Posted on 11/19/2022 1:40:05 PM PST by gop4lyf
I want to hire an electrician to set up my house so that I can just plug it in to my house when the power goes out. What additional things do I need to buy that the electrician will need?
Here is my generator - Westinghouse 12500 Watt Dual Fuel Home Backup Portable Generator, Remote Electric Start, Transfer Switch Ready, Gas and Propane Powered, CARB Compliant https://a.co/d/gSlgcUv
Also, what can I expect to be able to run on a generator of this size? I definitely want my refrigerator, and preferably my central heat and air conditioning (air conditioning will not likely ever be needed).
My experience is with a house with natural gas heat. I’ve run the refrigerator, the network stack, the den TV, a few lights, the downstairs furnace (fan and controls only, heat is gas, as I noted), a couple laptops. Water heater is old school gas only, no power needed.
And an extension cord across the driveways to power my neighbor’s downstairs furnace and controls. Because I’m a nice guy like that!
I have a 20KW Generac that runs the entire house when the power go’s off which happens often.
Recently had to use it for four hours during a Wide area blackout in October. The machine worked great.
Ha! Nearest neighbors are almost a half mile away.
I'll install it properly someday but we're ok as is for now.
Also got 200 lbs of propane and working on a rocket stove for a back up to the back up.
Before I got my new trifuel generators (and a small pile of propane tanks), I had four 6-gallon gasoline cans I kept around. Never went below two on hand, used them for lawn work stuff (mower, blower, weed whacker) so the gas didn’t get too old.
>>I then made a 10 gauge extension cord with 2 males and plugged it into the garage.
Just for the record, one of those is colloquially known as a suicide cord. Be very, very careful with that, and who you allow around it.
Yep, you did it right. You must be rich.
I don’t tie mine to the home electric. I just run extension cords any ware I need them. I figured a clever way to bring the power in without keeping a door or window cracked.
Works fine for me.
We also keep a lot of gas on hand for use around the property, as well as 3 20lb propane tanks for the grill. We grill....a lot.
Used to backfeed thru the 220v dryer outlet. I have since installed a proper 30a outlet to the panel thru a 30 amp breaker. It ain’t that hard.
“12500 Watson is 10amps at 125 volts ac.”
You’re off by an order of magnitude - it’s 100 amps!
That generator will run the whole house unless you turn on every electrical appliance at the same time.
You’re way underutilizing your 9500 Gen. Check out how many watts each one of the things you mentioned use.
Like the lady says, call your nearest Generac dealer and they will take care of the rest.
Noted.
YES...TRANSFER SWITCH IS IMPERATIVE.
Connects your generator to your home circuits.
A couple of hours is all fun and games but try the 5, 6, 7 day outages....
Talk to your electrician. You will need a changoever switch wired in to switch between mains and the generator.
12.5K is enough to run your whole house if YOU are smart about it and not try to use your microwave, toaster, hair dryer, air conditioning, and electric oven all at the same time.
Otherwise it is an expensive option to install a second breaker panel and have one panel powered by mains or the generator that will have essential circuits such as refrigerator, furnace, freezer, and some lights and wall outlets.
The second panel would be fed only by mains and would go down during a power outage, and it would have non-essential circuits such as air conditioning, electric stove, electric clothes dryer, electric hot water, and the rest of your lighting and wall outlet circuits.
If you have brain you don’t need a transfer switch.
Definitely add fuel stabilizer to gas cans used to store gas. I had a couple that I didn’t use for years and had no problems with the old gas.
When you get into longer outages you have the option of running things for a time, get your refrigerator accesses out of the way, wait for the refrigerator to cycle off - then shutting down the genny for an hour or two, restarting, rinse and repeat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.