On our to-do list, maybe after hurricane season passes.
Generac & Kohler seem to be the popular auto-transfer brands.

I have a 24KW Guardian Series, which is actually de-rated to 22KW for natural gas vs propane.

Small house, perhaps 1400 sq ft with a 3 ton heat pump and typical appliances. As has been noted, it's the starting current that necessitates the additional sizing. By all means try powering your entire house with a 2.5KW (or even 5KW) generator, I'll be over here with all my appliances and AC running, guarantee you wont...

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That big unit is going to cost hundreds of dollars per day to run and better be natural gas as a propane tank to run it would be massive.

I want some of what you're smokin...
Even if mine ran at 100% load for 24 hours, which it wont, it pencils out to ~$10/day. Realistically, it probably would use <$5/day.

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Originally posted by charlie12:
Most of my friends down here in Louisiana have about 20-25k and run their whole house

I'm in Houston area w/ 2 central AC units and have a Kohler 20k whole house generator with automatic load shedding. I was right on the cusp of needing to go larger which meant double the cost and more annual maintenance due to radiator. The load shedding was much less money and will drop the dryer first, double oven 2nd, and second AC 3rd.

It cost $20 to $25 per day to run during Winter Storm Uri. Not all of that was the generator as my furnace ran much more than normal. Whether it's $10 per day or $25 per day it was worth every penny. Neighbors with portable generators couldn't run their furnace so they had pipes burst which meant drywall damage, insulation damage, mold remediation, and trying to find plumbing parts (out of stock for weeks).

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Originally posted by P250UA5:
On our to-do list, maybe after hurricane season passes.
Generac & Kohler seem to be the popular auto-transfer brands.

Look at availability and distance for service. We are now at $241 and hour and $3 a mile. If you live good ways from a generator shop a round trip service call can be almost $1000 before the service tech even gets out of the truck.

Make sure you get the extended warranty it may be more on the front end but may save a lot after. A power surge or a lightning strike can take out the controller and the service call and parts can cost way more than the extended warranty.

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Originally posted by kg5388:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
On our to-do list, maybe after hurricane season passes.
Generac & Kohler seem to be the popular auto-transfer brands.

Look at availability and distance for service. We are now at $241 and hour and $3 a mile. If you live good ways from a generator shop a round trip service call can be almost $1000 before the service tech even gets out of the truck.

Make sure you get the extended warranty it may be more on the front end but may save a lot after. A power surge or a lightning strike can take out the controller and the service call and parts can cost way more than the extended warranty.

Todd, above, lives about 6 miles from me, so I plan on picking his brain when we get closer to getting one.

I’m waiting on the gas company to bring it to my house from the street. Signed the paperwork waiting for an appointment. Have had several generac vendors come by. They all tell me I need 24kw. House is 3k square feet and everything is electric including the AC/heat and pool pump. Will gradually upgrade to tankless gas water heater and gas stove but the AC is the big user of kw

Back in February when I ordered mine, I thought I would beat the rush.
I was wrong.

This one has taken 7.5 months to get to me. They were up front about the wait time though.

Can't speak about other companies, but Generac is super backlogged.

I picked up a 400 KW 500 KVA Volvo Trenton Generator mounted to a 500 gal diesel generator in Miami a few years ago and pulled it back to Dahlonega a few years ago.

It was inside a sound attenuating enclosure but it was still loud.

At half load, it consumed 15 gal per hour. We used it to power three mobile MRI’s.

It would probably power all the houses on my short street but the fuel cost would be up there.

It was nothing compared to the 2000 KVA Kohler diesel gen set I helped maintain at a San Antonio hospital.

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Back in February when I ordered mine, I thought I would beat the rush.
I was wrong.

This one has taken 7.5 months to get to me. They were up front about the wait time though.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It depends how many disasters we have. A friend of mine was without power in a rural area for two months after a major hurricane. He bought a generator and there has not been a loss of power since then. Peace of mind and running medical equipment is a priority.

You wouldn’t need a huge generator to start your AC if you’d install a soft starter. My five ton AC used to draw 115amps when starting. After installing a Micro-air soft starter, the inrush current is usually around 41-49 amps.

I went this route because my backup generator is diesel, and there are problems with running a Diesel engine at low capacity for extended periods, so I installed a 15kva unit (I almost bought a 35 ). However, for spark ignition units like you purchased, there is no problem running it at 5% capacity all day long.

You’ll love it. It’s very comforting to have, even if you rarely or never need it.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

Back in February when I ordered mine, I thought I would beat the rush.
I was wrong.

This one has taken 7.5 months to get to me. They were up front about the wait time though.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It depends how many disasters we have. A friend of mine was without power in a rural area for two months after a major hurricane. He bought a generator and there has not been a loss of power since then. Peace of mind and running medical equipment is a priority.

I bought my generator in summer 2018. We had zero hurricanes or extended power outages 3 hurricane seasons in a row, and I was beginning to question my investment. Valentine's Day 2021, we had Winter Storm Uri which was the worst winter event in Texas in 70 years and it paid for itself.

My neighbor wasn't so lucky. He chose to buy a generator on a payment plan in winter 2021, and have it ready to go for hurricane season 2021. He had paid enough for the generator to be sitting on the concrete pad in his backyard, but not enough to have the natural gas run, wires run, and transfer switch installed. He thought and heard coulda, woulda, shoulda for 4 days.

It took so long to get yours because I keep winning them according to my texts……
Arrrgh

When we lived in Fl. we had a 1400 square foot home and wood shop in the garage. We installed a NG 15kw Generac air cooled unit with auto xfer. It worked perfectly. We had our A/C contractor size and install the unit. We were happy to have it especially after storm took the power out for 5 days. The unit kicked on, ran like a champ and never hiccuped. We even ran heavy duty cords to the neighbors homes for window A/C units. We did an extended warranty and semi annual maintenance visit for oil change and full test, it was well worth extra the dollars spent.

In our case the install price was almost exactly the cost of the unit. Based on the amount of wiring required I felt the price was reasonable.

A new outdoor equipment store, owned by the Amish opened a few miles from us, and they carry the Kohler generators. I'm going to pay them a visit soon.

We live back in the mountains & short power outages of a few hours from fallen trees are fairly common. My portable generator handles the refrigerators, freezer, sump pump, etc fine; but a bigger whole house unit would be alot nicer. Plus I need something for the longer weather related power outages.

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Originally posted by lbj:
I ordered a new home generator back last February and it has finally been shipped.
Install late next week.
Guess I don't need one until I do but I will feel better knowing it's there.

My wife has some medical equipment that must run and though my Ecoflow Delta Pro battery pack is really nice, it can't come close to doing the whole house.

My guess is some members here have similar items, how well do they work?

https://www.generac.com/all-pr...series/27kw-rg027-qs

Good on you for getting a generator. We just got a 24kw installed in August. Guy explained it will run the whole house, other than don’t run the stove and the washer at the same time, or we would have had to get the size you did. Other than that, will run everything we need. We have a 1400 sq ft home, and try not to have too many things on as it is. Haven’t had to use it yet, but at least now we are ready. Have lost power a few times this last spring, and last year, either weather related, or the electric company had issues they had to fix. (Substation had a fire, etc.). It is kind of loud, but not overwhelmingly so I don’t think. It turns on to check status and charge the battery once a week, for about 5 minutes so I’ve heard it run.
Hope it works well for you!

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Originally posted by lbj:
Back in February when I ordered mine, I thought I would beat the rush.
I was wrong.

This one has taken 7.5 months to get to me. They were up front about the wait time though.

Can't speak about other companies, but Generac is super backlogged.

That's when I ordered mine - end of Feb., beginning of March. I get my 18KW Generac installed on Oct. 7. BTW, do I really need an oil and battery warmer for my location, SE PA?

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Originally posted by parabellum:
It's settled, then- if the power goes out, we meet at lbj's house.

Agreed! I love a good overkill!!

He could host the first ever Sigforum Kareoke and Dance off!!!

 
I installed my Onan 20kW in 2003. It was almost 8 years before I even used it. Since then, it has seen limited duty, with the two longest outages being 7 hours and 30 hours.

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Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
You wouldn’t need a huge generator to start your AC if you’d install a soft starter. My five ton AC used to draw 115amps when starting. After installing a Micro-air soft starter, the inrush current is usually around 41-49 amps.

I went this route because my backup generator is diesel, and there are problems with running a Diesel engine at low capacity for extended periods, so I installed a 15kva unit (I almost bought a 35 ). However, for spark ignition units like you purchased, there is no problem running it at 5% capacity all day long.

You’ll love it. It’s very comforting to have, even if you rarely or never need it.

What are the issues with running the Diesel engine at low capacity for extended periods at low capacity? I see Diesel trucks idling for hours on end at truck stops or on the side of the road all the time. I'm thinking about a Diesel Generator for my next home and thought Diesel would be ideal for a number of reasons, so serious question.

A generator is very similar to a riding lawn mower. Has an engine--spark plugs, air filter. Needs a fuel source, NG, LP , diesel or gas. Electric start--needs a battery--attached to a trickle charger.
A generator has a weekly test cycle to run the engine every week. The generator has a run meter to tell you how many hours it has run.
The battery is the weak link--it will go at the worst possible time. Battery life is 4-7 years depending on temperature. I always kept a spare battery for my Winco generator--no trickle charger. Replaced the Winco with a Kohler/trickle charger. Battery replacement every 5 years when they go on sale.