Whole home generator?

[DaubsNU1]

We have lived on acreage for 8 years. I've mentioned a whole home generator, but the wife resisted, as we had never lost power in this house. 

 

Whelp...Lost power last summer for about 6 hours. No big deal, as it was mid 70's.

 

Fast forward to Wednesday...blizzard like conditions here in Nebraska, wind gusts to 65 MPH. Temps in the 30's. We lost power around 10 AM. House was getting pretty chilly yesterday afternoon. Neighbor is an HVAC guy, and helped me temporarily connect our 4500 watt portable generator to the furnace so we had heat last night. Power just came back on at 3:30 AM. 

 

Wife looked at me and said, "start looking at home generators." 

 

Suggestions? We have propane heat-pump. 

 

Do your thing Bass Resource brethren...share your wisdom!

[rangerjockey]

My wife wants to downsize and build another house. If it happens I'm going to put in the generac propane. I feel like it's peace of mind if nothing else . 

[padlin]

Like you I have a small generator that I rig into the furnace along with the fridge and freezer when needed. Having a transfer switch installed and running a few circuits like this is not a big deal, the hassle is you have to keep  a gas generator fed with gas,  keep 10 gallons on site which is rotated through the power equipment. Some generators can be modified to accept propane, maybe NG. Acquiring gas can be a pain in a prolonged outage.

 

Folks around here who don’t mind spending the cash go with an automatic whole house propane.. I imagine you can get them for NG too (natural gas).

 

I’ve needed the generator twice in almost 40 years, and October ice storm for 3 days, and a tornado for another few days. In my case going whole house isn’t worth the $.

[TnRiver46]

They usually reconnect ours pretty quickly when it goes out, but I’d like to think I can live without power for a few days. Heck, power just came to Appalachia when my grandpa was a teenager 😂 

[Choporoz]

We did exactly like @padlin.  9000W Predator feom Harbor Freight, and a couple hundred for electrician to route power and rig switches

[padlin]

I agree it’d be nice to not need power for a few days, in my case I need it for heat if it’s cold and for the fridge and freezer if it’s hot. Seems to take 4 or more hours without power before I have to worry about either.

[Jig Man]

I’ve been getting by with a portable and have it set up for emergencies but the last time our power went out the generator was in the storage unit behind the house and there was too much snow to bring it in.  If I were doing it again it would be a whole house propane back up.

[Scott F]

I have looked into whole house generators recently. When my sump pump broke last year, the cleanup got expensive. I wanted to avoid another issue if the power went out. To get a 24kw natural gas unit with installation was going to run $14,000. Even a smaller 10kw model would cost $10,000. In the 4 years I’ve lived in this house, I think altogether we’ve been without power for a total of maybe 3-4 hours. Instead of a generator, I got a 3 kw power inverter and hooked up 2 deep cycle batteries to power the sump pump. Depending on how long the sump pump runs, those batteries should run the pump for at least 12 hours. I can also hook up a bit of power to keep the WiFi and a few lights going as well. If I lose some food in the fridge and freezer, it’ll still be thousands of dollars cheaper than the generator. Having a portable generator that needs to get started and hooked up, probably during a storm, is a possibility but not one I’m looking into. 

[Tackleholic]

4 hours ago, DaubsNU1 said:

We have lived on acreage for 8 years. I've mentioned a whole home generator, but the wife resisted, as we had never lost power in this house. 

 

Whelp...Lost power last summer for about 6 hours. No big deal, as it was mid 70's.

 

Fast forward to Wednesday...blizzard like conditions here in Nebraska, wind gusts to 65 MPH. Temps in the 30's. We lost power around 10 AM. House was getting pretty chilly yesterday afternoon. Neighbor is an HVAC guy, and helped me temporarily connect our 4500 watt portable generator to the furnace so we had heat last night. Power just came back on at 3:30 AM. 

 

Wife looked at me and said, "start looking at home generators." 

 

Suggestions? We have propane heat-pump. 

 

Do your thing Bass Resource brethren...share your wisdom!

 

2 hours ago, rangerjockey said:

My wife wants to downsize and build another house. If it happens I'm going to put in the generac propane. I feel like it's peace of mind if nothing else . 

Sooner or later you will be glad you spent the bucks;  I added one to my past and present homes.  Have a Generac certified technician determine your size needs, location of the unit, perform the hookup and registration with Generac.  He should perform your annual inspection and will have access to trouble shooting solutions;  he will also have access to repair parts if needed.  When you build the new home or replace your existing HVAC unit, add a dual heat furnace;  it will save on your electric bill when outside temps. are at or below 29 degrees.

[Tackleholic]

49 minutes ago, Scott F said:

I have looked into whole house generators recently. When my sump pump broke last year, the cleanup got expensive. I wanted to avoid another issue if the power went out. To get a 24kw natural gas unit with installation was going to run $14,000. Even a smaller 10kw model would cost $10,000. In the 4 years I’ve lived in this house, I think altogether we’ve been without power for a total of maybe 3-4 hours. Instead of a generator, I got a 3 kw power inverter and hooked up 2 deep cycle batteries to power the sump pump. Depending on how long the sump pump runs, those batteries should run the pump for at least 12 hours. I can also hook up a bit of power to keep the WiFi and a few lights going as well. If I lose some food in the fridge and freezer, it’ll still be thousands of dollars cheaper than the generator. Having a portable generator that needs to get started and hooked up, probably during a storm, is a possibility but not one I’m looking into. 

In Northern Illinois a 22kw unit cost about $7k hooked up to natural gas.  A few years later , in Northern Arkansas, a 22kw unit also cost $7k, including a 500 gallon propane tank, installation, and hookup.

[Scott F]

1 minute ago, Tackleholic said:

In Northern Illinois a 22kw unit cost about $7k hooked up to natural gas.  A few years later , in Northern Arkansas, a 22kw unit also cost $7k, including a 500 gallon propane tank, installation, and hookup.

4 years ago, I got a $10,000 quote for the generator, transfer switch, permits and installation. At that time, there were supply issues and I would have had to wait 6 months just to get the unit which was a big reason I didn’t get one then. My sister paid even more because they had to run a gas line around her home from the meter to where the generator had to go. The prices have risen substantially since then.

[A-Jay]

@DaubsNU1  

Losing power up here when we first moved was a 'regular' thing.

Several times a year.

The times varied between a few hours to a few days depending on how challenging 'the access' to repair the problem was.  All the power lines are above ground here. 

Super cold deep snow & high winds usually took longer,

Warm temps with some rain was often shorter.

That said losing power in the winter is far less of a 'problem' than in the summer.

Cold temps allow us to fire up the wood stove and we are plenty warm.

We own our own 500 gal Propane tank so cooking on the gas stove is fine. 

Food items are simply places outside in coolers (animal deterrent) and we are good to go.

Summer power lose is a problem because both fridge/freezers will only keep food for a short period of time.

One thing that IS a concern is I have a well which requires and electric pump.

So no toilets, We keep 'Several' gallons of both green water for the gravity flush into the septic system as well as bottled water for drinking & dishes. 

Either way we have bounced back & forth on the whole generator deal, and so far have not pulled the trigger.

The last 15 years or so the infrastructure here has improved quite a bit which has made extended power loss events far less in number annually.

If you are only worried about being cold, get a wood stove.

Having plenty of wood on have helps. 

Quite a bit cheaper and then just be prepared for the rest as it's needed. 

btw, both my PC's and TV's are on big APC power supplies which keep them running for a while once the power goes out so I have time to shut them down property rather than the hard boot that happens with sudden power loss.

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

 

[TnRiver46]

One thing is for certain: I’ve never had $7k-$10k worth of food in my refrigerator/freezer. What are we so scared of? Unless I need electricity to deal with a medical condition, I don’t need a generator 

[Glenn]

We had several major storms that left us without power for 4-7 days.  When the entire region is without power, you can't get gas to fuel your portable generators.  Given we live in an earthquake zone predicted to have a 9+ anytime, we decided to go with a Generac.

 

We've had many major storms since with multiple-day outages, and it works perfectly.  It's nice to be able help neighbors out that need their meds refrigerated or just a cup of hot coffee.

 

The generators use either natural gas or propane.  We have ours hard-wired for natural gas.

 

Now that there's been major cuts in personnel and budget that support/maintain the power grid, I'm even more thankful we have the Generac.

[casts_by_fly]

Despite being NJ, we are on the border of living in the sticks.  Rewind 30 years ago and this was the sticks.  And the power grid is ancient.  If a squirrel farts too hard someone looses power in the township. It's a running joke, but it's not inaccurate.  Every wind storm with winds over 20 MPH sustained or gusts over 30 there are outages.  When the storm rolled through in summer 2020 we were without power for 5 days.  We had talked about it before, but that was the point where my wife demanded it.  We've not had an incident like that since then, but we lost most of our freezer and fridge at the time.  Our friends in town got their power back on day 3 so we went and stayed with them and brought whatever food was still okay.  But it was a lot of loss.

 

We have natural gas to the house, so we plumbed for that.  We could have gone generac, cummins, or another that I'm forgetting.  We went cummins because that's what the service tech recommended.  He said they are less maintenence overall and less critical in their maintenence.  I think it's a 27KW and the prices 4 years ago were similar to what ScottF put up.  I think we were at $15k all in including the transfer switch and install.

 

 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

One thing is for certain: I’ve never had $7k-$10k worth of food in my refrigerator/freezer. What are we so scared of? Unless I need electricity to deal with a medical condition, I don’t need a generator 

 

We have a well, so if you want water to do anything (like flush a toilet or take a shower) you need electricity.  We work from home a lot, so no power = no work.  In the winter, no power = no heat for us (the tiny living room fireplace wouldn't cut it).  And the initial purchase price is for a 15-30 year investment item.

[volzfan59]

We’re fixing to move into our new, downsized home in a few weeks. We have quite a few tornadoes in our area of AR. We’re getting a Generac……… and I’m wanting a tornado shelter.

[TnRiver46]

27 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Despite being NJ, we are on the border of living in the sticks.  Rewind 30 years ago and this was the sticks.  And the power grid is ancient.  If a squirrel farts too hard someone looses power in the township. It's a running joke, but it's not inaccurate.  Every wind storm with winds over 20 MPH sustained or gusts over 30 there are outages.  When the storm rolled through in summer 2020 we were without power for 5 days.  We had talked about it before, but that was the point where my wife demanded it.  We've not had an incident like that since then, but we lost most of our freezer and fridge at the time.  Our friends in town got their power back on day 3 so we went and stayed with them and brought whatever food was still okay.  But it was a lot of loss.

 

We have natural gas to the house, so we plumbed for that.  We could have gone generac, cummins, or another that I'm forgetting.  We went cummins because that's what the service tech recommended.  He said they are less maintenence overall and less critical in their maintenence.  I think it's a 27KW and the prices 4 years ago were similar to what ScottF put up.  I think we were at $15k all in including the transfer switch and install.

 

 

 

We have a well, so if you want water to do anything (like flush a toilet or take a shower) you need electricity.  We work from home a lot, so no power = no work.  In the winter, no power = no heat for us (the tiny living room fireplace wouldn't cut it).  And the initial purchase price is for a 15-30 year investment item.

You can always boil water on a camp stove. We stayed on an island for 6 days with no power or running water this summer. I did acquire leeches while bathing in Lake Superior , those things are quick 

 

[Swamp Girl]

Maine is 90% trees, the most of any state, and living on the North Atlantic means we're windy. This means we regularly lose power, sometimes for days. We bought this because it's quiet and powerful. There are a lot of Generacs in my neighborhood. They're noisy and burn a lot of propane. My Honda is quiet and it'll go with me if I move:

 

[Skunkmaster-k]

I have two deep freezers that are full of fish, venison , beef, yada yada. I got a generator that will run them, a light bulb and the kid’s Nintendo. Barrels of water are on standby and a wood stove for heating the house. I agree with TnRiver46 about the camp stove. They’re handy to have around. For the tornadoes I dug a 6x10x8 hole in the ground ( by hand ) , counter sunk crossties, nailed tin over them and poured 8” of cement on top. Redneck engineering. 

[padlin]

45 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

Maine is 90% trees, the most of any state, and living on the North Atlantic means we're windy. This means we regularly lose power, sometimes for days. We bought this because it's quiet and powerful. There are a lot of Generacs in my neighborhood. They're noisy and burn a lot of propane. My Honda is quiet and it'll go with me if I move:

 

that’s what I use, but smaller, bought when we traveled the country with the rv. Can’t beat them for being fairly quiet and pretty good on gas. 
 

[TOXIC]

I have a fishing buddy who travels with a small gas generator in the bed of his truck to charge his boat batteries while on the road in hotels.  He chains it up and locks it.  When I lived in Florida neighbors on both sides had whole house generators.  One was a modern gas and he had to run it every month to cycle through the tank.  It was fairly quiet.  On the other side of me there was a huge house that had a diesel generator that was the side of a bulldozer.  When it fired up the ground shook.  Had the metal flapper on the exhaust pipe and everything.  I think he could have powered the whole neighborhood.  

[casts_by_fly]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

You can always boil water on a camp stove. We stayed on an island for 6 days with no power or running water this summer. I did acquire leeches while bathing in Lake Superior , those things are quick 

 

 

The boiling isn't the problem.  Without electric I still have gas and can light the stove with a match.  But where am I getting the water?  In the summer we can get a bucket of water from the pool to flush toilets, and a quick dip to rinse off is a kinda bath.  But you're not drinking pool water.

[TnRiver46]

From the crick ! Or the rain barrel at the downspout 

 

 

here’s our generator at work, that thing will put lead in your pencil. It shakes a 100,000 square foot 3 story brick building, got a 1,000 gallon diesel fuel tank underground