Posted on 11/14/2015 4:14:47 AM PST by Mean Daddy
Considering purchasing a 8-10,000 watt generator and looking for pros/cons of portable vs. installed. Example, with a portable, how would you connect a pump or a furnace to it? Thank you for your insight and feedback. Looking to leverage other people's experiences.
I needed a welding circuit in the garage so I put in a sixty amp plug and breaker much more than needed but it matched the cable. I use it for the air compressor and the welder. To feed the system I make sure the Panel main breaker is OFF prior to starting the generator. The main breaker OFF precludes power going outside the house. I can either use my 5500 or the Honda 2000 and select the appropriate breakers. Sounds like we have pretty much the identical system.
You can use a transfer switch or in a pinch yank the meter off.
A while ago I priced out a home generator (12,000 W) with installation that would feed off my 500 gal. Propane tank. That was $6,400!
Too much of a nut for me to swallow so I got a 5K portable for $1,200 (with a Honda 270 GX motor - IF YOU GO PORTABLE GET A HONDA GX MOTOR). Then I bought a transfer switch at Lowes for $300 and wired it my self (super easy).
If you have Natural Gas to the home, and a good size family, go with a home unit with automatic fail over. you’ll have endless supply of gas if your area is out for a few days and no worries.
Everyone hems and haws about “should i get one or not”, then when the power is out for 2, 3, 4+ days you say to yourself “I’d pay anything for a generator now!”.
Do it, before you change your mind. Especially if you live in a area that has frequent outages (like me in NH).
Bookmarked
18 HUGE Caterpillar diesels. Easily the size of a one car garage.
I don't remember the power output, but it was staggering.
The place was designed to handle just about anything short of a nuclear blast.
EIGHT FOOT thick foundation. Half the ground could get washed out from under it and it would still support itself. 3 redundant utility and communications trunks coming in. If one ever went down, there was 2 in constant use backup.
Fuel supply, in case they had to switch to generators was 3 days.
The building was built with a natural expansion/shear point. The building could split/shear at this point and drop 4 feet and still run all systems.
Truly an amazing place.
(No it was not military or government)
(Companies will pay prime $$$ to be relatively assured, that despite anything short of war, will keep their servers running and connected to the web.)
7500-watt portable generator is our choice. Mounted on a small trailer, it’s great for working on fences and such, away from the barns or the house; also, good for painting fences and outbuildings not served with electricity. We use it quite regularly.
It is noisy, though, as noted on other responses here.
For the house connection, I use a ‘pigtail’ 220V for the water pump (biggest need for the livestock), and then we use a couple of 12-ga extension cords to power the freezers and refrigerator, and provide a couple of lights for evening. We can cook on the gas grill as needed (always keep a couple extra tanks around for that).
I’m looking at adding an eight circuit transfer panel in the basement and then feeding the gen power to it via a weatherproof recep near the generator staging point (chosen to keep the noise down inside the house).
Still won’t power the furnace, but we have propane gas FP in the great room for heat, along with a well insulated home.
Ideal for us would be a 20KW standby package, running on a four cylinder, battery start engine that can run on propane. Tie that to an automatic transfer switch covering all but the furnace/AC and dryer outlets, and we are good to go. Have to move up to a 500gal or 1000gal propane tank, but that’s workable, too. Plenty of space and could even ‘stealth’ it with some shrubbery or fencing, etc.
You’ve asked a question I’ve given much thought, and have done a little research. If I had the cash, this is what I’d do.
I’d get a propane fueled generator. Put it in a small building about a 100 feet from the house back in the brush. Put a good muffler on it. I really don’t want to hear it or see it.
Have it professionally wired to the house with an automatic switch that does the changeover as well as automatically start the generator.
The fuel supply would be two fold. For normal use a small tank would do. The contingency tank would be a 1000 gallon buried tank that would only be used in case the SHTF. The idea of having the tank underground is to conceal it. When the SHTF folks of all sorts, including the government, will be stealing any and all fuels. If they can’t see it, they can’t steal it. The topside small tank would be a decoy.
We could get by with this as we live in the woods 90 miles from our internet provider/doctor & a shopping mall and 300 miles from a city of 100,000 or more.
Now escaping fantasy land, a small portable gasoline generator large enough to run the furnace, frig and well would do. Simple manual kits can be had on line where you just plug the home into the generator and pull a manual switch. If all you want to run is a few appliances, then shut off the not needed circuit breakers. Keep about 50 gallons of gas on hand.
A portable generator, a big one, will use many gallons of gas, maybe 5-10 gallons every 12 hours. So, if the power is out for several days, say after a bad storm, then you are gonna need 50-100 gallons of gas over several days. Even with a propane generator you will need several bottles of gas. Storing that much fuel is obviously dangerous.
Too, gasoline needs to be treated to avoid it going bad with water contamination. Gasoline generators need marine gas free of ethanol, which attracts water moisture.
Where will you run a portable generator? For safety, it must be placed in an open area to avoid CO fumes getting into the house. But it must also be operated in a covered place if it is raining or snowing. You must also be very careful in wet weather not to get electrocuted. And you must secure it against theft; it a tempting target in a pitch dark, storm ravaged city & you can hear it from a long way away.
How will you get the generator power to the house? Either pay an electrician to setup a house connection & power company bypass, or prepare to run wires from the generator to various appliances in the house, through doors & windows that must be left open to accommodate the extension cords - more security & electrocution hazards. In this situation, if you have small children, you have a serious problem.
With a portable generator you must run it every month or so. Oil must be changed every 10-20 hours of run time, so buy a case or 2 of oil & get changing. Large portables are heavy - several hundred pounds. Lugging that thing around for servicing & such will require 2 or more strong people to load/unload it in your truck. You do have a truck, don’t you? You’ll need it too to go get all that gasoline or propane & oil.
Finally, a portable generator can be a noisy beast. Your neighbors sitting in the candlelight with open windows might not appreciate being kept awake all night by its roar. If this becomes a problem, run them an extension cord so they too can appreciate your generator.
If you can afford an installed natural gas generator, don’t even consider a portable. The safety, security, & convenience of an installed generator far outweighs a portable.
I wired an input outlet on the garage wall.
This outlet feeds into a separate panel next to my main breaker panel. The “generator” panel has two interlocked breakers that switch at the same time. One way is generator input the other is the normal position of street power.
No transfer switch is involved. I then moved the appropriate circuits over to the “generator” panel. One is for the oil burner and one is for the water pump. The rest are optional circuits. It’s basically a sub panel with interlocked breakers.
The portable genset cord feeds through a port in the garage door. The generator stays outside.
Whole setup cost me less than a grand with a 6500 Watt generator.
In the times when you need a generator, EVERYONE needs one....and gas can become difficult, if not impossible to get.
IMO? A portable generator is completely useless....unless you plan to take it on camping trips. Get an installed unit, that runs on gas....or don’t bother.
I installed a transfer switch in the basement next to the power panel. Easy to install and when you cut over to the generator, the wiring is such that you cannot backfeed.
You can get the transfer switch at Lowes or HD. Piece of cake.
But the generator requires an oil change every 100 hours, and the warranty on the motor is only good for like 5,000 hours of run time, so it's not practical to go completely off the grid.
I use a portable 6500 watt Honda generator. It’s very quiet. Used to have a Homelite that was way too noisy. I installed a transfer switch with circuits to the well pump, furnace, refrigerator and some lights. Whenever there is the threat of power outages (ice storm, hurrucane, etc.), I stock up on gas. I do not store gas long term as it deteriorates. I start the generator every 2-3 months to keep the battery charged. I use TrueFuel for maintenance runs. I learned the hard way that keeping ethanol mixed gasoline in there for any length of time will result in failure to start with repairs needed.
Well, I don’t know how old his is. I do know that they’ve come along way. The Generac that I had installed has a seven-year warranty. It does a self test once a week. The reason I chose to do this, is because we have had frequent power outages where I live, some for an extended period of time. I also travel a fair amount, and I don’t want to leave my wife having to drag a portable generator out, and plug-in where necessary.
As for the expense, we are fortunate to be able to afford it. I also think it adds value to the house, but not, obviously, enough to cover the expense.
We’re out in the country, where the electrical infrastructure can be unreliable. Used a 5.5K portable generator for years, via extension cords, any time the power went out. But I could only run the fridge, well pump, and some lights. Pain in the neck to wheel it out, hook up cords, keep it fueled, etc.
Finally took the plunge and got an automated 22K whole-house unit with automatic transfer switch. Runs everything in the house off of my 500 gal LP tank including A/C. Comes on and shuts down automatically. If power goes out while I’m at work and wife is home then she’s taken care of. Expensive, but we felt that it was worth it. Especially nice to know it’s there during hurricane season.
If you hire someone to install a whole-house unit, budget about the same amount for the installation as you do the cost of the generator and transfer switch. And don’t skimp on the generator capacity. If you calculate you only need a 17K unit, consider upping it to a 20K or 22K for just a little bit more $.
Also, you may want to pay for a semi-annual maintenance plan for your whole-house unit. Ours was a few hundred $ per year, which considering the cost of the system seems like reasonable insurance to keep it in top working order.
What we have is portable; but not that we necessarily think
it’s best. Just don’t know. Mostly, we’re taking the
K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) approach. Have started to
live simple a long time ago. Have a well; made a jerry-
rigged manual pumping bucket for auxiliary purposes. Wood
stove (bought new in 1999) & still has a few more good
years left in it. Takes a little bit of maintenance &
cleaning - stovepipes, too - but worth it. Storms felled a
lot of trees a few years ago out here; more lately; so
stovewood isn’t a problem. - Got a gas operated wood
splitter & that’s great for us (we’re old).
Make an adaptor, get some flex exhaust pipe and a car muffler.
I once used a 5kw generator, powered by a 10 horse Tecumseh, for my shop.
It ran every thing I needed to run and did so at at time that I could not afford to have a line dropped, etc, etc.
The noise was getting to me, though, even with it outside and the door closed.
I had the bright idea to run black pipe out about 20 feet and put the noise way away from me.
It worked, as far as the actual exhaust noise, but I never realized how damned noisy an engine and generator were if the exhaust noise (the bang) was completely gone.
I mean clanking and banging and rattling and sounding as if it were going to grenade at any second.
Without the totality of the noise (the sound of the whole cycle of suck, squeeze, bang, blow), it was extremely irritating and I just could not deal with it.
It hastened my efforts to get a circuit box in and a line dropped by the power company.
You also want to make sure that your generator’s self test routine is running. Every Saturday at 10 AM ours fires up, switches the power from mains to the generator, runs a twenty minute test cycle, then shuts down and records any problems it may have found.
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