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Unless you lose power on a regular basis IMO I believe people paniced after Hurricane Sandy.
In my new development, we lost power for 2-3 days....that's it...with no damage and yet people went out and had home generators installed.
I would suggest to save your money for something else.
my town was out for 8 days. it sucked. it's probably as bad as it ever will be (knock on wood). i'll never buy a permenant generator. maybe one day i'll pick up a 1-2 yr old used portable.
If you are dependent on electric power for heat, well or sump pump then you should have a backup generator.
You don't necessarily need a generator to run your whole house or an automatic starting generator. A manual starting generator of 4-5 KW is sufficient for most emergency's.
Then again NJ never gets major storms where losing power for more than a day is possible so why bother?
If you are dependent on electric power for heat, well or sump pump then you should have a backup generator.
You don't necessarily need a generator to run your whole house or an automatic starting generator. A manual starting generator of 4-5 KW is sufficient for most emergency's.
4-5KW is definitely not sufficient for central heat, especially heat pump.
4-5KW is definitely not sufficient for central heat, especially heat pump.
I have gas baseboard heat, have never lost power in either storm. My question is do I need a generator to keep the heat on if the power fails. Are there electrical components to gas heat? Sorry if this is a silly question but I know absolutely zero about this stuff.
I have gas baseboard heat, have never lost power in either storm. My question is do I need a generator to keep the heat on if the power fails. Are there electrical components to gas heat? Sorry if this is a silly question but I know absolutely zero about this stuff.
Yes, you will need power for the water pump to pump the water through your system.
A transfer panel and a portable generator are fine for shorter outages. But for long term, where will you get the fuel to keep the portable running? You don't think you're going down to the gas station with a can? You will have to refill the tank every few hours.
On the other hand, whole house gensets run on either natural gas or propane and a tank will last for days. A 7.5KW will run furnaces, some lights and some electronics. Forget cable and internet because they go down after a few hours even if the lines are still up.
You can get a system large enough to run everything but the fuel needed for the larger systems is significant. Plus unless you plan on running large ac units, the larger system may not be needed. Don't forget everything isn't running at the same time. A good generator contractor can figure out what's needed.
Install will require a licensed electrician and someone licensed to go a gas line is hooked into that system.
Keeping up with the service is as important as what unit you buy.
A transfer panel and a portable generator are fine for shorter outages. But for long term, where will you get the fuel to keep the portable running? You don't think you're going down to the gas station with a can? You will have to refill the tank every few hours.
On the other hand, whole house gensets run on either natural gas or propane and a tank will last for days. A 7.5KW will run furnaces, some lights and some electronics. Forget cable and internet because they go down after a few hours even if the lines are still up.
You can get a system large enough to run everything but the fuel needed for the larger systems is significant. Plus unless you plan on running large ac units, the larger system may not be needed. Don't forget everything isn't running at the same time. A good generator contractor can figure out what's needed.
Install will require a licensed electrician and someone licensed to go a gas line is hooked into that system.
Keeping up with the service is as important as what unit you buy.
Agreed, servicing your generator is crucial. Most people don't realize that during long run cycles the manufacturers suggest powering the unit down and checking the oil level. The last time my generator ran for 5 days it consumed less than 1/4 of a quart of oil. My neighbor with an identical unit added over a quart in the same span. The oil capacity for the units is 1.8 quarts, so 1 quart is a big deal. Some neighbors with portable generators drove out to Pennsylvnia to get gas. I lost my Verizon Fios service during Sandy for as long as it took the box to reboot after my generator kicked in. I was shocked since my neighbors that had Cablevision lost their service for days even after power was restored
A transfer panel and a portable generator are fine for shorter outages. But for long term, where will you get the fuel to keep the portable running? You don't think you're going down to the gas station with a can? You will have to refill the tank every few hours.
On the other hand, whole house gensets run on either natural gas or propane and a tank will last for days. A 7.5KW will run furnaces, some lights and some electronics. Forget cable and internet because they go down after a few hours even if the lines are still up.
You can get a system large enough to run everything but the fuel needed for the larger systems is significant. Plus unless you plan on running large ac units, the larger system may not be needed. Don't forget everything isn't running at the same time. A good generator contractor can figure out what's needed.
Install will require a licensed electrician and someone licensed to go a gas line is hooked into that system.
Keeping up with the service is as important as what unit you buy.
Can't you covert any portable generator to tri fuel for like 300?
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