Whole house generator

[curtis]

We just had a huge wind storm here and lost power for the first time in 5yrs. Problem is they said it will probably be a few days before the power is restored. I know it's too late now to get a generator hooked up to the house but I'd like to be ready for next time. I would like to get a stand by generator so that it will switch on automatically. My wife stays home with our daughter and I'm at work 10-12 hours a day. Having something automatic that she dosent have to do anything with would be ideal. Our house is about 1000sf and we have all appliances electric. Our heat is a garn 1500 running through a heat exchanger in the furnace that is fuel oil. We also have central air but having that run is not a priority. I tried to size one online and got sizes from 8kw to 20kw. Does anyone have an idea of how much I'd need and what brand to go with. I would probably have a propane tank brought in for fuel to run it.

 

[jharkin]

For the cost of one of those permanent automatic standby setup you could go to a 4 star hotel during the next 200 outages. I would think long and hard if its really worth it to spend 5 figures to protect against a once a decade issue.

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah after their first multi-day outage in twenty years one of the neighbors put in a whole house Generac and 500 gallon propane tank to the tune of twenty grand. It has been around six years and the only time it has been fired off is for regular upkeep runs.

Get an interlock kit installed and buy a 8,500 or so watt gas generator with electric start. All she would have to do is plug in a cable, flip the interlock and push the start button. What my other neighbor did at the same time and only has had to watch under $2,000 worth sit there and do nothing.

 

[claydogg84]

Yeah after their first multi-day outage in twenty years one of the neighbors put in a whole house Generac and 500 gallon propane tank to the tune of twenty grand. It has been around six years and the only time it has been fired off is for regular upkeep runs.

Get an interlock kit installed and buy a 8,500 or so watt gas generator with electric start. All she would have to do is plug in a cable, flip the interlock and push the start button. What my other neighbor did at the same time and only has had to watch under $2,000 worth sit there and do nothing.

This is exactly what I did 8,500 Generac, a socket outside, and an interlock switch on the panel. I wheel it out to the deck when I need it, hit the electric start button and I'm off to the races. It's not rated for the high end electronics like your flat screen TVs, but it powers the whole place.

 

[jharkin]

When our basement flooded that year we had record spring rains (10?) I got a 3200 watt portable, wired in transfer switch to be able to power the pump, septic, fridge and a few key circuits. I also got a large battery backup sump pump in case it went out while we are at work. All of that was under a grand.

We have not had an outage longer than 2 hours since, other than hurricane Sandy (that one was 10 hr).

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah. I got tired of hanging cords through a window for my 3200 watt genny and cut a hole in the wall and just ran 12 gauge cords into the laundry room and added a second 3200 watt to the genny shed. Then I put 825 amp hours of solar maintained batteries in the basement and five UPS units in the house. Now we have gone for the first three years without at least a 3 day outage in the 30 years that we have lived here.

But I love the 3200 watt gennys. They just sip gasoline. My 5,500 watt used to drink twice as much powering the same loads. If I need extra juice I just fire the second one as needed.

 

[velvetfoot]

If you have a deep well, that can take a lot of juice.
I don't know about you guys, but when the power goes out, I kinda dread dragging out the 8kw generator and the not-light cordset and figuring out what to do if it's raining, etc. If the mere purchase of a standby generator will stave off future outages, why not?

 

[jatoxico]

I have a 5500 watt w/ a transfer switch that will run most of the house but it is LOUD. Keep wanting to get a Yamaha inverter/generator for running some lights, the frig, TV, fans etc. The low draw stuff that you want on for hours at a time. Their about as loud as a dishwasher and use about 1g of gas for 10hrs of run time.

 

[BrotherBart]

I don't know about you guys, but when the power goes out, I kinda dread dragging out the 8kw generator and the not-light cordset and figuring out what to do if it's raining, etc.

My generator shed attached to the wood shed right behind the garage took care of that. Should have done it years ago.

And the battery bank and inverter means letting the sun come up before I have to mess with it.

 

[jharkin]

The one time we had a long outage I only ran the generator for an hour or so twice a day. Just long enough to make hot water for a shower, chill the fridge and recharge some flashlights. Cooking via gas stove, heat from the woodstove. The rest of the time we read books and used candles. Fridge will keep cold for 12 hours or more between runs if you dont open it.

The only reason I would ever need to keep that genny running all day is if we had another basement flood even and the batter backup ran out.

 

[BrotherBart]

I fire it at sunup and shutdown when I go to bed. Every October I buy 25 gallons of gas and what doesn't get used goes in the equipment or the truck over the Summer. Sure was expensive gas I burned this Summer compared to what I could have bought it for at the time.

 

[HSBull]

My 8500 westinghouse runs 100% of what I need. 1000.00 well spent.

 

[burnham]

It's hard to size a generator without knowing the actual loads being used in the house. You can get a transfer switch that will cycle things on and off (like the AC) based on load, so you don't need to size the generator to handle 100% of the load. Probably get away with an 8-12KW generator.

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/Images/Generac-RTSW200A3/i50712.html

 

[Husky]

I've been using a 7.5K generator since 1999, buy for the Y2K scare that never happened. Looking back I am glad I have it. Used this generator in two different houses now. First house I was dependent on well water and had 3 kids under the age of 5. In the house I'm in now I have basement flooding problems if the sump is off for more than 30 minutes. I would never invest in a whole house standby unit unless I lost power very often. Most can get by with a portable and in my case I have a battery backup sump system that will run for about 6 hours in case I am not home when power is out. If I had the money to burn I guess I would do the standby for the convenience but the portable is easy enough and does the trick. I lose power about twice a year for around 3-6 hours. Once several years back I was out for 3 days but that has only happened once in 13 years.

 

[Retired Guy]

We put in a 10K whole house standby NG generator a few years ago. Cost about 5K. Went the portable route for 20 years, keeping enough fresh gasoline around was a problem. 15 Gallons in the garage made me nervous. A 4 day outage in Feb. with temps on the 0 degree range was the deciding factor. Very happy with the unit.

 

[xman23]

A wood stove and a 2000 watt gas powered sine wave inverter runs the whole house. I to don't see why you need a high priced automatic generator for the rare long term power outage .

 

[Seasoned Oak]

My wood stove is my emergency heat ,light and cookin appliance. I dont even bother with a generator. I could go quite a long time with just the wood stove and no power. I do have a small generator, that if it would start in an emergency is doubtful. So why bother.

 

[firefighterjake]

Lost power For 14 days several years back in an Ice Storm ...,last year lost it for 3 days in the winter... a small portable generator meets our limited needs ... cooking on gas, heating with the woodstove and shower at work.

 

[maple1]

Have a 3500w inverter Genny here. Does all we need, sips gas. Our well pump is 120v.

 

[rwhite]

We just had a huge wind storm here and lost power for the first time in 5yrs. Problem is they said it will probably be a few days before the power is restored. I know it's too late now to get a generator hooked up to the house but I'd like to be ready for next time. I would like to get a stand by generator so that it will switch on automatically. My wife stays home with our daughter and I'm at work 10-12 hours a day. Having something automatic that she dosent have to do anything with would be ideal. Our house is about 1000sf and we have all appliances electric. Our heat is a garn 1500 running through a heat exchanger in the furnace that is fuel oil. We also have central air but having that run is not a priority. I tried to size one online and got sizes from 8kw to 20kw. Does anyone have an idea of how much I'd need and what brand to go with. I would probably have a propane tank brought in for fuel to run it.

Go out to your breaker box and determine which circuits you will absolutely need to run and add all the amps of those breakers up. Multiply by 120. This will be the optimum size but may be cost prohibitive. For what is considered "whole house" you will want a generator that will power about a minimum of 20% of your panel rating, so for 200 amp service you will likely need at least a 40amp generator which is around a 10KW.

 

[maple1]

I think if most people looked at their power bill, and figured out their daily consumption from that, they would realize how much of an overkill a big genny is for emergency use.

Mine works out to 700 watts. Triple that to try to account for nightime low-use, that's 2100 watts. Right now looking at my energy monitor, we're using 600 watts. Only using what is necessary, one thing at a time (not unreasonable in a 'semi-emergency' outage situation), I get my well pump using the most. That's maybe 2000 watts. So I've got lots with 3500 watts.

As usual, personal preferences & priorities comes in sideways to this too though....

 

[mass_burner]

Been using my Prius for the last few outages. 1500 watts covers fridge, and recharging my rolling battery bank with 2 70ah agm batteries. Gas cooking, but I have an indoor wood oven if needed.

 

[Wooden Head]

Here is my list of things I run off my 120V, 300SI Honda Generator(quite).
2-Freezers
Refrigerator
CPAP (needed for sleeping)
2-Pellet Stoves
Ceiling fans
Lighting
Propane water heater
Propane stove/oven
2-TV's (news and weather reports)
Computer(power outage reports)
Telephones(no cell phone service)
These all run just fine on this generator. This generator gets about 12-14 hours on 1 tank of fuel(5 gallons)

To run other things, I need my Rigid 6500/8500 watt, 220V /120V generator(LOUD).
Well pump (showers, toilet, dish washing, drinking water)
Propane Forced air furnace (120 volt motor draws high amps)
Clothes Washer (same high amp draw)
Propane clothes dryer(same high amp draw)
Micro Wave
This generator gets about 7 hours on 7 gallons gas.
I run the Rigid for these and the go back to the Honda for runtime, fuel savings and quite.

Hope this helps.

 

[sportbikerider78]

For me, the only thing that has to stay running is the fridge and a few lights. Woodstove for heat and we are all set.

I grab my little inverter/generator and put it on the deck and run an extension cord to the fridge about 20 ft away.

Power outtages are intolerable w/o cold beer.

 

[curtis]

This is exactly what I did 8,500 Generac, a socket outside, and an interlock switch on the panel. I wheel it out to the deck when I need it, hit the electric start button and I'm off to the races. It's not rated for the high end electronics like your flat screen TVs, but it powers the whole place.

Im going to look into that, I just didn't want to get a portable and then have a bunch of extension cords running through the house. But being able to just plug it in to a outside wall socket and turn breakers on from inside sounds like a good plan.