Whole house generator

[Ridgewalker]

I am moving to a rural location where I will be back to having powerpoles.
I am one of the last houses on a 1.5 mile road leading into our new place and
have been looking into whole house generators.

What are you guys using?

Has anybody used this one?

Briggs & Stratton 40305B Auto Standby Generator Air-Cooled 20KW

 

[kenmac]

Just my opinion but, I would buy a generator with a Liquid Cooled Engine for whole house Generator . Afew years ago I was a generack dealer. I wouldn't install an Air cooled engine on homes to power A/C ( This was per Generac) Other installers would install Air cooled engines for this. When people had problems with the engine or generator, the installer wouldn't come back & they would call me . As soon as I saw it was an air cooled generator. I walked away

 

[jmanatee2]

Just my opinion but, I would buy a generator with a Liquid Cooled Engine for whole house Generator . Afew years ago I was a generack dealer. I wouldn't install an Air cooled engine on homes to power A/C ( This was per Generac) Other installers would install Air cooled engines for this. When people had problems with the engine or generator, the installer wouldn't come back & they would call me . As soon as I saw it was an air cooled generator. I walked away

I totally disagree with these statements. I have had good luck with two generac home standby generators. Both air cooled

Most small (<20kw) lpg or gas home standby generators are air cooled.

 

[bcjmmac]

I have a Briggs & Stratton 20KW generator. Air cooled, propane. No issues - automatic start set for 2 minutes after power disconnected - came on about 6 times last winter (live in N.B., Canada - lots of snow).
Picked the B&S over Generac because there is a local dealer in case I need service beyond what I can do myself.

Cheers

 

[ultrarunner]

Might have been a perfect storm... homes that need central A/C tend to be in hot climates and the worst case would be power out during an extended heat wave when using A/C taxing the air cooled genset.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Thanks for the replies gents, keep 'em coming!

 

[Travelover]

I'm curious as to why you would want a 20KW generator. It seems like a huge investment for the number of hours that you would actually use it. And when you do use it, it sucks down a lot of expensive fuel.

Where I'm at, a 5000 watt generator is plenty to run essentials until the power is restored.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have 5000 also... one Honda and a Winco with auto transfer at another location.

 

[rekees4300]

I looked into whole house but just couldn't justify the cost vs. the potential length of an outage. Been in the boondocks for 11 years and longest outage has been 39 hours. My 5.5 KW portable and some extension cords were enough to keep the essential stuff like refrigerator, furnace, freezer, water pump going. Of course your situation may be different. If you haven't already done so, suggest you talk to the neighbors and find out the maximum outage they have experienced.

 

[tcartwri]

You should look into solar. The prices for good panels are almost half of what they were a few years ago. Add in an inverter charger and a small bank of batteries and you're good to go. It would certainly be cost effective compared to the size of generator you will be looking at. Your hydro bill will also be minimized when the batteries are topped up.

 

[ragkar]

Of course you would like a whole house auto start generator. But do you really need it in emergency situations? How many outages do you anticipate this winter. why don't you talk to your neighbor for that information.
Your basic need is for well pump, furnace, sewage, refrigerator, microwave and lights in one room.
The bigger the generator, the more fuel that you will have to store and gas does go bad after a while even with sta-bil addative. My neighbors a mile up the road lost power for a week after Irene hit. I didn't.
I have a 5.5 KW generator with manual start up. It works for me.

 

[ayelvington]

http://www.homepower.com

I understand the installer's concern with an air-cooled generator pushing air conditioning.

There is competition in the standby generator field, so do some research. Liquid cooled is quieter but more expensive. I have an air-cooled diesel that does a great job of heating the garage in the winter

Do research. Talk to commercial electricians and mechanics with generator experience. You didn't mention what kind of fuel you wanted. I burn diesel because: I'm a farm and always have at least 20 gallons on hand; propane is expensive, and extending the propane line wasn't practical; gasoline is expensive and generally in short supply when the fit hits the shan.

Do you NEED a standby generator? You're increasing your cost significantly compared to a manual start generator with an essential load panel and disconnect.

What do you need to keep going? Water, heat, fridge/freezers, cooking... Is your water supply a deep well? This is important because of the starting load to the generator that's running other stuff at the same time. Do you have sensitive electronics that will not run on your generator anyway? (Modern wash machine, computers, etc.) Using a generator for heating is ridiculous. I'm hoping you have a propane range and water heater...

Best of luck to you

 

[Ridgewalker]

Good points! It runs off the LP tank which is what attracted me to it.
I thought that would be easier to maintain than a gas unit.

Also the fact that it auto starts monthly to keep it running OK seemed like a good idea.

 

[ayelvington]

Good points! It runs off the LP tank which is what attracted me to it.
I thought that would be easier to maintain than a gas unit.

Also the fact that it auto starts monthly to keep it running OK seemed like a good idea.

I recommend natural gas/propane to a lot of people if they have a large tank and are willing to put up with the cost. Do check the fuel consumption rates at 25% load so that you have an idea of your new burn rates. NG/propane is really nice since it's a no-impact fuel if you have a leak, practically unlimited if you have a natural gas connection to your house, and easy if you already have a household propane tank. Gasoline goes bad unless stabilized, and it can lacquer carburetor parts. Diesel can get infections that foul filters, and it gels if it gets ungodly cold...


The exercise option is an essential unless you are the diligent kind of person that is willing to keep up on it yourself. I manually exercise my generator once every two months for an hour. (I should probably do it more often, but so far so good.) I do have a maintenance charger on the starter, and I'll be adding a heater to the oil pan before winter.

Whatever you do, investigate the option of having a service contract for the first few years. Make sure that the service provider is prepared to provide on-site warranty support. It's hard to take a generator into the shop...

more good luck to you!

 

[Financegal]

I moved here 7 years ago and also have above ground power poles. We rarely lose power but the blizzard of 2010 changed that, 5 days w/o any. Decision time for me also. Checked w/neighbors - most here use a gen w/manual transfer switch.

I chose that route as well. Only thing I did differently - neighbors mostly have 5000-5500w generators and told me if they had to do it again they'd ramp up just a hair on size generator so I bought a 7000/8750.

I am a 56 y/o female and trust me, if money were absolutely no object, it would have been so much easier to go whole house. Gen stays in garage plugged in (electric start) and I have absolutely no problem rolling it down to switch, hooking up to it and running the house. To me the cost difference wasn't worth it and it comes down to the power outage situation in your area and how often it goes out.

 

[Pilot]

A few comments:

I've been thinking about a standby unit myself.

Costco has Kohler 12KW units on sale now thru Sept. 17 for $2250--plus you find electrician and LPG guys to install, estimated to run around $1,000. Regular price at Costco is $2,500. Comes with a transfer switch, runs on propane or natural gas.

I have a 6KW portable unit with electric start and a transfer switch. It has worked OK, but power only fails when the weather is miserable, blowing rain or snow. Noisy. Once lost power for several days, ran out of gas. Went to town for gas; could only get the ethanol contaminated stuff. Filled up the generator, fired it up and the line power came back on within 30 seconds. Grumble, grumble.

Question for anyone who knows: Starting load of the 1/2 hp well pump is somewhere around 3.5+ KW, so I am told. If the refrigerator, freezer, furnace fan, etc. and lights are on, it looks like we come close to overloading the unit when the well comes on. And we want to wire in the microwave, but haven't done that yet. The well pump is old and the well guy really wants us to replace it with 3/4 hp when the existing pump dies. At that point, I know we'll overload the generator when the well fires up.

So, how important is the surge load? There is no surge load rating on the generator, just the 6KW rating.

Gas concern: Install a shut off valve in the fuel line and shut the generator down by shutting off the gas to avoid varnish buildup in the carb. And in many states you can get ethanol free gas for off road use--check with marinas. Ethanol separates out in storage and absorbs water, 2 things you don't want to happen to your fuel.

Do you really need A/C when the power goes out? I can understand that in Florida when tropical storms come thru with high humidity, but what about places like Connecticut?

 

[whistlepig]

A few comments:

I've been thinking about a standby unit myself.

Costco has Kohler 12KW units on sale now thru Sept. 17 for $2250--plus you find electrician and LPG guys to install, estimated to run around $1,000. Regular price at Costco is $2,500. Comes with a transfer switch, runs on propane or natural gas.

I have a 6KW portable unit with electric start and a transfer switch. It has worked OK, but power only fails when the weather is miserable, blowing rain or snow. Noisy. Once lost power for several days, ran out of gas. Went to town for gas; could only get the ethanol contaminated stuff. Filled up the generator, fired it up and the line power came back on within 30 seconds. Grumble, grumble.

Question for anyone who knows: Starting load of the 1/2 hp well pump is somewhere around 3.5+ KW, so I am told. If the refrigerator, freezer, furnace fan, etc. and lights are on, it looks like we come close to overloading the unit when the well comes on. And we want to wire in the microwave, but haven't done that yet. The well pump is old and the well guy really wants us to replace it with 3/4 hp when the existing pump dies. At that point, I know we'll overload the generator when the well fires up.

So, how important is the surge load? There is no surge load rating on the generator, just the 6KW rating.

Gas concern: Install a shut off valve in the fuel line and shut the generator down by shutting off the gas to avoid varnish buildup in the carb. And in many states you can get ethanol free gas for off road use--check with marinas. Ethanol separates out in storage and absorbs water, 2 things you don't want to happen to your fuel.

Do you really need A/C when the power goes out? I can understand that in Florida when tropical storms come thru with high humidity, but what about places like Connecticut?

Surge load is pretty important. If the generator isn't up to the surge load of the motor the motor will run but can be damaged.

Although it varies on where the research is done 3,500 watts surge on a 1/2 HP well pump sounds correct. A 3/4 HP well pump is 5,000 watt surge.

I use Sta-bil for my generator gas. I store it for 1 year then pour it in the truck, get fresh gas, and then treat the fresh gas with Sta-bil. I also completely drain the generator and put fresh stabilized gas in it once a year.

We only run the basics on our 6500 watt portable. Well pump, a few lights, and pellet stove for heat. Cooking is done on an electric skillet.

If I were to upgrade the Honda HP2S power management system would be the only I thing would add. This is microprocessor controlled and controls the on and off of the stuff wired to it. If it senses a motor wanting to turn on that will exceed the surge load it delay the start of this motor until something else turns itself off. I priced the Honda HP2S system at $1,500.00 installed.

The cost of a whole house standby is just too much for us to justify with just one 72 hour power outage in the last five years.

 

[jem041279]

My 2 cents, I live in south Louisiana and hurricanes are pretty regular it seems lately so I have to be prepared for power outages as well, I have found that gasoline generators are a big pain due to the gas that they are selling now a days and it is to much trouble to keep a bulk supply, propane and such burn a large amount of fuel but if you buy a tank and designate it to a generator you have no problem with storage. I personally like diesel power. I have a liquid cooled Kubota powered light plant that makes for a good generator. It burns about 5-7 gallons a day so it is fuel efficient. It is a 8 kw so i wire it into my house so all outlets are hot and freezers and refrigerators still run and just put a window unit in bedroom so I dont have to run central unit. Remember all you are trying to do is make it for a few days until power is restored not live for months at a time so huge 20 kw generators may be nice but they burn lots of fuel.

 

[whistlepig]

My 2 cents, I live in south Louisiana and hurricanes are pretty regular it seems lately so I have to be prepared for power outages as well, I have found that gasoline generators are a big pain due to the gas that they are selling now a days and it is to much trouble to keep a bulk supply, propane and such burn a large amount of fuel but if you buy a tank and designate it to a generator you have no problem with storage. I personally like diesel power. I have a liquid cooled Kubota powered light plant that makes for a good generator. It burns about 5-7 gallons a day so it is fuel efficient. It is a 8 kw so i wire it into my house so all outlets are hot and freezers and refrigerators still run and just put a window unit in bedroom so I dont have to run central unit. Remember all you are trying to do is make it for a few days until power is restored not live for months at a time so huge 20 kw generators may be nice but they burn lots of fuel.

I think that the folks that live in hurricane country are more than justified going with a whole house standby generator.

 

[jem041279]

I think that the folks that live in hurricane country are more than justified going with a whole house standby generator.

I totally agree as did my father in law who bought one and by the time he was rigged up with generator, 500 gallon (I think but not sure of size) propane tank, and all hardware associated with it, he was 13,000 dollars shorter than before. Personally I can't justify that great of an expense. I keep 100 gallons of diesel on hand which if treated properly will last for a few years and it also powers my tractor. Basically I guess it come down to ones check book, how much do you want to spend? Just remember when power is out, fuel is really hard to find and everyone wants it.