Posted: 6/5/2017 4:55:00 PM EDT
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So now that things are starting to fall into place, I need to find a backup power source in case we were to lose power. We have a wood stove for heat, and ceiling fans to move air. Id love to have a standby generator but the $10,000+ price tag is too much to swallow (Gen,install,propane tank and propane fill)
Ive seen a few in the 10-15,000 watt range, I would think that would run a lot of our stuff. Is it easy enough to wire it in to your panel or is that something Id need to call an electrician? |
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I have a generator I got at Lowes for $700 about 7 years ago
it runs on gasoline it's 8500watt, runs everything in the house that needs to run with plenty to spare. got a $250 transfer switch, fairly easy to wire in, although my Dad installed it, he's an electrician. I can also use it for my 220 welder, in fact it's ran my welder a lot more than my house as the power grid is fairly reliable. |
You can pick up military gensets on the .gov surplus auction sites very cheap. Easily picked up by pallet forks on say a 1025R  . Wiring in a transfer switch isn't bad depending on how your setup is. Best to have an electrician do it if you're not too familiar with it. Local code may require it too.
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Need some more info. What all electric appliances do you need to run? I doubt you need that many watts. Give some more details on what you want to run and we can get you set up...possibly with less money than you think you need to spend. |
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Not the OP, but just running a hot water heater can require 30A @240v (7.2 kw). Combined with some lights, a fridge, a stove blower fan, etc. and it isn't unreasonable for people to need a 12kw+ generator. 12kW is 50A, many people have 150-400A service depending on the size of their home and availability of natural gas for heating. |
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Just spitballing here of course, but Im thinking
-Well pump -Hot H20 -Stove -Microwave -Lights -Tv -Phone -Internet Im sure Im missing something important, but thats the basics. We have a stove for winter heating and a ceiling fans to move air in the summer. I just figured something big enough to run it all without any hiccups. My luck will be the power will go down while Im at work and the wife is home with the kids 
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Ok. So you need a big generator to run all that.
Why not pare down your needs? Get a gas camping cookstove for cooking needs. You just reduced your requirements. Can you replace your electric water heater with gas or propane? If not, you'll need about 4500 watts for that unless you have a high recovery water heater (pretty rare) and then you'll need 5500 watts. Well pump is an unknown. Do you know how deep it is? I have a 1 hp pump in a 425 ft deep well. I can easily run it on my 5500 watt generator with power to spare. If you space out your loads...as in run the well pump to pump water, then run the water heater to heat the water, you can drastically reduce your needs. The problem with big generators is most of the time you don't need all that power. You only need it for short bursts. But, if you run it non stop you are going to use a LOT of fuel. If you pare down and space out your loads, you can likely run your place on a roughly 6500 watt running 8000 watt surge generator. If you replace your water heater with a gas or propane heater, you can probably run with a big less...depending on your well pump draw. I would either install a panel interlock kit (cheapest route likely) or do a whole house transfer switch. |
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Not the OP, but just running a hot water heater can require 30A @240v (7.2 kw). Combined with some lights, a fridge, a stove blower fan, etc. and it isn't unreasonable for people to need a 12kw+ generator. 12kW is 50A, many people have 150-400A service depending on the size of their home and availability of natural gas for heating. |
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FWIW, Costco has the champion dual fuel 7KW (9KW surge) on sale for $550 through 7/24. We used one for a while before getting the whole house unit installed. It did fine for most everything except for the HVAC heat pump. We have a heat pump water heater, though, that only draws about 500 watts running, so hot water was no problem on gen power (well pump was also OK).
Nick |
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Downsize your needs. Resistance loads like electric hot water need big generators, which cost a lot and suck fuel.
You need to power your fridge, freezer, well, ac, furnace. Internet and such are very small loads. Microwave is 1500 wats. Either need that much bigger generator or turn other stuff off to use it. You don't need hot water, really. Heat some up in a pot for dishes. Or drop 10k on a big standby. Your call |
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Downsize your needs. Resistance loads like electric hot water need big generators, which cost a lot and suck fuel. You need to power your fridge, freezer, well, ac, furnace. Internet and such are very small loads. Microwave is 1500 wats. Either need that much bigger generator or turn other stuff off to use it. You don't need hot water, really. Heat some up in a pot for dishes. Or drop 10k on a big standby. Your call Of course, that's why we have a wood stove and a propane water heater.... I used to run my last house (all electric) on a 5500 watt generator. It ran my water heater just fine....although there wasn't much power for anything else when the water heater was running. I also didn't have a well pump to worry about. I couldn't run my heat pump but I could run my pellet stove. |
A great tool for figuring out how much generator you need, or what you need to not use to get by with the generator you can afford
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I'm not saying propane isn't in the future, just not the immediate future. More or less looking for something for the upcoming winter to last 3-4 years Cooking stove is a great idea, never thought of that, we have one in our camper Store a drum of Kero and you have a BUNCH of BTUs on hand that can stretch your generator's use and help with overall gen size (and related fuel usage) requirements. |
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Kerosene heaters can be one of your best friends as well. Good for overall or spot heat, can be used to heat water, canned goods etc. Store a drum of Kero and you have a BUNCH of BTUs on hand that can stretch your generator's use and help with overall gen size (and related fuel usage) requirements. Plus, kero heaters are STUPID simple technology. Basically just an oil lamp on steroids. You have a wick, wick raising mechanism, and sometimes a catalytic chamber (and if glass, is the most fragile part). |
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Figure out your well pump needs. Might want to figure out a way to run the well for a bit to pump some water and then shut things down.
You won't run every single thing at once. If you could run the well pump you should be able to do all the rest as long as you are smart about power. Simply due to fuel consumption there is no way I want a whole house generator running all the time waiting to see if my fridge, hot water heater, microwave, dvd player, battery chargers, desk top computer, and a million other things are all going to kick on at the exact same time. I bought a place where the guy messed up the well supplied water system in some major ways. I got to learn about pulling pumps by hand and other stuff. My parents replaced their cistern air tank, bladder tank, whatever you call that thing while having some work done. I rigged it up to a hose faucet to increase my amount of water stored at pressure and to kick the well pump on less. |
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I didnt know you had to have a transfer switch wired in for portable generators as well, I thought you could just plug it in, and shut off the main. Im wondering what it costs to have that done, or can I do it myself ? |
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I didnt know you had to have a transfer switch wired in for portable generators as well, I thought you could just plug it in, and shut off the main. Im wondering what it costs to have that done, or can I do it myself ? If your panel will support it, the cheapest way is the panel interlock kit. For a variety of reasons I prefer the transfer switch but there is nothing wrong with an interlock kit. |