Comparison Home Stand By Generators

[daugen]

I have just asked a local long established electrician who has done many standby gens for a quote on running a Generac 22kw into my 400amp panels. Unlike the last electrician who said there was no room and both panels needed to be replaced, this one said, no, you have room. He said he even has installed a 22kw perfectly connected to both panels but each would need its own auto transfer switch. The gen comes with one, I'm sure another one would be seriously expensive, but there is also the expense of moving all those wires around in the panels to get one panel to run under gen and not the other one.

I am a retired insurance agent and volunteer fireman. I have a portable gen in a little shed fifty feet from the house and have plenty of extension cords. My last house had a 20kw generac due to my wife's health issues and it was a huge improvement in our quality of life living in an area where we lost power at least half a dozen times a year, sometimes for many hours. I also have awful arthritis and cannot pick up gas cans easily. For me paying 7 grand to have a professionally installed gen is worth every penny. Every single penny guys. We are all different and all have different needs.

What should never be an issue is safety. None of us have the right to expose others to danger foolishly or carelessly. Much less ourselves. Being safe takes so little extra time, and clearly not much money for some kind of basic disconnect, so telling us one has been doing this all one's life without a disconnect is only saying one is very very lucky and has avoided tragedy for the proverbial "Grace of God". As a long time retired fireman, I can tell you downed wires are pretty scary and while we wait for the electric company to get there, if life is at risk, firemen go in, and geez, do you think they want to contact a live wire attached to your gen? NO, of course not.

As they said at the end of Hill Street Blues, "let's be careful out there".

and maybe ratchet down the contentiousness here a little bit. Blanket statements always get us in trouble as there are always good exceptions to rules. But not ones where people can die in a few seconds...

I expect to get that quote after the holidays and get it installed in Jan. Will advise what the quote is and the arrangement chosen.

 

[ultrarunner]

When thinking of safety the possibility of auto start with no one at home is often overlooked.

A local family lost their home when the genset started automatically... the flames spread from the wooden structure and because the home was partially hidden, flames spread to the home.

Rodents had built a nest and the family was away for Thanksgiving when a branch took out power to their home.

A truly automatic system is just that... it will start and run until it can't, someone manually turns off the power or power is restored.

 

[K man]

That is just one incident that I ever heard of . This shows, if I read this post right about the rodents building a nest. If the generator exercised once a week like it is supposed to then the rodents would not of had a chance to build a nest if you know what I mean. I live in area where there are a lot of mice and they get into tractor, atv air filters only if they are parked for a long period of time but if use weekly chances of them building a nest are very slim. So I make sure that I start them at least once a week especially in the fall when they tend more to building a nest for the winter.
To be on the safe side anyone who is going to be away from their home for a long period of time should turn off their generators which is not a hard task to do just a button. Will save your home like in the incident above. Just saying.

 

[s219]

Well if it's rodents in a nest inside the enclosure as ultrarunner stated, that's not something an Electrical inspector would pick up when he signs off on the install. Maybe a conscientious homeowner would notice if he routinely inspected his generator, but I'd wager 99% are installed and forgotten/transparent to the homeowner except for periodic maintenance (probably annual at best, unless hours accumulated). A lot can happen in the 12 months between service calls.

I didn't want an auto-start system on my diesel because it's not needed in this stage of our lives. Don't need the generator running if we're not home, and don't need the convenience of auto-start. In the event of an outage that lasts more than an hour -- or if it's extremely hot/cold and we need HVAC -- I go out to the shed, run through a simple checklist, and then turn the key. Part of the checklist is making sure everything is in order.

I run my generator for 15-20 minutes every month. I perform a routine check of the entire generator shed and all systems at that time. Haven't found rodents yet, but I have found and cleared wasp nests and mud-dauber tubes (they even stuffed mud in the exposed ground hole of a receptacle I have out there to power a battery maintainer). That stuff is minor, but could lead to problems over the long term. Imagine running out in a power outage in the rain to find angry wasps defending their nest, or mud-dauber tubes over the ignition slot for the key, or maybe a copperhead snoozing on your diesel tank! Extrapolate that to all the other things insects/rodents/birds/nature can do to even the best-engineered systems, and I think monthly or weekly "manual" inspections are a must for a generator and its enclosure.

 

[ultrarunner]

Neglect is what it really comes down to.

They bought the home for a million plus and it came with the genset in a very nice area of the Oakland Hills.

Both are in the tech sector and they are the most helpless people when it comes to common sense around the home... never checked the Genset... said it was automatic.

I could write a book from 30 years of property management... how is it an 80 year old woman can keep her stove immaculate, knows how to property take out AND put back the burners to clean them and has a little tool box always at the ready and the 30 year old man next door doesn't own a screwdriver and has to call someone to light the water heater pilot light or clean the faucet aerator.

People on TBN are not representative of the society at large... we build, maintain, grow and operate as opposed to those that are simply consumers.

 

[farmer2009]

Drew what your wanting is doable. But it maybe simpler to have an automatic switch gear installed between the meter and the main in the panel. This would depend on how it's all set up. An experienced installer would be able to walk you through your options.

It's important that auto start gensets exercise atleast every two weeks. And the switch gear should switch that way you are adding a load also. Try to pick a time when you are normally home and awake. I run mine every Sunday morning for a 15 min exercise then a 15 min cool down under no load. The switch over is smooth enough it doesn't even effect my computers.

 

[K man]

My auto start generator is not inside a building. It is outside 18 inches from a wall and 10 feet from the propane tank and 4 feet from the nearest window this way there are less chances of wasp, snakes etc building their nests. My generator starts faithfully and runs for 13 minutes every Wednesday at 2 p.m and I also make it a habit of going over lifting the cover and checking the oil level at least every 2 weeks just to be on the safe side. I also have warning lights on the unit that tell me green is standing bye and ready. Red is a malfunction code and orange is service time. Very smart unit that Generac.

 

[s219]

My auto start generator is not inside a building. It is outside 18 inches from a wall and 10 feet from the propane tank and 4 feet from the nearest window this way there are less chances of wasp, snakes etc building their nests. My generator starts faithfully and runs for 13 minutes every Wednesday at 2 p.m and I also make it a habit of going over lifting the cover and checking the oil level at least every 2 weeks just to be on the safe side. I also have warning lights on the unit that tell me green is standing bye and ready. Red is a malfunction code and orange is service time. Very smart unit that Generac.

I don't think the enclosure makes a bit of a difference. It's good you lift it an check everything periodically, but I bet 99% of owners do not (and probably 50% of them aren't even capable). I think that's the whole jist of ultrarunner's story. It wouldn't take much to mess up a generator in a way that weekly tests don't pick up.

 

[buickanddeere]

Mud daubers , wasps are nasty little jerks. We had them pack the drain port in a tractor's coolant pump. The buildup of pressure pushed coolant past the seals.

 

[ultrarunner]

Homes are getting smarter... not so sure about people.

Seems knowledge that was basic even a generation or more ago isn't.

One of the Docs I work with is great otho guy... he bought a new 130k BMW and has trouble figuring it out...

The majority of Americans buy homes... they are far removed from the building side of things.

Some of the things I've seen would scare the daylights out of you... hooking up a gas dryer with a cheap rubber garden hose for the gas line.

Not venting the dryer and wondering why the house has mold.

Pouring Grease down the drains and then saying the plumbing is defective.

Using Cheap zip cord extension cords under carpets for space heaters.

Using Speaker Wire to add outlets.

Not mixing Oil for 2-Strokes and demanding money back when the motor seizes.

Using Duct Tape to keep circuit breaker from tripping.

Mixing chemicals like Ammonia and Bleach to clean.

Storing Gas Cans next to gas water heaters.

Piling Laundry up against a gas water heater.

Making a bedroom in the same room as a gas water heater.

Running Generators in a closed garage attached to the house.