Getting a whole house genny installed...

[nikdfish]

Getting a whole house genny installed... (pics start pg 4)

Up til now, we have made do with a portable generator during outages (currently using a 7k/9k dual fuel) - but it does take some doing to setup & monitor/maintain while it is running. The wife finally decided she wanted a system that would handle things even if I wasn't available.

We went with a unit sourced at Costco & using their referred installer. To accommodate our house (including a 5 ton heat pump) via the existing 200A breaker box, we ended up with a 22kw air cooled unit made by Generac (but with a Honeywell label). It will be LP fueled using our existing 500 gallon tank (LP furnace is our backup heat). The package includes a smart transfer switch with load management (necessary with the 5 ton unit).

The generator will be located about 75' away from the service entrance. The switch goes in by the meter & the feed lines will run through the crawl space, passing through the masonry wall at switch & generator locations. Once the switch & genny initial install is done, the propane guy will come the following day & change out regulators at tank & black iron feed point for current models (ours are 20+ years old), "T"ing off by the black iron feed & trenching along the wall to the generator location (about 40'). The Generac guys will then come back (probably the following day) & do initial startup, testing & adjustments as needed.

Permits are pulled & the Generac installers come out tomorrow to start the process.

I'll try to get pics during the various steps & post as available. Power will be off at the house during "phase 1" with the power company coming by to do the cut off & back later to do the restore. The installer said to figure on it possibly being 9A - 6P. Hopefully it will be the last time I need to run the portable to keep things running, a necessary task as we have a large freezer, 2 refrigerators and a freezer/fridge to worry about (wife likes capacity!). Top that off with it expected to be one of the hottest days of the summer - got to have some fans running! Needless to say, but network, computer, phone & TV/Dish will also be powered (got to stay in touch...).

Nick

ETA: pics start on page 4

 

[buickanddeere]

Nikddish . You have about the most common sense of anybody on this site today .

 

[coralhead]

How long will the fuel tank last at 80% full? If the power goes out when you are about 40 -50 % tank capacity, how long will it run till you get to 20%(fill time)?

Just saying you may need a larger tank to run that large of a generator for a length of time.

 

[nikdfish]

How long will the fuel tank last at 80% full? If the power goes out when you are about 40 -50 % tank capacity, how long will it run till you get to 20%(fill time)?

Just saying you may need a larger tank to run that large of a generator for a length of time.

We don't use much propane in the normal course of things. It has been over 2 years since the last fill & are only down 100 gallons from full (i.e. @ 60%). My understanding is that during light use, we could see as low as 30-35 gallons a day. Half load (more than the full capacity of our 7k portable) is projected a about 2.16 gph - full load, wide open would be 3.68 gph. We plan to keep our "normal" fill level higher from now on. I would expect 40% would normally be good for 3 days - maybe more if we were conservative (more frequent shut-downs & lower use). If running the AC wide open, much less...

Nick

 

[TripleR]

Congratulations, we put a whole house unit in about three years ago as we are just getting too old to keep running heavy cables and the generator out and of course half the time the power came back on as soon as we got it running. We initially tried sourcing from one place, getting installation done privately, but no one would warranty and service the system, so we went with an local company to do it from start to finish with free service/maintenance for three years.

We heat and cook with propane, so we got an additional 500 gallon tank, a thousand gallon wouldn't fit. May not be for everyone, but for us, it has been money well spent.

 

[smstonypoint]

Nick,

Thanks for posting. I look forward to your updates.

I am contemplating a similar setup for my farmhouse. Would you mind sharing what it is going to cost?

Steve

 

[PhysAssist]

We don't use much propane in the normal course of things. It has been over 2 years since the last fill & are only down 100 gallons from full (i.e. @ 60%). My understanding is that during light use, we could see as low as 30-35 gallons a day. Half load (more than the full capacity of our 7k portable) is projected a about 2.16 gph - full load, wide open would be 3.68 gph. We plan to keep our "normal" fill level higher from now on. I would expect 40% would normally be good for 3 days - maybe more if we were conservative (more frequent shut-downs & lower use). If running the AC wide open, much less...

Nick

Hi Nick,

I'm looking forward to hearing more about how your process goes.

We're tentatively looking into doing the same things- and for the same reason, but even though we almost exclusively heat with wood, and rarely with the gas furnace, our hot water is gas, and we really want to be completely sure that we never end up running out of propane, so we're also going to look into getting a second tank, and then question will be whether to tie them together, or keep them separate.

Thanks for sharing,
Thomas

 

[nikdfish]

Nick,

Thanks for posting. I look forward to your updates.

I am contemplating a similar setup for my farmhouse. Would you mind sharing what it is going to cost?

Steve

Costco delivered price on 22kw generator + smart transfer switch was $4800. Installer quote + tax on generator added $4354 for a total quote about $9154. The chosen location of the generator added about $900 by itself (wall penetrations + cable run) over the closer but less desirable alternative.

Actual cost is offset some by a 10% Costco cash card that will give us back about $915 after install finishes, plus getting another %4 back from it being a exec. member Costco visa purchase (%2 + %2) or about $366. Propane work should be $300 or less, so net total is probably about $8174 if I have everything straight ...

Nick

 

[merlebo02]

I am in the process of building and plan on doing this very thing.. Thank you for taking the time to educate us on the subject

 

[General Lee]

Nick - I have 20kw Generac, propane fueled. Sounds like the same set up as yours. Great choice my friend :thumbsup: