Way off topic - whole house generator

[mmayo]

Power outages in our windy mountain community of Tehachapi have been brutal and expensive. Last winter when it was cold for here (18 degrees) and our power went out. Our home was dark, cold and cooking food on the patio was unpleasant at best. There is a great fireplace that ready needs the fan to move the heat. Food spoiled last week even with ice chests and ice. We have friends that hunt and are firemen. While fighting the wildfires around the state they lost the contents of their freezers and refrigerators. That was then...

Today after substantial work by several professionals we have a Koehler 20 Kw standby generator wired into our home. In short, it is a miracle. If the power goes out, within 8 seconds the generator is commanded to start by the transfer switch, it does and power to most of our home is back on. Sadly, my shop with 100 amps of power draw did not make the cut since the generator produces 90 amps max. The unit runs off our propane tank and does not need me at all. After the electrical grid goes back on the unit waits 5 minutes and then switches our house back on the grid. The generator cools down and turns off.

I only have to change the oil and filter every 150 hrs of runtime or every year at least. Every two years we replace the starter battery and it works.

Yeah baby!

 

[PBorowick]

Those are great systems to have! Congrats on the new addition.

 

[Charlie_W]

Smart move.

 

[mredburn]

Sounds like you need a second one for the shop!

 

[Woodchipper]

March, 1993, SE TN had a blizzard of about two feet of snow. Polk County is the most SE county in TN. Rural areas were without power for 10 days. A generator is a great idea. I have never been a position to need one and hopefully, never will.

 

[WriteON]

Smart move is right. Please keep us updated on it's performance. I will doing the same thing next fall. Was considering Generac but I have buddy bought a Koehler and recommends it.

 

[monophoto]

I'm a retired engineer, and my field of specialization was electric utilities, distribution and reliability, so this is a subject that I understand reasonably well. About 16 years ago, wife and I built a new home 'out in the country', and a couple of years later, we had a wind storm (in February) that caused an extended outage. That caused me to start thinking about standby generators. I looked at what it would take to support our home with a permanent (natural gas) installation, and concluded that it would cost around $6000 - $7000.

Ultimately, and over the objections from my wife, I concluded that in our case, that investment didn't make sense. There were several reasons behind that decision:

• Our home is in a suburban development fed from a circuit that continues for many miles through a rural area that is mainly horse farms. Initially, a problem anywhere on that circuit caused the entire circuit to trip. However, the local utility reinforced the circuit by installing equipment that would 'sectionalize' the circuit - that is, allow the end of the circuit that fed our residential area to continue to operate even if a problem develops out in the rural area. Since then, we have had occasional brief outages (typically a few minutes, and never more than a few hours).
• Our home is new and well insulated. We have a gas fireplace that doesn't require electric power and that can keep the house from 'freezing up', and we have a gas range that we can light with matches. In fact, the most critical issue that we have is that we are at the bottom of a hill, and have a 'grinder pump' (macerator) to deal with sewage, so when a power outage occurs, we know that we can only flush the toilet about 50 times before we have a problem. Obviously, an extended outage (multiple days) would be a problem, but as long as outages are limited to a few hours, we can easily get by.
• Having made that decision, I've noted that in the subsequent 10-12 years, we have averaged 4-5 interruptions per year. Most are very brief (seconds to minutes - just enough to required that clocks be reset), but with fairly rare (every two or three years) lasting a couple of hours. Obviously, any interruption is a nuisance but we can cope. I know from my professional career that in most areas, overall electric service reliability is improving; the problem is that those improvements can't keep up with the increasing reliability demands of the technology that we want in our homes.

We have friends whose situation is quite different from us. Because they are 'in town', their service is far more reliable, but Marv has a sleeping disorder and uses a CPAP machine, and can't take the risk of even a short interruption.

Standby generators are a great idea, bu they are expensive and it's wise to do a careful cost/benefit analysis before leaping to any conclusions. Bottom line - they are critical in some situations, but not something that everyone needs to have.

 

[wolf creek knives]

Got it all figured out where I live. I have 18 (6 brand new ones) solar panels. 12 Hupp batteries and and a back up 10kw diesel generator. As long as I get 4 hours of sunshine I get a full charge on the batteries and they hold a charge for 24-36 under normal use. Closest power line is 8 miles away. I've heard what's been going on with the power in CA and I think you did the right thing. Ever consider going solar? I never lose my power.

 

[pshrynk]

Got it all figured out where I live. I have 18 (6 brand new ones) solar panels. 12 Hupp batteries and and a back up 10kw diesel generator. As long as I get 4 hours of sunshine I get a full charge on the batteries and they hold a charge for 24-36 under normal use. Closest power line is 8 miles away. I've heard what's been going on with the power in CA and I think you did the right thing. Ever consider going solar? I never lose my power.

Gotta sweep the soot of every now and again, I would imagine.

 

[DrD]

When we first moved to Columbus, power outages were frequent and sometimes long; bought a 7kw gasoline powered portable generator that kept us and a neighbor going with bare necessities - freezer, refrig, range, hot water - but not all at the same time - after a tornado in 2001 kept commercial power off for almost 2 mos. Looked at a whole house system, but way too costly.

Since moving back 3 years ago, TVA has been much better with minimal outages - usually when some drunk driver takes out a power pole.

 

[jttheclockman]

If you live in a rural section where power outages are frequent then it maybe a worthwhile venture. I have gotten by with the portable that I connect to house via a male and female outlet. Only need it if I know we are going to be out for quite awhile. I actually bought it after the Sandy storm here on the east coast. That one was ugly.

 

[Woodchipper]

4 hours of sunshine

As Shakespeare would say, "Aye, there's the rub." We are fortunate as we have never been out of power for more than 18-20 hours. Even a small generator like a Honda can give you basic lighting and power for a refrigerator. Just need to isolate some lines.

 

[mmayo]

Smart move is right. Please keep us updated on it's performance. I will doing the same thing next fall. Was considering Generac but I have buddy bought a Koehler and recommends it.

We have heard several negative reviews in Generac. There were several vendors that had Koehler and Onan but refused to sell Generac. You mileage may vary.

 

[wolf creek knives]

Gotta sweep the soot of every now and again, I would imagine.

Only when it snows which we've had plenty of since October 1, just over 6'. There's a schedule to "shift" the panels to capture maximum sun shine. I use just at 80-100 gals of diesel per year to supply the back up generator and probably 600 gals of propane for the non-electric heaters, stove/range and on-demand water heater. Went from $500 a month for utilities to around $1,100 a year now. Of course, the initial payout for our system isn't cheap but it beat the heck out of the $250,000.00 the local electric company wanted for the power line and they wouldn't guarantee service, plus I had a monthly bill with them. Biggest thing is I never run out power.