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Generator advice
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:45 am
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:45 am
You have to excuse me as I don’t speak electrician but, moved into a new house shortly after Ida happened. House is not rigged for a portable generator. Electrician came out today, and for the whole setup, panel upgrade for interlock??, putting an outlet for generator on the outside, and some other stuff to run a generator came out to about $1900. Not a problem, we have that but…
We also thought about getting a whole home generator which will be quite a bit more but is probably a better long term solution. Which would you go with. Quick fix, or long term?
We also thought about getting a whole home generator which will be quite a bit more but is probably a better long term solution. Which would you go with. Quick fix, or long term?
19
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:46 am to HuskyPanda
I'd move to Montana before i do all that.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:47 am to HuskyPanda
DIY if you have basic skills. Order all the parts on Amazon for less than $200.
$42 for the interlock
$79 for the box with a 30' cord
$42 for the interlock
$79 for the box with a 30' cord
This post was edited on 5/24/22 at 10:50 am
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:48 am to HuskyPanda
quote:
We also thought about getting a whole home generator
I don't know the current lead time but last summer it was a 6 month wait for just about any whole home.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:49 am to HuskyPanda
If you can afford the whole house solution, do it!
If your budget is tight, get the portable plug installed.
If your budget is tight, get the portable plug installed.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:49 am to Shexter
quote:
DIY if you have basic skills. Order all the parts on Amazon for less than $200.
That’s the problem, I’m comfortable with some electrical work and have done some in the past, but this seems way out of my league.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:51 am to DaphneTigah
quote:
If you can afford the whole house solution, do it!
We can, but we have more projects in the pipeline, landscaping, out door kitchen, etc and the whole home would cut out some other projects.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:52 am to HuskyPanda
Whole house generator. It’s expensive upfront, but it generally is considered a home improvement and adds to the value of your home, so you’ll eventually recoup your investment
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:52 am to HuskyPanda
quote:
Not a problem, we have that but…
We also thought about getting a whole home generator which will be quite a bit more but is probably a better long term solution. Which would you go with. Quick fix, or long term?
Where is this house located? How often do you lose electricity for 5+ hours?
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:53 am to HuskyPanda
I don't know what kind of load you require but a portable generator has some advantages over the whole house. Cheaper to maintain, can use it for other things such as tailgating.
You can get two portables, run one around the clock for light loads and fire the other one up (run them parallel) if you wanted to run the AC for example. This saves you fuel, gives you two generators for added reliability (backup and redundancy)
You don't need a generator sucking up gas for 9000 watts all day if you only require 3000watts to run refrigerator and tv etc. for example. Parallel run two 4500 watts in that case.
Also, get an ammeter and calculate your loads at the panel. My central AC only pulls 5500 watts once started. With a soft start I can run it on a portable.
You can get two portables, run one around the clock for light loads and fire the other one up (run them parallel) if you wanted to run the AC for example. This saves you fuel, gives you two generators for added reliability (backup and redundancy)
You don't need a generator sucking up gas for 9000 watts all day if you only require 3000watts to run refrigerator and tv etc. for example. Parallel run two 4500 watts in that case.
Also, get an ammeter and calculate your loads at the panel. My central AC only pulls 5500 watts once started. With a soft start I can run it on a portable.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:57 am to HuskyPanda
Some folks run it through their electric dryer outlet, so just the cost of a plug and length of wire, so I’ve heard.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 10:58 am to HuskyPanda
I back feed through my HVAC disconnect. Gives me 30A of service which is plenty to keep fridge on and run window units. More efficient and I can bring the portable with me if we need to go somewhere. Just make sure to cut main disconnect off so you dont kill a lineman.
25 feet of 10/3 romex and a 30A generator plug is all you need.
25 feet of 10/3 romex and a 30A generator plug is all you need.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:00 am to frequent flyer
quote:
Where is this house located? How often do you lose electricity for 5+ hours?
Prairieville, we lost power for maybe 4 days after Ida in the old house. New one, not sure.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:02 am to GoAwayImBaitn
quote:
I don't know what kind of load you require
I’d like to be able to run the fridge and ac. We have a 4 month old, so can’t have milk growing bad.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:02 am to HuskyPanda
If you're all gas, you can get a 15kw-17kw portable and run your whole house during storms. I did after Ida and my 4ton central and everything inside worked great. Convert it to natural gas or install a large propane tank.
This post was edited on 5/24/22 at 11:03 am
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:10 am to HuskyPanda
quote:
Prairieville, we lost power for maybe 4 days after Ida in the old house. New one, not sure.
You can get a 22KW air cooled Generac for a fairly reasonable price. It will power a typical suburban home. It's physically small and can be hidden by landscaping easily. I highly recommend.
The switch itself and the cable + a decent sized portable generator can be a few thousand. Most homeowners can probably get away with a bigger Honda to run things other (than the AC) with this, because they can physically turn off things like the dryer or other big users before they hit the switch and crank up the Generator. A whole house portable can be pretty big, and is probably closer to 15Kw.
The Generac will turn on automatically within 30 seconds, so it needs to be able to handle peak load for turning everything that was on. So 22Kw-24Kw is what most people are buying. And there are plenty in supply now. There's a new 26Kw Generac model out that's also air cooled. But it's a year away from being installed if you order it now.
This post was edited on 5/24/22 at 11:12 am
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:10 am to HuskyPanda
We had a 50amp disconnect, breaker and interlock installed two weeks ago for $650. Our portable generator is tri fuel so we also had a tap installed downstream of the gas meter for $500. Would highly recommend this setup as we won’t have to spend hours trying to find gasoline.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:13 am to HuskyPanda
quote:
whole home generator
These are great. I ran one for about four days straight last year. All you have to do is shut it down once a day and check the oil.
I don't know the installation cost. I do know that maintenance is about $500 per year.
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:18 am to HuskyPanda
Just got done building our house and we had our builder install a generac transfer switch so we could eventually install a whole home generator. I think it was 1500 for the switch and installation. I’m sure I got screwed on it
Posted on 5/24/22 at 11:20 am to Leon Spinks
quote:
generac transfer switch
Be sure they put it in correctly. Mine was in backwards at first.
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