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Home generator
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:24 am
by stickmaker
After years on the gulf coast and more power outages than I care to remember we pulled the trigger and put in a Natural gas home generator. We are in a older neighborhood and there are hundreds of old oak other trees. We can lose power for hours to days from a thunderstorm and have gone over three weeks with hurricanes. To old for that now. After a lot of research and talking with friends a others we chose a Briggs & Stratton. It is pretty much self sufficient. We just need to check the oil. It even exercises it self once a week.
Re: Home generator
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:50 am
by Shakey Jake
I've been thinking of doing the same. I live in an all electric home so would have to use propane.
Jake
Re: Home generator
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:57 pm
by BrokenolMarine
We put in a 22k generac when we lived in VA and never looked back. We had refinanced the home to upgrade several aspects, and just added the cost of the generator into the upgrade. It was a BIG selling point when we sold ten years later.
If you have all electric, check with your power company. Many of them have a program where they assist with the financing if you own your home, either low or no interest, and the payment is added to your bill.
Why would they do that?
* ONE less customer they have to worry about whining about being out of power.
* One less customer tempted to illegally hookup a portable to their home by connecting to a dryer plug and back feeding into the home wiring thru the panel, also unknowingly feeding power into the lines their techs are working on, possibly fatally injuring their workers.
When we moved into OK, the first thing on the list after getting moved in, was another generator, another 22k like the first and then one less thing to worry about. This one is covered by the annual plan. Maintenance and they monitor the genny 24/7. If there is a fault, they can log in, run the genny, and possibly reset without ever leaving the home office. If they can't, they call and let us know they are sending a tech. Seven year warranty. If it's warranty, doesn't cost us a penny. If it isn't, we get a discount.
Don't have to worry that when we need it the most, the genny won't run.
Re: Home generator
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 3:30 pm
by stickmaker
BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:57 pm
We put in a 22k generac when we lived in VA and never looked back. We had refinanced the home to upgrade several aspects, and just added the cost of the generator into the upgrade. It was a BIG selling point when we sold ten years later.
If you have all electric, check with your power company. Many of them have a program where they assist with the financing if you own your home, either low or no interest, and the payment is added to your bill.
Why would they do that?
* ONE less customer they have to worry about whining about being out of power.
* One less customer tempted to illegally hookup a portable to their home by connecting to a dryer plug and back feeding into the home wiring thru the panel, also unknowingly feeding power into the lines their techs are working on, possibly fatally injuring their workers.
When we moved into OK, the first thing on the list after getting moved in, was another generator, another 22k like the first and then one less thing to worry about. This one is covered by the annual plan. Maintenance and they monitor the genny 24/7. If there is a fault, they can log in, run the genny, and possibly reset without ever leaving the home office. If they can't, they call and let us know they are sending a tech. Seven year warranty. If it's warranty, doesn't cost us a penny. If it isn't, we get a discount.
Don't have to worry that when we need it the most, the genny won't run.
This is some thing I should have done years ago. Ours is a 20 K. More than enough for running our small house and most of the power tool in my shop. There is peace of mind in having it.
Re: Home generator
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 3:45 pm
by Headhog
Waiting to get the back-up generator installed. We've have a portable one but it's a pain dragging it out and hooking it up. Then have to add fuel twice a day and make sure we have enough. New unit will run off our 500 gal. propane tank. Our portable generator was professionally wired in with a proper disconnect.
Paul
Re: Home generator
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 4:53 pm
by BrokenolMarine
Headhog wrote: ↑Sun Sep 12, 2021 3:45 pm
Waiting to get the back-up generator installed. We've have a portable one but it's a pain dragging it out and hooking it up. Then have to add fuel twice a day and make sure we have enough. New unit will run off our 500 gal. propane tank. Our portable generator was professionally wired in with a proper disconnect.
Paul
We used a portable, plugged into a dryer plug, BUT, run thru a proper disconnect approved by the power company as safe.
What a PITA it was all those years. Keeping twenty gallons of gas on hand thru the winter, a BEAST to start in below freezing weather, noisy, and thieves were known to steal them WHILE they were running, so I had the hookup INSIDE my woodshop. We had a LARGE portable, would run the fridge lights, and the fridge and freezer. If we wanted to take showers, and needed the hot water heater, had to turn off the breaker to the freezer. QUICK showers for each of the six family members, then turn off the hot water heater and back on the freezer.
Luckily, we heated with a woodstove.
When we looked into the Generac, one of the first questions they asked was what did we want to run, I said, "Everything."
Re: Home generator
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:07 pm
by North Country Gal
Most homes in our area have generators given our long cold and snowy winters. We use a propane generator because propane is much easier to start in sub zero weather than gasoline. Had a professional electrician do the wiring.
Re: Home generator
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:55 am
by Hatchdog
We went the portable route here with a proper side panel with a disconnect. Had the electrician install it when the house was wired. I wish now I had gone with the whole home unit running on natural gas but at the time with building a home the budget didn’t allow for that expense. Not a big deal as we get very few outages here and when we do they are short.
Good idea going with the big unit, sure is nice to know you have backup when needed.
Re: Home generator
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 3:12 pm
by ol'pole
I have a portable Generac, I made a cable with #8 wire and a 4 prong plug to for the gen side and 3 45amp gator clips to hook onto the feed, when I need to hook it up I remove the meter and connect to the 3 bottom lugs (2 legs @ 120v and neutral/ground). Removing the meter prevents any possibility of feedback to the incoming line. I power the whole house this way.
My Generac is easy to start, gas on, switch on, choke on pull the cable 2-3 times off & running. Connect cable to house 1st then the gen. When I shut down 1) disconnect from gen then house 2) turn off gas & let it runout 3 ) fill oil if necessary. I've done it this way for years and never had a problem starting when needed, summer or winter.