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Todd has it on the nose. The last couple major outages were severe. We had no plumbing damage from Uri, luckily, but did have pool equipment damage. At our old house, in a different section of Todd's neighborhood, the power would drop because a kid tripped on the sidewalk. Harvey was another, days without power. As of right now, our house is 26 hours without power, and was 81* inside when we left at almost 7pm. Posting from my b-i-l's house a half hour north & hoping the power is on when I get there in the morning. The Enemy's gate is down. | |||
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I’m on day 5 with no power in Oklahoma. I’m considering a whole house generator as well as a hybrid system with batteries running an inverter or 2 for AC power, that recharges from a propane generator instead of solar. Powering the air conditioner is a challenge with a hybrid battery system. | |||
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Now my renter has removed his dead car, it was where the generator will go, and moving out (we still great friends) I’m going to start shopping quotes Seriously thinking about a liquid cooled Cummins. When hurricanes come through it’s not uncommon for me to be without power for 10+ days, someone sneezes and it’s out a day. I don’t want to worry about oil changes every 4 days/100hrs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Live today as if it may be your last and learn today as if you will live forever | |||
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Member |
Keep checking the Reliant website to see if power has been restored in your area. That’s what I was looking at for updates until I gave up about 0130 this morning. "If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24 | |||
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Never even thought about this - thanks for posting this very relevant issue….It would suck having to kill the engine, allow it to cool, and then change the oil and filter every 4 days if it was running non-stop…… | |||
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| If you see me running try to keep up  |
I am getting a 20kw installed now, total with tax about 15k (I opted to go from 6-10 year warranty and that added $500). I was quoted 12k about five years ago. I stayed away from Generac on advice from my electrician. He will install any brand but he claims Generac has gone down hill using Chinese engines and parts. He also claims there are some delays getting repair parts. YMMV I have the cash to pay for it but opted to get a loan against my 401k. I’m paying myself back in interest and being six years from retirement it is not going to affect long term gains. I have two friends that have already had the electrician I’m using install theirs. Mine should be complete in a week or two and then I can give an opinion on the install. If you guys in the Houston area are interested in how it turns out and if I end up satisfied with the work, email me. | |||
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| If you see me running try to keep up |
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I have the CenterPoint page pinned on my phone. As of 615a today, they're still holding on the 'current time + 4 hrs' mark...
Opposite ends of the city, but keep us posted. The Enemy's gate is down. | |||
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| Savor the limelight |
Oil change takes 15 minutes. However, you need to have the oil and filters on hand. The Generac ones don’t seem to have a cross reference, so for $55 per 8, I ordered 16 from here: Link Norwall. For oil, I bought a bunch of 5qt jugs of Castro Edge 20,000 mile oil on sale from Amazon for $23/jug. The Generac oil change interval is 100 hours with conventional oil, or 200 hours with synthetic. I did this because a neighbor and fellow church member who overheard me talking about generators after Hurricane Ian and asked me if I could take a look at hers because it had quit running. Mind you, she was a service contract with the company that installed it, but they were a month out. It took me a week and a half to get the filters because none were available locally. The oil wasn’t available either, Generac themselves said any good 5w-30, so I picked what seemed like the best. On changing the oil in her generator, that oil was like no used oil I had ever seen before. It came out like molasses. Got that done and figured out why it wouldn’t run, out of propane. It had been run 8 days straight. Anyway, that’s how I came to the conclusion that I needed a bunch of filters and oil on hand before I needed them for both our Generacs. | |||
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I had the 24kw Generac installed last year, fed from natural gas. Purely to relieve my stress, not having to worry about the outages. With the increasing demands on the grid I expect grid reliability to continue to decline. Cost was just over $13k here in north central Texas. | |||
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Shall Not Be Infringed |
Sooo, you're NOT getting Generac...What are you getting? ____________________________________________________________ If Some is Good, and More is Better.....then Too Much, is Just Enough !! Trump 47....Make America Great Again! "May Almighty God bless the United States of America" - parabellum 7/26/20 Live Free or Die! | |||
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| Savor the limelight |
Right from the Generac website: OHVI G-Force (Overhead Valve Industrial) Manufactured in Whitewater, WI Featured on all 9-26kW air-cooled units Pressurized lubrication - Oil is pumped directly to critical areas Uses both an air filter and a spin-on automotive-style oil filter Electronic (Isochronous) Governor - Fastest responding governor available. Maximizes engine performance and virtually eliminates stalling. Up to 3,000-hour rating with proper maintenance I went to school at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and can assure you it is in the United States of America. | |||
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Trapper - Thanks for your post - after reviewing pricing our budget will require we go with an air-cooled unit and your comments will ensure I have extra oil and filters (at least enough for 5 changes) on hand before the unit becomes functional. | |||
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Member |
I suppose no interest in ‘splitting the baby’? What I mean is, a quality portable generator, then swap it around as needed. I realize we all like convenience, yes a $14k system will be more convenient than a $1600 portable. That’s my way of dealing with the issue. | |||
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| Thank you Very little  |
If you don't run the pool heater at the same time I would think the line would be sufficient. I still run a 6000 gas generator, bought in 03 from Lowes on a last second whim as the hurricane was coming across CFL. We ran it about 5 days and had power back, then it ran my parents house for 3 and a friends for 2. Just used it a few months back when Ian took out power for two days. We back feed into the panel through a 220 outlet, turn off the main to the lines, and can run everything but 220, so lights, fans, tv, internet, iChargers. When I looked at a Generac in 03 it was about $5K and we thought it expensive. Should have bought it then LOL May upgrade Costco has a 9000 unit that should be able to run the AC too... | |||
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| Savor the limelight |
The Generacs have a hose with a threaded cap for an oil drain. If the generator is installed on an elevated platform, flood zone for example, you unthread the cap and lower the hose into a container to drain the oil. The ones we have in Michigan are on a concrete pad on the ground. There’s just enough of a difference to use a shallow pan to drain the oil. However, I use a vacuum oil extractor instead. I just unthread the cap on the end of the hose on the Generac and stick the tube from the oil extractor inside the hose. I already had the vacuum extractor for changing the oil on our SeaDoo, but they aren’t expensive. | |||
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Member |
We were without power for several weeks following hurricanes Ivan and Dennis. We are out near the end of our power grid. I said never again. I installed a commercial 40KW diesel SDMO with a John Deere diesel engine to fully power two residences. I built a shelter roof over the unit, even though it is in a weather proof enclosure. We have an automatic transfer switch that starts the unit after a couple minutes when line power drops. It also starts and exercises the unit for 30 minutes once a week. I recently had to replace that switch due to a lightning strike and it was about $2k. Our most recent power outage was last week for two days due to powerful thunder storms tearing up the grid. We lost power a total of about 2 minutes before the generator took over. I have a 100 gallon diesel nurse tank parked next to the generator. Diesel works for us with the farm equipmment and mower all being diesel. The generator I have and switch installed now would probably be around $20k, depending on how much power capacity you want to generate. CMSGT USAF (Retired) Chief of Police (Retired) | |||
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This is what I’m contemplating right now vs a whole house generator. Powering a 2.5 ton air conditioner presents a challenge though with a hybrid system. I’m just exploring options as I sit in the heat with no power. Family and friends went to hotels and casinos for the week. I’m pulling guard duty.  | |||
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Yeah, with 3 kids & 2 dogs, having AC in a TX summer is pretty much a must have. Not sure hoe much portable gen it would take to run the AC & fridge(s) The Enemy's gate is down. | |||
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Ammoholic |
I'm guessing he probably wants to use licensed contractors and have it inspected though if that's the case then you need to do it correctly. If not yeah he could throw whatever in while he lives there then demo it before he sells I guess. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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