Posted on 06/04/2024 8:42:56 AM PDT by eastexsteve
I live in rural NE Texas, and we experience power outages often. Some last for days. This year, we've been hammered by bad weather, and this round is the 12th time I've been on generator power this year. I've played the "generator game" for decades, starting off with one that I thought would be just good enough to keep me going, running the bare minimum appliances until the power came back on. This was torture. In my opinion, most people make bad decisions when it comes to buying a generator. They think small, and short run times. The truth is, here in Texas, you need one big enough to power your whole house, including A/C. For a 2,000 sqft house with a family of four, (that is VERY energy efficient with all LED lights etc.,) you are talking at least a 12KW - 13KW running watt (not surge watt) generator. If you want to stay married and keep your kids from running away from home, don't think about anything smaller. And, you want it fuel efficient enough to run all day. Also, you want one built to go extended run times. Most of these smaller camping or job site generators won't cut it, since they won't run very long under a load between fueling, and require oil changes every 50 hours. You're not powering a tent or a garage shop. You are powering your house, and you may have to do it for many days. Propane/Natural gas generators are VERY inefficient. Gasoline is somewhat better. Diesel is the best. Here in Texas during the "big freeze" a few years ago, some people even lost natural gas pressure! With the world like it is, and getting worse, you need to consider things like fuel, fuel storage, and fuel availability in case of a SHTF scenario. Before you go plop down hundreds of dollars on a generator thinking you need just enough to get you by, you better give it some serious thought.
Excuse = Austin
Texas embraced wind power in a big way because it has major political backing in the state from large landowners. Unfortunately, wind power is intermittent and subject to extended outages based on lack of wind. In addition, Texas has its own grid system with limited connectivity to the rest of the country.
The big issue is running the well house. No power, no water. We've learned over the years to run the genny only when necessary.
Bloody hot in Tey-has tho...
Curious, what size generator did you go with (for what size home) and what was the installation cost? Im looking at a 26KW system for a 3800 sq ft home, but I might not need that much. I just want to not even be aware of a power outage. Except for a kitchen, oven, I think I could run everything else in the house as normal with between 20kW and 26KW. I am hoping the estimate I get will inform me better if I need that much or not.
Everything’s bigger there.
“Texas is red so is there an excuse for power outages?”
I grew up in Texas and the constant brag was that Texas power was not connected to any other state. We were independent and had energy to burn. Apparently at some point Texas lost that energy independence and/or didn’t keep up with the population growth that has happened.
Eh, I have a giant (35kw? May be 40) liquid cooled natural gas or propane (it switches to propane tank if NG shuts off) to run everything in a 8000 sf house.
It ran for a week during the big freeze a couple of years ago.
NG can be very efficient, assuming you buy correctly.
I advise buying far more generator than you think you need so it just idles along and doesn’t work too hard. When they strain is when they become inefficient.
This is one of the benefits of the ‘green’ backups whether generator-sized or one intended for a standalone or grid-tied large setup. No noise, no lure for trouble.
Not the only factor — balance cost, static capacity (batteries), input capacity and fuel availability (like solar and night, or whether you have to dart out to the gas station for more fuel and is there any in a disaster), and expected duration of grid loss and need.
12-13Kwh? Not in Texas, but we have a few multi-day outages here too and we treat them as mini-camping trips. Work must happen, and don’t spoil the food, but it’s not the time to fire up every TV and screen in the house and run lights late into the night — as The Louiswu said that’s a big sign for troublemakers too.
When we built our place 11 years ago, I had a 14K Generac wired into the scheme, minus the kitchen range.
We’ve only needed it the few times wind and snowloads have shut the juice off for several hours. It runs on nat gas, and I find that the best option because you don’t have to refuel or have an above-ground fuel tank.
Just get a quiet one. No air cooled.
I'm not a big fan of these "whole house" generators because they run on natural/LP gas, and require a lot of maintenance. In Texas, we've actually had the natural gas stop flowing during a big freeze. I'm a big fan of water-cooled low RPM diesel generators. As I said, I've been playing the "generator game" for decades. Here's what I finally ended up with, and couldn't be happier:
https://www.auroragenerators.com/product-page/agi13p
I’m going to be installing a 125kw 600amp soon for a 12k sq/ft home up mid mountain of the local ski resort. Building a purpose built generator house for it.
Now that’s some back-up!
Disclaimer - it’s not my personal home...
22KW...@4000sf...with transfer switches
I have a Generac 8000W portable and use an interlock device to connect to the home service panel. This is enough power to run about 80% of the home, our main concern was having something that would power our well, boiler and frig. The interlock is less expensive than a transfer switch but the advantage of the transfer switch is you will know when the utility resumes power. Regardless of how you connect to the home, a portable generator will force you to make some decisions on what to power and what not to power. Another thing to consider, the less expensive generators don’t product a pure sine-wave, they have a high THD (total harmonic distortion) so running sensitive electronics or LED lights may be a problem. A portable inverter style generator solves that problem however they cast twice as much. We have had our generator for 4 years and have used it a total of about 4 hours. It’s power outage insurance, but I’m glad we have it.
Maybe AC a bit more essential in Texas than some other places?
Nat gas
Poor decision making. They cut themselves off from the rest of the grid, didn’t increase the output of their grid, and now when bad things happen they don’t have the backup.
All generators are noisy to a point. Especially ones big enough to run your whole house. Ones built inside an enclosure are quieter. Here's the one I ended up with:
https://www.auroragenerators.com/product-page/agi13p
Yes, there is. The Tx power authority is firmly in the bag for green crappola — like windmills and solar. Until they get their baseload back up to snuff they will sit in the dark, too.
Yah also need to plan on storms. A couple of tornadoes can wreck hundreds of power poles.
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