pto backup generator

   / pto backup generator #61  
Then again, my wife was capable of learning how to do it and has no problem with it... (I chose wisely grasshopper)

BUT, We are not power hungry people, so there's no rush to have the power back on...

SR
 
   / pto backup generator #62  
I can get ethanol free also, but plan to do 10% or less. I am treating with PRI-G fuel treatment. Have seen videos and reviews that say it’s amazing.

Unless I know we are gonna be our for a really long time, we will probably keep it running most of the time for tv and all the other conveniences.
Really consider ethanol free if you can get it. Alcohol is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture. It will pull humidity out of the air. Then you end up with contaminated fuel that causes rust issues in the tank & equipment. It's not a big issue in vehicles as they have pressurized tanks so less humidity goes in & out as tempature cycling causes the tank to breath. Also they tend to be used more often. But ethanol & its water absorbing ways is the number one killer of small equipment engines these days.
 
   / pto backup generator #63  
I just recently setup a generator for the house.

Wanted easiest setup for wife or anyone I needed to set it up when I am out of town.

It’s a champion power equipment model 100110 ( 9,200 running watts, 11,500 max watts). I have a interlock switch to prevent the main breaker and generator breaker from being able to be on at the same time.

I am currently keeping 28 gallons of fuel on hand with a full tank ( 7.7 gallons) in the portable generator. It is said to get 10 hours at 50% load on the 7.7 gallons. So I got just under 5 full tanks/ 50 hours of fuel available. I am looking into a 55 gallon drum to store more fuel.

Overall, it’s simple to setup and get on line, runs all but my stove, oven m, dryer and AC. I can run some of the stove but not all.

I don’t want to loose wattage output by converting to LP or NG. Happy with the setup overall. $3,500 at most invested. View attachment 569878

I bought the same generator. Never unboxed it. After looking into the transfer switch, minimal circuits, the cost of wire to mount a box in the garage instead of buying a bologna cable to drag out in the storm (and have lifted if not watched), the fact it is useless when no one is home, and a whole house genset was barely 2x the price for unmanned power, I took it back. I just couldn't see spending that kind of cash for a genset I needed to be home to set up if power went down. This is for all non-standby generators. When we are out of town camping, skiing, or whatever, no one can come to start it to keep my pipes from freezing, or losing $1,000 of groceries and beef, or keep the sump pump running. I'm not getting younger, and there is no way years from now I'm dragging out a portable. The whole house standby just made sense.
Then, the wife lost her job, and we decided to hold off on the standby after we had priced the genset installed, had three friends and family members ready to do gensets at once. Everyone but us went ahead. Two years later, we are still sweating out storms, and debating our next move. I've gone between PTO units and portable units and standby units about a thousand times. It still comes down to "you gotta be home" for anything less than standby units.
 
   / pto backup generator #64  
I bought the same generator. Never unboxed it. After looking into the transfer switch, minimal circuits, the cost of wire to mount a box in the garage instead of buying a bologna cable to drag out in the storm (and have lifted if not watched), the fact it is useless when no one is home, and a whole house genset was barely 2x the price for unmanned power, I took it back. I just couldn't see spending that kind of cash for a genset I needed to be home to set up if power went down. This is for all non-standby generators. When we are out of town camping, skiing, or whatever, no one can come to start it to keep my pipes from freezing, or losing $1,000 of groceries and beef, or keep the sump pump running. I'm not getting younger, and there is no way years from now I'm dragging out a portable. The whole house standby just made sense.
Then, the wife lost her job, and we decided to hold off on the standby after we had priced the genset installed, had three friends and family members ready to do gensets at once. Everyone but us went ahead. Two years later, we are still sweating out storms, and debating our next move. I've gone between PTO units and portable units and standby units about a thousand times. It still comes down to "you gotta be home" for anything less than standby units.

I priced a whole home full auto setup.... $11,750 cash installed.... that’s if my natural gas meter was big enough ( they didn’t think it would be) and placing it on the bedroom side of the house near gas meter instead of opposite side of the house to keep noise away from bedrooms.

I am more often in town than not and when not home, I have someone house sitting. I have step by step instructions on the breaker box so it’s not hard for anyone to get up and going.

While I would love whole home, auto setup.... the wife and I decided it wasn’t work the cost.
 
   / pto backup generator #66  
I priced a whole home full auto setup.... $11,750 cash installed....

I am in the last stages of setting up a 20KW Cummins whole house stand-by genset.

Generator w/200A ATS - $4400
Concrete and form boards for pad - $75
New propane install* - $1695
Electrical** - $850
Total cost - $7020
Value - priceless

I prepped the site, poured the concrete, placed and secured the genset. Everything else was subbed.

*the original 120 gallon tank was not big enough, and too close to my preferred install location. I had a 500 gallon tank installed about 100' away.
**there was an existing manual transfer switch, so a little bit of $$ was saved on wire and labor compared to a brand new install, but probably not more than $200.
 
   / pto backup generator #67  
I bought the same generator. Never unboxed it. After looking into the transfer switch, minimal circuits, the cost of wire to mount a box in the garage instead of buying a bologna cable to drag out in the storm (and have lifted if not watched), the fact it is useless when no one is home, and a whole house genset was barely 2x the price for unmanned power, I took it back. I just couldn't see spending that kind of cash for a genset I needed to be home to set up if power went down. This is for all non-standby generators. When we are out of town camping, skiing, or whatever, no one can come to start it to keep my pipes from freezing, or losing $1,000 of groceries and beef, or keep the sump pump running. I'm not getting younger, and there is no way years from now I'm dragging out a portable. The whole house standby just made sense.
Then, the wife lost her job, and we decided to hold off on the standby after we had priced the genset installed, had three friends and family members ready to do gensets at once. Everyone but us went ahead. Two years later, we are still sweating out storms, and debating our next move. I've gone between PTO units and portable units and standby units about a thousand times. It still comes down to "you gotta be home" for anything less than standby units.

You make good points about needing it to operate when no one is home to prevent frozen pipes; food spoilage, sump pump, but even in those cases don't you only need power for a couple hours each day? Would generator run for 24 hours a day when no one is home? Regardless if it's even freezing out? Or if sump pump is needed etc..
Then, how do you know if it successfully started, stayed running?
 
   / pto backup generator #68  
Many good points being made on this thread. Each household is different with different circumstances and needs. :drink:
 
   / pto backup generator #70  
You make good points about needing it to operate when no one is home to prevent frozen pipes; food spoilage, sump pump, but even in those cases don't you only need power for a couple hours each day? Would generator run for 24 hours a day when no one is home? Regardless if it's even freezing out? Or if sump pump is needed etc..
Then, how do you know if it successfully started, stayed running?

The typical standby genset comes on when it senses grid power is lost and shuts down after is senses grid power restored. It doesn't just run until someone shuts it off. Yes, it'd run if no one is home, but power is needed while you're gone, so no big deal. If you are splitting hairs on only needing power to cover during the outage for individual needs and devices, then you likely don't mind cycling a portable to cover the power outage. Standby sets make for seamless electrical service, no real disruption, and let life go on as normal. No starting/stopping/refueling/cords/etc. As for knowing if it's running? Generac, and I'd suspect others, send messages through an app to your cell phone. My family and friends that got gensets when I didn't get notices for every weekly exercise (results, too), power outage, power restore, genset running, and service notices.
 
 
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