Can anyone recommend a company in Pearland/Houston to install a whole house generator?  I had a company stop by and said I would need an 18kW to run most everything and would install a smart switch to make sure it would not be overloaded (A/C's and dyer or oven on at the same time).  He said a 36kW would run the whole house with no issues.  18kW was around 11k installed and the 36kW was 21K.  These prices seem crazy high.  House is less than a year old.  Gas and power are within six feet of one another.  I was told a higher pressure regulator would have to be install by the gas company to feed it.

Thanks for your help.

Northern Tool 18kw $4500

Looks like you're paying a lot for the installation, but I guess that depends on what on what type of switching they install and what it takes to tie in the gas.

I can understand wanting to run the AC, but have you thought about going smaller?

Vaughn's Heat and Air..........Winnie ,Tx.
He does a lot of this work.

I looked at Lowes, Depot, and Northern tool prices.  They all had the generator it's self for half the price??  They were charging around $1000 for gas line and electrical runs.  Which were around ~40 feet.  Still trying to figure out how they are charging the price of the generator for the connectivity??

Yep, that Northern model comes with the 200 amp "smart switch". You'd still need to mod your panel with a disconnect. If they are planning to completely replace your house panel, that could run your price up.

I had an old Federal Pacific panel at my old house and was told it could run anywhere from $1500 to $4000 to replace it, then depending on the inspector, they could demand to have any old wiring replaced, including the new style breakers for the bedrooms, which would cost more. And we'd be without power for up to two weeks.

I had my Dad come out to help me mount a new panel, we swapped it out in an afternoon.

I have/maybe still am considering one as well.
They're not cheap. My BIL is a superintendent wih Talley. I asked him about it and he said he would bother unless it would run he whole house, which will be expensive. My neighbor is also in construction said to go all the way or not at all, cause wouldn't it suck to the whole show shutdown because Missy had a date and blew a fuse with the curling iron!

Made sense until my buddy was helping me with my car and said that's a lot of cash sitting around the yard.

I agree, sitting up in cyfair on 290 but I went through TSAllison in P'ville and that was not fun and we didn't lose power!
We rode ought Katrina in cyfair thanks to help from my BILs and a neighbor.

OP, if you can wire it yourself-do it. I cant, therefore I won't cheap out.

Good luck

For the longest time I had an all or nothing attitude towards a standby gen because I had always lost power in the hotter times of the year.  Then we had a major ice storm in December that took our power down for 3 days.  I have equated our neighborhood as being like North Korea.  Truth is we have power coming in overhead with a lot of large trees.  Anyway, this was our first long power outage in cold weather.  A friend was kind enough to loan me a generator as long as he still had power.  Between doing a little creative wiring at the panel and extensive use of extension cords (Read Clark Griswold's Christmas lights) we had heat, TV, internet, and a few lights.  I have since obtained my own generator and am researching the addition of a manual transfer switch.  My hot weather plan is to either borrow or buy a window AC unit to keep cool.  I had one when I got the house to limp through the first summer and then loaned to a friend to use when his AC went down and would be a few days before he could get repaired. It has since been sold I hate to say.  I think we can hunker down in a room or 2 with cool air and entertainment in a pinch without having a large chunk of cash sitting there that can't be used anywhere but home.  No single solution is right for everyone but this has been my chosen solution.  I got a deal on the generator so if I have to buy the unit it will be worth it in my opinion.  $18k-$21k is a lot of dough for just about anyone and a virtual impossibility for me to lay out for something may not get used that often even if I am in the virtual North Korea.  

The overall backup plan is something I have become rather interested in since that time so I look forward any of the responses to the OP's original query as well as related suggestions so long as they don't hijack the thread too bad.  

Jester

While were on the subject which I have contemplated in the past...

If your generator is powered by city CNG/LP or whatever lines is it true these lines continue to deliver even if the power if out say in the whole region?

Seems like a win if true, since you don't have to secure and hold a fuel supply. Although it puts you at the mercy of city infrastructure.

There was a thread in the survival forum from a volunteer fireman who was involved with tornado response in Alabama this year. Lots of NG turned off. May or may not happen, I like diesel.

As an option, my house is all gas, I bought a Honda 6500 generator, picked up two 110 v window AC units and lived like that for five weeks after our last hurricane.  The Honda runs 12 hours, the house was cool enough to be comfortable, we cooked, ran computers.  I can unplug the generator and take it somewhere else to use.

That's what I have. 3500 watt gen and a $99 AC window unit. Figure I can run the microwave some, cycle through the fridge and freezer and run a tv. I have a propane heater for winter.

The downside is no hot water. Still working on a method to plug in one heating element that would allow everyone to take a quick shower every day. But something like an 8000 watt gen would easily overcome that problem.

I have a 20kW LP-powered generator, with ATS...

Made a concrete pad, ran my own gas line, had an ARF member wire it all (including a new breaker panel) for a grand...

All told, I think I'm in less than $6k.

p

solar.

I have another company that I have used in the past coming by next Tuesday.  We shall see where they fall into the mix.
My house is less than 6 months old.  So, my panel should be good to go.  Draw back is I have 2 A/C's and 3000 square feet.

I bought a generac  whole house generator ( natural gas )   that came with a automatic transfer switch ..  for about 4 k  . ( 20kw if I recall correctly )  I sized my house  and then looked at gas usage , the generator I bought uses less gas at 50% output power then the smaller ones at 100% output  power , also runs at lower rpms  and this is the first model that has an aluminum housing vs steel ..

I poured the concrete pad myself ( made sure it was  HIGH of the ground )   by the time the generator gets water in ,  i will have standing water in my house.

I live in the city  and   as well as for safety reasons I paid an electrical company to come in and pull permits and wire in the generac and switch.  ***************   Please be aware if you have the NEW  electrical meters  ( smart meters )  when the meter is disconnected the power company KNOWS IT and will send out a truck to check what happened....   they showed up to my house 30 min after we pulled the meter  and all they wanted to see what a permit tag and they said thanks and looking good,...    they said we could reinstall with no issue  ... I was told by the same guy that with out a permit .. they will  turn off the power and make you get a permit and city inspection before they turn it on  again...


I ran the short gas line from an existing gas line ...   city inspector looked at it and said  looked better then some plumbers do .    Please note that you lose  10% of rated power when you run natural gas vs propane .. so my 20k  is really an 18 k

All told i was in about 6k   with generator  by acting as my own GC  


I was one of the first to put in a permanent standby generator in my city  ( was early  2010 )   and the city inspector spent a lot of time asking questions  as he wanted to do the same thing at his house.       From what I understand more and more people are doing the permanent generator install.     I know that the new neighborhood  being built in my area all the builders offer prewiring for a generator as an option and lots of people are choosing to do that .

This one is available on Amazon

Better hurry.....there is only 1 left.    

I wonder why the 15,000.50 shipping?   Why the $0.50?

Profit.  

That's unusual because I had a meter stolen off my father's house after he died and we didn't figure it out for a few days until the realtor called me and told the meter was missing.  

You could wire in a new panel by taping up the leads and wire nuts off the meter so you don't have to pull it.  


Another thing to be aware of is NG pumping stations use electricity so if the grid takes a hit NG is likely to be unavailable.  Go diesel or gas if you're really worried about staying up.  

Well the other company came out a said a 27kW would run the whole house and I could get it for the low low price of $18k.  I ask why I could buy one for half that price and why the labor is the other half?  He couldn't answer.  Then he quoted a 18kW which would have been around $9k.  I asked why the labor and installation was double for the 28kW?  When the plumbing and electrical was the exact same?  He could not answer.  It seems these companies just double the generator price and that is the installation cost.
So, I guess we will be staying at the Holiday inn.

Just for grins, did you get Home Depot to send one of their contractors out to price it for you?

In the mean time:

$900 - $700 for a honda/yamaha 2000w inverter generator

or $350 for a redneck 3500w Champion

5000 btu window unit AC's are running about $110 this year.

A couple of extension cords and a big ass lock and chain.

For under a grand, you'd have something as a backup.

One of the companies I could was the installer for Home Depot.  He was a USED car salesman.  Felt like I had turned my home into a buy here pay here lot.
Towards the end I almost had to tell him to get out!!  I would not have bought ANYTHING from them even if they had the best price just because he turned me off.

If you were the least bit handy you could do most of this yourself, and save a bundle.   Sort of act like you're the contractor, and hire out some people, or do some of the work yourself.