Standby generator

[coog]

Anyone here have one? I have been a little obsessed with worst case scenarios as of late, what with the economy and the storms out East, and have been looking into a natural gas unit.From what I here on the news, even the guys with the portable units couldn't get fuel for them.Generac seems to be the leader in home sized units.I can keep the place warm enough with wood, but I'd sure hate to lose the freezer full of Elk and venison.

 

[Locoweed]

Living out in the sticks means I have to be a bit more self reliant as a loss of electricity means no water from the well. My generator will run everything but the central air. It is hooked up to my 500 gallon propane tank.

 

[dingeryote]

Coog,

Natural gas units means you have to rely on the gas lines from somewhere.
Propane means sooner or later ya gotta re-fill the tank.
Gasoline and Diesel units mean storing fuel that goes bad after a bit, though if you run diesel on a farm you can keep it fresh by rotation.

I run a 40KV PTO gennie, not a standby, but as in everything else, stick with the better known brands, and skip the Harbor Freight Chineese crap.

Getting "Clean" juice from the gennie is important, as todays electronics and electric appliances are a LOT more sensitive to voltage deviations.
The cheapo Gennies often fluctuate waaaay to much, and often seem to be the subject of a lot of cussing.

Several neighbors run Generac units and seem to have good luck.

Been thinking of a standby myself on account of the hassle of hooking things up with the PTO gennie, so I'm all ears as well.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[coog]

Coog,

Natural gas units means you have to rely on the gas lines from somewhere.
Propane means sooner or later ya gotta re-fill the tank.
Gasoline and Diesel units mean storing fuel that goes bad after a bit, though if you run diesel on a farm you can keep it fresh by rotation.

I run a 40KV PTO gennie, not a standby, but as in everything else, stick with the better known brands, and skip the Harbor Freight Chineese crap.

Getting "Clean" juice from the gennie is important, as todays electronics and electric appliances are a LOT more sensitive to voltage deviations.
The cheapo Gennies often fluctuate waaaay to much, and often seem to be the subject of a lot of cussing.

Several neighbors run Generac units and seem to have good luck.

Been thinking of a standby myself on account of the hassle of hooking things up with the PTO gennie, so I'm all ears as well.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

I live in the big city, so gas lines will probably be the least of my worries.I have a oil and gas well at the ranch and plan on getting a "farm tap" on the line in the near future.The worry here is securing the thing in the event of a long power outtage...the criminal element is always lurking.I have always been more of a country guy, so I have needed to adjust my thinking about how to handle adversity here vs. there.Good point on the fluctuations; I had to replace my monitor yesterday, and the salesman said three years is the average lifespan.He blamed just that.I use a CyberPower unit to clean up my feed, but maybe i need more.

 

[046]

in the city and are down to 4 gensets...

Honda 5500
Honda 3500
Honda 2500
Yamaha 1000

our neighborhood is heavily treed, so power goes out along with any major storm. power was out for almost 3 weeks in last year's ice storm.

yes... did nicely with gensets for power and wood for heating. ended up loaning out most of my spare gensets. you learn quickly to run the smallest genset that will do the job. my yamaha 1,000 and honda 2500 did most of the duties.

thinking of selling off my largest honda... but if I do a direct wire into house electrics... that would be the machine.

recently sold off my 5500 watt diesel genset... that may have been a mistake. but got tooo many gensets...

 

[Labman]

I am looking for a cheaper alternative than this, http://www.propane-generators.com/a-c_kit_list.htm

Cheapest, easiest, legal way to connect a generator to the house, http://www.interlockkit.com/intro2.htm It also gives you every circuit in the house, limited only to what your generator puts out.

I lucked into a 6259 watt Coleman for $370. Then realized it could cost more than that to hook it in. It took me a while to find the right way. I can run everything in the house except the kitchen range and A/C. The furnace and computers do fine. I suspect the furnaces that don't work on generators that it is failure to ground properly.

 

[A. Stanton]

If I was doing it again, I would get a standby. But I would get one that uses propane. Gas lines can get severed. But if you have your own free standing propane tank, you are in complete control.

 

[A. Stanton]

This baby kept us warm and with water for 2 and 1/2 days one December.

 

[November Wolf]

This baby kept us warm and with water for 2 and 1/2 days one December.

You can't beat a Honda. I have a Honda EU 5500is that delivers clean power and is super quite. They are expensive though.

 

[cityevader]

As far as security goes, I poured my concrete pad with threaded rod appropriately placed for the mounting holes, and used security nuts, found in a Grainger's-type industrial supply house. Several types can be found.

 

[coog]

our neighborhood is heavily treed, so power goes out along with any major storm. power was out for almost 3 weeks in last year's ice storm.

This is why I am afraid.I have a relative who spent 4 months down in Tulsa with his tree service.He thought it was the Promised Land; working in shirtsleeves in January!(he's a Minnesotan).Those storms were going North, South and East of us all last Winter.How long can we stay lucky?

 

[Octane]

I work for Generac in the Whitewater, WI plant and Im a tester, (when the generator reaches the end of the assembley line its my job to hook it up, run it, make sure that it works right and fix it if it doesnt) so I work with these units every day and pretty much know them inside and out.
They run on either natural gas or LP and are completely self-contained and do everything on their own. They will do their job and keep the power on whether you are home or not.
What they do is that they sense when the power goes out and then after 10 seconds of sensing utility power loss, the generator starts and there is a transfer switch that switched your home back and forth between running on utilty power and power from the generator. The generator then runs and senses when the utility power comes back on. After it senses utility power for 10 seconds, the transfer switch switches back to running your home on utility power and the generator then goes into a cooldown mode where it runs for 75 seconds and then shuts off.
All in all, they are pretty good units and the vast majority of them pass through test the first time and run perfectly.
Home standby units come in sizes of 8KW, 10KW, 12 KW, 14KW, 16KW, 17KW and 20KW.
The engines as pretty fancy too. On the 10kw and bigger units they have electronically-controlled stepper motor governors, high temp shut, low oil shutoff, overspeed shutoff, underspeed shutoff. In the case of the 8kw units, they have all the features of the bigger motors, but they have a mecanical governor.
All in all, a great product that is made in America by an American company.

 

[coog]

Thanks.Boy, we all need to hear good things from good people.
Seems to be quite a few dealers on ebay.One guy sells "factory refurbished"?

 

[darren_nh]

My B&S 7kW propane generator just ran my house for seven days after our most recent ice storm. Worth every penny. I highly recommend it. If I had to do it again, I would get the 12kW so we could do laundry and run the dishwasher.

We were very well off compared to others. We had a lot of house guests and folks coming over to take showers.

If you need any specifics, PM me. Most of the generator guys around here are going to be busy for a while as everyone want one after this last storm.

 

[cityevader]

I've got the 8KW Generac standy unit, and love it except for one thing. Constant light flicker and exhaust note changes due to rapid and constant throttle changes. If I hold the governor by hand, perfectly smooth.

 

[Jkebxjunke]

for your computers I recommend a uninterpretable power supply.. or UPS they will filter the current and also adjust the voltage either up or down a certain degree and if the voltage goes too high or low it switched to battery... also its good if you are online and the power goes out. you can shut down safely.. also if you have a standby genset ( i do) it will keep the computer humming along while the gen starts and transfers ( my case 11 sec)

 

[Booshcat]

I work for Generac in the Whitewater, WI plant and Im a tester, (when the generator reaches the end of the assembley line its my job to hook it up, run it, make sure that it works right and fix it if it doesnt) so I work with these units every day and pretty much know them inside and out.
They run on either natural gas or LP and are completely self-contained and do everything on their own. They will do their job and keep the power on whether you are home or not.
What they do is that they sense when the power goes out and then after 10 seconds of sensing utility power loss, the generator starts and there is a transfer switch that switched your home back and forth between running on utilty power and power from the generator. The generator then runs and senses when the utility power comes back on. After it senses utility power for 10 seconds, the transfer switch switches back to running your home on utility power and the generator then goes into a cooldown mode where it runs for 75 seconds and then shuts off.
All in all, they are pretty good units and the vast majority of them pass through test the first time and run perfectly.
Home standby units come in sizes of 8KW, 10KW, 12 KW, 14KW, 16KW, 17KW and 20KW.
The engines as pretty fancy too. On the 10kw and bigger units they have electronically-controlled stepper motor governors, high temp shut, low oil shutoff, overspeed shutoff, underspeed shutoff. In the case of the 8kw units, they have all the features of the bigger motors, but they have a mecanical governor.
All in all, a great product that is made in America by an American company.

Who makes your engines?
I'm shopping for a 10-12KW unit

 

[Labman]

Unfortunately I was dumb enough to buy a cheap UPS. It held the other day when the power blinked off and back on, but often fails in those times when it kicks on and off several times. I don't think it filters at all, runs regular line voltage and switches over to the battery.

 

[Jkebxjunke]

Unfortunately I was dumb enough to buy a cheap UPS. It held the other day when the power blinked off and back on, but often fails in those times when it kicks on and off several times. I don't think it filters at all, runs regular line voltage and switches over to the battery.

need to go about 1 to 2 notches over cheap..go to 'decent' level... I know when I got one years ago.. it cut my computer crashes in half.. back in the days of win 95 and 98... it seemed like when the fridge or dryer would start you know when you get that little dip in power... and crash was not far away. the old BSD ( Blue Screen of Death)

 

[Buckethead]

I also live in a "rural area" which means that our town has no post office and the only full-time town employees are the two Highway guys.

I have a 5kw Generac portable generator that lives in the corner of my garage most of the time. This summer it ran when a series of thunderstorms knocked out power for 36 hours and again last Friday when an ice storm knocked our power out for 24 hours.

5000 watts is enough to run my well pump, heat, water heater, fridge, and some outlets. If I want to cook I use the gas grill with side burner.

I also have an APC UPS keeps my computer safe and sound. I was surprised at the number of times it kicks in due to voltage spikes and sags from the regular street power.