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Any advice on a generator and the cost?

Hari Seldon said:
This was the worst in 19 years. I can deal with it but my wife was going ballistic especially since she is working full time from home. Its worth 5k to please the missus. Thanks.
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Five thousand bucks is way too much.
A 2200 SF home with the typical 200 amp service is well served by a 3500 to 4000 watt rig, but if you have natural gas I urge you to pick a nat gas unit so that you don't have to go looking for fuel.

No, you will not be able to service ALL your electrical outlets but the fridge, computers, lights and what not will be okay.
Maybe even the air conditioning if you have a small central unit or window AC.

Be sure to install some Tripp-Lite POWER CONDITIONING units on every outlet served by the gennie.
Your expensive electronics don't do well with dirty power or square wave...they last longer on clean sine wave output and that's what a power conditioner does.

If you currently have battery uninterruptible power supplies, they already have power conditioning built in, even if the batteries no longer work.
 
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Chomsky said:
Genrac has models that run on natural gas, FWIW. No idea on how well it works, but it came-up in my research when I was considering buying. But that's the option I was looking at.
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That is the one we have and it is GREAT
Have a nice night
 
Hari Seldon said:
Definitely want it hooked into the box for my well and well mate. 9000 watts would do it.
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Well, I won't try to give you any advice I'm not qualified to give, beyond saying those are two different types (portable & integrated), with the integrated solutions looking to be priced around what Rexedgar claims: 5-6K & up.

Anyway, good luck! More power to ya! <-- see what I did there
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
Be careful with these new furnaces. They have control boards that may not work with generators. Some of those control boards are several hundred dollars.
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Its the original system from 91. SOS keeps it going for free with my HEAT USA contract. Still pretty efficient.
 
Chomsky said:
Genrac has models that run on natural gas, FWIW. No idea on how well it works, but it came-up in my research when I was considering buying. But that's the option I was looking at.
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I think he said he has fuel oil which is good as well. An oil tank can run a generator for a weeks. I would look it as a 20 year investment. Professionally installed whole house comes out to around $300 a year for a damn good unit. I would do a home loan if I didn't have the money up front. I think of it as the roof.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Five thousand is way too much.
A 2200 SF home with the typical 200 amp service is well served by a 3500 to 4000 watt rig, but if you have natural gas I urge you to pick a nat gas unit so that you don't have to go looking for fuel.

No, you will not be able to service ALL your electrical outlets but the fridge, computers, lights and what not will be okay.
Maybe even the air conditioning if you have a small central unit or window AC.

Be sure to install some Tripp-Lite POWER CONDITIONING units on every outlet served by the gennie.
Your expensive electronics don't do well with dirty power or square wave...they last longer on clean sine wave output and that's what a power conditioner does.

If you currently have battery uninterruptible power supplies, they already have power conditioning built in, even if the batteries no longer work.
Click to expand...

I have oil, solar and a pellet stove. All electrical appliances except for the water heater which uses the oil.
 
Chomsky said:
Well, I won't try to give you any advice I'm not qualified to give, beyond saying those are two different types (portable & integrated), with the integrated solutions looking to be priced around what Rexedgar claims: 5-6K & up.

Anyway, good luck! More power to ya! <-- see what I did there
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Booooo! LOL! Thanks
 
Chomsky said:
Yep, I still have one on my wish list!

Have a good one, yourself!
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I have given up on the wish list. I don't have that much longer to live. It is either something I need and get or forget-about-it.
 
Chomsky said:
Well, I won't try to give you any advice I'm not qualified to give, beyond saying those are two different types (portable & integrated), with the integrated solutions looking to be priced around what Rexedgar claims: 5-6K & up.

Anyway, good luck! More power to ya! <-- see what I did there
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NINE kilowatts for a 2200 square foot house is overkill...unless you're trying to charge a couple of electric cars at the same time on top of everything else. And it's still more than you would ever need.
Yes an electric range needs more than that but I'd advise doing without the electric range for a couple of days till power is back.
 
Hari Seldon said:
I have oil, solar and a pellet stove. All electrical appliances except for the water heater which uses the oil.
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The only electric used by the "earl boinah" (oil burner) is for the ignition spark and the pump motor, so it's a small draw on the power.
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
Exactly. If I lived in the country or a rural area I would have to invest in the better integrated. I am planning on retiring and building a home in the country and I will have it specked right in to the price of the home. We have become to dependent on electricity.
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Lucky you! On both counts!

Yeah if you're building, then spec'ing it right in sounds like the way to go. And I give you credit for building - you can put in accommodations that might make life easier over those years. I wouldn't under estimate that.

As for me, I'm not a country boy yet - and may never be. But as of late, I find I've got an urge to get a few acres around me!
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
NINE kilowatts for a 2200 square foot house is overkill...unless you're trying to charge a couple of electric cars at the same time on top of everything else. And it's still more than you would ever need.
Yes an electric range needs more than that but I'd advise doing without the electric range for a couple of days till power is back.
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Perhaps. It might depend on his Air-conditioning situation. I've got multiple outside units, plus a large permanent window unit as well. Then there's two fridges, and my wife is lobbying for a freezer! I'd say it depends on what the guy's got & what he wants to run.

But aircon can be a big deal.
 
Chomsky said:
Genrac has models that run on natural gas, FWIW. No idea on how well it works, but it came-up in my research when I was considering buying. But that's the option I was looking at.
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True, and it is one choice. Down side can be the source but both fuel sources are good. I like the butane because it is stand alone. Add some solar panels and accessories and you go a long time without outside sources.
 
Chomsky said:
Perhaps. It might depend on his Air-conditioning situation. I've got multiple outside units, plus a large permanent window unit as well. Then there's two fridges, and my wife is lobbying for a freezer! I'd say it depends on what the guy's got & what he wants to run.

But aircon can be a big deal.
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The big deal on the AC is always the start windings on the compressor...big big current draw and then it levels off once the compressor is up to speed. Same with a fridge, you need a lot of current to kick start the compressor.
We have an old window rig and one portable sitting in the garage for emergency use during an outage, but we've never had to engage them because the gennie seems to be okay running the central AC.
I CAN hear it react to the startup surge but it does manage.
 
Chomsky said:
Yep, I still have one on my wish list!

Have a good one, yourself!
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like I said we have several outages especially being in the snow belt south west of Buffalo ( Buffalo gets the bad rep for a lot of snow but they don't get it we do ) during the winter
and i know people in this area that are on OX. and have their pumps so the need to have a generator or tanks
we use to have a gasoline powered one it was good but had to keep going to get gas and if the power is down when you need gas you are out of luck.
so all I can say if you have natural gas Genrac is the way to go
we love ours
Have a nice night
 
Tbird19482 said:
like I said we have several outages especially being in the snow belt south west of Buffalo ( Buffalo gets the bad rep for a lot of snow but they don't get it we do ) during the winter
and i know people in this area that are on OX. and have their pumps so the need to have a generator or tanks
we use to have a gasoline powered one it was good but had to keep going to get gas and if the power is down when you need gas you are out of luck.
so all I can say if you have natural gas Genrac is the way to go
we love ours
Have a nice night
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Generac makes an excellent unit but the truth is almost ANY generator engine can be made to run on nat gas.
There really just isn't all that much to adapting it.

Google: "What does it take to convert a small gasoline engine to natural gas?"

(VIDEOS)
 
Casper said:
True, and it is one choice. Down side can be the source but both fuel sources are good. I like the butane because it is stand alone. Add some solar panels and accessories and you go a long time without outside sources.
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Yeah, I get it. You are truly independent, then.

As for me, I was going with the ease of never having to supply, stock, condition, remove, etc. I've never seen natural gas interrupt, but that's not to say it there couldn't be something I've not seen.
 
Chomsky said:
Lucky you! On both counts!

Yeah if you're building, then spec'ing it right in sounds like the way to go. And I give you credit for building - you can put in accommodations that might make life easier over those years. I wouldn't under estimate that.

As for me, I'm not a country boy yet - and may never be. But as of late, I find I've got an urge to get a few acres around me!
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It is still in the future. My sister has a few hundred acres of farm land and a lake. All I want is a single story small house with a garage for my car. I emphasize for my car. I will buy a large steel building for my shop. It will have to be at least 25 x 50 minimum for my tools. My brother is even worse than me with tools. He has a 50 x 50 garage and a 25 x 50 garage. He is contemplating a large steel building for the tractor, RV, boat, and too many other toys. He went out and bought a excavator. He works in an office but every spare minute he is on some kind of equipment. Hey he doesn't drink, smoke, gamble, and he said he has to spend money on something.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
The big deal on the AC is always the start windings on the compressor...big big current draw and then it levels off once the compressor is up to speed. Same with a fridge, you need a lot of current to kick start the compressor.
We have an old window rig and one portable sitting in the garage for emergency use during an outage, but we've never had to engage them because the gennie seems to be okay running the central AC.
I CAN hear it react to the startup surge but it does manage.
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Yeah, wasn't denying 9K isn't a lot.
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
It is still in the future. My sister has a few hundred acres of farm land and a lake. All I want is a single story small house with a garage for my car. I emphasize for my car. I will buy a large steel building for my shop. It will have to be at least 25 x 50 minimum for my tools. My brother is even worse than me with tools. He has a 50 x 50 garage and a 25 x 50 garage. He is contemplating a large steel building for the tractor, RV, boat, and too many other toys. He went out and bought a excavator. He works in an office but every spare minute he is on some kind of equipment. Hey he doesn't drink, smoke, gamble, and he said he has to spend money on something.
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You know, I think I like your brother's style!

But yeah, I'm damn envious of having the space to erect 2nd garages & other structures. But mainly, I'm after getting some distance between me & my neighbors. I like my neighbors. I'd just like them further away! :2razz:
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
The big deal on the AC is always the start windings on the compressor...big big current draw and then it levels off once the compressor is up to speed. Same with a fridge, you need a lot of current to kick start the compressor.
We have an old window rig and one portable sitting in the garage for emergency use during an outage, but we've never had to engage them because the gennie seems to be okay running the central AC.
I CAN hear it react to the startup surge but it does manage.
Click to expand...

Watch that AC unit. If it is not getting enough voltage it will burn out the winding. Plus the manufacturer will know why it happened and not warranty it. We have run into that problem in some areas where they power company didn't supply enough voltage to peoples homes. Especially these new high efficiency new AC units. When they say 220 volts they mean 220 volts not 195 volts.
 
Chomsky said:
Yeah, wasn't denying 9K isn't a lot.
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Nine kilowatts is more than enough for the typical 5000 square foot home.
It's WAY more than the average 2000 SF home consumes for the most part.
A typical 2000 SF home can make it fine on a 3 kilowatt solar electric system unless it is 100 percent off grid.
Even then, since it is off grid, the homeowner usually designs a lot more efficiency into the home, like low voltage LED lighting, etc.

A grid tied 3kW system will satisfy the typical home that size without even breaking a sweat.
 
PIPEWRENCH said:
Watch that AC unit. If it is not getting enough voltage it will burn out the winding. Plus the manufacturer will know why it happened and not warranty it. We have run into that problem in some areas where they power company didn't supply enough voltage to peoples homes. Especially these new high efficiency new AC units. When they say 220 volts they mean 220 volts not 195 volts.
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True but for the start windings it's the CURRENT.
But yes, your gennie needs to be able to guarantee proper line voltage.
That is part of the OTHER job that a good power conditioner does.
 
When we have an outage and the gennie is running we do not have AC power to all the outlets.
We did the hospital thing of marking the gennie outlets with red, only we just used stickers.

It's just the important stuff, the fridge, garage freezer, washing machine, TV sets, computers and lights, and the pump on Karen's hospital bed.
If it's the dog days of summer the AC kicks in but if the outage is happening during the other ten months of the year we just go without AC and open all the windows if it gets a tad warm and that's good enough.

We've been here since 2014 and we only had one drastic summer outage last year, which lasted a day.
The rest of the outages all happened during the winter/spring/fall, such as it is in Southern California ha ha.

Our unit is 4kW which is way more than enough for our 2400 SF house.
 
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