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And for you EV owners, FORGET about charging your electric car at Level 2. EV chargers rival central HVAC as the biggest single load on your home's electrical system.
I have a level 2 charger on my garage for my car and it is connected to a 40 amp breaker. The car doesn't draw very much at all. (3300watts, for about 2 hours) There's a reason it only adds about $10 a month to the electricity bill and it's charged every night.
it draws not much more than a water heater and way less than an electric furnace (even a Tesla draws less than half that of an electric furnace), and the typical 1st gen EV draws much less than that on Level 2.
I have a level 2 charger on my garage for my car and it is connected to a 40 amp breaker. The car doesn't draw very much at all. (3300watts, for about 2 hours) There's a reason it only adds about $10 a month to the electricity bill and it's charged every night.
it draws not much more than a water heater and way less than an electric furnace (even a Tesla draws less than half that of an electric furnace), and the typical 1st gen EV draws much less than that on Level 2.
There are laws of physics that are at work that can't be denied. For the average person it's just a matter of "goes inna and goes outa". If you use your Telsa a lot you buy a lot of electrons, that will reflect on your electric bill, just like using a lot of hot water.
I have a level 2 charger on my garage for my car and it is connected to a 40 amp breaker. The car doesn't draw very much at all. (3300watts, for about 2 hours) There's a reason it only adds about $10 a month to the electricity bill and it's charged every night.
it draws not much more than a water heater and way less than an electric furnace (even a Tesla draws less than half that of an electric furnace), and the typical 1st gen EV draws much less than that on Level 2.
Yes - first one that comes to mind is the Chevy Volt and a few other early L2 models were limited to 3.3 kW charging on 240V. This is the “16 amp” L2. Kind of like L1 has the 8 and 12 amp options. There is a “30 amp” L2 that charges at 7.2 kW. If your car has the lesser, you should be good to go.
No one I know who owns the average home with 200 amp electric service uses 200 amps every day all the time.
That is not how you figure loading.
If you think I’m incorrect, don’t tell me I’m wrong without telling us all the right way.
The thing I’m trying to avoid is in the event the starting current of any one or multiple appliances causing the generator to shut down or a breaker to trip at an inopportune time. This is why I want lots of headroom in my rated capacity. Also less voltage sag.
I have a silly question - that was the price, installed? If so, it may be within reach in the near future.
i went through costco so the total cost (installed) was $14,000. then you get a 10% rebate from costco ($1,400 cash that they gave me when i went to costco) and you get 2% cash back for being an executive member (so $280). that nets to 12,320 and then i think the permit cost me something like $500. so if i remember correctly, ultimately it was a little under $13k. you can save a little if your gas and electric meters are close to each other, i paid and extra $1,650 them to run the gas line 66 feet.
If you think I’m incorrect, don’t tell me I’m wrong without telling us all the right way.
The thing I’m trying to avoid is in the event the starting current of any one or multiple appliances causing the generator to shut down or a breaker to trip at an inopportune time. This is why I want lots of headroom in my rated capacity. Also less voltage sag.
Easy to find on line anywhere, but I'll help. Of course anyone can inflate their need, as you appear to be doing for what ever reason, and pay accordingly.
Generac calls this their " Digital Load Management Module (DLM)"
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddm2k
If you think I’m incorrect, don’t tell me I’m wrong without telling us all the right way.
The thing I’m trying to avoid is in the event the starting current of any one or multiple appliances causing the generator to shut down or a breaker to trip at an inopportune time. This is why I want lots of headroom in my rated capacity. Also less voltage sag.
Rather than oversizing the generator, look for a model which can integrate with a "Load Shedding" controller.
For central air, a smart controller on the generator will prevent the "compressor on" low-voltage signal to the air conditioner outside unit(s) from coming on at generator startup or when overall genset load is too high to handle the starting surge of the motor. Controller can usually also force drop power to 120V/240V loads as needed.
Basically "Load Shed" allows you to run on a much smaller generator by keeping the peak consumption below the overload point of the generator.
i went through costco so the total cost (installed) was $14,000. then you get a 10% rebate from costco ($1,400 cash that they gave me when i went to costco) and you get 2% cash back for being an executive member (so $280). that nets to 12,320 and then i think the permit cost me something like $500. so if i remember correctly, ultimately it was a little under $13k. you can save a little if your gas and electric meters are close to each other, i paid and extra $1,650 them to run the gas line 66 feet.
Did you already have gas service at your house or was this a new gas line? At my house the gas company was very happy to completely dig up the old gas line and upsize it to a larger one to service the generator for no cost at all. I guess they're betting on future power outages.
I have a level 2 charger on my garage for my car and it is connected to a 40 amp breaker. The car doesn't draw very much at all. (3300watts, for about 2 hours) There's a reason it only adds about $10 a month to the electricity bill and it's charged every night.
it draws not much more than a water heater and way less than an electric furnace (even a Tesla draws less than half that of an electric furnace), and the typical 1st gen EV draws much less than that on Level 2.
The typical water heater draws 4500 watts. I downsized the elements in mine to 3500 watts. Heating water is typically half of the household electric bill.
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Generac calls this their " Digital Load Management Module (DLM)"
