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Home generators


Rye Miles #13621

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Anyone know anything about these? I know they run about 4k and hook up to your gas line and it automatically goes on when the power goes off. Can I install it myself? I bet the gas company has to be involved somehow. It's a precautionary thing, my power went off once in 20 years and it was in the summer for a half a day! I'm just being cautious, I don't want the power going off in the middle of winter when it's 20 degrees!!

Thoughts?? Info?? Anyone have one??

Much obliged, Rye

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I have one and it’s very comforting when it fires up to exercise for a few minutes every week.

You might be able to install the generator but the electric connection is a whole different world. It requires a separate box and a whole lot of special wiring I would only trust that to a specialist in generators. Make sure that it is far enough from the house to minimize noise and fumes. Mine has come in handy several times 

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5 minutes ago, Henry T Harrison said:

I have one and it’s very comforting when it fires up to exercise for a few minutes every week.

You might be able to install the generator but the electric connection is a whole different world. It requires a separate box and a whole lot of special wiring I would only trust that to a specialist in generators. Make sure that it is far enough from the house to minimize noise and fumes. Mine has come in handy several times 

I got a price of around 5k installed. Does that sound about right? My house is not small but not exactly huge either. It's a bigger sized bungalow.

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Like HH says, let a professional hook it up to the house electrical. 

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Just now, Yul Lose said:

Like HH says, let a professional hook it up to the house electrical. 

Oh yea, me and electricity don't get along!!:lol:

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I have the Generac whole house 22kw. It works great. Our coop offers the generator installed at cost. When the temps get hot and the power usage gets too high, the power company sheds load for a couple of hours to keep cost down. We buy power from OG&E at tiered pricing and the homeowner receives a rebate every month for this service.

 

It took three electricians and a gas plumber about 4 hours to install the system. They rewired the panel to start. All neutrals had to be on the same bus and all the grounds on another for the switching unit to work properly.  Then rerouting the mains. House into switch, switch to gen, gen to switch, switch to panel, etc.

 

Hope this helps.

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5 minutes ago, Hillbilly Drifter said:

if the electrician checked your home electrical loads and that is what he recccomended you are fine

No he did not, this was an online estimate. I think I'm going to get a free home quote from a local company that installs Generac generators.

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7 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I got a price of around 5k installed. Does that sound about right? My house is not small but not exactly huge either. It's a bigger sized bungalow.

$5K installed sounds a little low to me if it’s a whole house generator. You might want to make sure it will power the entire house, if that’s what you’re after.

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4 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I got a price of around 5k installed. Does that sound about right? My house is not small but not exactly huge either. It's a bigger sized bungalow.

 

That sounds quite cheap. Does that include the generator, transfer switch/electrical hookup and gas hookup also? What HIllbilly paid for his is somewhere in the going price around here. If you're not a gas or electrical guy, let the pros do it.....problems with both can be fatal.

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Mine came with the house but the previous owner left me all the paperwork. Mine was $8000 but the price has gone down here. My neighbor paid $5000 for his.

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1 minute ago, Henry T Harrison said:

Mine came with the house but the previous owner left me all the paperwork. Mine was $8000 but the price has gone down here. My neighbor paid $5000 for his.

That's about what I'm getting provided my electric box is okay. If they have to replace that it maybe another $1000.00 or less. You can get different levels of power, I just want my furnace, refrigerator , microwave and a few lights to go on. Maybe my TV??

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1 minute ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

That's about what I'm getting provided my electric box is okay. If they have to replace that it maybe another $1000.00 or less. You can get different levels of power, I just want my furnace, refrigerator , microwave and a few lights to go on. Maybe my TV??

Mine powers what is important to me. It doesn’t run the spare bedrooms or the living room we never use.

My house has had two additions so my wiring is safe but very confusing so that complicated things 

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Definitely have an on site estimate done and also make sure they talk about breakers and cutouts that keep power from feeding back into the incoming power lines so some Lineman doesn’t get zapped trying to repair downed lines. 

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I bought one for my mother’s house.  She’s housebound.

 

Dad built the house in the late 1940s. 60 AMP service.  
 

I had a 200 AMP transfer switch install with 200 AMP wiring to and back from generator.  They extended the natural gas line and included a tee by the electric water heater.

 

As I recall the installation cost was minimal compare to the overall cost.

 

Two men had it Installed, online and tested within four hours.  Cost was around $5,000 for the Generack

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One of things to consider is regulation codes about installation of gas & elect.---if it's not done according to codes in your area & anything bad ever happens ya homeowners insurance gonna say no way Jose-----a licensed professional installation is best way to go in the long run!!

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I would recommend a Kohler over a Generac any day. If it will only run on rare occasions Generac is OK, but they run at 3600rpm. You want A 1800rpm unit if possible. I think Kohler makes one. I only use 20-30Kw diesels but I am totally off the grid with solar and generator backup.

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Yes, they are expensive, BUT living in the HOT Gulf Coast of Texas and having been through more power outages due to hurricanes than I have liked, I decided when I could afford one to get one.  It is a Generac and has come on several times when the power was out for hours at a time due to whatever reason.  The last time was 4 hours during August when CenterPoint was working on the power lines and had notified us in advance.  Since I'm retired and home all day almost everyday, 4 hours during August without power would have been unbearable. It comes on for 15 minutes every week and I have Generac to service every year or six months.  Get an estimate from at least two or three dealers as each may tell you different things.  Decide how much you really need, but get one large enough to keep you comfortable whether it is to keep cool or warm.  Also check with your homeowner's association to see if you need their approval before installation.

Several of my neighbors now have Generac generators also so when the power does go out, we are the only ones with lights and air conditioning when it is 90+ degrees in August at 9 p.m.

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8 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

No he did not, this was an online estimate. I think I'm going to get a free home quote from a local company that installs Generac generators.

FYI-Generac is better known as 'Generwreck', for many reasons. ;)

OLG 

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4 hours ago, Happy Jack, SASS #20451 said:

I would recommend a Kohler over a Generac any day. If it will only run on rare occasions Generac is OK, but they run at 3600rpm. You want A 1800rpm unit if possible. I think Kohler makes one. I only use 20-30Kw diesels but I am totally off the grid with solar and generator backup.

The Kohler is much quieter than anything from  Generac.

Go with the lower RPM model. 

Look into Honda too.

OLG 

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We have a unit at out sewer treatment plant. Runs on diesel, not exactly small juice wise! Unfortunately, the unit's down at the moment. battery start up failed, then the hinged cover on the exhaust froze open. Engine had a SLIGHT water problem:rolleyes::o. It's currently torn apart, no word on when it'll be up and running again. They better hope we don't a big ice storm like we had years ago. 36 hours no power, bad juju for a sewer treatment facility.

Not sure whether a home unit would be feasible for us as we are total electric. An electric furnace sucks up a LOT of juice:unsure::rolleyes::blush:

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My Generac is a 36kw with a 4 cylinder inline. It is 2 years old and works flawlessly. I service it annually. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. Mine runs on propane 

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Out where we are, most of the business run with Kohler.  Many homeowners do too.  When we get ready to install one, we're going with Kohler propane.  They stand up to the humidity the best.

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Having installed, repaired and maintained standby generators on remote mountaintop communication sites Kohler is my favorite but as far as longevity and dependability it is Lister Petter diesel generators by far. One mountaintop that we took over from MCI when they got out of the microwave business had no commercial power and diesel generators supplied all of the power. MCI, having lots of money when they built the site installed 3 65 KW units that used in excess of 100 gallons of diesel a day. One of the first things  we did after taking over the site management was remove those diesel hogs and install 3 25 KW Lister Petter generator sets with upgraded day tanks and controls. Our diesel usage dropped from 100 gallons a day to around 19 gallons with the much more efficient  gensets. One generator ran constantly with two backups that in theory would start up if the main  generator shut down. Well about every thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinner day my pager would go off notifying me that the power was down up on the mountain. So I’d pack up the truck and head up to the mountain, the last 16 miles was 4 wheel drive to find out why the next in line generator didn’t start up and after about 15 years I finally decided that that mountaintop was haunted because rarely could I find a reason why the number one generator shut down and the next one in line didn’t start. These generators ran for hundreds and hundreds of hours between oil and filter changes without a hiccup except for holidays. 
 

When the snow came and the north and east face of the mountain were snowed and iced in our only means of servicing the site was by helicopter, those stories are for another time. In all of the years those generators ran we never had a mechanical problem with them, just the holiday gremlin.

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I have a 22KW whole house Generac generator powered by natural gas.  If the power goes off it kicks in after 13 seconds.  It cost me just under $16K installed.  Generac has designated installers, and using a designated installer may be a condition for maintaining the warranty.  When it runs it is quieter than the leaf blower a neighbor was using across the street.

 

Down around Baltimore, which isn't that far away from Gettysburg, PA, it was after either an ice storm or Hurricane Sandy that people lost power for up to a week.  For a number of reasons I decided that would be too long and I spent the money for the generator and I'm glad I did it. 

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