Standby genset would be great but propane here is $3.89 per gallon and heating oil prices are creeping back up too. I have Honda 2000 watt inverter generator that I can rotate thru powering heaters, freezers, etc. Good enough for us.
Standby Generator
- Thread starter jaydee325
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rekees4300
Elite Member
Congrats, whole house are nice when power is essential. We have portable gasoline generator attached to transfer switch when needed. Not whole house but enough for refrigerator + 2 freezers + furnace + water pump + PC + TV and a few lights. Lived here 18 years and the longest outage so far was 39 hours.
BAP
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Has anyone had to have any warranty work done on their generator? I have read some online about people having troubles getting companies to actually honor their warranties. Of course as usual, only the people with problems post, so it is hard to tell how many have problems versus those that don’t.
coobie
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NOPE !!! 8 years on 17kw Generac..Change the oil/filter once per yr with 5w-30 full syn.oil check battery water.Had the valves adjusted once per owners manual.
BAP
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Good to hear that it is holding up well for you.
BAP
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What have people paid for their generators with installation?
zmountaineer
Silver Member
I have a 22kw Generac. Price of the actual unit and transfer switch was around $4600 with a 10% off at lowes. After I bought it, I got a quote from a local generac installer. After I got the quote, I installed it myself. They wanted $3k for the install which didn’t include the transfer switch that I had my builder install when the service went in (automatic transfer switch install was $300 which I was very agreeable to). So all that had to be done was an inch and a quarter gas line run through the house (approx. 100 feet), unit mounted on a concrete pad, electric line from generator to transfer switch (25 feet of wire). I wasn’t about to pay $3k for that. I ended up doing it myself for around $1200. $2k was my “I’ll pay for the install” price I had figured up.
nikdfish
Veteran Member
We installed our 22kw going through Costco. After the various cash back & rebates, we ended up laying out about $8500 total. That included the extra costs associated with placement of the generator 75' from the 200 amp autoswitch, converting the house breaker panel from 3 wire to 4 wire, and trenching a propane line and adding/upgrading a total of 3 regulators through the local propane service folks (two existing regulators were 20 years old & I chose to update them).
If interested, a thread detailing the whole install process can be found here:
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/367609-getting-whole-house-genny-installed.html
TractorGuy
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Congrats on the new gen! Having power during an outage is a wondrous thing.
My house is all electric so diesel made more sense for me. Hurricane Hermine in 2016 was the last straw for us not having backup power. The power was out for a week but I got lucky and bought one of the last remaining PTO generators just north of it's path in GA. I rigged a backfeed cable and ran it through our dryer outlet. Not the best setup but it worked okay for a short term solution.
The cheap 10KW PTO generator had a super noisy gearbox and was puking oil out of the vent. It never got dangerously low but wasn't something I wanted to keep for long term. I also had to run my little tractor wide azz open to maintain hertz. I put 25 hours on it and returned it.
After that I began researching alternatives and discovered the military surplus generators being auctioned. I got lucky and won a 10KW set that cost me $1185 after fees. Prices jumped on them last year and people are paying ridiculous amounts for them now. Buying a new Perkins generator makes more sense than trying to fool with a surplus unit that may or may not run right when you get it. By the time I figured in the travel cost to pick it up, wiring and interlock parts, and building a load bank for regular testing I was right at two grand all in. I have pushed it to 13,500 watts and it will hold and could probably do more. It consumes .7 GPH on average. I keep two 55 gallon drums of diesel on hand and rotate it through my tractors. I have to refill the drums 2 or 3 times a year.
I don't try to run my whole house with it but I can run everything at intervals with load management. I usually turn all the 240 breakers off at start up then run any two of them along with all the 120V loads. I typically run the 3.5 ton AC and 1.5 HP well. When I want to heat water I will turn the AC off and run the 50 gallon water heater. I can run it for an hour a day and have enough hot water for multiple showers. When we want to cook I turn off the well and energize the stove/oven then toggle them back after cooking.
My house is all electric so diesel made more sense for me. Hurricane Hermine in 2016 was the last straw for us not having backup power. The power was out for a week but I got lucky and bought one of the last remaining PTO generators just north of it's path in GA. I rigged a backfeed cable and ran it through our dryer outlet. Not the best setup but it worked okay for a short term solution.
The cheap 10KW PTO generator had a super noisy gearbox and was puking oil out of the vent. It never got dangerously low but wasn't something I wanted to keep for long term. I also had to run my little tractor wide azz open to maintain hertz. I put 25 hours on it and returned it.
After that I began researching alternatives and discovered the military surplus generators being auctioned. I got lucky and won a 10KW set that cost me $1185 after fees. Prices jumped on them last year and people are paying ridiculous amounts for them now. Buying a new Perkins generator makes more sense than trying to fool with a surplus unit that may or may not run right when you get it. By the time I figured in the travel cost to pick it up, wiring and interlock parts, and building a load bank for regular testing I was right at two grand all in. I have pushed it to 13,500 watts and it will hold and could probably do more. It consumes .7 GPH on average. I keep two 55 gallon drums of diesel on hand and rotate it through my tractors. I have to refill the drums 2 or 3 times a year.
I don't try to run my whole house with it but I can run everything at intervals with load management. I usually turn all the 240 breakers off at start up then run any two of them along with all the 120V loads. I typically run the 3.5 ton AC and 1.5 HP well. When I want to heat water I will turn the AC off and run the 50 gallon water heater. I can run it for an hour a day and have enough hot water for multiple showers. When we want to cook I turn off the well and energize the stove/oven then toggle them back after cooking.
Industrial Toys
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I got my (Top Industrial Quality) 200 amp ASCO transfer switch off E-Bay Cheap. Various Slow Running Diesel (Top Industrial Quality) Generators that usually just required a rotor rewind, from a dealer, also cheap.
There are ways to get the best (non-consumer garbage) at a really good price, and then you really have something you can rely on. Something that is made to run 24/7.
On another note. I saw a documentary about cyber hacking the grid. Apparently, not a matter if IF, just WHEN. And it could take months to re-establish power! It really upset me. Why in the world would utilities put control of their systems on the garbage internet? It seemed to run just fine, before the Internet existed!
There are ways to get the best (non-consumer garbage) at a really good price, and then you really have something you can rely on. Something that is made to run 24/7.
On another note. I saw a documentary about cyber hacking the grid. Apparently, not a matter if IF, just WHEN. And it could take months to re-establish power! It really upset me. Why in the world would utilities put control of their systems on the garbage internet? It seemed to run just fine, before the Internet existed!
