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I priced this out in Florida, so hardly Nassau County, but to run the whole house with a 20Kw Kohler and a buried 500 gallon propane tank was close to $15K, including all permits and a full tank of propane.
About $5000 of that was for the generator, transfer switch and pad.
Depending on what you need to power, and for how long, 20Kw is overkill.
I've found the following retailer helpful when looking at units and pricing.
If it's truly standby in case of disaster or extended power outages, you'll want to size for everything you want to use. So if your H/W heater is electric, that counts. AC unit, that counts (otherwise it'd have to be not enabled, which isn't the best in the summer). An installer will be able to size it correctly.
There are really 2 types - air cooled and liquid cooled. Liquid cooled would be massive overkill for you, but the advantage is long runtimes and much quieter. The downside is they require more maintenance (like a small car engine). I would recommend an air-cooled unit, which is basically like a portable generator in a box.
If the amount gets to be too expensive, look into a higher-powered gas generator with a panel interlock switch. This lets you power anything in your home, you just have to manually switch the breakers. It's better than the old 6 or 12 circuit subpanel. I ended up doing this option, and the generator cost $3K and the electric work around $1K including the socket outdoors. Downside was having to manually feed the generator, store enough gas, and having to start and stop it. I bought a Dewalt DXGN14000 which uses a Honda engine and Mecc Alte genhead (cleaner power). Previously I had used Generac models.
House is all electric, so at a minimum (besides outlets and lighting) I would want the oil burner, two window AC units, refrigerator, microwave (probably not the stove/range or dishwasher). Hot water heating is through the oil burner (tankless)
Ideally I would want everything automatic, no manual feed or stop/start. Don't want to schlep outside with 3' of snow to engage the system
My Dewalt produces 11,700 continuous and on that I ran 2 central AC units (variable speed compressors so no starting surge), pool pump or HW heater, all lights, several fridges, computers, TVs, etc.
Ideally you want to find a generator that uses around 30-50% load, but if you go smaller (say 8000 Watts) they won’t power the whole panel, just a sub panel.
I’ve run a small window AC on a 1000w portable, so even if larger that won’t be an issue. The oil burner/blower and oil HW don’t use much.
If anyone reports back with installers this will hopefully help, or check the site I sent you and see if they can recommend someone. Another alternative is to go to Lowe’s or Home Depot. Hooking up a generator isn’t rocket science but you want it done well.
Lastly, make sure you register whatever you get and either be vigilant in maintenance or pay for a service contract. Don’t want it not starting in the dead of winter.
I don’t blame you for wanting an automatic solution. The winter storm we had after Irene had me going out and starting my generator which wasn’t fun.
Hello! I don't savvy in your men's stuff, so i need your advice. I want to buy solar generator. It will be used for home needs, which one of them do you recommend? And what criteria is the most important? Help please!
Hello! I don't savvy in your men's stuff, so i need your advice. I want to buy solar generator. It will be used for home needs, which one of them do you recommend? And what criteria is the most important? Help please!
A solar generator is really just a big battery. What are you looking to power during a blackout?
Check the off-grid and doomsday prepper forums. They're really into this solar and battery stuff. It's actually pretty interesting.
They're powering entire homesteads off solar, batteries, generators, etc...
The last time I looked into it the common battery could only power a house fully for a day and a half. That might have changed by now but I’m sure it’s $$$.
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