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.
I’ve got a 14.5 KW Generac that I’m happy with. Runs my house and well pump without needing to shed loads. I don’t have A/C here where I live. Runs on natural gas or propane.
Thats my goal. I dont want to be dragging out portables and deal with fueling.
I purchased a Generac RD030 diesel generator with a 132 gallon built in tank. Very expensive, but will put out 30k watts. Also, I purchased a 500 gal tank too! Now I am ready for whatever comes! I hope!
How long have you had it, and whats maintenance been like and cost?
Generac and Onan are the two we’re choosing from for our new house that were building at our rural compound. We get around the noise problem with Mr. NATO 5.56.
Right now we have a 5500w Champion dual fuel inverter generator that plugs right into our 38ft RV and runs the whole thing AC and all. Its very quiet. You can’t even hear it 100 ft away. We’re on 5.5 acres so we don’t worry too much about it.
What brand? Any comments on maintenance cost/effort?
You are so right. I wish I had read this 30 years ago.
Because we live on our farm and because wse had a lot of construction going on at the time, I thought a generator driven by a tractor would be the best. That would give me electric power anywhere on the farm as well as the backup for the house.
And our hose is about the same size as you use for your illustration.
So here we are 40 years later, not nearly as energetic or strong as in those days. Snow and ice at 3:00 AM and we lose power..must get up and go to the tractor shed and bring it to the house and hook up....no fun.
15 KW was once large enough but when we installed the very latest and greatest HVAC heating and cooling, we can’t use that. Luckily we also have a separate hot water system that uses a very small about of electricity and it does run on heating oil. So we still have heat in the winter, but no air conditioning if it is summertime.
So my advice is the same as yours but I would add think like you are old and infirm because you will be some day if you are lucky and live a long life. Buy an automatic permanent generator wired to start on auto if the power fails. . Buy now because when you get old you will be reluctant to spend the money. Your logic will be something like “I’ll probably only live a coule of more years ....not worth it”.
How many gallons of diesel an hour, does that use?
I live in Central NH, don’t need AC but it does get cold if the heat’s off.
I have an 11kW Generac with a transfer switch I bought in 2006 after a 65 hour outage in February, powered by propane, 250# stored and the propane only runs a cooktop otherwise.
It avoids fuel storage issues and hands on work when it’s -20.
Runs refrigerators (2), freezers (2), and some lights (and the heat and septic pump). Can’t use the microwave and not all lights work. Change the oil annually, has always worked as advertised.
5 kids, normally very appreciative. If they were bitching about not everything being on, I would try to shape them up, but haven’t had to.
6 houses in the development occupied in the winter, all have generators. Dirt road off a back road, people who don’t belong stand out. 2 murders in town since 1961. No one in the hood has a backhoe, but I wouldn’t recommend any secret shopping around where I live.
I have been told to stay away from Generac and get a Kohler. That was a few years ago, but I trust the guy who told me.
Something to keep in mind is that if you’re out of town when the power goes off you may not realize it was off while you were away. If it was off long enough for the food in your freezer to spoil and then refreeze before you get home, you will be at risk for food poisoning. One thing you can do is freeze some water in a jar and then put a coin on top of the ice. Then, if your food has thawed while you were away, the coin will no longer be on top of the ice and you will know to throw the food out.
If you have a backup generator that requires you to manually connect it and start it, as I do, then you’ll still need to know the power went off for long enough that your food thawed.
They maintain a certain amount of pressure in the NG lines for it to function. The gas company uses electric pumps for this. When there is no electricity, guess what happens to the natural gas.
The coin on ice trick is genius. :)
I'm running on treated diesel now that is almost four years old. No problems.
Interesting. So many fragilities built into our society.
Hadn't thought of that.
Well my point is most of these people who buy these Gen packages get like a 250 gal tank least around here. Works great for very short term disasters but longer than a week well they will be in trouble.
Well guy just down the road from me makes cooking oil Diesel so I have a kit ready to convert over if need be in the event I run out of fuel in a disaster.
My 13KW diesel generator averages .45 gallons/hr powering my house with A/C running. But, I do have a very energy efficient house.
Isuzu diesel 21kw, 4 cyl, $10k
You can better manage your loads in an outage. Your genset must be able to start the biggest load. Well pump or central a/c compressor. Usually 15kw will do
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