How's your generator?

[Nonesuch]

Originally Posted by nybbler

If you're going whole-house, how big does a generator have to be to start an air conditioner? They've got a pretty extreme draw on start up.

That is a consideration, starting wattage on the compressor is generally about double the running wattage. The label plate on your compressor will have the numbers you need. A good automatic transfer switch will have 'load shedding', allowing for cutting off power to low-priority circuits, to avoid overloading the generator during AC compressor startup.

The other consideration is that the compressor and perhaps a dryer or stove is often the only 220VAC appliance in a house (unless you are on well water), and 220V-cabable generators are more expensive, so you can save a lot of money by sizing a generator just to run essential circuits, not air conditioning or an electric oven.

Originally Posted by Pocopsonite

We are in the very early stages of researching a whole house (or close to it) backup generator. Our house has a heat pump with oil backup. One salesman told us we could use the same fuel (from the same tank) for the oil heater and a diesel generator.

That is correct in most parts of the USA -- "#2 fuel oil" is the same as untaxed (offroad) diesel fuel, and will work equally well in a generator or oil heater. Even if they aren't identical, usually there is a very small price premium to get 200 gallons of off-road ULSD delivered, as compared to 200 gallons of low-sulfur #2 heating oil.

Somebody else told us that we'd have difficulty finding a contractor interested in installing a diesel/oil generator for a residence.

That's been my experience. None of the contractors in my area are interested in doing a residential installation of a diesel generator. They want to sell +50KW commercial units with a juicy service contract, not 15-25KW residential.

In terms of fuel cost per kWH, just like for home heating, a correctly-sized diesel is slightly more economical at current fuel prices than propane. Natural gas is cheapest, but some areas don't have piped-in NG, and sometimes upgrading the line for the higher consumption rate of a generator can be expensive.

Another drawback with Diesel is that you do have to size it appropriately. Running at less than 50% load for extended periods causes wet stacking.

[fasttimes1]

For my simple house, I went simple. I also wanted a generator I could actually afford to operate. Gas stove/wall heater/water heater. A Honda EU2000i tri-fuel converted to run on natural gas was what I picked. Connected via manual lockout at the main electrical panel, it runs everything in the house "as normal" with a couple of exceptions:

1. The (wall) AC will not run on it. I plan on adding a through wall swamp cooler this year to fix the issue of cooling in the summer on generator power. This will run fine with the other loads on the generator.

2. Electric dryer will not work either. Worked around by having emergency line that I can use to air dry outside if needed.

2. Full size microwave would not run on generator with rest of house load going. I didn't want to have to buy a second small microwave, so ended up buying a Panasonic inverter microwave. At 40% power setting it runs fine with remaining house loads connected.

Total cost about $3000, and total operating cost is only about $0.40/kw-h IIRK.

I would like to add a propane tank backup to the NG, but that will probably add another $3000 to the total cost, and significantly increase the operating cost.

I also have 30-45 days of food and water on hand at all times.

[harpoonalt]

We have a 30 amp transfer switch and a 6500 watt Coleman generator. We lost power one spring for 3 days but had heat, hot water, tv and kept the fridges running. Used sporadically over the last 8 years, never more than a few hours at a time. Works well and was pretty cheap. Friends who lose power more often put in an automatic propane generator to power the whole house. Nice system, but was close to 5 grand.

[TechGromit]

Originally Posted by BelairProspect

Which generator do you have?

3500 watt gas generator, not sure of the name off hand.

Originally Posted by BelairProspect

If you don't mind, what were approximate unit and installation costs?

Your talking about a while house generator right. I thought about getting one of those, but I might use the generator two times a year at the most. Spending 5 or 10k on a generator I will use so infrequently doesn't make sense to me. Yes it's a pain to run extension cords, but way cheaper.

My power failed just the other night, by the time I got the generator running, ran the extension cords from the master bedroom to power a light, TV and space heater the power came back on 10 minutes after I was finished setting up.