Whole house generator

[RVplusDog]

We are considering getting one for the house. Many of our neighbors have Generac, and engineer DH says that Cummings/Onan is also a good choice. We do have a generator in our big rig RV, plus battery banks there to run that “house” for a couple of days even without the generator.

[Nick12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVplusDog We are considering getting one for the house. Many of our neighbors have Generac, and engineer DH says that Cummings/Onan is also a good choice. We do have a generator in our big rig RV, plus battery banks there to run that “house” for a couple of days even without the generator.

Whatever make you be I would advise get a good contractor to service your Generac ( mine ) yearly and or if it runs continuous during a long power outage for an oil change. To me service after the sale is just as important. There are some installers that will install for cheaper prices but service after the sale is questionable.

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetiredAt55.5 Who did the installation? Asking for a friend (who lives less than hour from Limerick).

Jolt Electrical Services in Downingtown.

[njhowie]

When we purchased our home in a rural area 20 years ago, I purchased a portable commercial grade Cummins/Onan as well as a transfer switch. We had an electrician install the transfer switch. It's done the job for us year after year. During hurricane Sandy in 2012, it ran a full week almost nonstop. I change the oil and filter about once every other year or so.

When I bought it, DW thought I was going overboard. When county inspector came out to check the electrician's work, he and my wife were joking about it. Well, I get a good giggle and wink at my wife every time I fire it up and our house is lit up while everyone around us is dark.

If price is no object (Blow that Dough!) then certainly go for the whole house Generac. However, if you're looking for a good, practical, cost effective solution, pick up a quality generator and get a transfer switch...you don't want to be running extension cords from the generator all over the house.

[Aerides]

My parents were looking into one, and instead went with a smaller unit and have it hooked up and tested. It will allow them to run a portable AC in one bedroom in the night to sleep, and keep the fridge running.

Many of their neighbors appeared to invest their unused travel budgets this year into whole house units, the kind you bury. Their reasons against, not the initial cost, but the upkeep and running when needed. They need regular maintenance and testing (every 6 months I think?), and the ones they were looking at, should they be required, would have a running cost in use of about $200 a day. We don't have natural gas here so they'd also have to have a propane tank dug and keep that full.

All in all, it came down to...if the power's really gonna be out for a while, we load up the car and drive however many hours to a nice hotel. That's always been my post-hurricane plan (and I've used it).

Of course, this is FL. We can't sweat to death. Even in the heat of the summer it doesn't breach 100f (ok with 99 humidity) so it's more a matter of comfort than safety.

[Time2]

About 15 years ago I bought a Miller welder to use as an emergency generator (11,000 watts). I bought it because we are in a hurricane area, had a business and stored our frozen inventory at our home which could be as much as $20k. My thinking was we could resell a little used welder easier than a generator. We only had occasion to use it 3 times, one of those was after hurricane Micheal when we didn't have power for 8 days. We used it for our home because the hurricane took care of the inventory! It sure was nice to have in that situation, and my neighbors sure appreciated hot coffee I passed out in the mornings.

[Jerry1]

Comment on noise. I have a liquid cooled unit. It’s a four cylinder car engine. It has a muffler and while it’s not silent and not as quiet as a car, it’s pretty quiet. Note that the generator component (these are actually motors and generators) will make some noise. If noise is a concern, something to consider.

On oil, use a synthetic. These things are hard on oil.

[Dash man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry1 Comment on noise. I have a liquid cooled unit. It’s a four cylinder car engine. It has a muffler and while it’s not silent and not as quiet as a car, it’s pretty quiet. Note that the generator component (these are actually motors and generators) will make some noise. If noise is a concern, something to consider. On oil, use a synthetic. These things are hard on oil.

My Generac generator is loud standing next to it, but in the house I don’t hear it. My neighbor says she can’t hear it. We also don’t hear a few others in the neighborhood running unless we walk right by their house. Noise doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

[Ronstar]

I have a Generac 16KW generator hooked up to natural gas. Put it in 6 years ago and it's been needed several times. Once for 3-4 days.

Mine is not a whole house generator, but covers 16 of our electrical circuits with a switch and sub panel. I rewired the furnace, water heater, AC, well pump, 3 refrigerators, almost everything into the sub-panel. Did not include oven and cooktop. During a power outage the system recognizes it, turns on the generator and switches the sub panel from main house electrical to generator electrical.

I went with this model due to its size. I did have to have the gas company replace my 275 scfh meter with a bigger 415 scfh meter.

I think the 20KW generator was the next size up and required wiring into the electrical meter and I didn't want to mess with that. And I was worried about my existing gas service/ meter not being able to support that large of a generator.

I got the generator, sub panel, switch at Menards at an 11% off sale. I installed it myself, but did have my HVAC/plumber hook up the gas to it. Wiring it up was easy, but the generator is very heavy and I had a tough time getting it in place.

I paid $3708 for the generator and switch. Around $100 for the new meter with installation, and around $300 for the plumber to gas hook up. So around $4100 total. Best $4100 I ever spent.

I have a company come out yearly to provide maintenance. Oil change, cleaning, etc, and last year I needed a new battery.

[Golden sunsets]

We just installed a 22K Generac whole house generator. It will run everything(we haven't lost power since the installation.) It runs on propane, as we aren't on a natural gas grid. We live in a northern climate where the grid is winterized out of necessity, so loss of our fuel source is not an issue. I wish we were on a gas line, as we would not have to worry about running out of propane in a prolonged outage. I think our system would run for 4 days before running out. We could add a 3rd tank. We also use propane for our fireplace, cooktop and outdoor barbecue.

As mentioned, placement is key, not only for the owner but the neighbors, if your neighbors are close. The installed cost for us was $9,000. Annual service is less than quoted by some, more like $175/yr, including remote monitoring. Our system is connected to wifi, so that we can remotely monitor, as does the servicing company.

We ordered the generator at the end of September 2020, but back orders pushed installation out to January of this year. It provides a great deal of piece of mind. Installing whole house generators has become one of the favorite HI projects du jour in our neck of the woods.

[misanman]

Our power goes out probably once every year or two and usually it's not off for long. We have a 5K portable unit with a transfer switch to run water pump, furnace, sump pump, and some circuits in the kitchen and living room. There are a good many whole house units in our neighborhood, though. I hear various of them running their maintenance check when I walk in the morning.

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset An issue I see and experience is I have a gas powered big portable generator. Newer generators can be duel fuel, since gas goes bad (and constantly rotating 20 gallons of gas will be forgotten to be done). Could a person store a bunch of 20/40/100 lb propane tanks for years without it going bad ?

Yes. I have a dual fuel (natural gas and propane) and a 100lb tank of propane. This provides extra backup in case something happens to the gas supply also. That said, I wanted the dual fuel because we don’t have natural gas at our mountain cabin and I wanted to be able to use the generator in both places if necessary (the power lines at the cabin are actually much more vulnerable and we have outages quite frequently (sometimes several per month), so when we spend extended time at the cabin, we usually have the generator ready.

[Nick12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dash man My Generac generator is loud standing next to it, but in the house I don’t hear it. My neighbor says she can’t hear it. We also don’t hear a few others in the neighborhood running unless we walk right by their house. Noise doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

Mine is the opposite. The 16KW Generac is a workhorse. It is very loud, need earplugs when sleep and the whole street can hear it 24/7.

[Nick12]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euro Yes. I have a dual fuel (natural gas and propane) and a 100lb tank of propane. This provides extra backup in case something happens to the gas supply also. That said, I wanted the dual fuel because we don’t have natural gas at our mountain cabin and I wanted to be able to use the generator in both places if necessary (the power lines at the cabin are actually much more vulnerable and we have outages quite frequently (sometimes several per month), so when we spend extended time at the cabin, we usually have the generator ready.

100lb tank of propane? Is it install under your back yard or install next to your home? I would be concerned if it blows, the house would be destroyed. We have natural gas 16KW Generac.

[mpeirce]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue531 Been wondering if generators will become commonplace to new homes (like furnaces or heat pumps) due to increased climate instability.

When we traveled to Africa we noticed that (non-poor) people all had generators. I guess we're just catching up to the rest of the world.

[Whisper66]

I live in Texas (Houston area). We lost power during the recent cold snap but it's the first time at our home we lost it due to cold in the 20+ years I've lived here. Lost it due to hurricanes a few times. Longest was for ~2 weeks.

Whole house generators are more $$ than I'd like to spend for the few occasions we need it at my house. I have a 5500 Watt gas generator and mulitple, long extension cords I can use to run refrigerators and some other things when needed. We load about 6 gas cans, our cars and boat with fuel before hurricanes. In the longest outage, we made it through all my gas cans + good part of my boat fuel tank before power came back on. We didn't run the generator all the time, just when needed.

I'm planning on looking into installing a power inlet box to plug the generator into rather than running long extension cords. The inlet box will be hooked to the main fuse box with an interlock switch. Then the generator can power loads anywhere in the home up to the generator capacity. So we can run the home gas heater for example but not the house A/C. But can run a small room A/C if needed. Components are cheap so real cost is electrician time. I haven't gotten estimates yet but I'm pretty sure total installed cost will be less than $1k which seems justified in our situation.

[exnavynuke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick12 My family up North has a Generac 16KW whole house generator. Several years ago it cost $12K. 1x a year, there needs to be a service - oil change, spark plugs, filter which runs $300. 1x a week the generator kicks in for 10 min to run . if you are out of power for several days or longer, the tech needs to be called for an oil change after 3 days of straight run time. Oil change $150. If the generator is covered in snow, you must dig it out to ensure that the vents on the unit are clear of snow. If the unit is not clear of snow and the generator runs, you can breathe the carbon monoxide going into the house and that could prove to be fatal. With a power outage, AC/Heat , lights, and all electrical outlets can be used including up to two fridges. The tech said if you do the wash,dry , cook and have every light on, heat or AC that would be overloading the generator. Skip the wash/ dryer and cook sparingly was the advice. The neighbor next door to my family had no generator so we ran an electrical cord to their house so they could power a fridge, one lamp and charge their phone. The generator is very loud, can be heard throughout the whole street, wear earplugs while going to sleep. One power outage was over 6 days. The generator can be a good selling point when the house is up for sale. Less than 5% of homes where my family lives has a whole house generator. It is a great investment and piece of mind when the power goes out. When the power goes out all your neighbors will know you have a Generac. One can hear it running non stop from far away.

Wow, I'm really surprised yours makes that much noise. I have a 16kw Generac whole home generator and it sits right outside the master bedroom window. If the TV is on at a normal volume you won't even notice the generator running from inside the house if you're not actively listening for it. By 2 houses down you can barely tell there's a generator running if you're outside listening for it. At the enclosure it measured 65db iirc, which is quieter than most people listen to a TV or music.

Professionally installed, including running new gas lines, installing the auto-transfer switch, etc. ran me about $9k including the generator and all parts for the 16kw Generac.

[sengsational]

I would wager that members here are much more likely to have a generator than the average Joe, even adjusting for wealth; I see no lights in our neighborhood, and hear no motors running when the power is out.

I considered the Ronstar approach (DIY install with a subset of circuits), but getting from the generator to the main panel in the finished basement would have been a mess.

I've got gas heat, so my main use-case is operating the furnace blower and the fridge. I watched an Ask This Old House where they did a DIY install, and it looked pretty easy. This thread got me thinking, and I wonder if I could get from the generator to the main panel area with a conduit on the outside of the house (instead of tearing up drywall in the basement). Hmmm.

[skipro33]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue531 Been wondering if generators will become commonplace to new homes (like furnaces or heat pumps) due to increased climate instability.

I think it's less about climate instability than it is a maintenance issue. In my neck of the woods, the electric company has been severely fined by the PUC for not maintaining their vegetation/tree clearances to their power lines. The facts proved they cut that part of the budget in order to boost profits. Well, that bit them in the hiney. In fact, I think critical infrastructure should not be allowed to be managed by private/for-profit companies but rather by municipalities.

Quote:

When we traveled to Africa we noticed that (non-poor) people all had generators. I guess we're just catching up to the rest of the world.

Hardening a grid is as simple as putting the lines underground. Overhead lines are cheap to run, but the consequences for doing so results in extended outages. Put it all underground and let it rain, wind blow and temperatures freeze. The transmission and distribution is safe.
Of course, this time around, in Texas, it was as much those things as it was their generation wasn't hardened enough for the cold. Another fact of private enterprise placing profit above their customers that also bit them in the hiney.

[Scubamax]

As the events in Texas indicate, not many were really expecting an event of this magnitude and impact. When we made our decision to get a whole-house generator, we thought about all of the "unknown unknowns" as well as precedent in our area for power interruptions due to storms, along with the state of our infrastructure (not being updated as well as it should be in general).

We add to that calculus the threat of a cyber event which could compromise grid integrity. We view this a "when" not an "if". So for that reason we don't have our rig on wifi/internet.

TL/DR: More unpredictability in the future=greater need for redundant power solution.