Courtyard Villa's generator experience

[teamC]

Has anyone in a courtyard villa had a whole house generator installed? I would be interested in hearing anyone's experience as an owner or as a neighbor affected by a generator in a CYV.
It would be very helpful if you could provide the year of your experience in your reply.
Thanks so much!

[JohnN]

With underground utilities, I don't see a need for a generator as the electric doesn't ever go out (yet - knock on wood). But I expect you'll get a few replies. Good luck.

[retiredguy123]

My next door neighbor had a generator company come over, but he said the only legal place to install it was outside of his gate and adjacent to my front door. The Villages would not allow it to be installed in that location, and I certainly didn't want it there. Apparently, all locations inside of the gate were too close to a window.

[Kahuna32162]

Seems like a lot of money for very little need. As stated earlier, all utilities are under ground and very stable.

[Gpsma]

Only reason to have a generator installed is if u have medical equipment that needs electricty.

No need down here...unless your mind stll lives in the North with terrible storms. Then spend the money to never use it

[Stu from NYC]

In the event of a hurricane that knocked out power for a period of time can see need for one but why whole house?

[starflyte1]

Buy a portable 5000w. Your neighbors won't complain a bit when they smell the coffee.

We let others use to keep their refrigerators going. Kept three houses going. Not all at once. Just have to share the time. Use long extension cords.

[rjm1cc]

The whole house generators are loud but then you have the windows open because the A/C is off. I would not worry about the noise.
You do have to pay attention to how close the generator is to the overhang of the roof so fumes do not enter the home.
You need some type of emergency pressure value (not sure I am using correct terms). You have this with your current service. This can be moved at little expense so I do not know why you could not locate the generator behind the wall.
I guess the Villages are unique if they have underground electric lines from the generating plant to your home.

[starflyte1]

Ask someone who lives in parts of Lake County in The Villages how log the power was out after the hurricane a couple of years ago. I think 4 days.

[villagetinker]

OP, if you have a medical need, determine the load of the medical equipment, and buy one of the inverter type generators, these tend to be very quiet and easy to operate. Now these will NOT supply your air conditioning, hot water, etc, but will handle a CPAP, and similar equipment. As not above the newer areas of TV had no outages or very limited outages, including IRMA over the last several years. Yes the older section with overhead lines had extended outages due to debris and tress down into the lines. I would not consider a generator, we are between 466a and 44.

[sdeikenberry]

It's more than just the utilities are underground in TV. All the supply lines feeding TV are above ground, so there's that problem to deal with in a bad storm. Also, if you don't have gas lines in your neighborhood, you'll need to have a supply of gasoline around. You'll also want ARC approval, as the generator will be noisy and your neighbors may not like it. The noise isn't just when there's an outage...the generator has to be run every week to exercise it.

[banjobob]

They are noisy but in 8 years we have never had a power failure , a friend has one and had issues with maintenance since it was never needed. Personally I would save the money or get a small portable generator.

[Dana1963]

Unless you have a medical issue I wouldn’t waste the money. In 10 years maybe we have lost electricity 2-3 times no more than 1 hr. Can not say it will not happen.

[Malsua]

Our home in NJ has a whole house standby genset that I installed in 2012. It has had a number multi-day runs after ice storms, Sandy and other severe weather events.

The longest outage we've had in our CYV in TV was last Thursday. Power went out at 4:15 and was back on around 6:15. Woke up and the clocks were off.

When we eventually move down full time, I'll get a Honda EU2000 inverter generator. They are whisper quiet and are plenty to run the fridge.

If we needed it for medical purposes, I would consider a Tesla Powerwall or one of those competitors. They use solar panels to charge and can give you days of power.

Our 14kw standby is pretty loud and since CYVs are on top of each other, it would probably annoy most of the neighbors, so I wouldn't do it just for that reason. Even the best enclosure will only mute the sound a little. Big generators are LOUD.

A Tesla Powerwall, Sonnen or LG chem backup are lithium batteries. They aren't known for noise during use :)

[Bill1701]

Ask someone who lives in parts of Lake County in The Villages how log the power was out after the hurricane a couple of years ago. I think 4 days.
And it does go out more than it should here. Sometimes it is just a few flickers, but sometimes it is out for hours. The power blips also seem to cause Comcast issues.

[caljeff]

As stated above, the issue is not the underground lines in TV, but the lines above ground the get the power to TV from the distribution centers. I live in Pine Ridge between 466a and SR44 and during Irma I lost power for about a day. I considered an external generator solution, but gasoline storage and noise considerations put a quash on that in my mind.

[Dgodin]

Ask someone who lives in parts of Lake County in The Villages how log the power was out after the hurricane a couple of years ago. I think 4 days.
When I moved here a neighbor told me a power outage had lasted 4 days. I bought a portable, 1700w generator to charge cell phones and run appliances but think the possibility of losing power is remote and would not spend a lot of money on a generator.

[Scorpyo]

I agree with most of the posts. A home standby generator would be way overkill. However, if you just want to run some lights and fans I would suggest a Honda EU2000 (I have one). The benefit is it is portable (although 47 lbs) and can be used for other things either at home or away. If we ever see the vendors at the square again you'll notice many of them use EU2000's. However, if you're looking to run your a/c you're going to need to have a transfer switch installed. You would need a slightly larger generator. I would recommend a Honda EU3000. I also have one of those. Did I mention I retired from Honda? Lastly many people don't realize it but generators need to be run away from the home. There are deaths every year from people using them in their garage or just too close to a window.

[Engine12]

The whole house generators are loud but then you have the windows open because the A/C is off. I would not worry about the noise.
You do have to pay attention to how close the generator is to the overhang of the roof so fumes do not enter the home.
You need some type of emergency pressure value (not sure I am using correct terms). You have this with your current service. This can be moved at little expense so I do not know why you could not locate the generator behind the wall.
I guess the Villages are unique if they have underground electric lines from the generating plant to your home.

We had a whole home generator installed several months ago. Everyone is correct that The Villages electric lines are underground, but how do those lines get supplied ? They get supplied by overhead, above ground lines. So, it’s kind of like insurance, we’ll probably never need it, but if we do, we’ll be happy having lights and air conditioning when it’s 90 degrees and humid out.
“Emergency Pressure Valve” no idea what that is, and we didn’t have to have it. Might be needed if being supplied by natural gas supply.
The generator has to be either 5’ or 5 1/2’ from a window or vent.
And if you have a whole house generator, you won’t have your windows open because you’ll have your A/C on.

[Engine12]

It's more than just the utilities are underground in TV. All the supply lines feeding TV are above ground, so there's that problem to deal with in a bad storm. Also, if you don't have gas lines in your neighborhood, you'll need to have a supply of gasoline around. You'll also want ARC approval, as the generator will be noisy and your neighbors may not like it. The noise isn't just when there's an outage...the generator has to be run every week to exercise it.
If you don’t have natural gas in your neighborhood, you can have a propane tank buried in your yard for supply. You do NOT have to have a supply of gasoline !
Yes, ARC approval is needed, no problem there.
As far as neighbors go, all of our neighbors were contacted by us and no one has a problem, they have asked if they could plug chargers in, etc. And some have asked about plugging in a small fridge in to keep meds cold. And our answer to both has been of course you can !
As far as noise every week it lasts a whole 5 minutes, and most of that time is running at 50% or lower. Lawn mowers have drowned that noise out several times.

[ts12755]

My utilities are underground and I never went out in a storm although I did have a couple Bluesky outages over the five years I've been here. Mostly short-term.

[rwfisher1969]

In the event of a hurricane that knocked out power for a period of time can see need for one but why whole house?

If the power goes out because of a hurricane, a whole house generator is the only type I would want. Life goes on like nothing ever happened with one.
We have one here in upstate NY. 20 seconds after the power goes out, the generator kicks on. Power for heat/AC, refrigerator/ freezer, lights and sump. I would not want to be without power for AC in Florida for any length of time in the heat and humidity that time of year.

[LianneMigiano]

Our power has gone out twice in 10 years here in the Village of Belle Aire (once for 5 minutes and the other for 30 minutes). We didn't ever lose power during hurricane Irma! I sure as the devil wouldn't be bothered by purchasing a generator!

[graciegirl]

Lost power for one day during Irma in living here since 2007.

[Michael A. David]

I have lived in The Villages for over 10 years and never had to start up my generator. At most the power has been out for a couple of hours.

[lwmilo]

It's more than just the utilities are underground in TV. All the supply lines feeding TV are above ground, so there's that problem to deal with in a bad storm. Also, if you don't have gas lines in your neighborhood, you'll need to have a supply of gasoline around. You'll also want ARC approval, as the generator will be noisy and your neighbors may not like it. The noise isn't just when there's an outage...the generator has to be run every week to exercise it.

Absolutely correct...Dispite your electrical under ground feeds delivering service to your home, practically all of these primary feeds have to exit T V ( Excluding secondary feeds) and are attached to Primary or Hi Line poles which are mostly overhead. Take a look at the major roads and see the tall poles with High Voltage lines attached. Fortunatly TV has many dedicated feeds coming in the Vils and loads can be switched from one circuit to the other in case of an outage. Whew said a lot!!

[GypsyRN]

During IRMA, we lost power for almost 4 days...sure wished we'd had what we have NOW during that period of time! We now have a Champion 6250 starting watts/5000 running watts inverter generator and a new 200 amp panel with an interlock switch. With this arrangement, we can power two refrigerators and a standalone upright freezer and several other circuits. We can alternate power to the AC, should we desire to depending on the temperature outside. Maybe overkill, but don't come running to me when you need to keep all the food in your refrig/freezer from spoiling. And NO, it doesn't need to be exercised every month...we exercise it maybe 2-3 times a year. Choose wisely the size of the portable generator that you are considering purchasing...they're are all good...just a matter of size and costs. Good Luck.

[Alana33]

We had a whole home generator installed several months ago. Everyone is correct that The Villages electric lines are underground, but how do those lines get supplied ? They get supplied by overhead, above ground lines. So, it’s kind of like insurance, we’ll probably never need it, but if we do, we’ll be happy having lights and air conditioning when it’s 90 degrees and humid out.
“Emergency Pressure Valve” no idea what that is, and we didn’t have to have it. Might be needed if being supplied by natural gas supply.
The generator has to be either 5’ or 5 1/2’ from a window or vent.
And if you have a whole house generator, you won’t have your windows open because you’ll have your A/C on.

Yep! I bought a whole house propane generator with auto transfer after Irma blew thru and had no power for 8 - 10 miserably hot days. It's not like you can open a window and catch any breeze up here in summer. It's actually pretty quiet.

If I never have to use it, that's fine but I'm happy to have it. I live in Lady Lake, right outside the Villages.
I moved here from the Virgin Islands and everyone has generators.

[queasy27]

Underground utilities or not, I'm in some kind of Bermuda Triangle area of TV where power outages occur several times a year. They typically only last 1-2 hours, but Irma took us out for 4 days. Adjoining neighborhoods were fine.

We were back to the '20s with no refrigeration, A/C, Internet, ebooks, cell phones, etc. Once the power was back, it took me about two hours just to feed all the spoiled food from my fridge and full size freezer down the disposal.

That type of thing will scar a person and I've been meaning to buy a whole-house generator but my friend procrastination set in. Next year's hurricane season for sure! :icon_wink:

[rjm1cc]

I run my weekly maint. at 2am and no one is up to hear it and with the windows closed no one would. Unless they are outside they probably do not notice it during the day.

[JoMar]

Loss of Power also depends on who you have.....been here almost 6 years and have SECO, one outage for about an hour so no big deal. If it really gets bad we will do what we did up north.....find a hotel.