Whole House Generator (Propane)

[BN]

I wanted to add that some of the finance companies for solar are pretty mercenary. Be careful. Don't merge your solar loan with your home loan.

[Spartan1980]

My mother has a 14kw Generac Guardian with the automatic transfer switch. Installed in 2014 by a Generac certified local electrical company. It's been solid as granite since then. The only thing it's needed is a battery change once in all that time.

It's been worth every penny she paid for it. She does have natural gas service and the info posted about fuel consumption is definitely a point to consider. They do burn a lot of gas when running and loaded.

[HeavyDuty]

Without the use of a generator interlock kit this is illegal and extremely dangerous.

Connection of a portable generator to a building's electrical system is covered by NEC 702;





Don't do it!

Kiddie Killers!

[HeavyDuty]

I always wanted a whole house generator in IL, then in NH. IL would have been piped NG, and NH on a large community LP system. So, when I got to TX I automatically assumed a whole house was the way to go.

I’m not so sure.

We are LP here, and with the burn rate on a decent sized whole house we would go through a 500 gallon tank in a week. That seems like a *really* expensive backup.

I’m looking at large dual fuel portableish inverters now. They seem much more practical for my situation.

[Spartan1980]

I always wanted a whole house generator in IL, then in NH. IL would have been piped NG, and NH on a large community LP system. So, when I got to TX I automatically assumed a whole house was the way to go.

I’m not so sure.

We are LP here, and with the burn rate on a decent sized whole house we would go through a 500 gallon tank in a week. That seems like a *really* expensive backup.

I’m looking at large dual fuel portableish inverters now. They seem much more practical for my situation.

Do a load analysis. Actually look at all the tags on what you have to run. You might be surprised.

My mother's house is 3000 sq. ft and she has a 14kw running the whole house and it even has a bit of "breathing room" to spare. It will do the 220V electric stove, the electric 220V built-in oven, central AC (or gas heat), fridge, deep freezer in the garage, some lights, TV, computer and misc other small stuff all at the same time. All lights are LED everywhere. The auto transfer switch energizes the circuits to the box in phases, so it doesn't hit the generator all at once. It saved her bacon in the big polar vortex freeze 2 or 3 years ago. It ran for 9 days straight except for one oil change and checking it every other day. She was doing chemo for her cancer at the time.

At my house I was having to buy fuel for my portables every morning and I was only running one at night for heat and the bigger one of the two during the day only. Buying 5 gallons of gas every morning was starting to get really old.

[blues]

We are LP here, and with the burn rate on a decent sized whole house we would go through a 500 gallon tank in a week. That seems like a *really* expensive backup.

That's always been what held me back all these years. Setting aside the outlay for the system...$1200 or so for a week on the generator is a lot of dosh.

[Cookie Monster]

The new house we purchased has a Koehler whole house generator with a 250 gallon propane tank. Went 12 straight days this winter without power. It was a game changer, we would have had to abandon the house and got a hotel down in the valley. We had heat and could do normal things and laundry and everything else.

The power went off at about 40% tank fill and we used 5 to 10% a day. At that point roads were shit and everyone needed tank refills so we were looking at 10 days to get refilled. I noticed the propane company up the street and bribed the driver to fill my tank for 2 c notes. Saved me cash in the end being about to stay in the house another 8 days.

So Kohler, it’s awesome. But think about at least 500 gallon tank to get through the hard times. I wouldn’t be opposed to 1000 gallons as we use it for hot water and stove and heat as well. Current tank is 15 feet from house which is code but I am going to get it moved to 50+ due to wildfire risk.

[blues]

The new house we purchased has a Koehler whole house generator with a 250 gallon propane tank. Went 12 straight days this winter without power. It was a game changer, we would have had to abandon the house and got a hotel down in the valley. We had heat and could do normal things and laundry and everything else.

The power went off at about 40% tank fill and we used 5 to 10% a day. At that point roads were shit and everyone needed tank refills so we were looking at 10 days to get refilled. I noticed the propane company up the street and bribed the driver to fill my tank for 2 c notes. Saved me cash in the end being about to stay in the house another 8 days.

So Kohler, it’s awesome. But think about at least 500 gallon tank to get through the hard times. I wouldn’t be opposed to 1000 gallons as we use it for hot water and stove and heat as well. Current tank is 15 feet from house which is code but I am going to get it moved to 50+ due to wildfire risk.

@Cookie Monster

What size generator are you using?

[MickAK]

That's always been what held me back all these years. Setting aside the outlay for the system...$1200 or so for a week on the generator is a lot of dosh.

This is where the battery bank backup systems can pay for themselves depending on the frequency of outages and the time they last.

For me the deciding factor was the amount of frozen game and fish I keep in freezers and the value of big favors. I find it hard to put a dollar value on the big favors I'm owed, and if I can do something to avoid cashing them in that's a worthwhile investment.

[UNK]

At my house I was having to buy fuel for my portables every morning and I was only running one at night for heat and the bigger one of the two during the day only. Buying 5 gallons of gas every morning was starting to get really old.

And that depends on how bad it gets. Our last outage I left early in the am to grab some coffee. The only open gas station I could find was cash only and no gas available. Funny though the bank ATM was working. If it had been much colder we would of had to go to a hotel. If we could have found a room.

In the previous outage my neighbor used her ventless logs to keep her house warm that was a ten day stretch. I cant remember the exact amount but the natural gas bill was substantial.