Generators-see post 63-she's working!!!

[oldbrownhat]

One of the disadvantages of less expensive generators is noise. The Honda's run quiet, others don't.

Maybe worth making a 3-sided shed lined with Roxul Safe n' Sound, with the open side facing away from the house. Just make sure it's large enough to allow proper air circulation and be careful that the exhaust can exit. Could maybe even be 4-sided with a wide doorway (ie 3 1/2-sided.)

 

[AJ]

What do you all do about security? It is not unknown that folks steal things during times when generators are needed. Here they have book known to take an old lawn mower and have it running to fool folks that the generator is running.

 

[dmar]

I bit the bullet 4 1/2 years ago and bought a 22K whole house Generac generator powered by natural gas. I just wanted to make sure that no matter what I would be able to power the things that relate to my medical issues. Hearing it exercise every week is very reassuring, and it is amazingly quiet. I timed the generator and found out in a power outage the generator would kick in after 13 seconds.

What’s a ballpark cost to have a whole house unit installed these days...? I’ve been considering putting one in.

 

[AJ]

What’s a ballpark cost to have a whole house unit installed these days...? I’ve been considering putting one in.

A friend just had one put in last winter and the total cost was $12,999.00.

 

[glowe]

That sounds way high to me. There is only one Generac authorized installer within 150 miles of us and I contacted him about 2 years ago. I still have the quote for a 22kw system for $8900 installed. Problem is he is in Wisconsin and when his company tried to get a permit to install, Michigan has a union stranglehold on the electrician market and so he cannot install systems in Michigan without a MI license. I have since dropped that option for the time being. Off and on, we have been looking at Kohler, but have not had any outages for 3 years, so not a priority.

I do have a 10,000kw peak gas generator, Troy Built and hired an electrician (yes - Michigan licensed) to install a manual lockout/switch on my main panel. They ran a conduit and put a 220V outlet in a box outside my garage. I can now run the whole house using the 220V outlet on my generator.

It is a great option for anyone who has generator with a 220V outlet and makes using a portable generator totally safe, preventing feedback blowing up your generator when power comes back on. Simple mechanical slide inside the main panel that prevents a generator from running power into the home when main power is on and prevents one from turning on the main power when generator is supplying power to the home.

 

[Erocksmash]

Honda Honda Honda... I've wired mine to back feed the panel so I can pick and choose what I want to turn on...

 

[Tradewind36]

What’s a ballpark cost to have a whole house unit installed these days...? I’ve been considering putting one in.

I had a 22kw whole home Generac installed a year ago. It was around $8700. Two propane tanks rental, delivered, installed and filled added another thousand plus. Total cost around $10,000. Living on the Gulf Coast it was worth the cost to me. It ran for 17 hours last September after hurricane Sally visited us.

 

[Dave_n]

I bit the bullet in 2014 and installed a whole house Kohler (nominal 22KW but 20 KW on NG)). Self-adjusting tappets and runs like a champ on NG. Kohler have a 5 year warranty versus 2? for Generac. Runs for 30 minutes every Saturday. Have it serviced every 6 months and when the power goes out on our hillside covered with 100+ year trees and overhead power lines, we simply do not worry. Comes on in under 15 secs in case of a transient failure of the power lines. I do recommend an automatic switchover and a surge protector for the system. Dave_n

 

[dave1918a2]

Fortunatly the house I bought up here has a 15KW Generac wholr house allready installed. It was new in Dec 2019. Haven't needed it yet, but it runs every other Sunday.

 

[Doug44]

If you decide to run gas generator don’t go too large. Hauling gas can get to be a problem. A 10,000 watt will handle most needs. You can always be selective in what you are running.
I checked on an auto generac 10,000 but could not get one untill January.
I think in Michigan if you obtain permit in your name you can have anyone you like do the install. But you are responsible for proper installation

 

[epj]

The real issue with any generator is fuel. The one I have runs on natural gas, piped in by the gas company. Ten years ago, an EF 5 tornado took a mile and a half wide swath right out of the center of our little town. Fortunately, our home wasn’t damaged. About 30 seconds after the tornado passed, the generator came on. My wife and I mounted an expedition to go check on her father, who lived about three miles away. Getting there proved to be a real adventure, taken mostly on foot. He was ok, and we ended up spending the night. The next morning I walked back home to check on the dogs and get a car if the streets were cleared. There was a profound silence from the generator. Then it struck me, the gas main had been shut off. Hundreds of houses torn off their foundations and an equal number of gas leaks. Power was out for about ten days. That was the one time I really needed the generator. Power was off for something like 36 hours a couple of years ago. Beyond that, a few hours at most.
I discovered that the NG generator can run on propane. I can put a T in the line with a three way valve and run off bottles. If I had known that when the generator was installed, I’d have had it piped that way. Also, I’d have found some way to put in a big tank. I don’t know how long a 20 lb tank would last. That’s about as big as I can move around here in my old age. You’d need to have enough on hand to last several days. In a widespread outage you probably won’t be able to get a refill at the local Walmart since they won’t have power either.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

What do you all do about security? It is not unknown that folks steal things during times when generators are needed. Here they have book known to take an old lawn mower and have it running to fool folks that the generator is running.

Heard that tale too........BUT!.....When the lights/acc. go off you will know.

 

[AJ]

Heard that tale too........BUT!.....When the lights/acc. go off you will know.

From what I have heard the thieves do it late at night/early in the morning when folks are asleep.

 

[Jon651]

What do you all do about security? It is not unknown that folks steal things during times when generators are needed. Here they have book known to take an old lawn mower and have it running to fool folks that the generator is running.

Here's a trick I use - when you are running your generator during an outage, whatever circuit you have powered inside your house (or even if you are using extension cords) also plug in the UPS from your computer if you have one. That way when the gen power goes off the alarm from the UPS will sound and you will know something is wrong.

This is especially useful when you can't hear the generator very well from inside your house. You can't always rely on "just knowing" when the gen goes off - lights are not always on, you can't really hear a frig when it's running, etc.

As for physical security, I lock my gen to a convenient fence post near where I run it. Something like that won't really put off a truly determined thief, but that's why when my gen goes out I take my .44 with me when I go check on it. I also don't use the garage door right next to the gen - that the one any thieves would expect me to use.

 

[Frank46]

My 22kw generator, installed with auto transfer switch, plus 750 gallon tank and first fill cost me right around $13,000. Truth be told had I known that the propane tanks are not completely fill so as to leave room for expansion I would have gone for the 1,000 size. But in the few years we've owned it so far the longest amount of time it ran was about 27 hours. Our home is all electric. So we have to not run either dishwasher,washing machine.clothes dryer or shut off the a/c when using the stove. When finished cooking then a/c comes back on. Frank

 

[Onomea]

Regarding cost of a whole house generator, also known as a stand by generator, I just bought, a bit over a month ago, one for a 2800 sq ft house, a 20KW Kohler with auto transfer switch. Runs on natural gas or propane.

$18K installed.

• I had a not-to-exceed, over-the-phone quote of $14K from Generac, but the earliest their dealer could come to my home for a site survey was the end of December.
• The Cummins/Onan dealer visited me for a site survey but never gave me a quote.
• The Briggs & Stratton dealer said he'd call me again to set up a site survey, but never got back to me.

While Generac, the manufacturer, followed up with me and upon learning that their dealer could not visit me until December, and offered to set me up with another dealer, by that time I had decided not to go with a Generac.

None of the above could install right away. Whole house generators are a hot market now, with extreme weather everywhere. Perhaps the pandemic has slowed their supply chain as well. I think the earliest install was something like three or four months out. I expect the Kohler to be installed at the earliest late this year and more likely sometime in the spring.

I attribute the lackadaisical response from the dealers/installers to the hot market. They don't need customers, and have a hard time fulfilling orders when they get them. I also felt I had no
negotiating leverage.

Perhaps it would have been smarter, or cheaper, to wait for the market to settle down, but after Oregon hit 115° this summer, during which my power went out for about three hours, I just decided to bite the bullet.

I don't think the extreme weather is going away.

 

[oldbrownhat]

...I attribute the lackadaisical response from the dealers/installers to the hot market. They don't need customers, and have a hard time fulfilling orders when they get them.....

This is no excuse for poor service, however. Just be honest and admit you're slammed to the boards. I wonder also if Kohler is a "well-known but not as well-known as the others" brand which meant they weren't quite as hammered with requests as the other big names.

And no, the extreme weather is not likely going to go away but be "a feature, not a bug" as the old line about software goes. We hit 103° here, which was a record. I don't have AC but am planning to build an "earth tube" cooling system- basically 100' of 6" PVC pipe buried 4' down where the amb. temp. is 60°, and use a low-speed fan to blow it into the house, which is open-plan and not large. That should provide enough cooling for me and probably cost ~$600 as I can do the trenching myself.

Power outages are not common here but I have a whole-house battery system and an old Onan 6kW diesel genny which has kept me running during the few we've had.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Caje, is there no hope for the old generator? What broke?

It is at the doctors as I type. Right now it is low on my priority list as I have power . Kinda like the roof only leaks when it rains and then I can't fix it because it's raining and I can't get on the roof.

 

[jcs266]

Here in this rural area of the high desert mountains we lose power fairly often. I've had a few big (portable) generators over the last 20 yrs. I have it set up where it runs the entire house and the well.


This most recent one is from Home Depot (the DuroMax XP12000EH) and I really like it. I only use propane in it now (will avoid gasoline unless really desperate for fuel). I don't like gasoline because it's difficult to store safely, insanely flammable and deteriorates with age. Propane is safer to store, cheaper by 50% than gasoline and doesn't deteriorate. To me that's a no-brainer.

I do have a small compact Honda that's whisper-quiet that I run at night for my CPAP (don't need the big one running all night just for that). Nothing I know of beats a Honda generator for quality or smooth quiet operation.

 

[SuperMan]

My friend in Connecticut bought one about two years ago...has only used it twice but both times started right up.. The last time it ran for almost a week with zero problems...

Bob