Comparison Home Stand By Generators

[ultrarunner]

It seems the consensus is to go whole house with the cost offset by the convenience it provides.

The frugal engineer side of me sees it could get expensive real fast if power is out for long.

I've got lights, gas furnace blower and a couple of outlets strategically located around the house on the auto transfer switch... so freezer, refrigerator, computer and a counter outlet in the kitchen are always ready to go.

My first home and one I still own is 1200 square feet and still served by it's original single 30 amp edison fuse for the main disconnect... having gas cooking, heating, hot water and dryer meant my electrical load remained low.

In my current 2400 square foot home... summer or winter I consistently average 12 kWh usage per day... must be the mile Bay Area weather.

 

[Scrambler82]

Does a whole house unit run at high rpm all the time so that the high fuel consumption is SOP ?

 

[stoyan79]

Honda is as good as it gets when it comes to small engines and generators. Check also Yamaha. 5,000 watts should be enough for a whole house excluding A/C. Check Invertor-Generators by Honda and Yamaha, much more fuel efficient.

 

[Retired Iron Peddler]

We have an Eaton 20K whole house generator with an automatic transfer switch. Great piece of mind when the grid goes down. Heat, a/c, refrigerator, hot water, internet, the whole nine yards.
There is about a 30 second delay after the grid fails till the generator starts which is just enough time to cause all the digital clocks to need resetting.
Now, all this comfort comes with a fairly significant operating cost as the unit burns about three gallons of propane per hour. Every Saturday morning the unit exercises it self for about ten minutes. The exercise period is independent of the grid condition.
A friend recently installed a stand by unit that notifies his cell phone when the unit is running or if there is a fault with the unit or transfer switch. Now, that's cool beans technology.
Our unit has been on board four years and when the weather turns frightful you can sleep like a baby knowing your shower is hot and the beer is cold.. Highly recommend stand by powder

Yep, we have a similar setup with a Kohler 20kw on LP gas with an automatic transfer switch. Utility power goes off, generator power is own in 10 seconds. It runs everything in our all electric home including a 4-ton heat pump. It's been in service for nearly two years and has over 50 hours of running time on it.

Bill

 

[buickanddeere]

Does a whole house unit run at high rpm all the time so that the high fuel consumption is SOP ?

So what if the rpms are high? That does not mean high fuel consumption or high wear. This is not the primary power genset at an Antarctica research station running 24/7. For a few hour a year who gives a rat's bum?

 

[buickanddeere]

.....

 

[Fallon]

Does a whole house unit run at high rpm all the time so that the high fuel consumption is SOP ?

Diesel will only use additional fuel to maintain rpm when additional load is added. Unlike gas which requires a fixed fuel/air ratio & is using fuel based on rpm. While neither of those statements are completely true, diesel does a fair bit better on fuel usage under lesser loads.

 

[K man]

I just recently installed a Generac 11KW propane generator with automatic transfer switch. This generator will run the whole house. These are the appliances that I run on propane, Bosch on demand tankless water heater, Sears propane stove. I heat with a Harman P43 pellet stove. All my lights have been changed to LED. So 11kw is more than enough but handy to have in case I decide to add more in the future. Best 6000.00 I ever spent. :thumbsup:

 

[RalphVa]

We've an Isuzu 12.5 kw diesel generator that does the whole house through a Generac panel that has 6 breakers on a sensing system that won't let them come on if not enough room on the generator. Had one long power outage during the last 2 years and wife was able to use the clothes dryer on one of those breakers. The upstairs heat pump is on another one of those sensing breakers.

The fuel usage on the Isuzu is about 0.2 gph. Used 2.5 gallons the first year and 5.0 gallons the 2nd year.

Ralph

 

[MossRoad]

So what if the rpms are high? That does not mean high fuel consumption or high wear. This is not the primary power genset at an Antarctica research station running 24/7. For a few hour a year who gives a rat's bum?

A cheap gas generator will run 3600RPM constant. LOUD and uses lots of fuel. If anyone thinks they're going to run a house non-stop for several days with one of these things needs to be aware that they'll consume 1/2 to 1 gallon PER HOUR! So, if your power is out for three days, you're looking at 36-72 gallons of fuel, or, $90 to $210 just for gas! And read the oil change intervals on cheap gens, too. You'll be surprised how often its recommended to change the oil.