We may build a new home in the next year or so, and as a happy owner of a standby genset that can power all of my existing home, I've been dreaming about ways to do it better if we do build. I know a lot of people will look at this as a luxury that isn't worth anywhere near the cost, but that's okay with me. I've been known to splurge.
First, the new home's genset will be large enough to power everything, probably 27kw-35kw.
One of the things that I find annoying is the thirty second delay after an outage begins before the genset cuts over. UPS's (and there are plenty of them) beeping, lights go off, clocks have to be reset, etc. See -- I told you it was a luxury.
So I'm wondering if I can use a large UPS (say 5kw-10kw) in conjunction with the genset that will provide uninterrupted power to some circuits while POCO power is off and the genset hasn't kicked in. When the genset cuts over, it would power everything, including the circuits that were on the "whole house" UPS (which isn't really "whole house").
The UPS wouldn't have to power anything that goes thru the 30 secound outage unnoticed. It wouldn't have to power any appliances (most of which will be gas). It wouldn't power anything that is 240V. It just needs to power most general purpose circuits that power lights, computers, HA/security stuff, small plug-in stuff, home entertainment center, etc. Note that unless something "big" is running, my current house uses about 2kw, and that's with most of the things running that I would put on the "whole house" UPS.
Unless something big was running, the only way I would know that I'm on UPS or genset is from a HA system notification.
So is this possible? How big a UPS would I need to run a 3kw load for one minute? Are there the necessary automatic transfer switches that can handle the potential sequences of events?
One last question...if I decide there are some circuits that don't need to be powered during any outage, can that be accomplished? I guess there would be one load center for the UPS-backed circuits (which would also be backed up by the genset), one load center for the circuits that only need to be backed up by the genset (30 second outage is okay), and one load center for the circuits that can stay off during an entire outage.
I would still have point-of-use UPSs for computers, LAN stuff, DVR's, TV, etc., to give me more time if the genset failed to start.
I said I was dreaming.
Comments?
Ira
First, the new home's genset will be large enough to power everything, probably 27kw-35kw.
One of the things that I find annoying is the thirty second delay after an outage begins before the genset cuts over. UPS's (and there are plenty of them) beeping, lights go off, clocks have to be reset, etc. See -- I told you it was a luxury.
So I'm wondering if I can use a large UPS (say 5kw-10kw) in conjunction with the genset that will provide uninterrupted power to some circuits while POCO power is off and the genset hasn't kicked in. When the genset cuts over, it would power everything, including the circuits that were on the "whole house" UPS (which isn't really "whole house").
The UPS wouldn't have to power anything that goes thru the 30 secound outage unnoticed. It wouldn't have to power any appliances (most of which will be gas). It wouldn't power anything that is 240V. It just needs to power most general purpose circuits that power lights, computers, HA/security stuff, small plug-in stuff, home entertainment center, etc. Note that unless something "big" is running, my current house uses about 2kw, and that's with most of the things running that I would put on the "whole house" UPS.
Unless something big was running, the only way I would know that I'm on UPS or genset is from a HA system notification.
So is this possible? How big a UPS would I need to run a 3kw load for one minute? Are there the necessary automatic transfer switches that can handle the potential sequences of events?
One last question...if I decide there are some circuits that don't need to be powered during any outage, can that be accomplished? I guess there would be one load center for the UPS-backed circuits (which would also be backed up by the genset), one load center for the circuits that only need to be backed up by the genset (30 second outage is okay), and one load center for the circuits that can stay off during an entire outage.
I would still have point-of-use UPSs for computers, LAN stuff, DVR's, TV, etc., to give me more time if the genset failed to start.
I said I was dreaming.
Comments?
Ira