Getting a whole house genny installed...

[msb1766]

Nice write up and pictures, I had a GE 15 KW Whole house generator put in a few years ago worth every penny once the power goes out.
I always keep 6 quarts of oil and a few filters and spark plugs on had just in case there is a really long power outage.
Check out Lawn Mower Parts | Small Engine Parts - Jacks Small Engines for oil and air filters.
I also get them from Amazon.

 

[grsthegreat]

All done. Tech came out today, installed the battery & MobileLink unit, and plugged in the activation code.

Exercise period set for weekly (10A on Saturdays), initial changeover set at 15 seconds rather than the default 5 seconds at my request (we get a fair number of short term dropouts when weather is dicey).

Did a simulated power out (utility breaker on switch turned off), house switched to gen. power in less than 30 seconds. 5 ton heat pump was on a 5 minute lockout at switchover. Lowered the thermostat inside so it would come on for cooling asap & it cranked up as expected as soon as the lockout timed out. (UPS's chirped at heat pump start-up, indicating a momentary voltage dip - but immediately went back to normal wall power). Could not hear any real difference in the engine whether the heat pump was running or not.

Utility power was turned back on at the switch, there was about a 3-5 second delay & the switch relays fired to change back utility power. Generator continued to run a little bit for cool-down then shut off.

There is a 25 hour break in period for the generator, at which point oil & filter get changed. If exercise + outages don't get 25 hours in the first year, a change is done anyway. After that it is done annually or @ 200 hr intervals, whichever comes first.


Nick

Remember to have the valves adjusted at 25 hours... Very important

 

[nikdfish]

Remember to have the valves adjusted at 25 hours... Very important

Thanks for adding that. Believe it or not, I actually just mentioned that to the wife while we were talking about maintenance and service contract options!

If the 25 hour mark passes during an extended outage, would a service visit at the first opportunity following power restoration be sufficient (re: machine health & warranty coverage)?

Nick

 

[k0ua]

Thanks for adding that. Believe it or not, I actually just mentioned that to the wife while we were talking about maintenance and service contract options!

If the 25 hour mark passes during an extended outage, would a service visit at the first opportunity following power restoration be sufficient (re: machine health & warranty coverage)?

Nick

Nick if it is the typical Briggs OHV adjustment, it is real easy to do, you could do it yourself Just a thought.

 

[grsthegreat]

Thanks for adding that. Believe it or not, I actually just mentioned that to the wife while we were talking about maintenance and service contract options!

If the 25 hour mark passes during an extended outage, would a service visit at the first opportunity following power restoration be sufficient (re: machine health & warranty coverage)?

Nick

valve lash is not warranty issue. Its just helps overall life of engine. I did service on unit that wasnt running a few months back. Compression test showed about 70# in one cyllinder and nothing in other. Owner thought unit was toast. I set valves, and thay were WAY out of tollerance. After setting them compression jumped to 160# range in both. Gen ran nicely after that. The unit was 2010 vintage but never serviced.

 

[murphy1244]

valve lash is not warranty issue. Its just helps overall life of engine. I did service on unit that wasnt running a few months back. Compression test showed about 70# in one cyllinder and nothing in other. Owner thought unit was toast. I set valves, and thay were WAY out of tollerance. After setting them compression jumped to 160# range in both. Gen ran nicely after that. The unit was 2010 vintage but never serviced.

How do you set valve lash in a genny?

 

[grsthegreat]

How do you set valve lash in a genny?

same as with an old car. Remove valve cover on a COLD engine. Remove plugs. I remove cover from muffler bay and hand rotate fan to find top dead center of compression stroke (both valves closed). Set valves .002-.004 in

 

[murphy1244]

same as with an old car. Remove valve cover on a COLD engine. Remove plugs. I remove cover from muffler bay and hand rotate fan to find top dead center of compression stroke (both valves closed). Set valves .002-.004 in

Thanks much, need to find out how to get to the fan on my briggs set up.

 

[TheMan419]

Jealous of the whole house. Looked at putting one in at the old house. Just could not justify (in my mind) the cost. So we wired for portable. Turned out to be a good call because shortly after that our "dream" country home came on the market and we bought it.

So now I will have this new house wired for the portable.

Living out in the country and having the water go out in a storm.... you need back up power of some sort.

Certainly from an economic standpoint the whole house will never "pay for it's self" but that is not the point. The point is what kind of creature comforts do you want and what you are willing to pay for them.

For me we will have horses on the property here soon. Min need is 10 gallons of water per horse per day. More in the heat of the summer. So having the well operational is a must. Not too much more $$ for a portable genny that will run some other items (fridge/freezer, a few lights, blower on the furnace). Well worth the peace of mind.

 

[Gary Fowler]

When I built my retirement home, I thought seriously about getting a whole house genset but the cost of propane was a bit much for full time running. I bought a 10K Generac portable unit for emergency use but have not used it in 3 years other than to fire it up when I first bought it. I likely should gas it up and let it run a bit, I don't know how long they can set without loosing the field on the generator. Not an issue for comfort should we ever loose power for a long time, we can just move to the motor home which has its own generator and still have all the comforts. I think the fuel tank on it holds about 75 gallons and it is full at the moment along with the propane tank.
We have lost power one time for about 12 hours in the 5 years we have lived here so not a big issue for needing a whole house system.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

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

I probably should put one in, but hard to justify the cost for the outages we get.

 

[nikdfish]

The biggest impetus for us was peace of mind for the wife.

Since moving in here in 2010, I don't think there has been a year without at least one multi-hour outage & a number that have exceeded 12 hours. We had managed pretty well with the portables (a 5.5kw porter cable that lasted 20 years, followed by the present 7kw champion dual fuel), but it has never been a process the wife felt she could comfortably (or safely) do alone. Doing without was not an option, we depend on the well pump for water and have multiple freezers and refrigerators.

The whole house option meant no picking and choosing which circuits to include and that both heating & cooling were covered (portables kept the fans & furnace available, but no AC). Plus there is the convenience factor of not having to be up at 4AM to refuel or set up the generator & its' shelter in a dark rainy (or snowy) night! We are both retired, don't have a lot of expensive hobbies (not counting tractors...) or feel the need to trade vehicles that often, so resources were available (and you can't take it with you!).

This is how it looks with everything filled in:

The dark area is were the exhaust fan cooked the grass. Probably need to do some marble chips or stone there ...

Nick

 

[k0ua]

The biggest impetus for us was peace of mind for the wife.

Since moving in here in 2010, I don't think there has been a year without at least one multi-hour outage & a number that have exceeded 12 hours. We had managed pretty well with the portables (a 5.5kw porter cable that lasted 20 years, followed by the present 7kw champion dual fuel), but it has never been a process the wife felt she could comfortably (or safely) do alone. Doing without was not an option, we depend on the well pump for water and have multiple freezers and refrigerators.

The whole house option meant no picking and choosing which circuits to include and that both heating & cooling were covered (portables kept the fans & furnace available, but no AC). Plus there is the convenience factor of not having to be up at 4AM to refuel or set up the generator & its' shelter in a dark rainy (or snowy) night! We are both retired, don't have a lot of expensive hobbies (not counting tractors...) or feel the need to trade vehicles that often, so resources were available (and you can't take it with you!).

This is how it looks with everything filled in:

The dark area is were the exhaust fan cooked the grass. Probably need to do some marble chips or stone there ...

Nick

Nick that looks great, I know it will give you peace of mind in the future. I should have noticed that ladder line in the previous photos, but the light bulb didn't go off until I saw your QRZ page.:thumbsup: Do you work much PSK31? I work about as much digital as anything else on HF

 

[nikdfish]

Nick that looks great, I know it will give you peace of mind in the future. I should have noticed that ladder line in the previous photos, but the light bulb didn't go off until I saw your QRZ page.:thumbsup: Do you work much PSK31? I work about as much digital as anything else on HF

I have not done much with digital yet. I have software & rig controls set up for WINMOR/WINLINK & most common software driven digital modes but not yet comfortable with managing the exchange via keyboard. I do occasionally spend some time monitoring & will eventually dive in at some point....

Nick

 

[k0ua]

I have not done much with digital yet. I have software & rig controls set up for WINMOR/WINLINK & most common software driven digital modes but not yet comfortable with managing the exchange via keyboard. I do occasionally spend some time monitoring & will eventually dive in at some point....

Nick

I would be happy to help in any way I can. It took me a while to figure things out. But if want some help just holler.

 

[3930dave]

"The whole house option meant no picking and choosing which circuits to include and that both heating & cooling were covered (portables kept the fans & furnace available, but no AC). Plus there is the convenience factor of not having to be up at 4AM to refuel or set up the generator & its' shelter in a dark rainy (or snowy) night! We are both retired, don't have a lot of expensive hobbies (not counting tractors...) or feel the need to trade vehicles that often, so resources were available (and you can't take it with you!). "

Looking good Nick.

Whole house is nice, for sure. $ wise, what you spend upsizing the gen should be offset by lower installation cost.

You'll see all sorts of comments about money.... if anybody is giving you too much grief, point 'em at this thread :laughing:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/trailers-transportation/368074-tonka-toy.html#post4525571

Enjoy the system.

Rgds, D.

 

[HillStreet]

500 gallon tank

 

[grsthegreat]

not all generators are easy to install. i did this one yesterday and it was a pain. problem was he had a 400 amp service and only wanted one side controlled, but he also had a well control he wanted added. in order to add 20 amp well to a 200 amp service i not only had to add a transfer switch, but had to add a 200 amp feed thru panel so i could add the well. then i had to add a gutter ( j box) and reroute the feed to the house.made for a cluttered install but i can see no other way to do it. The inspector loved it. Original panel are first 2 pictures. If you notice all the writing, the original owner had a suicide manual transfer system installed.....no interlocks.



These are install pics

 

[nikdfish]

Just a side note as a followup. When we sent in documentation for the Generac 10 year parts & labor warranty promotion (even though contract was initiated before the start date & name plate is Honeywell) we got a "sorry charlie" letter saying we didn't meet the criteria.

Low & behold, just got in a letter congratulating us on getting the 10 year parts & labor upgrade. It lists our generator serial number & install date (8/14/2016) and gives us 10 full years parts and labor coverage (i.e. until 8/14/2026) as long as we maintain regular service.

Nick

 

[Code54]

We just had a 20KW put in recently and it is nice - REAL simple install. They pulled the meter head, snaped the transfer switch right over the old meter base then reinstall the head and hook up about 4 wires. Guess this box is a dealer only install and they had to get permission from our utility company but it works great. Also had two load shedding switches installed on the electric backup/emer heat and hot water tank in case we are pulling more than the Generator can put out.
Now I am almost looking forward to a power outage.....