Home standby generators

[kreskin13]

We had yet another power outage yesterday from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. This is the third power outage in the last week. It would be getting old if I hadn't had a home standby generator installed.

It was the best $15,000 I ever spent! The way the power lines run right through the trees out here in the boonies, it's a wonder we don't lose it more often.

Now when the power goes out, it takes about 5 or 6 seconds and the generator starts automatically and runs more than three quarters of my house for as long as the utility power is out. When the power comes back on the generator runs for about 30 seconds longer just to make sure the utility power will remain on then it shuts off automatically. Great stuff!

It is a Generac Guardian 16KW propane powered generator with an aluminum enclosure. Don't stay home without one!

http://www.gilchrist-electric.com/generac/16kWquietsourcegenerator.php

This generator project project started last winter when we lost power for 36 hours. Not fun. The temperature in the house got down to about 40 degrees. Not fun. I spent one night in the house like that, got up the next morning, went to work where fortunately we have showers. That evening I wasn't looking forward to spending another night in that cold house when the power came back on at 6 p.m..

That did it, I was not going to let that happen again. Within a few days I had a portable gasoline powered 5000 watt generator sitting in my garage just waiting for the power to go out again.

I also started the process of having a whole house standby generator permanently installed. The initial price was $6500 installed for a 16KW propane unit. That would take care of about half of the house. it was $11,000 for a 25KW liquid cooled unit to run the whole house. Wow. One of the biggest problems was the hot water heater, it would need 4KW of my 16KW. That and the heat pump together would only leave enough to run about half the house. Not good enough for me, it would leave too many circuits without power.

My solution was to replace the hot water heater (tank) with a tankless unit. Well that added $4000 to the price, $1500 for the unit and $2500 for the installation and to replumb since the tankless unit has to be on an outside wall.

The next problem was since I only had a small line feeding my propane fireplace I needed a three quarter inch line to feed the tankless hot water heater and my new propane wall heater in the master suite. Why the wall heater in the bedroom? The 16KW generator would run the heat pump but not the emergency heat, so if it dropped down to about 25 degrees, I wouldn't have any heat other than my propane fireplace. So, add $1500 for that heater.

Next issue was the size of me existing propane tank. It was only 100 gallons, not enough to run my new toys, so I needed a bigger tank. Guess what? They make 'em, and in my case to get the 330 gallon tank I now needed and to have it moved, buried and new lines trenched was another $2000.

Job well done! Well 2 days after the job was done the new tankless heater started acting up bad. You would be lucky to get one shower out of what supposed to be an endless supply of hot water. The plumber comes out and finds the inlet line to the house, from my well, was clogging up with these chalky little rocks. This was now feeding directly into my new tankless hot water heater and clogging it up. The solution was a filter between the well and where the water entered the house. A timer is installed and comes on for 2 minutes a day and flushes out the filter. That cost another $1000.

Total = $15,000.

Would I do it again? Yes, without a second thought! When the power goes out I just smile and wait about a minute for my 50 inch plasma TV to start back up.

Calvin

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've been a big fan of alternate sources of power for years.  Since I still rent I haven't been in a position to actually install anything, but I am ready with all the info I need on solar panels and possibly eventually a geothermic power generator when the time comes.  Like you I don't plan to be "off the grid" but when the grid goes down, I want to still be able to do anything I darn well please.  Plus, with hydro and petroleum rates rising the way they have been here in the last ten years, it makes too much sense to explore other options.

Being a cheap barstid, geothermic seems to be the way to go if I can manage to dig a deep enough hole.  Other than a few really long pipes, a few dozen car batteries and some kind of generator, the whole system is pretty inexpensive and as reliable as the heat of the planet can be.  Of course if it stops working, you probably have bigger problems than trying to run the microwave!

Def

[Mike]

We've had a propane powered generator for 15 years. Man, it seems funny now but back then it was hard to find a propane powered generator. In fact, the outfit we got it from went out of business couple of years after we got it. Anyhow, yes, it's worth it's weight in gold. We have a similar situation where about 150 feet of our power line runs through our heavily wooded acre and a half, then another 150 feet under ground through our five acre parcel.

It isn't a built in, it's an electric start portable 10kW runs the whole house (through a transfer switch) including our well pumps. Uses the propane from our 325 gallon propane tank or I can switch it to our small barbecue tanks using the quick release. We also have a propane commercial cook stove/six burners (no electricity needed) and wood burning stove. Our propane water heater and furnace use a little electricity for their fans, but not much. Tried to diversify our power requirements when we built to help manage power outages or other emergencies if they come up. So, we're in good shape as well. Oh yeah, our cost was $2,400.00 for the generator and $400.00 for an electrician to wire the transfer switch. I'm with you, do it again in a heartbeat.

Now Def, being the self admitted cheap barstid that you are here is a little project Converting a lawnmower into a generator Now, it doesn't put out much power (roughly 560 watts) and it ain't glamorous but it's cheap if you don't mind scrounging parts and it could come in handy for something ..... laptop, small tv, radio, charge your cell phone, annoy the neighbors.

Mike

[kreskin13]

My system didn't need to cost so much. I wanted that tankless hot water heater because of the energy savings. I'm only heating water when I need it. So that part of that project is paying me back a little at a time.

Having the smaller generator also saves me when it's running since it's using less fuel.

For years I have been reading a magazine called Home Power. It's all about alternative energy and living "off the grid".

http://www.homepower.com/home/

Calvin

[Mike]

I used to ride a vanpool back in the late 90's with a woman, her and her husband were totally off the grid. They built their place back in the early 70's when you could do that kind of thing around here. They have cistern setup for water which holds several thousand gallons of water and their tractor runs a PTO driven generator. When they run the generator to charge the bank of batteries they do their laundry. I believe their heating is all wood. They had some other things they did too, I can't remember them though. Something about heating their water, something else too, was awhile ago. As far as I know they are still living like that.

Thanks for the link, going to have to check that out.

Mike

[kreskin13]

Living "off the grid" has always been something that has interested me. I would love to have a nice windmill on my property. I have 15 acres out in the country and would like to put that land to some good use.

I started reading Mother Earth News when I was in high school and have since then read Backwoods Home, Countryside, and other magazines of the sort.

Of course, I also drive a Prius.

Calvin

[NutSAK]

I wanted that tankless hot water heater because of the energy savings.

I'm just wondering why you would want to heat hot water in the first place.

  J/K

[kreskin13]

I wanted that tankless hot water heater because of the energy savings.

I'm just wondering why you would want to heat hot water in the first place.

  J/K

You got me on that one.  I've been telling people about my tankless hot water heater since I got it!

I really am a maroon.

Calvin