Buying Advice Diesel generator for home back up use

   / Diesel generator for home back up use #41  
Thats why you have various priority circuits.

And it sounds like you must have an auto transfer switch.. something else that adds considerably to the cost. No doubt it makes life easier, but that convenience, like having a genny sized for a whole house adds considerable expense when the number of uses are factored in.

Guys are throwing out suggestions for 20kw gensets. The OP himself said he calculated a load of 10KW. What most reasonable people here are saying is that he likely could get buy with LESS than even his 10kw calculation if he takes the work on to balance his usage. That lowers his costs considerably, and it sounds like he's on a budget.

Yes, we have an auto-transfer switch. Again, we're not always home, and wouldn't want to come back to a flooded basement (two sump pumps) because the power went out when we were out of town. An ATS can be more expensive, but not always.

Right now, the generator we bought is listed on Amazon (where we bought ours) for $4,497 with the whole-house 200A ATS, and $4,759 without!

I haven't seen anybody suggest a 20KW system for the OP. The only mention has been that there are several of us with systems that large, for "normal" houses.

I didn't see anything where the OP said he was on a tight budget, just that he noted a big price jump between certain sizes.

I'm shopping for a portable generator to use on a construction site, and as backup for my outbuilding in the future, but I'm not sure I'll be able to justify diesel....other than that I'm going to have a large diesel tank on site.
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #42  
GmanBart,

You keep defending your choice of generator size, while I agree that you should buy what you wan't with your own money I have to ask what this has to do with the OP's needs? The thread should be about the OP not you. Seems you get into some argument or discussion of you and your needs in a lot of threads lately, might wan't to think about that. Not saying you have bad intentions but maybe a little self centered. Hey I have been guilty of worse.:D

Back to topic, the OP has a diesel fuel tank, wan'ts a diesel genset about 10kw and has probably given up on this thread.
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #43  
GmanBart,

You keep defending your choice of generator size, while I agree that you should buy what you wan't with your own money I have to ask what this has to do with the OP's needs? The thread should be about the OP not you. Seems you get into some argument or discussion of you and your needs in a lot of threads lately, might wan't to think about that. Not saying you have bad intentions but maybe a little self centered. Hey I have been guilty of worse.:D

Back to topic, the OP has a diesel fuel tank, wan'ts a diesel genset about 10kw and has probably given up on this thread.

Sheesh, some folks seem to have major reading comprehension problems here.

My first post was in response to someone suggesting 10KW was a lot of power for a residence. I said simply that 10KW isn't necessarily big, and that I have twice as much for a "normal" home....nothing more.

My second post started off saying essentially "the OP said he needs 10KW, let it go", because everybody seems to want to tell him to get more or less, even though they don't know his exact situation.

Isn't that clear enough? From the very start, I've said it should be about the OP's needs, and not what someone else thinks is enough (in response to folks saying he doesn't really need 10KW).

When I talked about what I bought, it was simply to discuss how I went through the process of determining what we needed...nothing more. Of course, the "experts" had to try turning that around, and suggest that I bought more than I needed, when (again), they don't know the particulars.

I'm glad you've decided to reiterate what I suggested three pages ago....give the OP advice on the size, and type, generator he's looking for. :thumbsup:
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #44  
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Right now, the generator we bought is listed on Amazon (where we bought ours) for $4,497 with the whole-house 200A ATS, and $4,759 without!

Sounds like a Generac. No thanks. I was wondering how you had 20Kw and a Automatic transfer for so cheap. Neighbor is on his second in 5 years.
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #45  
Sounds like a Generac. No thanks. I was wondering how you had 20Kw and a Automatic transfer for so cheap. Neighbor is on his second in 5 years.

He probably over taxed it based upon your sizing guidelines. :laughing:
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #46  
He probably over taxed it based upon your sizing guidelines. :laughing:

Nope. His was (over) sized to code and installed by an electrician. I believe its a "20":laughing: kW as well.

He's not the only one. Generacs have a very high failure rate.
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #47  
Elec Panels 002.JPGIsuzu Generator in place.jpgElec Panels 002.JPGIsuzu Generator in place.jpgWe've had a 12.5 kw Isuzu diesel generator in service since last November. It feeds into a Gen-Tran 200 amp panel with load management and a transfer switch. The generator was around $10,000 from Central Maine Diesel, the wiring of the panel and all was about the same, near $20,000. Operates automatically on power outage and runs most stuff in the house, including the basement and upstairs heat pumps. The big 1st floor/basement heat pump is on the other non-generator panel. A picture of the Isuzu is shown below. Got it with a 60 gallon fuel tank underneath that I also use as my makeup tank for my tractor. I recently put 15 gallons of fuel back into it but didn't fill it. This was mainly to replace fuel used by the tractor. Figure the generator using 0.5 gph of fuel, as its engine is near the same size as the 18.5 hp one I had on my 4010, which used 0.46 gph over 660 hours. Every couple of years or so, I'll have to change the oil & filter. Shouldn't need to change the fuel filters for a long time. I've also included a picture of our 2 panels. The one on the right is the new Gen-Tran one.
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #48  
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #49  
It applies because the last brand of gas genny Id suggest to the OP is Generac.

I find it more than a little ironic that your bragging on here just how important having lots of stable electric power is for your lifestyle and VP wife, yet you go out and buy the absolute cheapest genset you can.

For what its worth, googling Generac generator failures should fill you in on their reliability. I mean it only has 1,460,000 results :laughing:Not only that, but there have been several users on TBN who have had Generac failures. Then there is the whole thing about Generac lying about their gens, both in output and efficiency, plus noise.

Ralph's post above shows what a TRUE, genuine 20kW genset should cost, not only for the generator, but tansfer and installation. How anyone thinks you can get $20,000 worth of generator for $4500 is beyond me.
 
   / Diesel generator for home back up use #50  
Nope. His was (over) sized to code and installed by an electrician. I believe its a "20":laughing: kW as well.

He's not the only one. Generacs have a very high failure rate.

You need to go look at them again, they just went up to a 5 year warranty and have solved many of the problems from the early ones.

Doing proper maintenance and adjusting the valves is a must as most dealers do not do the proper maintenance. Been averaging around 40 hours of outage time the last 3 years and could buy 2 20KW Generacs for one 12KW diesel or 22KW propane liquid cooled and that did not include transfer switch or housing and fuel tank.

Each case is different but a lot of the sizing I am seeing here is too small of unit for the load and starting watts of a lot of devices and not leaving enough margin.

David Kb7uns
 
 
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