Comparison Home Stand By Generators

[K man]

Yep, there sure are a lot of idiots out there who put their lives on the line over stupid practices. Good example of that Ultrarunner.

You want to hear a good one lol. True story an idiot that I worked with had no brains just a body lol. Marcel was his name anyway he had a battery that had a hole on the side of it and wanted to fix it. Now you ready lol
He had an older battery kicking around and figured I can fix my other battery with this one.
So he took the old battery put it in a pot on top of the stove and tried melting it to patch the other one. It just happened that I was going by his house and saw his wife and two children crawl out of the front door of their smoky house. I thought the house is on fire or something. Anyway his wife told me what he was doing so I yelled at him Marcel turn the stove off and get the **** out of there before you blow it up. I waited a few minutes and he crawl out of the house because the smoke was so thick he could not see where the door was. I gave him **** for doing something so stupid like that he could of killed his family. Just shows you how some people seem to think that the idea they have in their heads is the right one. Lucky for him he did not inhale the fumes from the burning battery case and acid inside of it. He would of been dead for sure. What an idiot.

 

[bcp]

Another one.

Homeowner: TP cleanup sparks Dora house fire

 

[ultrarunner]

Sometimes it is not limited to homeowners.

I bought a few acres and within a week received notice on non-compliance... brush was to be cut including vegetation over 6" and trees limbed below 6 feet.

It was under threat of escalating fines and I could get no where with the inspection dept.

Went to City Council and spoke during the open forum... I said I would be do whatever the city wanted... only needed to know if the city actually wanted me out there with power equipment during the reg flag fire watch days of summer.

Told them I was new owner and after a conference city decided I was OK to wait until the red flag warning was over...

City people only go by calender dates... they know little to nothing about weather and site conditions...

 

[hr3]

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.

So the generator was in a wooden structure ???

 

[DarkBlack]

Not back-feeding. Not re-fuelling while running, but dead. Very sad.
Like I said 2 pages ago, CO poisoning is the real danger everyone needs to focus on. It's by far the largest cause of death with portable generators.
Nottingham EMT dies of carbon monoxide poisoning | Local News - WMUR Home

 

[DarkBlack]

And I thought getting TBN members to wake-up to the real danger of portable generators being CO was a challenge here....
It looks like Nigeria needs a wake-up:
Nigeria records over 10,000 deaths through

 

[MossRoad]

Here's an article that contains a list of many people that died during hurricane Sandy within a 65 mile radius of New York City. 15 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.

4 people died from electrocution, but none involved generators.

Still doesn't mean we shouldn't use proper safety precautions, but does make you realize the biggest home generator danger is from carbon monoxide poisoning by a huge factor.

The People Who Were Killed By Hurricane Sandy | Whitney Hess

 

[daugen]

one of the real downsides of a portable gen is how to run in the pouring rain or blowing snow when you don't have a convenient overhang to park it under. I won't even run mine in my garage with the doors open. Never know where that CO2 will wind up; always run it outside, at my last house under the totally open front entrance porch. At this home, I don't know yet, will have to be out the garage back door, which then gives my extension cords a straight shot into the kitchen.

So what happens when a gas powered generator is operated outside in the pouring rain for several hours?

 

[nc redneck]

there is no cheap way haha. i have a program from generac to calc generator loads. its part of my powerplay software. i use it when i size my jobs.

If theres elect heaters...theres always problems. When i get houses with electric backup heaters and or electric water boilers, i always need to shed those loads....unless i go big.

i reciently hooked up a 45KW unit on a house with electric heat, elect backup heat, elect water heaters and heat pumps. took some doing. It works great though. On this application, he had 2 x 200 amp panels so i installed 2 x 200 amp transfer switches and joined the feeds together in 16x16 J box with single 200 amp feed to generator.

View attachment 401530


care has to be taken to link both switches EXACTLY the same. i use color coded wires .... it gets confusing at times.

Very nice job. I sure wish you were closer to me. I would like to get your thoughts on my set up!

 

[MossRoad]

one of the real downsides of a portable gen is how to run in the pouring rain or blowing snow when you don't have a convenient overhang to park it under. I won't even run mine in my garage with the doors open. Never know where that CO2 will wind up; always run it outside, at my last house under the totally open front entrance porch. At this home, I don't know yet, will have to be out the garage back door, which then gives my extension cords a straight shot into the kitchen.

So what happens when a gas powered generator is operated outside in the pouring rain for several hours?

Good question.... I've always run mine in our unattached shed with the door open. I ran it in my in-laws in a yard barn with the door open. I guess that's something that needs to be planned for before it happens. If its pouring rain, you probably shouldn't be messing with a generator anyway. Good way to get whacked. :shocked:

 

[dave1949]

one of the real downsides of a portable gen is how to run in the pouring rain or blowing snow when you don't have a convenient overhang to park it under. I won't even run mine in my garage with the doors open. Never know where that CO2 will wind up; always run it outside, at my last house under the totally open front entrance porch. At this home, I don't know yet, will have to be out the garage back door, which then gives my extension cords a straight shot into the kitchen.

So what happens when a gas powered generator is operated outside in the pouring rain for several hours?

Honda Generators - Generator Operation
Keep the generator dry.
Do not use the generator in wet conditions, such as rain or snow, or near a pool or sprinkler system.

I can't say for other brands, but Hondas are not rain ready. My Honda gen. doesn't like to get wet, the engine starts missing.

 

[jaywdeee]

Good question.... I've always run mine in our unattached shed with the door open. I ran it in my in-laws in a yard barn with the door open. I guess that's something that needs to be planned for before it happens. If its pouring rain, you probably shouldn't be messing with a generator anyway. Good way to get whacked. :shocked:

It is a necessary safe practice to ground every generator well. All have a grounding lug and I have driven two 8' electrical ground rods and connected a braided copper wire to the grounds with copper connectors and then to the generator lug. This must be done to insure that all the connected loads are grounded and safe.

 

[ultrarunner]

It is a necessary safe practice to ground every generator well. All have a grounding lug and I have driven two 8' electrical ground rods and connected a braided copper wire to the grounds with copper connectors and then to the generator lug. This must be done to insure that all the connected loads are grounded and safe.

I've wondered about this because I have a truck mounted unit that I use for grinders and drain rooter machines... the generator is bolted to the truck... the truck sits on tires... nothing is driving into the ground.

 

[MossRoad]

I've wondered about this because I have a truck mounted unit that I use for grinders and drain rooter machines... the generator is bolted to the truck... the truck sits on tires... nothing is driving into the ground.

Yeah, makes you wonder about all those portable generator/welder sets you see on service trucks. Does anyone really ground them?

 

[ultrarunner]

Yeah, makes you wonder about all those portable generator/welder sets you see on service trucks. Does anyone really ground them?

That's the story of my life... living on the edge...

Speaking of grounds... and off topic.

Mom was having a hard time keeping the critters out of her vegetable garden even with the cyclone fence I put in.

Next step was to add a hot wire which worked ok in the winter... stopped working during the California drought... so I added a ground wire from the fence charger to the metal fence... talk about an electric fence... nothing climbs up and over anymore.

Next problem is mom would forget and was always getting shocked.

So I put the charger on a timer and all is good... only time the critters would attack the garden was under cover of darkness...

Moral... Proper use of grounds is important!

 

[Sodo]

and grounds maintenance

and I enjoy making coffee grounds too :stirthepot:

 

[buickanddeere]

one of the real downsides of a portable gen is how to run in the pouring rain or blowing snow when you don't have a convenient overhang to park it under. I won't even run mine in my garage with the doors open. Never know where that CO2 will wind up; always run it outside, at my last house under the totally open front entrance porch. At this home, I don't know yet, will have to be out the garage back door, which then gives my extension cords a straight shot into the kitchen.

So what happens when a gas powered generator is operated outside in the pouring rain for several hours?

CO2 is a minor hazard compared to how lethal CO is.

 

[daugen]

CO2 is a minor hazard compared to how lethal CO is.

my error, meant CO"1"...

Monoxide is the baddy, Dioxide is what we exhale, right?

 

[check]

Getting back to the original question, what is the best standby generator? I see a lot of people here with Generac/guardian generators, but when I was buying mine I was told to stay away from them because they're not reliable. What have your experiences been?

 

[doxford jim]

Getting back to the original question, what is the best standby generator? I see a lot of people here with Generac/guardian generators, but when I was buying mine I was told to stay away from them because they're not reliable. What have your experiences been?

I very much doubt that the major generator manufacturers would knowingly put out a product that wouldn't hold up to use. That being said, my Kubota has been great and very reliable to date. The only non-start issue has been a low battery in the middle of winter - I now keep two batteries there.
I expect what you were told is basically BS and don't buy from the competition for whatever reason.