Gas generators for the home [MERGED]

[AlliFlowers]

Pretty sure ours is a 16kWatt, but it could be smaller. I know my husband fussed mightily about buying it, but he wasn't about to go another month with no power ever again. He's also an electrician, but we still had someone come in to do the installation.

Funny you should mention this as I am currently investigating the best way to go. I'm considering a Generac 7000 watt unit with the intent of running my fridge, a small window AC, and possible the TV and/or pool pump. It runs $1000.

The trick is to make this work conviently you either have to have some long extension cords, or set up your CB panel with a plug and verify it has a main shutoff to isolate it from the grid. With that, if you have turned off everything in your house except what you want to power. With the latter, you can simply plug it into your CB Panel and use your houses wiring to power want you want. And as mentioned, you'll need about 10 gallons of gas per day. Plan on having 4-6 5 gallon containers to fill with gas. Keep in mind, usually for events like hurricanes which are more of a concern along the coast, certain areas will get their power before others. There, you may end up driving 10-20 miles to get your gas. The last hurricane to hit Houston, some places were without power for a week. Some friends had such a set up and basked in relative luxury while their friends suffered, when they were not hanging out at their house.

Another observation, the city will restore certain grids before others giving priority to police and fire departments. If you live in such a grid, you'll be among the first to have power restored. One other thing, if you have a generator, you should run it periodically, and don't keep gas in it unless you plan on running it and don't store gas for long periods of time. After an event passes, put that gas in you car.



I'm trying to figure out how to add this up. I know that watts= amps x volts (I think). The tricky part people may not consider is the start up load of something like a fridge or AC unit.



What size?



This would be a top of the line, whole house generator, one that runs on natural gas. Even in the realm of whole house generators, they can be purchased for around $4-5k. There are much less expensive viable options available.

 

[G4er?]

Is your house covered by a HOA (Home Owners Association)?
There is currently a bill in the Texas legislature that would prevent HOAs from banning permanently installed back up generator systems.

You heard that right. Some HOAs WON"T let you have a generator installed.
So if you are wanting a permanent installation check the wording of your HOA.

Heck, I would even check for bans on portable just to be sure.

HOAs were put in place by developers. This was to make sure that the first homes they built and sold would still look good when they got the last ones built and sold. But instead of dissolving the HOAs they transfer them to the homeowners. And the requirements to get changes made are almost impossible to meet.

I'm an amateur radio operator here in Texas and hams have been having to fight HOAs tooth and nail to be able to own and operate the equipment (antennas, generators, etc) needed to provide communications back up during natural disasters.

It is worth the money to buy a generator that is quiet.

 

[Huntn]

Pretty sure ours is a 16kWatt, but it could be smaller. I know my husband fussed mightily about buying it, but he wasn't about to go another month with no power ever again. He's also an electrician, but we still had someone come in to do the installation.

Thanks, that big. Is this hard wired into your house and automatically starts up? Is so, I might assume it runs on natural gas.

For the OP, I was just at Lowes today. They have a Trioy built 7k/10.5k startup watts for $900 and a 6.5/8.5k unit for $700. I think I would get by with the smaller one.

 

[MacNut]

It depends on what you want to run. Do you just want to do a fridge, TV and a few lights. Or do you want to tie it into the panel and add a transfer switch. Or do you want to run the whole house and get a stand buy generator.

The best bet is get at least 8000 watts. Add a transfer switch and hard wire it into at least half of the house.

 

[Huntn]

It depends on what you want to run. Do you just want to do a fridge, TV and a few lights. Or do you want to tie it into the panel and add a transfer switch. Or do you want to run the whole house and get a stand buy generator.

The best bet is get at least 8000 watts. Add a transfer switch and hard wire it into at least half of the house.

Another consideration is balancing what you want to power vs gasoline usage.

 

[MacNut]

Another consideration is balancing what you want to power vs gas usage.

Ideally you would not run everything at full power on a generator. But have the option to use lights and or TV, fridge and heat. The goal is to have emergency power, not full connivence.

I would argue and some have said don't run a TV on a generator as you won't get clean power.

 

[wjereb]

I'm currently building a house in Florida and it was only $500 for the electrician to provide a generator hookup, I'll probably buy a larger generator than what I currently have (4000 watts) so it will power most of the house. I would like to get one that runs on natural gas however that is not available in my neighborhood.

 

[Huntn]

I'm currently building a house in Florida and it was only $500 for the electrician to provide a generator hookup, I'll probably buy a larger generator than what I currently have (4000 watts) so it will power most of the house. I would like to get one that runs on natural gas however that is not available in my neighborhood.

I realize this is obvious, but running on natural gas would be a huge convenance if it's practical. I've been told that with generators designed to run on either gasolene or natural gas that natural gas produces less electrical power output.

 

[MacNut]

I realize this is obvious, but running on natural gas would be a huge convenance if it's practical. I've been told that with generators designed to run on either gasolene or natural gas that natural gas produces less electrical power output.

The standby natural gas/propane units are designed to power a whole house. I think they have a lower peak power output. But a higher kilowatt rating.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Thanks, that big. Is this hard wired into your house and automatically starts up? Is so, I might assume it runs on natural gas.

For the OP, I was just at Lowes today. They have a Trioy built 7k/10.5k startup watts for $900 and a 6.5/8.5k unit for $700. I think I would get by with the smaller one.

Yes. It is hardwired into the house and starts when the power goes out.And yes, it does run on gas. Since during Katrina, the gas lines were hours long, and I could only get my own vehicle filled by the National Guard, it made sense to have it attached to the house.

 

[Huntn]

Yes. It is hardwired into the house and starts when the power goes out.And yes, it does run on gas. Since during Katrina, the gas lines were hours long, and I could only get my own vehicle filled by the National Guard, it made sense to have it attached to the house.

I assume it was $5K or +.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Another consideration is balancing what you want to power vs gas usage.

Natural gas is a great option. My parents live in a suburban town, but in a more rural area where gas isn't available, unless you have a tank (they have a smaller tank only for their gas cooktop). Therefore they opted for a diesel generator (which also comes in handy when there is a run on gas, there's usually seems to be a sufficient diesel supply). As I mentioned before, it's a Kohler generator with a 3-cylinder John Deere diesel engine. It doesn't look like Kohler makes diesel generators anymore for homes/commercial applications, at least on their website from what I can see. They do have industrial and marine solutions with diesel.

Interestingly when we had the generator set up with the house when it was built, there was a problem with the mechanism that automatically switches the power from the street to the generator. The power went out, the generator came on, and stayed on for a couple days until my father talked to the neighbors to find out that the power had only been out for a few hours.

A few years ago in Boston a large transformer at the Prudential center blew up. Much of the surrounding areas of Boston was without power. I lived in Back Bay at the time and I was without power for 3-4 days. On Bolyston street (same street as Marathon Bombing) they cleared out all of the cars and brought in tractor trailer trucks towing giant generators. Some of the large buildings had tons of extension cords that were wrapped together (like 1-2ft in diameter) and snaked through the front doors of buildings. I've never seen anything like it before or since. The street was empty of people and it was just the roar of generators echoing down the street.

 

[Huntn]

Natural gas is a great option. My parents live in a suburban town, but in a more rural area where gas isn't available, unless you have a tank (they have a smaller tank only for their gas cooktop). Therefore they opted for a diesel generator (which also comes in handy when there is a run on gas, there's usually seems to be a sufficient diesel supply). As I mentioned before, it's a Kohler generator with a 3-cylinder John Deere diesel engine. It doesn't look like Kohler makes diesel generators anymore for homes/commercial applications, at least on their website from what I can see. They do have industrial and marine solutions with diesel.

Interestingly when we had the generator set up with the house when it was built, there was a problem with the mechanism that automatically switches the power from the street to the generator. The power went out, the generator came on, and stayed on for a couple days until my father talked to the neighbors to find out that the power had only been out for a few hours.

But that was in cool Boston. Never the less, natural gas seems very attractive, but much more expensive up front. The situation seems much more dire in hot climates after an event that knocks out power for several days up to a week. It's hard to imagine people living down South before the advent of AC.

 

[AlliFlowers]

I assume it was $5K or +.

Less. We actually purchased it online.

 

[hallux]

Interestingly when we had the generator set up with the house when it was built, there was a problem with the mechanism that automatically switches the power from the street to the generator. The power went out, the generator came on, and stayed on for a couple days until my father talked to the neighbors to find out that the power had only been out for a few hours.

One of my co-workers has/had that problem. Not sure if he's had it fixed or what the fix was if he has.

A few years ago in Boston a large transformer at the Prudential center blew up. Much of the surrounding areas of Boston was without power. I lived in Back Bay at the time and I was without power for 3-4 days. On Bolyston street (same street as Marathon Bombing) they cleared out all of the cars and brought in tractor trailer trucks towing giant generators. Some of the large buildings had tons of extension cords that were wrapped together (like 1-2ft in diameter) and snaked through the front doors of buildings. I've never seen anything like it before or since. The street was empty of people and it was just the roar of generators echoing down the street.

Imagine them doing that with a gas turbine generator (I've seen them but not seen them in operation). Yes, those gensets on a trailer are impressive, especially when powering a skyscraper but I'm more surprised they didn't have their own backup power solution (they may now). After the major regional power outage back in the NE in 2003 (?) all of a sudden tons of buildings in the area had CAT generators pop up behind them.

 

[jdechko]

A few years ago in Boston a large transformer at the Prudential center blew up. Much of the surrounding areas of Boston was without power. I lived in Back Bay at the time and I was without power for 3-4 days. On Bolyston street (same street as Marathon Bombing) they cleared out all of the cars and brought in tractor trailer trucks towing giant generators. Some of the large buildings had tons of extension cords that were wrapped together (like 1-2ft in diameter) and snaked through the front doors of buildings. I've never seen anything like it before or since. The street was empty of people and it was just the roar of generators echoing down the street.

Have to imagine that a lot of the power was being used to run AC for computer rooms.

The facilities that I work at (Air Traffic Control Centers) have an entire building dedicated to alternative power. That includes a 2000 sf room filled with racks of backup batteries (like car batteries) to provide power until the generators can get up to speed. There are 6 backup generators, though some are backups to the backups. You can bet that they're the first ones to get power back. I've heard from a telecom technician that their communications are even ranked ahead of the emergency service communications.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Have to imagine that a lot of the power was being used to run AC for computer rooms.

The facilities that I work at (Air Traffic Control Centers) have an entire building dedicated to alternative power. That includes a 2000 sf room filled with racks of backup batteries (like car batteries) to provide power until the generators can get up to speed. There are 6 backup generators, though some are backups to the backups. You can bet that they're the first ones to get power back. I've heard from a telecom technician that their communications are even ranked ahead of the emergency service communications.

Wow. That's a lot of power but smart considering what's at stake. I know ESPN's data center in CT has two helicopter jet engines powering its facility.

 

[max2]

Do you have a home generator ? Just wondering.

 

[D.T.]

Yes.

 

[Gutwrench]

Yes.

What was the price range, if you don’t mind the question. A friend of mine put one in for something in the range of $10k.

 

[D.T.]

What was the price range, if you don’t mind the question. A friend of mine put one in for something in the range of $10k.

Oh I realized in retrospect (and based on your question), that __maybe__ he was asking about installed, home generators[?] I was talking "portable" though we really only use it at home, for emergencies - our current one is a Ryobi 7kW watts, gas powered (big tank, emissions monitoring, etc.)

However, I have looked into a perm/home/fixed whole home setup, the unit I kept coming back to was a Generac 22kW setup, runs on both LP and NG, the generator itself was in the $5K range, and with a proper switch over / isolation panel, tanks, install (including a contractor to build a platform/box to avoid it getting flooded), it was pretty close to $10K - I have actual quote from the recommended local dealer/installer, I think it was $8800, plus another $500-700 for some of the build by a different company.

This was power goes out, the entire house just comes totally back online with power in seconds, feeding the entire panel so all outlets hot, and things like central HVAC up and running.

 

[Huntn]

I’ve thought about one, the fancy kind that kicks in automatically and powers the house, I figure $5-6k, but it’s hard to justify the benefits. It should be viewed as a luxury

The key is that to be really useful, you need to have them running on your natural gas, not gasoline you have to stockpile or go fetch,

 

[jeyf]

we put it on Ebay. Have not used it in 10+ years

 

[satcomer]

we put it on Ebay. Have not used it in 10+ years

Don’t worry because it will less then 10 years and you will see Major power outage! The important thing to keep power is your fridge and it is best to have propane stove!

 

[aristobrat]

I’d love to get a Tesla Powerwall + solar setup but we rarely lose power. I think it’s been out a total of four overs spread over a bunch of small outages over the last five years.

My area stands the off chance of being smacked with a hurricane so we have a generator interlock on the circuit panel and a portable Westinghouse 4500i inverter generator. It’s decently quiet, fuel efficient, and with a modified cable can power all the non-220 outlets in the house.