Comparison Home Stand By Generators

[buickanddeere]

If the power goes out when it's really hot or really cold, and it costs me $100-120/Day to run my generator (20kw Generac on NG) it's not that I don't care, but I know it's a lot cheaper than: paying to stay in a hotel, paying to fix broken pipes, paying to clean the basement, and repair water damage, paying medical bills after my wife hurts herself trying to lug a generator and fuel cans because I'm out of town. If she loses her job because she can't work from home (it's all phone and e-mail)...like during an extended outage, it means our family income drops by a huge amount....she makes more than I do. I did the rough math, and two weeks of her salary would have paid for our generator....money well spent.

This is why I always say it really depends on your circumstances, and not what works for anybody else. I have a coworker who's son requires home kidney dialysis while waiting for a transplant....he had to put in a standby generator running off NG to make sure they had power even if he was out of the country (he travels pretty regularly). He said he wasn't going to saddle his wife with a portable generator when she had all other manner of things to worry about when he was traveling....made sense to me.

I'm showing 5500cuft of NG to fuel a 20KW gen set at max power 24/7. Sept price of $16.29 per 1000 cuft. That would be a few cents under $90 a day. Odds are the daily fuel costs on the 20KW generator is under $50.

 

[Toyboy]

I'm showing 5500cuft of NG to fuel a 20KW gen set at max power 24/7. Sept price of $16.29 per 1000 cuft. That would be a few cents under $90 a day. Odds are the daily fuel costs on the 20KW generator is under $50.

You would find that it rarely would run at max load....... if ever.

 

[DarkBlack]

It seems from reading the posts that a lot of you have all electric or heavily electric homes?

I agree, they must have electric heat and electric hot water.
I've been doing this for many years, just last week for almost 48 hours straight during a snow storm.
5KW gas generator. I powered the whole house as usual, except I won't try the twin cylinder air compressor.
Otherwise it was everything as needed...Deep well pump, 2 refrigerators, 1 freezer, heat circulators, lights, t.v.s, computers, hair dryers, garage doors, electric range stove( 2 burners), microwave, yup, everything.
I can't imagine needing more. During the night the load is frig/freezers and the heat circulator, about 200 watts average, so I'm glad the generator isn't any larger. Those days used over 15 gallons of fuel, so about $45, that's enough.

 

[doxford jim]

Yes, a lot of people are all electric. In my case everything is electric including heat (geothermal) and the house can run off of my backup generator. As far as drying clothes is concerned, we only use the clothes dryer for sheets - everything else we hang on clothes lines. For us it isn't a problem as only two people live here (wife and self). The moisture in the hanging clothes gets put into the circulating air and as a result, hardly ever have to use a humidifier. We do have a propane backup furnace should our main heating unit fail.

 

[Toyboy]

We've been discussing the pros & cons of automatic vrs. manual start GenSets and large vrs. small. One thing that has gotten lost in this, is you can get a smaller automatic NG/propane GenSte and break out the critical circuits that you want to feed. All they need to do is install 2nd circuit breaker box, and transfer to that what you determine necessary to be comfortable in a power outage. During an outage all your power will then be transferred to the 2nd breaker box to feed those circuits..

By doing that you could reduce the size (Kw) and minimize fuel consumption. Doing that, an 8kw would most likely cover the major needs of most of us with a little extra without the hassle of the manual units. Those units are relativity inexpensive compared to the much larger units.

 

[GManBart]

I'm showing 5500cuft of NG to fuel a 20KW gen set at max power 24/7. Sept price of $16.29 per 1000 cuft. That would be a few cents under $90 a day. Odds are the daily fuel costs on the 20KW generator is under $50.

That makes it even more of a bargain!

I haven't looked that carefully in this thread, but nobody seems to subtract the amount that they aren't paying the power company during an outage. Sure, you can buy it cheaper than produce it yourself, but that still should be factored into the comparison.

Even if I pay only $5 per day for electricity (I wish!), and running a generator costs me $50, the difference is only $45.

 

[Threepoint]

That makes it even more of a bargain!

I haven't looked that carefully in this thread, but nobody seems to subtract the amount that they aren't paying the power company during an outage. Sure, you can buy it cheaper than produce it yourself, but that still should be factored into the comparison.

Even if I pay only $5 per day for electricity (I wish!), and running a generator costs me $50, the difference is only $45.

In some jurisdictions, the power utility is actually permitted to levy a surcharge to make up for lost revenue due to power outages beyond their control. It's the flip side of having their rates regulated. As I recall, this became a fairly hot issue a few years back in Maryland. Power was taken out by downed trees that many folks thought the power company should have been more diligent in trimming. Of course, when the tree crews try to trim the trees along their particular road frontage, folks don't like that either.

 

[nc redneck]

As posted before I have 17 KW whole house with 1000 and 500 gal propane tank. Very happy with it. Before it I had 10K, 12k surge gas powered electric start. Total pain but did the job. Only advice I could ad is buy the biggest you can afford. Even with 17K ( largest made at time) I had to put hard start kit on HVAC unit to start under gen power. Cost is small to get larger air cooled unit now, Liquid cool above 25 k will put you in commercial territory and double price.

 

[atgreene]

Who runs a standby generator enough to make diesel pay in " fuel savings". As for being "reliable". Who is going to run the spark ignition engine enough hours to wear it out. In particular when operated with clean burning LP or NG. As for long life and reliability of diesel vs spark ignition. This is 2014 with tier IV emissions diesels . This isn't 1975 with gasssers having points ignition and burning leaded fuel competing against a diesel.

Some ice storms we have been out for over a week, sometimes two. 200+ hours at 2-3 gallons per hour x 3.50 +- (if you can get it) pays for a diesel in a hurry.

 

[atgreene]

We've been discussing the pros & cons of automatic vrs. manual start GenSets and large vrs. small. One thing that has gotten lost in this, is you can get a smaller automatic NG/propane GenSte and break out the critical circuits that you want to feed. All they need to do is install 2nd circuit breaker box, and transfer to that what you determine necessary to be comfortable in a power outage. During an outage all your power will then be transferred to the 2nd breaker box to feed those circuits..

By doing that you could reduce the size (Kw) and minimize fuel consumption. Doing that, an 8kw would most likely cover the major needs of most of us with a little extra without the hassle of the manual units. Those units are relativity inexpensive compared to the much larger units.

My house and garage run on 6800 watts. 28x36 cape, full dormer, ell, and 56x42 heated garage. 6000 watts is a lot of generator if wired properly.