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My Uncle told me that it would be possible to get a natural gas generator that is supplied from the street. It would come on automatically if the electricity goes out. It would run on the town's natural gas supply. Is this true? I just do not know that much about home repairs and improvements. I am paralyzed waist down and confined to the home. I lost power for 5 days during Irene, 5 days during the October snowstorm and 7 days during Sandy! I can't go through that again! I hurt my back even more sleeping in the wheelchair because I have an air mattress that is necessary to reduce pressure points because I can't move my lower body. Anyway, is it possible to get such a generator? Would it come on automatically like my uncle says? How much would it cost to install and maintain?
You'd probably be surprised just how many natural gas emergency generators there are in use today. Most any business of any size has one for the computer system. Hospitals, even Lowes and Home Depot has them installed on their buildings. What you need to find is a good electrician that can set one up for you. You'll need a plumber to run and connect the gas as well but I'll assume that most any electrical contractor in Jersey can handle it turn key for you.
For me, if it doesn't say Generac on the unit, it's not worth the time. I've used many, many auxiliary generators over the years on jobsites where there was no electricity. I've even built houses in subdivisions where the utilities were not finished and we had to use a large generator, as in, on a trailer and a 6 cylinder diesel engine providing the power. The only ones we never had issues with was Generac. But your going to have to determine with your electrician just how large of a unit you'll need. I'd always suggest opting for one the next size larger than you need today. So should you require an oxygen unit later on for your health, you have the capacity. But here's the info on Generac: Whole House Generator Buyer's Guide - How to Pick the Perfect Whole House Generator
First, is there natural gas in your area? Do you have it already in your house? There are companies that specialize in these installations. Call your local gas company for their names. They should be able to give them to you. Jay
Yes, if you have the resources and it fits on your property within local zoning it can be a very effective way to have power despite outages. I have a relative that fully powers his 3000ft house through outages automatically but I think the investment in equipment and installation was over $15K.
Thanks for the input guys. TrapperL, that was very good website that you were able to provide. It answered most of my questions. Anyway, I will talk to my uncle during this week, but I am pretty sure that he said we could be connected to a natural gas line by our street. However, we are NOT connected to natural gas right now. We use oil for heating and have an electric stove. So I guess installation would be an additional cost. As for the zoning issue, we have 1.3 acres of land, quite a bit for suburban New Jersey. So I am sure zoning will not be much of an issue unless there is some ordinance that I am not aware of.
The most common brand is Generac Guardian. OUr is 16K watts and cost about $2800 plus installation. Installation was less than $1000.
Yes. They come on automatically about 30 seconds after the power goes off. You need to have them maintained once a year. The come on once a week to charge up the battery and do a system check. 16K watts is probably more than ost people need. That will fully power a good sized house including AC units and more.
It comes with a 16 circuit automatic transfer switch (ATS). You can upgrade to a whole house ATS for $1200, plus added installation costs. The standard ATS covers 16 circuits. A circuit includes everything that is currently powered by one breaker and may includeall of the lighting for an entire floor. 240 volt circuits like Air conditoning units electric stoves and most electric dryers take up two circuit spots.
Works great, you hardly notice the power going off. The added costs for natural gas is not that noticeable either. You gas bill goes up a bit, the electric bill goes down a bit. THe net is an added cost and I woudl nto want to run on a generator for three months, but it is not all that steep to run it for a few days once in a while.
Trees get uprooted by hurricanes, and many times the gas lines get pulled up with the tree roots. If that happens, you won't have any gas to your generator. Some towns also cut the gas off during disasters to prevent fires. I would ask about these things before investing money in one. Having a propane tank could be a better option.
Trees get uprooted by hurricanes, and many times the gas lines get pulled up with the tree roots. If that happens, you won't have any gas to your generator. Some towns also cut the gas off during disasters to prevent fires. I would ask about these things before investing money in one. Having a propane tank could be a better option.
We looked into this. Propane is VERY expensive. It also has limited delivery areas. You have to put in a tank away from your house. We also looked into generators that can run on natural gas, gasoline, deiesel or propane. They are very very expensive.
I have not heard of any place where te utility will cut off everyone's natural gas. certainly they would nto do so in the winter, and probably not at all. The reason is if they cut it off and somoene dies from that, they are liable, but if they do not cut it off and someone dies from their own failure to properly address a gas leak, the gas company is not liable. Even in California where an earthquake often causes lots of fire from water heaters, I am not aware of any location that will cut off gas to the entire community. They show you where your house cut off is and tell you to turn it off if there is an earthquake. Actaully, I think they have some sort of safety valve that shuts off the line if there is a suddenl free flow. I cannot remember the details. Maybe cutting off gas for an entire commuity is an east Coast thing. it would surprise me if they did that though, too much potential liability. The exception is if there is a major gas line break, then they will cut it off for the general area.
Do tree roots often pull up gas lines on the east Coast? I have never seen or hear of it in the West or midwest. Gas lines are usaully run along road beds where there are no tree roots. Although I know quite a bit about building roads (I work extensively with road builders for the past 24 years), I do not know why you generally do not get any tree roots in road beds. It does happen, but it is not very common, in fact it is pretty rare. Maybe the roots are lower, but then I have never seen a road ripped up by tree roots when a tree falls over.
Do tree roots often pull up gas lines on the east Coast?
I've seen it happen here on the gulf coast, but it's usually old trees that have grown near gas lines for years. As for cutting off the gas, it's not a liability down here since hurricane season occurs when it's hot. Few people here have gas heat anymore, most have switched to heat pumps.
Propane with your own tank is the most reliable... We had Natural Gas for years here at the Hospital and had to convert to Propane because the possibility of natural gas disruption in an Earth Quake.
Propane will keep indefinitely and will not go stale.
Natural Gas is good as long as distribution is intact.
A few years ago, South Lake Tahoe was without Natural Gas Service for several days... the only line serving the region suffered a catastrophic failure in the dead of winter.
My Grandparents were still on propane... they were unaffected... neighbors had pipes freeze, no heat, no hot water and no cooking for 3 or 4 days.
Gasoline or Diesel Generators work well too... the downside is the fuel will eventually go stale... also, in my area, the Air Quality Management District has strict rules outlawing many Diesel Units.
Natural Gas sounds like your best bet as long as you realize you reliability is partially dependant on the Utility being able to deliver the gas...
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