All electric house and a generator

[houstonscott]

Its just me, but I wouldn't want solar as backup. Its probably a great power source but if the power is off because of bad weather can you count on solar. I'd also look at a diesel, if you have a diesel tractor, you have a way to use up the fuel if it gets old. I'm guessing if you can switch stuff off and on you can get by with a smaller unit then you are thinking. I'd forget about the heat strips if I were you and just figure you can get by without them.

That's a big investment for system that only works during an outage. With enough battery backup your assertion may not hold water, by the way the array still produces in bad weather. HS

 

[dodge man]

What would the cost be for him to put up a solar array with enough battery backup to power his house? It would be a lot more than a generator. I also realize solar would give him a return on investment. Just my opinion but I have done some reading, but solar from a standpoint of cost and return on investment only makes sense if the cost to tie into the grid is high.

 

[houstonscott]

There are lots of things to consider. Maintaining a Diesel engine, keeping fuel on property, weekly testing. Just what do you want to operate during outages, how involved do YOU want to be in managing power usage for either type of system. Where would you put a diesel generator, noise, weather. Even your physical ability to keep up maintenance in future. It's a big decision, and solar with batteries should be considered. This technology is changing fast right now too. Tesla wall power units and batteries are getting powerful, system management devices are hitting the market now too. It's complicated. The old days of just buy a generator are gone. If the OP is really set on a generator, I'd buy a PTO driven generator, the tractor is there and maintained and ready to go. HS

 

[Code54]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

To address some of the points. We looked at solar a little bit but we are not exactly in a sunny area and have a TON of tree cover. It also seems we use a lot of electric so it may not be the best fit in our situation.

We have a wood burning stove in the living room which heats the house fairly well but the kids both have rooms downstairs and their tv room is down there and it does not get too warm with the wood burner. Thus the wanting to use the furnace. As for by passing the heat strip on one side, good thought. My buddy takes care of our HVAC needs/installs so I am sure he and his guys could set something like that up.

I am not too interested in pellet stove just because I would have to buy them where as I have a pretty much unlimited supply of free wood all around me so it is really hard to pass that up. Do agree the pellet stoves are a great product, but just not in our case. Thank you for the thought however!

Never even thought about Gov. surplus sets, good idea - I will also look at them!

We do have 3 diesel pieces of Eqpt so diesel is appealing that way, the idea of being able to use one large tank to fuel the gen set and the eqpt would be awesome. I briefly looked at a PTO unit but it would be too much for the wife to deal with if I was working or traveling. Figure a backup generator will start itself, power everything and then shut down and she and the kids can have electric and not worry about hooking something up wrong or being out in a storm and dealing with eqpt.

Thank you all for the info and please feel free to continue giving your thoughts and ideas!

 

[ultrarunner]

There are lots of things to consider. Maintaining a Diesel engine, keeping fuel on property, weekly testing.

No more weekly testing by decree of the local Air Quality Management District... every two weeks now ;-)

 

[houstonscott]

No more weekly testing by decree of the local Air Quality Management District... every two weeks now ;-)

Oh, yeah, I forgot the big central commie government in California even wants to control when you test your own generator. How fast can you move? Has

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm interested in the Government surplus stuff, but have never found anything remotely close to where I live. I've seen some portable light towers for sale with big diesel generators that where pretty cheap and I've been thinking about going that route.

 

[houstonscott]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. To address some of the points. We looked at solar a little bit but we are not exactly in a sunny area and have a TON of tree cover. It also seems we use a lot of electric so it may not be the best fit in our situation. We have a wood burning stove in the living room which heats the house fairly well but the kids both have rooms downstairs and their tv room is down there and it does not get too warm with the wood burner. Thus the wanting to use the furnace. As for by passing the heat strip on one side, good thought. My buddy takes care of our HVAC needs/installs so I am sure he and his guys could set something like that up. I am not too interested in pellet stove just because I would have to buy them where as I have a pretty much unlimited supply of free wood all around me so it is really hard to pass that up. Do agree the pellet stoves are a great product, but just not in our case. Thank you for the thought however! Never even thought about Gov. surplus sets, good idea - I will also look at them! We do have 3 diesel pieces of Eqpt so diesel is appealing that way, the idea of being able to use one large tank to fuel the gen set and the eqpt would be awesome. I briefly looked at a PTO unit but it would be too much for the wife to deal with if I was working or traveling. Figure a backup generator will start itself, power everything and then shut down and she and the kids can have electric and not worry about hooking something up wrong or being out in a storm and dealing with eqpt. Thank you all for the info and please feel free to continue giving your thoughts and ideas!

Just remember while your thinking this morning my solar has already produced over 5kwh, and is running at 3.4kw and spinning up. No fuss, no fuel, and all that's happened is the sun came up.... Incredible... HS

 

[dickfoster]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

To address some of the points. We looked at solar a little bit but we are not exactly in a sunny area and have a TON of tree cover. It also seems we use a lot of electric so it may not be the best fit in our situation.

We have a wood burning stove in the living room which heats the house fairly well but the kids both have rooms downstairs and their tv room is down there and it does not get too warm with the wood burner. Thus the wanting to use the furnace. As for by passing the heat strip on one side, good thought. My buddy takes care of our HVAC needs/installs so I am sure he and his guys could set something like that up.

I am not too interested in pellet stove just because I would have to buy them where as I have a pretty much unlimited supply of free wood all around me so it is really hard to pass that up. Do agree the pellet stoves are a great product, but just not in our case. Thank you for the thought however!

Never even thought about Gov. surplus sets, good idea - I will also look at them!

We do have 3 diesel pieces of Eqpt so diesel is appealing that way, the idea of being able to use one large tank to fuel the gen set and the eqpt would be awesome. I briefly looked at a PTO unit but it would be too much for the wife to deal with if I was working or traveling. Figure a backup generator will start itself, power everything and then shut down and she and the kids can have electric and not worry about hooking something up wrong or being out in a storm and dealing with eqpt.

Thank you all for the info and please feel free to continue giving your thoughts and ideas!

Maybe you should look at some way to circulate the heat from the wood stove to the areas of the house it doesn't reach now. I run the circulation fans in my HVAC to circulate the heat from the wood stove throughout the house. I did have to move the cold air return of one system but I've got the whole house heated mostly with wood heat now. A circ fan doesn't use much power.

 

[CurlyDave]

Maybe you should look at some way to circulate the heat from the wood stove to the areas of the house it doesn't reach now. I run the circulation fans in my HVAC to circulate the heat from the wood stove throughout the house. I did have to move the cold air return of one system but I've got the whole house heated mostly with wood heat now. A circ fan doesn't use much power.

This is a great idea. We have heat pumps and a propane emergency generator, but enough power to run the heat pumps is just not available.

We cut back our lifestyle when the main power is out, we keep the refer and freezer running, the lights and convenience outlets, but just don't use the electric oven, drier, washer, or heat pumps. We heat with the propane fireplace, and can supplement any cold spot with a 1500 watt plug-in heater. We still have TV and computers, but do have to make some adjustments.