Whole House Backup Power Generator
- Thread starter dlewis
- Start date
portable or permanent.
Auto switchover (with transfer switch) or manual?
Air or water cooled?
Propane, Natural gas or diesel?
How "clean" do you need the power?
What critical systems (heat / water / refrigerator / stove etc) do you need to power up and are they electric?
Self installed (are you handy / comfy with electric?) or pro install?
Above are major cost and comparison items.
Auto switchover (with transfer switch) or manual?
Air or water cooled?
Propane, Natural gas or diesel?
How "clean" do you need the power?
What critical systems (heat / water / refrigerator / stove etc) do you need to power up and are they electric?
Self installed (are you handy / comfy with electric?) or pro install?
Above are major cost and comparison items.
Deane Johnson
Active Member
If you really mean whole house back-up, the Generec in the 14 - 17 KW size would be the ultimate, IMO. They run on natural gas (or propane), so you don't have to worry about keeping gasoline around.
If you're just wanting a unit to carry the essentials, one that runs on gasoline, you want to keep the size down, or else you're hauling gas to it every day it's in use.
I have the small one, a Sears Craftsman 6300 watt with electric start. Don't be without electric start unless you're a lot stronger than the average bear.
I was in a Tru-Valu hardware the other day in rural Iowa, and they had the full line of Generec generators on display from a 17 KW natural gas model, down through about a half dozen small portable units that ran from 8 KW down. They looked real nice.
One feature that might be nice is one that shuts off if the oil level gets low. Mine doesn't have that, I wish it did.
My power was out when I bought it and I grabbed the last one Sears had, so I took what I could get. Luckily, it has everything except the low oil shut down.
If you're just wanting a unit to carry the essentials, one that runs on gasoline, you want to keep the size down, or else you're hauling gas to it every day it's in use.
I have the small one, a Sears Craftsman 6300 watt with electric start. Don't be without electric start unless you're a lot stronger than the average bear.
I was in a Tru-Valu hardware the other day in rural Iowa, and they had the full line of Generec generators on display from a 17 KW natural gas model, down through about a half dozen small portable units that ran from 8 KW down. They looked real nice.
One feature that might be nice is one that shuts off if the oil level gets low. Mine doesn't have that, I wish it did.
My power was out when I bought it and I grabbed the last one Sears had, so I took what I could get. Luckily, it has everything except the low oil shut down.
I truly want whole house (covering everything).
portable or permanent. - permanent
Auto switchover (with transfer switch) or manual? auto switchter
Air or water cooled? which is better?
Propane, Natural gas or diesel? whichever is cheaper
How "clean" do you need the power? don't know. How clean does it need to be?
What critical systems (heat / water / refrigerator / stove etc) do you need to power up and are they electric? I'd like to power everything
Self installed (are you handy / comfy with electric?) or pro install? pro install
portable or permanent. - permanent
Auto switchover (with transfer switch) or manual? auto switchter
Air or water cooled? which is better?
Propane, Natural gas or diesel? whichever is cheaper
How "clean" do you need the power? don't know. How clean does it need to be?
What critical systems (heat / water / refrigerator / stove etc) do you need to power up and are they electric? I'd like to power everything
Self installed (are you handy / comfy with electric?) or pro install? pro install
portable or permanent. - permanent
Ok
Auto switchover (with transfer switch) or manual? auto switchter
Ok
Air or water cooled? which is better?
water cooled is better, generally quieter, found on the higher line units and more expensive.
Propane, Natural gas or diesel? whichever is cheaper
This is a matter of what alternative energy you have easier availability to.
Diesel is what most very large systems use (beyond a home). I assume it's less expensive per "amp" when running but the unit will be more expensive and require more upkeep. Propane provides more amps of current than natural gas for the same given system as it has more "energy" in it than natural.
How "clean" do you need the power? don't know. How clean does it need to be?
If you are trying to run PCs and UPSs then it needs to be pretty clean. Most Generac air cooled are marginal. A good ruler is if a UPS will run when on generator. Most home systems a UPS won't as it thinks the power isn't utility quality.
What critical systems (heat / water / refrigerator / stove etc) do you need to power up and are they electric? I'd like to power everything
This is just a function of money.....the more concurrant used devices, the more money the generator will be. If your home is in northern climate and your heat is geothermal (like mine), and you don't have a secondary non electric heat source (mine is propane), then you will need a big honker generator.
Self installed (are you handy / comfy with electric?) or pro install? pro install
Since pro....why don't you just call a pro and get an estimate?
I use a generac 15kv on propane. This will not power my 6ton geothermal heat plant (draws 50 - 100 amps when secondary electric heat is on). But it will power most of my home's needs as I have a propane second heating system for this purpose. It is air cooled, a little loud when it test runs itself every week, but a welcome sound when the power goes out. It was around $4K all in and I installed it. I would figure another $1K to have it pro installed. This was the largest air cooled. Water cooled doubled the price for the next level quality and next sized unit. This is how I made up my mind on what to buy. It will NOT run a standard UPS until I tweeked the UPS settings to be less critical on power source (only certain UPSs have this calibration).
Ok
Auto switchover (with transfer switch) or manual? auto switchter
Ok
Air or water cooled? which is better?
water cooled is better, generally quieter, found on the higher line units and more expensive.
Propane, Natural gas or diesel? whichever is cheaper
This is a matter of what alternative energy you have easier availability to.
Diesel is what most very large systems use (beyond a home). I assume it's less expensive per "amp" when running but the unit will be more expensive and require more upkeep. Propane provides more amps of current than natural gas for the same given system as it has more "energy" in it than natural.
How "clean" do you need the power? don't know. How clean does it need to be?
If you are trying to run PCs and UPSs then it needs to be pretty clean. Most Generac air cooled are marginal. A good ruler is if a UPS will run when on generator. Most home systems a UPS won't as it thinks the power isn't utility quality.
What critical systems (heat / water / refrigerator / stove etc) do you need to power up and are they electric? I'd like to power everything
This is just a function of money.....the more concurrant used devices, the more money the generator will be. If your home is in northern climate and your heat is geothermal (like mine), and you don't have a secondary non electric heat source (mine is propane), then you will need a big honker generator.
Self installed (are you handy / comfy with electric?) or pro install? pro install
Since pro....why don't you just call a pro and get an estimate?
I use a generac 15kv on propane. This will not power my 6ton geothermal heat plant (draws 50 - 100 amps when secondary electric heat is on). But it will power most of my home's needs as I have a propane second heating system for this purpose. It is air cooled, a little loud when it test runs itself every week, but a welcome sound when the power goes out. It was around $4K all in and I installed it. I would figure another $1K to have it pro installed. This was the largest air cooled. Water cooled doubled the price for the next level quality and next sized unit. This is how I made up my mind on what to buy. It will NOT run a standard UPS until I tweeked the UPS settings to be less critical on power source (only certain UPSs have this calibration).
Monk
Active Member
Good one DavidL! I think this is the quote of the year, for it is all just a function of money.
I have a 22kW Guardian (Generac) water-cooled propane genset (I don't have access to NG), purchased in August of 2008. I've gone into a lot of details in other posts on my setup about how I arrived at my choice. Most (but not all) liquid-cooled genset engines run at 1800rpm instead of 3600 rpm like all (that I've seen) air cooled genset engines. That improves fuel efficiency, wear and tear, and noise levels. Also, most (maybe not all) liquid-cooled gensets use auto-type motors. Mine uses a 2.4L Mitsubishi inline four cylinder. I've seen somewhere that Generac says the lifetime for a genset motor is 3000 hours for their air-cooled and 10,000 hours for their liquid-cooled. Mine literally runs everything in my home, and it did for four days after Hurricane Ike. I have a gas water heater, gas cooktop, and gas furnace, so that helped reduce the load. Mine has something like a 39kW surge capacity, so it handles stuff like A/C startup surge easily, even if a lot of other things are running. I have about five UPS's of various sizes, technologies, and manufacturers. I seldom hear one of the UPS's complain when I'm on genset power, and I haven't done anything to tweak them. I try to run off my genset for a couple of hours every two months just to make sure it is running okay, even though it exercises (but not under load) every week for 12 minutes.
Mine was about $13K total. That included the genset (about $7K), the ATS (a little over $1K), a 2' tall concrete slab (I wanted to get the genset up off the ground), a dedicated 500 gallon LPG tank (a little over $1K), and installation (the rest of the money).
Ike hit about three weeks after it was installed, and removed any doubt in my mind as to whether or not it was worth it.
WayneW
Senior Member
Do you have to get special appliances or wiring for 15kv? I would be afraid of the sparks. :rofl:
I have a Kohler 30RES (30Kw) genset. It has water-cooled Ford industrial 4-cyl engine that runs on propane. It does run at 3,600 RPM, so it has a silencer housing. I have an ATS.
Check your local codes. My county requires a genset large enough to run everything on the ATS. I would have to have a huge generator to run the dryer, induction cooktop, both ovens, central vac, electric water heater, AC, pool heater and pumps, and all the other items in the home. I wasn't about to do that, so I took one of my two 200-amp panels and put all the essentials, AC, alarm and cameras, home automation, DVRs (can't miss any shows), network, garage door opener, and some lights, in panel 1. This is controlled by the ATS. Everything else went in panel 2. I have a manual interlock/transfer switch that connects panel 2 to the generator. If I'm home, I throw the manual switch; If I'm not, at least all the essentials are on the ATS.
HTH,
Kevin
Check your local codes. My county requires a genset large enough to run everything on the ATS. I would have to have a huge generator to run the dryer, induction cooktop, both ovens, central vac, electric water heater, AC, pool heater and pumps, and all the other items in the home. I wasn't about to do that, so I took one of my two 200-amp panels and put all the essentials, AC, alarm and cameras, home automation, DVRs (can't miss any shows), network, garage door opener, and some lights, in panel 1. This is controlled by the ATS. Everything else went in panel 2. I have a manual interlock/transfer switch that connects panel 2 to the generator. If I'm home, I throw the manual switch; If I'm not, at least all the essentials are on the ATS.
HTH,
Kevin
