Home backup generators

With the last 3 storms taking out power I'm looking to get a backup. I cant rely on the wife to drag out my Honda 6500 when I'm at work. I'm looking at a generac 10kw or 17kw from northerntool. Looking for any feedback before I order one.

 

You'll find it cheaper through the big box stores than through a Generac dealer, but the mouth-breathers at the big box stores won't have the first clue on anything other than how much it costs. Even then, a customer spec'd one out through Northern Tool and my Generac dealer was able to come within $300 of it. Customer had already placed the order before he got the quote from me, otherwise I'm fairly certain he'd have gone with the informed dealer (has the money to do pretty much what he wants, when he wants, and recognizes the difference between price and value).

The genset and transfer switch are only a portion of the cost. There's quite a bit that you'll need to do (or hire out) to hook the thing up and balance the load.

 

I'm looking into the same thing, talked to one electrician who had nothing but good to say. 6 days with no power was a bitch.

 

I've got a 17.5k continuous duty, 990cc v-twin generac for my house. Runs everything fine when the power goes out.

It's louds, it's thirsty (about 1 gal/hr) and has all the problems inherent to a piece of equipment that sits unused for months at a time.

If you've got natural gas, those are quieter, usually have self load testing and don't have to refill the tank.

I love my genset but it does take some maintenance.

 

Hook ups no issue as I'm a contractor. House is natural gas, I'm leaning towards the 17.5 as well. Northern is the cheapest I can find and has free shipping. Only 65 dcb so isn't that loud and when no one has juice who gives a shit as long as I do!

 

Alright, I'm gonna go against convention here and talk about cheap portable generators and tell ya what's been workin' for me - but it's a throw together.

About ten years ago I had a gentran switch (generator transfer switch) installed in my house, to include a subpanel. This allowed key circuits (boiler for heat, sump pumps, fridge, well water pump and select outlets for lights and whatnot) to be powered by a portable generator via a single 220v plug-in line without any risk of back feeding.

Not knowing much about generators at the time, I bought a Titan 7500 diesel generator. Sales guy gave a whole rap about it, and being a genny newb I bought it. In retrospect, I found out it's a common Chinese-built air-cooled diesel motor that throws out about 6000+ watts continuous, and this motor can be found in a bunch of other off-brand generators.

Now, some of these motors are supposed to be okay, and some are reportedly lousy. The one I've had has lasted me ten years so far, and just ran five days straight with no hiccups. A little over 400 cc diesel motor, 1.2 qt oil capacity, and a 3.5 gallon fuel capacity.

What I've found is that this little generator has ran everything so far with no problem whatsoever, and burns diesel at a rate of about two gallons every eleven hours or so. In other words, it powers all the basics for 24 hours straight with a little over four gallons of fuel. This is a major consideration, as if you have a generator that burns regular gasoline at a rate of 1/2 - 1 gallon per hour you need to have that fuel allotment on site to run it for days on end...and fresh or treated fuel at that.

This portable diesel genny has been reliable and miserly with fuel so far...but, (and its a big but) it's not quiet. In fact it's downright loud. But when you're out of power for days on end, and need something reliable to keep the house warm and the food cold, I'd rather have something noisy and frugal then a gas hog or nothing at all.

Plus the noise lets me know its running

 

I had a 6.5kw Yanmar diesel that was the same way. 3600rpm motors are stupid loud. I was kinda happy when the windings caught fire.

 

^ I'm suprised - I thought the Yanmars were the crown jewels of air-cooled diesels?

 

Nah, don't get me wrong. The motor worked like a champ...a loud, clattery, noisy champ, but a champ nonetheless. It was the gennie windings that caught fire.

 

when the river flooded up here a while ago, we lost power for a few days. i was like, fuck, what am i gonna do?
well, dumbass me didn't hit upon the idea that i rescued our camper from the rising river and it was sittin' in the driveway and that just inside the garage lay my eu2000.
when i figured it out, i took a hot shower.

 

I thought about hooking up a plug to the garage and running my Honda, problem is if I'm not home my wife has no chance of being able to pull that thing out of the garage, even with the wheel kit it's pretty heavy. Plus its recoil so forget that. Plus if no ones home for whatever reason that's all out the window. I worry about my sump too, that's the most important thing really.

 

When we built our house, added the Generac. Natural gas seems to be the way to go. Ours is very quiet and it runs every saturday at 3pm. All I do is change the oil and filter every year. Change the sparkplug and airfilter every 5 years. Im home 6-10 days a month. I did this for the wife and kids. Highly recommend it.

 

I have a Yamaha powered generator from Sams Club, a Black Max. Doing the hook up to the house with an outside 30 amp plug to the main panel with an interlock switch. Best set up I could find.
Link: http://www.interlockkit.com/intro2.htm

 

I know the guys that tested and rated the Titans. It is loud as hell, but it will run some stuff. They actually stopped testing it at 10k watts. The one I have they said is way stronger than that. 12k+

I had two, but sold one off.

 

I will ask my dad what setup he has; he did a similar setup after going through Katrina. I know he has a huge one, that runs off propane and he has one of those big ass propane tanks in the backyard plumbed in to it.

He has his setup on automatic and it kicks on so quick that the clocks don't even flicker. I was in the house one time when he manually killed the power to the house to test it and i was standing there waiting for something to happen and he came walking in saying "ok, we are on the generator now". Nothing changed and he has the generator mounted 50' away inside the shop so you can't hear it running.

 

Click on the link for keystone generators in my sig line.

 

The Interlock product link I posted makes this a fail safe type setup. I am in no way affiliated with the company or product, not in the business at all.
I am just a satisfied customer. I was looking at something safer than just wiring the generator into the main box and less involved and expensive than the full transfer switch type option. This setup also gives the user the option to use any and/or all breakers as needed.

 

If the power does out here, we can power the house, but we will probably move into one of the campers.

 

My thoughts exactly. I would just go out in the driveway, fire up the generator in the Toy Hauler and stay in it.