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In my area (suburban Chicago) piped natural gas in available to basically everyone at good rates. You can run a very large backup generator for extended period for a relatively small premium over standard utility supplied electricity. That said, we don't get hurriances, most ice storms knock out power for just a few hours and if a tornado rips up stuff it is generally very localized and full power is restored to undamaged homes in a couple of days. Some folks do have backup gens but mostly those with expensive home theaters in the basement...
You have to consider your own situation, in my previous home when the power died go it never went out for than a few hours. We never even considered a generator, really no need. Now we're in an area it could be out for half a day or in the case of the one hurricane last Fall 5 days.
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Data centers use diesel, but they also don't mind having essentially a locomotive running 24x7 during an outage, probably not a good option in residential area. Natural gas / propane powered generators are typically much quieter...
It doesn't matter where I live but if the power is out the least of my concerns is what the neighbors think.
Late to the thread but doing my own research as well.
Considering a portable tri-fuel machine that runs on gas, propane, or LNG ... and setting up a transfer switch to power the critical stuff ... furnace, a/c, fridge, freezer circuits.
I figure with tri-fuel we can cycle through propane cylinders, or hook up to our outside gas stub for the grill, or use whatever gas is on hand...usually plenty between fuel jugs and vehicles to siphon from.
Not that my area is prone to disasters, but we do get occasional freak storms where winds and heavy snow can wreak havoc on the grid.
Hard to bite off the up-front cost, but it's nice being prepared because "you never know...."
It would be cheaper to just get an NG generator and buy a seperate smaller gasoline one in the off change you lose NG as well as power. You can pick up a gasoline 5700 watt Generator for less than $400. That way you can also use it as a portable generator for other purposes (ours is currently at my fathers house since he does not have a generator, so it woudl not do us much good if we lost NG and power, but the concept is there). 5700 watts will run furnace and freezer/fridge, but not the AC. However given how unlikely it is you will lose both electricty and NG service at once, it does not seem worth the extra cost just to be able to run an AC unit.
We already use propane for heating and hot water and have two 100 gallon tanks. So putting in a propane powered generator is definitely an option for us.
Lots of responses here for natural gas generators, when the OP specifically asked about propane. Not all areas, subdivisions, neighborhoods or streets are served by natural gas. It may be that propane is the OP's only viable option for a whole-house generator. Just sayin'.
With any generator, fuel cost is a MAJOR factor. A whole house generator is fine if you will be without power for up to a couple of days. When Hurricane Wilma came through, our area in Florida was without power for a couple of WEEKS. The son of a neighbor had a whole house generator. By the time three days had gone by, he had burned through about sixty gallons of gas at $3/gal and the pumps were out. His house went dark.
I used a combination of 4 marine batteries, an inverter, a solar panel and a 5,000 watt generator. With less than fifteen gallons of gas, we had power the entire time, as well as hot water. We could have continued on at that rate for quite a while. The generator went on for a couple hours for washing clothes, heating water, stuff like that, as well as doing the bulk charge of the batteries. Then it was powered off, the solar panel did the equalizing charge and minimal use. The refrigerator was plugged in 24/7, as were some small fans. Lighting was basic light from solar walkway lights, and booklights for other tasks.
If you have money to burn, get a whole house generator and a thousand gallon tank for propane. Otherwise, learn to load shift. Currently, I've downsized to a 1200 watt generator that was cheap, sips gas, and will handle a room AC. The 5KW will probably get sold or scrapped.
Me thinks not. A gallon of gasoline has roughly 9kW-h/liter, if I recall correctly. To blow through 60 gallons in 3 days, you either need to have air conditioners running all the time, the pool heater and pump on most of the time, and live in a big mansion. In one house I have, way up north, where the temperature goes to (record low was -20F)... we didn't go through anywhere near that amount of fuel, for well over a week. I run at one place, when the power goes out, an 1800RPM diesel, because there they only have oil, it is cheap, and I can't be there to turn on the generator. (thus it is automatic)
Solar panels and batteries (though they may someday) hit their prime. Electric/hybrid cars will prove to be an utter failure (though again, maybe someday).
I live in Hawaii and your post below caught my interest. With the latest two hurricane/tropical storms to pass through the islands, I'm looking for something that would weather an extended outage. A setup like yours would be ideal. Would you mind posting your setup described in your post? I live in a highrise and could install one panel and have room for batteries. I have no desire to walk up and down 280 feet to get gas, so two weeks on 15 gallons sounds good.
Thanks in advance for any advice you may have on the matter.
Aloha,
Sam T.
"I used a combination of 4 marine batteries, an inverter, a solar panel and a 5,000 watt generator. With less than fifteen gallons of gas, we had power the entire time, as well as hot water. We could have continued on at that rate for quite a while. The generator went on for a couple hours for washing clothes, heating water, stuff like that, as well as doing the bulk charge of the batteries. Then it was powered off, the solar panel did the equalizing charge and minimal use. The refrigerator was plugged in 24/7, as were some small fans. Lighting was basic light from solar walkway lights, and booklights for other tasks.
If you have money to burn, get a whole house generator and a thousand gallon tank for propane. Otherwise, learn to load shift. Currently, I've downsized to a 1200 watt generator that was cheap, sips gas, and will handle a room AC. The 5KW will probably get sold or scrapped.[/quote]"
No doubt, you’ve taken a wise decision. Power outage has been a nightmare since the invention of a dual fuel generator.
It’s been a daunting task to choose the right one from a wide range of propane generators available in the local shops. My advice for you is to spent dollars on a portable option. I’m currently using the Champion 3400-Watt RV Ready Portable Inverter Generator model.
You can go for this or choose one from 2020's best portable propane generators- sorted by the link https://powertoolsgudie.com/best-propane-generator
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