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Whole House Generator

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PAUL161

PAUL161

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Just bought a 20 kw Generac Centurion generator with an 200 amp automatic transfer switch. We get ice storms here at times and a power outage is not uncommon. One year the power was off for almost a week, not a good thing, especially in the winter and had to use a portable to run the frig and freezer, plus the blower on one heater. Gas company has to hook up the propane from the large tank and the electrician will hook up the service. Supposed to power the whole house. Best deal on the generator was from Lowes! Quite a savings! PJ

 
We survived 5 days in a row last year on our portable gen-set that we bring to the races (small one....just 6 HP).
We were pretty dry, but some folks got into trouble because the heavy snow melt cause basement flooding if there was no current to run sump-pumps.

We had an early Winter storm that took down a lot of trees (that still have leaves on them).

But the storm was an anomoly (I hope) so we don't expect one like again. If we had another one like that, I'd consider a whole house unit (we have natural gas service so we'd run off that).
 
We had a big Kohler unit installed a number of years ago, with an automatic switch. Runs on natural gas. While it will power the whole house, you do need to be selective about it.....and avoid running outside lights at night to keep from thumbing your nose at the neighbors.
And, at night, to allow everyone to sleep, it's fun turning it off. Have to open every breaker in the main box to unload it, let it idle for 5-10 minutes, then shut it off.
We only have had it in use a couple of times.....seems like when we did it, the power company fixed the grids to keep trees and ice from taking out overhead lines.
 
You'll love it. I don't know what we do without ours. Runs the whole house, except the clothes dryer. Power outages in winter around here can have nasty consequences. We have outages so often I know the power company's outage line phone number by heart. (We had 3 in September alone).

Ours is manual and uses gas, which is a huge negative these days both for consumption and reliability. For some reason it's less tolerant of "old" gas (> about 6 weeks) so I have to keep rotating the gasoline supply into cars, tractors, boats, etc.
 
PAUL161 said:
We get ice storms here at times and a power outage is not uncommon. One year the power was off for almost a week, not a good thing, especially in the winter and had to use a portable to run the frig and freezer,
Click to expand...

No need, just hang the food out the window!

When my cousin first moved out, my uncle went over to see him. It was winter and he was broke. He didn't pay the electric bill so they cut his power off. My cousin asked if my uncle if he wanted a beer, then opened the window and grabbed a beer outta the plastic grocery sack hanging off a nail. :laugh:

No money for electricity, plenty money for Milwalkee's Best. :thumbsup:

Welcome to southern povery. :wink:
 
I'll always remember the welfare recipient displaced by Katrina. Interviewed, she was complaining about the apartment the government put her in only had a 36" flat screen....and she wanted a 48"!
Southern Poverty my hindquarters!
 
I have a "portable", a 6,500 watt unit. I'd like to hook it up to the mains in the house but for now extension cords are what I use. Selective use here, as well but it should be sufficient to run fridge/freezer, heating and a few lights. Runs eight hours on a tank.

I suppose the fact that I fire it up and run it on a regular basis means that I won't ever need it again.... :smile:
 
After the 6 day, plus 3 times of just under a day, outages this year we signed up for a natural gas 15k unit w/auto 9 circuit board. Then the gas co. comes out and tells us we have to replace the gas feed line in order to handle the gen & furnace. $18,000 estimate for just that. Back to the drawing board. Need the auto, natural gas unit because we're gone often enough now that retirement has kicked in. Jeeeeeeze, nothing is simple any more!
 
This unit I bought has a fully automatic 200 amp transfer switch that connects directly from the meter to the main disconnect. It has no breakers in it, just a disconnect, as it's installed before the breaker box and powers directly into the service line. It starts the generator in micro seconds after utility power goes off and shuts down as quick as soon as the power comes back on. The generator and switch is on a concrete pad by the meter 150' from the house. Underground wiring to the house from there. Nice unit with a 36hp engine. PJ
 
DART said:
After the 6 day, plus 3 times of just under a day, outages this year we signed up for a natural gas 15k unit w/auto 9 circuit board. Then the gas co. comes out and tells us we have to replace the gas feed line in order to handle the gen & furnace. $18,000 estimate for just that. Back to the drawing board. Need the auto, natural gas unit because we're gone often enough now that retirement has kicked in. Jeeeeeeze, nothing is simple any more!
Click to expand...

What about getting the propane one and having two tanks instead?

Why would you need power when you're gone, food? Seems to me, $18,000 buys a lot of fridges and freezers stocked to the gills.

For back-up I use two Optimas and a 1500/3000 inverter. I recharge off the car with cables. Both my generator and car burn the same amount of fuel when running and I don't have to put up with the constant noise or fuel use.
 
kellysguy said:
Why would you need power when you're gone, food? Seems to me, $18,000 buys a lot of fridges and freezers stocked to the gills.

For back-up I use two Optimas and a 1500/3000 inverter. I recharge off the car with cables. Both my generator and car burn the same amount of fuel when running and I don't have to put up with the constant noise or fuel use.
Click to expand...

Interesting idea - never thought of that. How many watts/amps can those Optimas supply? What can you run off them?

My $500 4000 watt Generac keeps my refrigerator, oil furnace, undersink water heater, microwave, and small consumers running fine. I use it completely non-regulation: when power goes out, disconnect main house circuit box from (dead) line (i.e. turn main breakers OFF), run 240v line from generator to clothes dryer outlet, crank up generator, and all is well.

I tried to, but couldn't, justify spending $10-20K to run the whole house, when only a few circuits are really needed during an outage.

Tom
 
My inverter is 3000 surge, 1500 constant. I can run the fridge, TV, fan and some lights at the same time but I don't do it constantly. I use it as back up for hurricane season. My batteries are just regular group 24 Optima red tops. I just do bare bones with 'em as needed. I can run most of the house with my $100 5500 watt generator but hate the noise and fuel consumption. (yep, that's correct, $100 and came with the window unit) I don't see a need to run 24/7. Enough to keep the house and fridge cool is fine.

Tom, you can buy a bigger inverter and more batteries and do the same thing you're doing now. Throw a few solar panels on the roof and keep 'em charged if you want. I have enough cars here I can lift batteries from as needed if things get tight.

My hurricane preparedness makes the most use of what I have on hand. I fill all the cars up even if I don't plan to drive them when a storm is heading this way. The thought is, it's easier to store and move the fuel around this way. If I need the vehicle, it's already gassed up plus I can use it to charge my batteries.

If I buy 60 gallons of gas but a storm doesn't come here, I gotta put it in the cars anyway. If it does come and I need fuel for my generator, I've got 4 or 5 cars FULL of fuel to draw from plus hot batteries ready to go.

My philosophy is the same as air cooled VW's, everthing should have at least two purposes. My inverter and batteries are the power source for my studio. Those batteries are also used in my race car...or Tiburon...or VW or boat or Javelin as needed. No sense in having a dedicated battery for each use as they hardly would get used and go bad. If you buy good batteries that'll do everything you need, you only need a few.

The generator is used for running the window unit for the studio in the summer. The window unit doubles for the house durring storms if the gen won't run my cenral air. The gen is also to run my MIG unit to weld out in the yard, studio or elsewhere on the road.

The box stove is for the studio, barn or house as needed. The pecan wood is it's fuel source for both the BBQ and the stove, which is back up either way for the stove and heater run off propane in the house... and the propane is back up in case I run outta fuel for the generator. I have an "extra" truck here and enough stuff to convert that to run off of wood gas too if ever the case. Hot water wouldn't be a problem with solar or wood buring...or from the car for that matter.


I want/need to get some solar panels just because I should.

Very little of this stuff was intentioanlly acquired, it's just a matter of making use of what you already have on hand for whatever the situation may require.


Next week I'm looking into making ceramic water filters with my wife's pottery equipment. Why?...because I have all the fixin' here already! ( I will be using the car hoist for the press mold instead of a dedicated press) :wink:

We don't have a winter to speak of. In summer, a fan and a window unit will do fine. I can see where you guys up there would require more of everything durring winter.
 
Both neighbors have whole house generators. I have two long heavy-duty extension cords.
 
Both neighbors have whole house generators. I have two long heavy-duty extension cords.

Bill, I don't have cords that long! :laugh:




I forgot to mention that the generator also sends power to the shop, which I will only use for lights and heater blower when needed, no machenery! It does give a more secure feeling. PJ
 
Tom what you are doing is dangerous. I've heard all the arguments why it's OK because you always shut off the main. What most people do not realize is that mains can and do fail to open.
I have been in the electrical business all my life( a long time). On numerous ocasions I have turned off breakers only to have the power stay on. Usually the contacts have corroded enough so they are stuck together. If this happens and you connect your little 120/240 generator you back feed through the transformer on the pole and produce 8KV. It doesn't take long to kill someone with 8KV.
There are a number of products now available that will do the job safely and legally. For an installation like yours it is not that expensive and is easy to use and foolproof.
Be safe, Ernie Connor CT Electrical Unlimited Contractor (ret)
 
Ernie - I had never known that before you explained. I always figured that the main breaker would physically disconnect my house from the utility service.

Next step: have a proper disconnect installed. I'd appreciate your pointing me to examples of the disconnect I need. (100 amp, single box)

Thanks!
Tom
 
TR6BILL said:
Both neighbors have whole house generators. I have two long heavy-duty extension cords.
Click to expand...


Those cords wouldn't have happened to come with a free cell phone did they? :jester:
 
We have old fashioned wall furnaces in case the power goes out (which it does for a few days every year) and if it is out long enough to affect the frig, we put the food out in the shed.
 
One thing no one has mentioned is, you have to be very careful installing equipment that is not approved by the insurance underwriters. I know, I don't like them either, but they have a lot of say when it comes to claims if something goes wrong. To me, UL is also a joke anymore, but if their sticker isn't on a electrical device, buyer beware. PJ
 
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