range breaker. Same for the hot water heater.

Down the road, I may spring for a larger portable generator, but for now, this sure beats running extension cords.

Just remember that if you are starting your hot water heat off cold, a typical unit has two 4500-watt heating elements, so if both are activated that will overload your generator and pop the breaker. If you fire up your hot water heater and it initially has mostly hot water in it already then it should only use one element and you should be OK.

Just thought I'd mention this.

 

[terry_tr6]

I think it was 2004 when we in central florida got hit with 3 hurricanes in quick succession. I bought a 5500W one from Graner(my company had an account I could piggyback on). Got it home, fired it up and generator blew out after 15 min. No place by that time to buy another. 6 months to get repair. Fortunately my neighbor let my borrow his little one occasionally to keep freezer and refrigerator cold and in a couple days a friend who got power lent me his 5kw. also got at SEARS! a little window AC for $55! so we could have a bedroom cool for sleeping. lived that way for most of the month. got generator back and it has never failed since! same with AC which i used to cool the RV for each kid to live in when they needed a covdi isolation place. Stove is gas and without the AC and water heater it manages to run the well pump and rest of the house. It's gas and since I have a boat with 35 gal tank plus a couple 5 gal cans for the mower, we do ok. not optimal, but for $450 and a home made suicide plug..... Noisy though. I often wish i had bought one of the HF 2000w quiet ones before they jumped from $450 to $750, but too small for the house and turns out we don't dry camp so really would not have used it for camping. wish could find a 6 or 7 KS unit that was super quite

 

[anoblefox]

Just last week we received a Westinghouse dual fuel 9500w generator that I will use to power the shop during an outage. It is larger than I really wanted but cost $1050 and the local power company (PG&E) had a $1000 rebate program on this particular model so it was a "no brainer" costing me only $50!

 

[DWalt]

For anyone living in California who plans to buy a generator, now is the time to act. Seems the California Guv wants to ban sales of all equipment using gasoline engines by 2024 - no more sales of gas engine chain saws, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, presssure washers, etc., also no generators. I really must wonder why anyone normal would continue living there.

 

[Frank46]

I live in Louisiana and down here hurricane are just another part of living here. Years back have a 6kw craftsman generator. And had to stock pile gas in 5 gallon jugs. What gas was left after power came back was used to fuel the truck. When Harvey came through gas leaked out of the generator. That cost $200 after the hurricane to get fixed. Had a whole house generator installed which cost me 10K. Then the propane tank with propane another 3K. Usually shut off hot water heater. When the wife needs to cook shut down the a/c until she's done and turn the a/c back on. In hindsight should have a 1000 gal propane tank installed. But so far so good. Kinda nice that when a power outage happens we have just about everything good to go. At 75 I use a bipap machine and with the gasoline generator had to run extension cords for 2 refigerators and a freezer.Cooked with a charcoal grill. Now no grill although do have an el chea grill with 4 40 pound bags of charcoal as backup. Genny went on during IDA and we had all power. Neighbors did not. Frank