IMHO running a generator during a black out or other disaster scenario makes that home a target. Unless you have blacked out windows and show no signs of being better off than the rest of the neighborhood, you need to be careful, very careful.
I am getting quotes and surveys for this as we speak. There are only two brand names for whole house generators that I am aware of. Kohler and Generac. If anyone has experience, advice, or other alternatives, please post.
Thank you. We are thinking of moving to Texas in a couple years and know nothing about generators.
Can you offer any suggestions as to preferred brands of diesel generator and as to noise issues? I live in Florida and . . . well, you know the problem.
The more homes with emergency generators in Texas signals less faith in ERCOT.
Good info.
13KW, is all day would be 24x13=kWHr.
How does that compare to your power bill, without the blackout? You should be able to divide by the number of days in your non-blackout billing period.
I have a 13.5 kw GE, it’s running a Briggs engine.
12 kw is a rather large generator. I do fine for days with a 3 kw honda at idle most of the time.
[This year, we’ve been hammered by bad weather, and this round is the 12th time I’ve been on generator power this year. ]
A whole house generator that you speak of can easily cost over $6,000.00
I can’t believe you’ve been without power 12 times this year.
Maybe pay your electricity bill?
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.
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.
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.
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...
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?
DOD Auctions have some nice diesel powered big generators available. I’m looking at one of those and the price looks right
General waste of money and effort. How long is the power actually off? Unless you have ice storms or hurricanes it is not very long. I use a PTO generator for the tractor. It sits pickled in the corner of the barn for sometimes years until we have an ice storm and then it may run for a week or so at most. Sure nice to have for those rare occasions though. I would not mess with it otherwise.
Good post for those who can afford it and need it, cold and heat need a lot of energy and if you have a family, then your experience expresses how they need to prepare.
I may buy a dual fuel camper version to feed my freezers for 3 days, other than that I can endure the lack of heat and cooling for myself.
For those timid souls worrying about a generator bringing the goblins, I guess they anticipate hiding in the dark and letting the world push them around, and if someone lives in a neighborhood where a simple 3 or 7 day blackout leads to an Alamo siege because you have a living room light on while playing board games with the wife and kids, then move for God’s sake.
I maintained diesel generators in four counties for home my coms centers. We had those old tractor engines or GM 1949 GM 1950s. They were workhorse.
For my home I use two different units, a Costco 6000w and 5800 Gas/Propain unit, which I connect to the house. We heat/cook/Hot water on NG. Our home is fully converted to LED lighting. I run them for a few hours several times a day, more for the freezers and frig. We can charge phones and I use my trolling motor battery for keeping phones charged.
I don’t consider a power outage normal living conditions and an emergency.
It costs about 250 USD to wire a 30amp outside elec hook up box if you do it your self.