- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Generator Question
Posted on 5/2/24 at 3:27 pm to DVinBR
Posted on 5/2/24 at 3:27 pm to DVinBR
quote:
i couldn't do it either knowing i could comfortably ride through a outage that rarely happens with something i don't have to buy again if i move houses and i don't need to run literally everything in my house in the short time, why spend like 10k on something that might run at most a week for something that happens so rarely?
Yea same here. Quote was around 14k. I grew up on a 5000 watt generator and a fan in the window. I ended up building my own natural gas generator from scratch. 12000 running watts and can run my whole house for less than $3500. Looking back, I probably would have been fine buying one a little smaller
0
Posted on 5/2/24 at 6:58 pm to Tiger328
Great news. I spent way too much on a fancy generator with a fancy controller so you don’t have to:
10 tons (3 units) of AC, a fridge/freezer, mini fridge, standup fridge, stand up freezer, all the lights, TVs running was an 11.5kW load in my house (this was an August afternoon, so all 3 units were blowing and going).
Then I turned on the washing machine, dryer, microwave, two wall ovens. I got it up to 23.2kW with that.
You should be fine on that. If you plan on powering your house for 2 weeks, you may run into some problems if you never shut it down. But for a couple days, probably no real problem. Make sure to keep an oil change or two on hand if you’re going this far into disaster planning, or your “short term” solution will be much shorter than it otherwise could be.
Also, you say window unit. If this isn’t permanently installed and something you don’t already have, make sure you realize there are standup portable units with window exhaust that are a lot easier to install/remove than a traditional window unit (usually on wheels and on a floor with a thin PVC panel with exhaust hose rather than trying to mount a full unit. No, it’s not that heavy or hard to do, and it’s not worth replacing something you’ve got. But if you’ve got a helpless wife and babies, it’s way easier to do alone)
I’m jealous of your tri-fuel. I wanted to go that route again and tie in the 3 breakers with my fridges and a 2.5T unit that runs just my bedroom, bathroom, and nursery. I lost the vote 1-1.
10 tons (3 units) of AC, a fridge/freezer, mini fridge, standup fridge, stand up freezer, all the lights, TVs running was an 11.5kW load in my house (this was an August afternoon, so all 3 units were blowing and going).
Then I turned on the washing machine, dryer, microwave, two wall ovens. I got it up to 23.2kW with that.
You should be fine on that. If you plan on powering your house for 2 weeks, you may run into some problems if you never shut it down. But for a couple days, probably no real problem. Make sure to keep an oil change or two on hand if you’re going this far into disaster planning, or your “short term” solution will be much shorter than it otherwise could be.
Also, you say window unit. If this isn’t permanently installed and something you don’t already have, make sure you realize there are standup portable units with window exhaust that are a lot easier to install/remove than a traditional window unit (usually on wheels and on a floor with a thin PVC panel with exhaust hose rather than trying to mount a full unit. No, it’s not that heavy or hard to do, and it’s not worth replacing something you’ve got. But if you’ve got a helpless wife and babies, it’s way easier to do alone)
I’m jealous of your tri-fuel. I wanted to go that route again and tie in the 3 breakers with my fridges and a 2.5T unit that runs just my bedroom, bathroom, and nursery. I lost the vote 1-1.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 1:10 am to LSUTiger23
quote:
I hook it up to the natural gas hookup under my patio.
What size line was the NG, and what size hose did you use? Thanks.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:55 am to LSUDad
Thank you all for your help. I did realize one thing when I had a neighbor show me how we wired his up. The outside panel that entergy feeds to me comes to three breakers: Inside Panel, HVAC Condenser, and Range. My inside panel does not have a main either. So there is no main breaker at my house, therefore I have no way to run my AC with my generator. Unless someone with electrical experience might have some other thoughts
Panel for reference
Panel for reference
This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 10:56 am
Posted on 5/3/24 at 1:40 pm to Tiger328
Look into GenerLink.
Would be worth calling Entergy to see if they offer it. May be a little more expensive than a cheap interlock, but then again they may also offer it for free since it's a safety feature that can save their linemen's lives.
Would be worth calling Entergy to see if they offer it. May be a little more expensive than a cheap interlock, but then again they may also offer it for free since it's a safety feature that can save their linemen's lives.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 2:20 pm to TheBoo
yeah he doesn't have a main breaker to isolate the entire house from the meter, generlink is the easiest and cheapest solution here without installing a whole new outdoor panel and moving the existing circuits
Posted on 5/3/24 at 3:26 pm to Tiger328
That’s overkill.
Join Costco and keep an eye out for their Firman tri fuel. I run my entire house on mine (minus hvac) and paid $699 2 years ago
Join Costco and keep an eye out for their Firman tri fuel. I run my entire house on mine (minus hvac) and paid $699 2 years ago
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:38 pm to Tiger328
Agreed with others. You need what’s called a manual transfer switch and may need a sub panel. Since those breakers are integrated into the meter pan you won’t be able to fully isolate it from the incoming utility.
Maybe the Generlink solves these issues but if you have a main-lug-only (MLO) panel downstream from that meter, it’s gonna be tricky to feed those 240V loads properly without running the risk of back feeding the grid.
And as to the soft start, I have 2 3-ton units with MicroAir soft starters that have been installed for almost 3 years. One of them is hooked up to an old 2003 R22 compressor and has about 20,000 starts on it. I’ve been amazed at how much quieter the units are after installing the MicroAir. It doesn’t even make sense since the starter pulls out of the circuit once the compressor is fully up to speed but for some reason the compressor is quieter running. Had the same experience when I assisted a coworker installing his - one of his units used to be load as hell and now just barely hums. I can’t recommend those soft starters enough.
Maybe the Generlink solves these issues but if you have a main-lug-only (MLO) panel downstream from that meter, it’s gonna be tricky to feed those 240V loads properly without running the risk of back feeding the grid.
And as to the soft start, I have 2 3-ton units with MicroAir soft starters that have been installed for almost 3 years. One of them is hooked up to an old 2003 R22 compressor and has about 20,000 starts on it. I’ve been amazed at how much quieter the units are after installing the MicroAir. It doesn’t even make sense since the starter pulls out of the circuit once the compressor is fully up to speed but for some reason the compressor is quieter running. Had the same experience when I assisted a coworker installing his - one of his units used to be load as hell and now just barely hums. I can’t recommend those soft starters enough.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 7:24 am to bapple
One more question. The generator came in, and I have a friend who will hook me up a switch to my panel. Likely won’t be able to run my AC with the way I’m set up, but that’ll be okay. Window unit will be perfect.
My last question is regarding the gas. Is there anything special I need to do? I have the setup at my house that I can tap into. I figured I would remove the cap, put in a T, and run about 10 feet of pipe so I can put a connection. Do I need to do anything as far as pressure regulation? Or will it be enough for my generator to where I just open the valve when I’m ready to start my generator?
My last question is regarding the gas. Is there anything special I need to do? I have the setup at my house that I can tap into. I figured I would remove the cap, put in a T, and run about 10 feet of pipe so I can put a connection. Do I need to do anything as far as pressure regulation? Or will it be enough for my generator to where I just open the valve when I’m ready to start my generator?
Posted on 5/15/24 at 11:34 am to Tiger328
Following as well as I have this exact generator and looking to tap into my 1/2” natural gas supply pipe. 2 Questions:
1. Is there a recommended natural gas shutoff valve brand and material (e.g. brass) to use outdoors? I don’t mind paying for something that will last.
2. I will want to install a shutoff with 2 different connection types -1 for generator (which requires a 1/2” flare connection) or a BBQ pit which requires 1/2” pipe not flared. Any recs?
1. Is there a recommended natural gas shutoff valve brand and material (e.g. brass) to use outdoors? I don’t mind paying for something that will last.
2. I will want to install a shutoff with 2 different connection types -1 for generator (which requires a 1/2” flare connection) or a BBQ pit which requires 1/2” pipe not flared. Any recs?
Posted on 5/15/24 at 1:08 pm to TygerB8
There is a Facebook page on Generators to power the home. It was started by a guy that's a member of this board.
Posted on 5/15/24 at 7:41 pm to TheBoo
Get extra set of plugs and extra oil for it I like to change my oil every 40 hours have no idea where I got that number from read the manual do what they recommend. But a good storm I changed my oil twice.
Posted on 5/17/24 at 7:57 pm to TygerB8
if you are in BR go to goodwood hardware tell them what you are trying to do and they’ll have everything you need
brass is fine outdoors
brass is fine outdoors
Page 2 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News