Yet another emergency home generator question.

[Jeff423]

We recently had below zero temps for a few days and my sister in OR lost power for 4 days. These situations got me thinking about a home generator.
Our power lines are buried and we don't often lose power but the thought of no power with below zero temps is not appealing. I have forced air gas heat so I need electricity for the blower.
Could I use a smaller than "whole house" generator just for the furnace?

 

[Jeff423]

Never mind - after I posted this a bunch of links came up which answered my question - yes I can. Before I posted this I tried a search with no results. Go figure.

 

[Krogen]

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.

 

[Jeff423]

Thanks - That is what I was thinking about.

 

[Vtgw938]

I have a 5200W gasoline generator that I can connect outside the house. Had a switch box installed so just need to plug the generator in and flip the switches with no chance of backfeed into the lines. It can run the furnace, water pump, all the freezers/frig and some lights and outlets. Just need to start it once in awhile and keep fresh gas on hand.

No generators inside (garage is inside) and make sure no chance of backfeed.

 

[glenwolde]

I had a gas fireplace. When the power was out you could just hook up a 9 volt battery for ignition. Very handy.

 

[Jeff423]

I had a gas fireplace. When the power was out you could just hook up a 9 volt battery for ignition. Very handy.

I've got one of those too and was wondering about that. Mine has a switch on the wall but I haven't checked to see what the power is. I'm thinking it's a 120v solenoid valve.

 

[ladder13]

When I lived rural, I had a portable pull start gasoline 5500 then upped to an electric start gasoline 8000. All I really needed emergency wise was my well pump, oil burner, refrigerator, and a few lights.

Now, we have a whole house with NG. Still really only need the basics plus A/C but why not. Hardly use it but it’s like insurance.
Never will own a home without one.

 

[StrawHat]

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

 

[GypsmJim]

I always had an emergency (portable) genny. About 17 years ago we had a massive storm that took down power lines for a week. My genny saved us, but not by much. I eventually ran out of gas and all the local stations had no power either. I had just about completely siphoned out both cars when the power came back on.

Enuff of that. We got a "whole house" NG generator. It was the smallest they had. It powered the furnace, fridge and freezer, sump pump, garage door, computer, microwave and at least one light in every room.

What it DID'NT power was the pool, out buildings, workbench, stove, ALL the lights. In other words, only what WE considered essential items.

The pundits say that 15 years is the usual service life. I had a battery and starter go just this Summer, so I inquired about a replacement. I was told that they don't make them as small as mine, so I would need an upgrade.

I would look around to see what's available. Surely, you don't need to power everything, but you might as well hook up all the circuits anyway.

 

[ladder13]

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

Yes, forgot that, we travel a lot also. Keeps the cameras operational as well.
I track my gen function with an app and though it has never malfunctioned, I can call my electrician and he’ll get it resolved.

 

[Farmer17]

I'm building a new home and am having a 220V generator outlet installed outside which is near the panel and I'm having the electrician install the sliding panel plate that requires the main electric power to be shut before the generator can be turned on. This eliminates back-feeding the power lines. The cost about $75 for these and then I can plug whatever generator I want into the outlet and power as many breakers as the generator will allow. I'm looking at a duel fuel 13,000 Watt generator for $1,500 that can run on gasoline or natural gas and my house gas service pipe is nearby so the plumber won't charge much for a connection pipe. I should be under 2 grand for everything and that generator can run anything in the house but probably not everything at the same time since I have three air conditioning condensers.

 

[peterGun]

After doing the portable genny thing for over twenty years we up graded to a whole house.

Living rural and at the end of the line are power outages were frequent and extended.

Sunday we pulled in the driveway and exited the jeep when genny kicked on, 2 hours latter it shut off.

Nice not having to shelp cords or muscle a genny.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[StrawHat]

Yes, forgot that, we travel a lot also. Keeps the cameras operational as well.
I track my gen function with an app and though it has never malfunctioned, I can call my electrician and he’ll get it resolved.

Yep. Ours tests itself every Thursday and sends a report. One time we were in Chicago or Atlanta and it show it being off line or similar. The techs were all tied up so the owner of the company drove out to see what was wrong. All covered under the warranty!

Peace of mind, priceless!

Kevin

 

[CalifEd]

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.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Both of my next door neighbors have generators.

I have extension cords.

 

[bullmack]

Both of my next door neighbors have generators.

I have extension cords.

MY neighbor's house on one side is like 12' away and it's on a different grid than mine. We often joke about doing the same thing.

 

[Sistema1927]

I have a portable LP/Gas dual fuel generator (and plenty of LP) that, while not large enough to power the whole house, is enough to keep the furnace, refrigerator, and some lights on. Even though I have not yet had a need to use it in a real emergency, I have tried it out using a large gauge cord and it worked just fine.

However, earlier this month our furnace gave out and was replaced. The old furnace plugged into a normal receptacle, but the new one, according to current code, needed to be hard wired. I am guessing that in a real emergency I could cut the cord and wire a plug, or even make up a pigtail beforehand that I could use to replace the existing cord, but I am thinking about other options even though I don't want to install an interlock or transfer switch.

 

[ladder13]

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.

I don’t shoot unknown reloads.

 

[dave1918a2]

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.