Mike in Horseheads Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 (edited) Greetings... I saw a infomercial this morning for Generac home standby generators. I'm just curious as to what peeps that have these found to be their plus's and pitfalls (not just Generac) and if they have suggestions and tips if I decide to look into this. Thanks!... Mike 8/7/17 I had a free estimate today. If I bump off the dryer and stove (I have a convection/microwave separate) it's $6500. Doubt I will do anything right away but gives me a baseline. Thanks again everybody! Edited August 7, 2017 by Mike in Horseheads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammered a Lot Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 I see them everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherpa Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 I've got one. There are a number of considerations. First consider how much power you want to provide. That will tell you how to size the unit. A good way to do that is lo look at your service panel and determine how many circuits you want to power . Consider what engine you want powering it, gas or diesel. Consider if you want it self starting or not. Consider what power panel you want to run it through. I have a 7500 watt Honda powered generator that is reg gas that runs 10 circuits. I did not want it self starting. I have plenty of time to start it up when needed. Anyway, lots to consider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan in San Diego Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 Get a solar system and run your house off of batteries. Get off the grid. Supplement with a wind turbine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Horseheads Posted July 30, 2017 Author Share Posted July 30, 2017 I've got one. There are a number of considerations. First consider how much power you want to provide. That will tell you how to size the unit. A good way to do that is lo look at your service panel and determine how many circuits you want to power . Consider what engine you want powering it, gas or diesel. Consider if you want it self starting or not. Consider what power panel you want to run it through. I have a 7500 watt Honda powered generator that is reg gas that runs 10 circuits. I did not want it self starting. I have plenty of time to start it up when needed. Anyway, lots to consider. Actually these run on your natural gas or propane and are supposed to kick in almost immediately. http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-power Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sullim4 Posted July 30, 2017 Share Posted July 30, 2017 I did some investigation into this last year. The big question to ask yourself is what exactly you want/need to power during an outage. For us, most of our major appliances (water heater, stovetop, fireplace) are natural gas, and don't require electricity to run. We'd lose the furnace, but our natural gas fireplace is more than capable of heating our house up. We basically determined that in an outage situation, we wanted the refrigerator and microwave in addition to a few other appliances like our TV, cable modem, lamps, etc. The key thing here is that you don't need to power all of these at one. This made the portable units a lot more appealing given the cost difference. The refrigerator, while a large consumer of electricity, doesn't have to run at the same time as the microwave. So you just plug in what you need at the moment, unplug what you don't, and manage it from there. If you want to get really fancy, you can hook it up with a transfer switch to your house's panel, and flick individual breakers on and off to manage usage. We ended up buying a Honda EU2000i and are very happy with the unit. The obvious advantage of the whole-home units is that you get instant-on backup power and unless there's a gas leak in the neighborhood which requires gas shutoff (not always a given here in earthquake country), you're golden. For us, the cost just didn't seem like it was worth it. The portable units, while less convenient, have the advantage of being able to travel with you for camping, in addition to being significantly cheaper and being able to operate after an earthquake. They can also be re-worked to run off of propane or natural gas, although the later would likely require you to seek out a pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Actually these run on your natural gas or propane and are supposed to kick in almost immediately. http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-power Sure they can; like most thing it all depends on what you want to pay for. I have a number of friends back in CT who have whole house, auto start generators (for 4000+ sf houses) with a huge buried propane tank to keep the thing humming for weeks. Of course, price tag for that set up can approach $20,000. After Hurricane Irene I opted for the 5500-watt, gas fired Home Depot generator for $500. Hired an electrician to install a separate panel and do the wiring to the main box and set me up with the right power cord and I was good for 4 separate multi-day outages afterwards; one lasting six days. I ran my well, septic, heat, and general house lights/power, oven. Had to be a little careful about not running too much at once but in general had pretty much everything working except laundry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Sure they can; like most thing it all depends on what you want to pay for. I have a number of friends back in CT who have whole house, auto start generators (for 4000+ sf houses) with a huge buried propane tank to keep the thing humming for weeks. Of course, price tag for that set up can approach $20,000. After Hurricane Irene I opted for the 5500-watt, gas fired Home Depot generator for $500. Hired an electrician to install a separate panel and do the wiring to the main box and set me up with the right power cord and I was good for 4 separate multi-day outages afterwards; one lasting six days. I ran my well, septic, heat, and general house lights/power, oven. Had to be a little careful about not running too much at once but in general had pretty much everything working except laundry. You usually don't need separate propane... Can hook to natural gas line. Very seldom does natural gas get shut off during a weather event. Natural disaster, maybe. Whole house genset do exercise themselves. Monthly I think. And Mike... I keep a little Genset (5500)... Just enough to keep sump going, fridge in summer and furnace blower in winter. Outside can serve as "fridge" in winter. About 500 bucks. I do have 2 AC pumps in my sump and 1200 watt inverter on battery in case I am not home. Inverter will run off 12v battery to power one of the sump pumps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 You usually don't need separate propane... Can hook to natural gas line. Very seldom does natural gas get shut off during a weather event. Natural disaster, maybe. Whole house genset do exercise themselves. Monthly I think. And Mike... I keep a little Genset (5500)... Just enough to keep sump going, fridge in summer and furnace blower in winter. Outside can serve as "fridge" in winter. About 500 bucks. I do have 2 AC pumps in my sump and 1200 watt inverter on battery in case I am not home. Inverter will run off 12v battery to power one of the sump pumps. I lived in the Northeast...that's oil country. Out here in CA you could connect to the gas line but that's the first thing to get shut off in an earthquake so I'm not sure what you do. I suppose if it's a big enough quake to kill electric/gas/water for any length of time we might need to abandon our hillside house, move into the cinderblock garage and filtering water out the stream! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 After Hurricane Irene I opted for the 5500-watt, gas fired Home Depot generator for $500. Hired an electrician to install a separate panel and do the wiring to the main box and set me up with the right power cord and I was good for 4 separate multi-day outages afterwards; one lasting six days. I ran my well, septic, heat, and general house lights/power, oven. Had to be a little careful about not running too much at once but in general had pretty much everything working except laundry.We had too many outages here in Socal this past winter, so essentially we did like you. Bought a 7500 watt from Home Depot, with ability to run on gas or propane. Electrician gave me an outlet and cable, and can run my entire house except the AC. That said, I bought a Sportsman, and it's up to me to switch the power over, but it ran me $700 and was worth every penny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 (edited) I lived in the Northeast...that's oil country. Out here in CA you could connect to the gas line but that's the first thing to get shut off in an earthquake so I'm not sure what you do. I suppose if it's a big enough quake to kill electric/gas/water for any length of time we might need to abandon our hillside house, move into the cinderblock garage and filtering water out the stream! Yeah. The really big thing can be the sump pump. A lot of watts on start up. They are getting better with new motor designs. New ones are almost 1/3 what they used to be. Figure @ 4 amps, running will be 460 watts. Startup double or more. My original pump was a whopping 12 amps. That can be 1400 running right there. Start up on those old pigs could be 2,000 to 4,000 watts (1/2hp pump) A/C compressor (if old) can also eat up the power. How are you getting a whole house on 5500w? With that its barely running my sump, furnace and/or refrig. My 20+ year old A/C (220v) is totally out of question. I'd probably need 12k to 15k watts for whole house to feel comfortable and my house is only 1,600 square feet without the basement. Edited July 31, 2017 by ExiledInIllinois Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Oh... If you do go portable genset. Make sure it has a fuel petcock on it (or install one on fuel line). Gens usually sit for a while. When you exercise it, shut the petcock and run it till it stops... Clearing all the fuel out of carb. That way, fuel won't varnish up in carb if it sits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherpa Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Actually these run on your natural gas or propane and are supposed to kick in almost immediately. http://www.generac.com/for-homeowners/home-backup-powerI'm aware of that. I'm aware of that. I don't want it to start and provide output to my electrical system on its own. It only takes a second to start and put online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 (edited) All of the above posters give you good tips for you to follow. Since you live in Horseheads, you don't need the generator to power the AC in the summer. That should greatly reduce the size of generator you need. You should check with your local government regarding placement and noise restrictions regarding a generator (or whether they are completely prohibited). Edited July 31, 2017 by \GoBillsInDallas/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 We have a big ass whole house generator at the farm. In severe weather, which has only been ice storms and no hurricanes yet I kick ass. Fire up hotspot on wifi, turn the Dota antenna on, and even could go with well water if need be and we are good to go. Utilities are all gas, but even then, I have options to heat and cool the house. Its generac natural gas. When I get my house remodeled I may do a propane whole house for my place. The NG unit fires once a week for 15 minutes to keep it ready. It has ran for 4 1/2 days before and is noisy. Neighbors come to our place to warm up, etc. If you're going to do it, do it right. Get it ready to be wired in to the house if you're doing a standalone unit. The whole house, don't be a retard and hook it up to your appliances, my dad didn't hook up the stove. His fatass didn't think about cooking food. Only eating it. Up North, a big tip for those I know is to use a fireplace to heat when it's cold and not hook up generator to electric heating systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 I saw Wilco in concert friday night and they opened with Random Name Generator....if that is of any help... Greetings... I saw a infomercial this morning for Generac home standby generators. I'm just curious as to what peeps that have these found to be their plus's and pitfalls (not just Generac) and if they have suggestions and tips if I decide to look into this. Thanks!... Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teef Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 i would kill to have one, but our house runs on all electric. we put in a propane tank to run fireplaces and stoves, but i don't think it would cut it for a whole house generator. fortunately our lines are under ground, and haven't lost power for much time, but we have woken up lately to flashing clocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Horseheads Posted July 31, 2017 Author Share Posted July 31, 2017 We have a big ass whole house generator at the farm. In severe weather, which has only been ice storms and no hurricanes yet I kick ass. Fire up hotspot on wifi, turn the Dota antenna on, and even could go with well water if need be and we are good to go. Utilities are all gas, but even then, I have options to heat and cool the house. Its generac natural gas. When I get my house remodeled I may do a propane whole house for my place. The NG unit fires once a week for 15 minutes to keep it ready. It has ran for 4 1/2 days before and is noisy. Neighbors come to our place to warm up, etc. If you're going to do it, do it right. Get it ready to be wired in to the house if you're doing a standalone unit. The whole house, don't be a retard and hook it up to your appliances, my dad didn't hook up the stove. His fatass didn't think about cooking food. Only eating it. Up North, a big tip for those I know is to use a fireplace to heat when it's cold and not hook up generator to electric heating systems. Thanks Boyst... I'm sure you threw the one word in there for my benefit LOL. The one I saw on the infomercial was a Generac and looks like they get great reviews. Mike Thanks everybody for the input! Lots to think about even the solar option someone mentioned. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 Thanks Boyst... I'm sure you threw the one word in there for my benefit LOL. The one I saw on the infomercial was a Generac and looks like they get great reviews. Mike Thanks everybody for the input! Lots to think about even the solar option someone mentioned. Mike you know I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted July 31, 2017 Share Posted July 31, 2017 I always think generators are waste of money, till we lose power in the neighborhood and mine is the only house not powered up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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