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In case anyone asks, we live 5 miles from the nearest store. Depending on the situation, living next door to the store might not help, anyway.
If civilization collapses, living next to a store might not be a good idea. When they come to loot it, it would be very handy for them to loot you too.
About your water problem, the best move would be to a place where good water is found 30 feet down, not 300 feet.
OP, what’s your budget for this? I know you mention you are retired and cost is a factor, but some guidance would be helpful.
If power outages aren’t too frequent then a full house automatic system is probably overkill...unless of course you can’t work a manual system.
If I were in your situation I’d probably look at around an 8000W generator (with higher surge), a 30A inlet to your panel and a manual interlock kit. All of that should cost around $2000.
So, it's not a cheap Home Depot generator, I can't recommend those at all. If you want something with some quality, you'll have to pay a bit more for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by markjames68
OP, what’s your budget for this? I know you mention you are retired and cost is a factor, but some guidance would be helpful.
If power outages aren’t too frequent then a full house automatic system is probably overkill...unless of course you can’t work a manual system.
If I were in your situation I’d probably look at around an 8000W generator (with higher surge), a 30A inlet to your panel and a manual interlock kit. All of that should cost around $2000.
I caught a good deal at Home Depot last year, a 'special'- I got an 8k/10k 50amp 120/240v dual fuel (gasoline/propane) Pulsar (Ford) genny. $700 with 6mo no interest on the HD credit card. I had been looking at various gennies for over a year and when this came up I snatched it, it was a better deal than even the cheapo Harbor Fright units.
It's more than enough to power everything including my deep well pump (240v). Now I just need to instal the load balancing transfer switch ($300, manual) and get it all wired in (instead of jerry-rigging it like I did earlier this year). Power is rather unreliable here and sometimes goes out for a week or more.
If you buy a unit that's big enough to run everything without having to be selective as to which circuits you want powered, there is a transfer switch that you can get that plugs in between your electric meter and the socket. It's a little pricey ($800 for the switch alone, plus install), but it makes it 'easy'- power goes out, you fire up the genny and it automatically opens the utility side. When the power comes back, you shut down the genny and it automatically switches back. The only other extra you might have to buy is the cable from the genny to the switch. The higher cost of the switch may be balanced by the fact that it is 'plug and play' and you won't have to pay an electrician to do the wiring necessary for most other transfer switches. But...you'll need to be able to locate the genny somewhere close to the utility meter.
I caught a good deal at Home Depot last year, a 'special'- I got an 8k/10k 50amp 120/240v dual fuel (gasoline/propane) Pulsar (Ford) genny. $700 with 6mo no interest on the HD credit card. I had been looking at various gennies for over a year and when this came up I snatched it, it was a better deal than even the cheapo Harbor Fright units.
It's more than enough to power everything including my deep well pump (240v). Now I just need to instal the load balancing transfer switch ($300, manual) and get it all wired in (instead of jerry-rigging it like I did earlier this year). Power is rather unreliable here and sometimes goes out for a week or more.
If you buy a unit that's big enough to run everything without having to be selective as to which circuits you want powered, there is a transfer switch that you can get that plugs in between your electric meter and the socket. It's a little pricey ($800 for the switch alone, plus install), but it makes it 'easy'- power goes out, you fire up the genny and it automatically opens the utility side. When the power comes back, you shut down the genny and it automatically switches back. The only other extra you might have to buy is the cable from the genny to the switch. The higher cost of the switch may be balanced by the fact that it is 'plug and play' and you won't have to pay an electrician to do the wiring necessary for most other transfer switches. But...you'll need to be able to locate the genny somewhere close to the utility meter.
Those meter based ones are great if your utility allows them. For my previous house I wanted to go that way but it was a “no”. I thought they max out at 30A as well?
A generator interlock kit is about $60.00 and meets code in most locations. That's not the final price, you still need to install the wiring and receptacle to take power from generator, but it's a quick-and-dirty legal manual transfer switch to connect a whole house to a portable generator (we had ours installed by a handyman):
Regardless of the route you go, once you have one you can use a magic plug like I'm pasting below to power a 30 amp receptacle with a 15 amp source (like from a 120v inverter attached to a solar PV system or an inverter powered by a vehicle). This will power your entire house up to the wattage of your inverter. 120V ONLY! Don't turn on any 240v switches on the panel. In theory you could run your house with such a setup with a standard extension cord coming from any power source including a neighbor.
A generator interlock kit is about $60.00 and meets code in most locations. That's not the final price, you still need to install the ...
That is a really neat idea. Thanks.
I can see why you wouldn't want to engage any 240 volt items,
if I understand correctly, turning on a 240 volt item could create
a near short circuit, and you would have to go reset your breakers
and/or the overload circuit on your generator
I can see why you wouldn't want to engage any 240 volt items,
if I understand correctly, turning on a 240 volt item could create
a near short circuit, and you would have to go reset your breakers
and/or the overload circuit on your generator
An interlock kit doesn’t preclude the use of 240V items if the generator puts out 240V. Most medium to larger generators have a 30A or 50A 240V outlet for exactly this reason.
I can run my central AC systems on my generator, and I have an interlock kit on my panels.
In my opinion they are a far better option than the old 8- or 12-breaker sub panel as it gives the homeowner the ability to power any desired loads.
An interlock kit doesn’t preclude the use of 240V items if the generator puts out 240V. Most medium to larger generators have a 30A or 50A 240V outlet for exactly this reason.
I can run my central AC systems on my generator, and I have an interlock kit on my panels.
In my opinion they are a far better option than the old 8- or 12-breaker sub panel as it gives the homeowner the ability to power any desired loads.
I agree completely, but the adapter shown in the links I followed was designed to fee 120 from the generator, and if done right, could feed it to both sides of the house wiring, as long as no one needs a 240 volt appliance. I guess I wasn't clear, what I was writing.
If you have a 240 power source you can use any appliance in your house. Maybe not all at once, it depends on the capability of the generator. We have generators that do this but they are loud and guzzle the gas. Most of the time all we need is a small amount of power and we seldom use 240 appliances anyway. We have solar hot water and line dry out clothes. The only 240 we use is the kitchen stove, but we also have an outdoor kitchen that uses propane so having a 240 option is just a convenience (as is any power source, if you really think about it).
If you use the 120v adapter plug I shared above, you can only power 120v circuits. I've never tried to run a 240v anything off of it but I would think it would be like a "brown out" if it was possible, but what would really happen is the power source (probably an inverter or generator) would just trip a circuit and shut itself off. When I use the 120v adapter I just don't turn the 240v circuits on in the breaker. It's that easy. I marked the circuits with red tape to remind me not to turn them on. If I did accidentally turn one on the worst that could happen is the inverter would shut off.
The purpose of the interlock kit is prevent power from outside the house mixing with power coming from inside the house. In other words to stop your power from "backfeeding" into the grid or turning your power source into a "suicide plug" if the grid is still live. It's not really necessary because you can kill the power at the main switch and the rest of your panel would be self-contained with the power you generate. What it does is it makes the process idiot-proof, so you can't accidentally have them both on at the same time. It's just a manual transfer switch. Basically it's for safety.
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