Generator talk for running your house and ponds in an emergency

[brokensword]

We have a few generators................................none hooked up by mr electrician husband...................

hahahahahahahahahahah

 

[texmaster]

This is actually an excellent thread that @texmaster started. It is easy to think I'm 'good to go' unless there is a large storm but losing power can happen anytime. We lost power for most of a day due to someone running into a power pole. I thank texmaster for the reminder to get things ready.

I'll be honest I never really got into it until the Great Freeze that went across texas in feburary.

I had one 2000 watt 8 year old generator I bought on a lark that thankfully worked and had my entire family plus my mother and godmother (I drove over and picked them up) so 3 women (wife mom and godmother) and 2 kids huddled in a room for 4 days with enough power to run one space heater on low plus the tv and satellite.

I vowed that would never EVER happen again. They were really nice but I'm old school and see myself as the provider and I wasn't providing enough.

This is actually my mom's house. I am still waiting for our whole home generator setup to be installed at the end of September. We ordered it back in April so you can see how long the wait is but mom wanted to be able to sleep in her own bed so I set this up for her and ironically, she is more protected than we are!

The whole home is a lot more money of course. For our house which is about 3,000sq ft with a 5 ton a/c its 12k.

So 2k vs 12k and the only differences is ours will run from a natural gas line and hers will need gas and a few minutes of setup.

When the whole home generator is finally installed, I'll post pics.

 

[MaryP]

Former off gridder here. Had farm ponds. Solar and wind. We had 2 5500 watt wheeled Generacs for back up. Now in a tiny rural village wirh frequent power putages. Grabbed a small Generac when we could find one. Pull start. I can't do it. Going to check on solar again. Upgrading the generator.

 

[combatwombat]

@poconojoe: It depends on the heat pump. Technology has come a long way. Ours can deliver 80% capacity at 17° and I sized it to eliminate electric backup strips. Didn’t even install them.

They make units that can deliver 100% capacity down to about -5° and 80% down to -13° and people in the Midwest and Canada heat their homes with them without electric backup.

 

[combatwombat]

@texmaster: Thanks for the breakdown. Did you have to do any rewiring indoors to get your critical loads on fewer circuits? My house was wired in the 60s with little regard to zoning and no dedicated circuits for appliances like they do now.

 

[GBBUDD]

Pull start. I can't do it

There are new techniques where anyone can start a pull start motor you just have to find who spent the money on there generator to sell to you

 

[GBBUDD]

I'll be honest I never really got into it until the Great Freeze that went across texas in feburary.

I had one 2000 watt 8 year old generator I bought on a lark that thankfully worked and had my entire family plus my mother and godmother (I drove over and picked them up) so 3 women (wife mom and godmother) and 2 kids huddled in a room for 4 days with enough power to run one space heater on low plus the tv and satellite.

I vowed that would never EVER happen again. They were really nice but I'm old school and see myself as the provider and I wasn't providing enough.

This is actually my mom's house. I am still waiting for our whole home generator setup to be installed at the end of September. We ordered it back in April so you can see how long the wait is but mom wanted to be able to sleep in her own bed so I set this up for her and ironically, she is more protected than we are!

The whole home is a lot more money of course. For our house which is about 3,000sq ft with a 5 ton a/c its 12k.

So 2k vs 12k and the only differences is ours will run from a natural gas line and hers will need gas and a few minutes of setup.

When the whole home generator is finally installed, I'll post pics.

My two cents,, The heck with gas spend the money on propane you can get a large storage tank that will last a week or more . if your going for never again . The gas can get compromised in storms to easily and sitting in line FOR IT . over already having the storage is no comparison.

 

[poconojoe]

@poconojoe: It depends on the heat pump. Technology has come a long way. Ours can deliver 80% capacity at 17° and I sized it to eliminate electric backup strips. Didn’t even install them.

They make units that can deliver 100% capacity down to about -5° and 80% down to -13° and people in the Midwest and Canada heat their homes with them without electric backup.

Interesting. All the heat pump systems I've seen all had massive heating coils in the ductwork.
Granted, I'm not an HVAC guy, so my observations are limited.

Where I live in northeastern Pennsylvania, most homes have individual electric baseboard heat in each room. Each room has it's own thermostat. There's no furnace or boiler.
When I had my house built 25 years ago I told the builder I didn't want electric heat. They wanted to sell me a heat pump system. I asked them to explain how that works. They said below 45 degrees F, an electric coil kicks in. I stopped him right there. Didn't I just say I didn't want electric heat! Duh!

So, things have improved with heat pumps over the years from what you are saying. That's great!

 

[poconojoe]

My two cents,, The heck with gas spend the money on propane you can get a large storage tank that will last a week or more . if your going for never again . The gas can get compromised in storms to easily and sitting in line FOR IT . over already having the storage is no comparison.

We don't have natural gas piped in our area. I have a 100 gallon propane tank for my gas stove, fireplace, clothes dryer and barbecue grill. I have it filled twice a year.
My mother-in-law has 3 of those bottles because she also has a propane whole house generator.
Some homes have a horizontal tank which holds 300 gallons.

It's great to have your own storage, but there are advantages and disadvantages to everything.
We depend on a local company to fill the bottle because there's no pipelines. If they can't deliver gas for some obscure reason or catastrophe, we are stuck. It's never happened, but you never know these days with what has been going on lately.

 

[addy1]

We put in a 500 gallon propane tank years ago, I dug the hole for it, have a instant on hot water heater, a ventless propane heater for the winter. We use around 200 gallons a year heating our water and heating the house.

 

[poconojoe]

We put in a 500 gallon propane tank years ago, I dug the hole for it, have a instant on hot water heater, a ventless propane heater for the winter. We use around 200 gallons a year heating our water and heating the house.

Not bad

 

[addy1]

Not bad

It helps that we have 20 plus feet of windows that let the winter sun in. They face south and as the sun lowers in the sky it comes right in. We sometimes open a door in the winter to cool the house off. We use cellular type blinds to keep the sun out in the summer. Open and shut as the sun moves from window to window.

 

[texmaster]

@texmaster: Thanks for the breakdown. Did you have to do any rewiring indoors to get your critical loads on fewer circuits? My house was wired in the 60s with little regard to zoning and no dedicated circuits for appliances like they do now.

For this house no. Its a single electrical panel so it just required an extra 30 amp breaker and the wire running to the plug itself.

House was built in 68.

 

[texmaster]

My two cents,, The heck with gas spend the money on propane you can get a large storage tank that will last a week or more . if your going for never again . The gas can get compromised in storms to easily and sitting in line FOR IT . over already having the storage is no comparison.

yeah at this house her backyard doesn't have the room but its a great idea.

 

[brokensword]

yeah at this house her backyard doesn't have the room but its a great idea.

mount it to the roof?