Generator installation
 

I understand that my house has some sort of connector in the breaker board that would allow me to install a generator directly to the board to run things in case of an outage.

Is it possible to get a generator that would run the entire house? if not what are the limitations? What size generator would I need for this?

Yes, you can install a whole house generator. You can even get ones that auto start when power fails and run on natural gas or propane so there are less fuel shortage issues. For kW requirements, you would need to do some calculations based on the amount of power your various electrical devices dissipate. The big power hogs are ovens, dryers, and HVAC.

Home Standby Generators @ Electric Generators Direct

When we lived up north we had a 12KW generator that could run the refrigerator, water pump, oil furnace, air conditioner and oil water heater (all high current to start) along with house lights, tv's and all that sort of stuff. It was about $6,000 installed, including an automatic transfer panel.

It did not run the electric stove (or an electric hot water heater if you have one)... you would need a much larger generator to do that. But it had no trouble running a microwave.

It didn't run every circuit because we didn't get a transfer panel that could handle all the circuits we had, but with a larger panel it would have. But for all practical purposes that didn't matter.

During a few "weather events" we lived for almost week at a time off that generator. There were a quite a few smaller outages of a few hours too... with the automatic transfer panel though it was had to notice that there was an outage.

Not sure what you are thinking
 

My thoughts-if you are planning of connecting a generator to your entire home electrical system, it is a job for a licensed electrician. You need to give up room for it and you need to run it once a month or so to keep it in good WORKING condition. For us, the refrigerator is top priority.
It is a capacitor start system so you need more power than what is posted on the motor. You will find charts on the internet.

Questions you might want to think about-What fuel-gas, gasoline. diesel? How long do you expect to run it? The inexpensive ones do not have an oil filter and the oil SHOULD be changed every 24 hours.

We were not in Florida for hurricane sandy but lost power for five days. I often wonder as I watch people. The person next door to us had a generator. First of all with no power out neighborhood was dead silent. The same people who were bitching about the noise of his generator also were bitching as to why he was not powering every home on the block-heck for miles around. Like here, when the power went out gas stations could not pump gas. Trucks had trouble delivering gas to the operating stations etc.
Our neighbor was getting up at 5 am to buy five gallons of gasoline. As they did here the stations would not allow you to buy more than one five gallon can of gas per trip.

We have lost power up north for 10 days at a time, sometimes not even weather related. Whole house gen runs once a month by itself. New ones are about size of two air conditioning units just not as tall. If you have gas it can be hooked up without worry og propane. Several neighborhoods have that ability.

The small couple of KW generators you get or a few hundred dollars are not made to be run for days at a time. Not only do they need an oil change every 12 hours or so they also need a full servicing about every 24 or 36 hours. I know... I learned this the hard way by burning out a small gas (and then a diesel that replaced it) generator running it continuously for a few days a few times.

You really can't leave gas in a tank for a long time for intermittent use... it will go bad. Diesel can be let sitting in a tank for a really long time without going bad but it is really smelly and messy to use. Once you fill up a diesel generator it will take at least two showers get rid of the smell.

Unless there is something that prevents it for a whole house generator you want natural gas or propane. Whole house generators usually self test themselves automatically... Generacs do this, which is what we finally got once I got tired of having to pull out the generator and keep it running every time we has a "weather event".

Btw never run a generator inside, only outside....

The is no more pleasurable task than going outside and filling a diesel generator in a raging blizzard every 8 or 10 hours for 5 days. That was the "weather event" that pushed me over the edge and get a "real" whole house generator.

Yes it is. I had a 22kw Generac generator installed about 2 months ago. It is a whole house generator, powered by propane. It was installed by Trademark Electric of Ocala. it can also be powered by natural gas.

You will need ARC approval, a permit for the generator installation, and a permit for propane or gas installation. The permits were taken care of by the electrical company and the propane vendor. I took care of the ARC.

You will want to have an automatic transfer switch installed as well . It was part of my package.


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May I ask what this installation ran you ?


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The generator, installed, was about $8400. If you have natural gas there will be a slight hookup fee. I live south of 466A so I had to set it up for propane. That required a large 250 gallon tank to be buried in my yard, and a propane delivery.

The tank can be leased or purchased, and the propane costs about $2.19 per gallon.

About 10 years ago, at my former home in Charlotte, I installed a 17kw generator and it cost about $1000 more.


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How many dB?


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I have a Generac 16KW with automatic transfer in Wisconsin. I have a 100 amp service so this is able to run anything in the house we wish. Our range, dryer, hot water heater, furnace are all natural gas as is the Generator. We have had outages of 3 days and never knew the power was out. The Generac does self test itself once a week, which can be set by the user. Our house we are moving to in the Villages has a 150 amp service with all gas appliances so I would guess a 16 KW would probably run the whole house. You would want to do a calculation and might decide on a 20 KW. We are considering the installation of one in The Villages. The full installation cost approx $5000.00 up here. I will guess The Villages will cost more.

As mentioned !!!
 

With homes so close here in the Villages, does anyone but me worry about the noise of a Generac running as stated in the dead silence of a power failure. I'll bet you can hear that running for three blocks...

Might not be popular with the neighbors .... :cus: :cus:

According to the spec sheet, it is 67db. Equal to a typical A/c unit (60db) or a dishwasher (70db)
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Generator installation
 

I'll check, but I can tell you when it is running for a test, neither I nor my rear or side neighbors can hear it. As Fromaus noted above it is 67 dB.

Here is a link to the full spec sheet:

http://gens.generac.com/generaccorpo...sheet-2017.pdf



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I bet (and know ) you won't. When our neighborhood in Charlotte lost power during a snow event, only the neighbor to our right knew it had been running for 3 days. And that was because he kept checking it out so he could plan an installation.

Those units have sound deadening packaging that works. They are not at all like portable generators.


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You should post a picture of your breaker box so we can see the connector.

Generator installation
 

I would be happy to do so, but about 2 months ago I lost the ability to upload photos, etc. Have not been been able to figure out how to solve it.

Here is a link to the transfer switch info though.

http://gens.generac.com/GeneracCorpo...Spec-Sheet.pdf

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Thank you. We too live south of 466A and propane would need to be the fuel. Your cost is about what I thought it would be. Again, thanks for the info.


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I have gas stove and dryer. Does this mean, installing gas generator will be easier or less expensive if I use the gas line in my house? Thanks

Generator installation
 

It would be easier because you already have access to natural gas.. Good for you. And the installation of the gas fuel source would be less expensive than creating a propane source.


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Welcome!


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[emoji137]🏼*♂️


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Consider the odds.
 

In my 48 years of living in Florida (admittedly mostly in Tampa) I have been in a house without electricity due to weather for three days on one occasion and for 30 hours on another (the recent Hurricane Irma.)

After the three day event, which was back in the 1980's, I bought a portable generator that was capable of supporting my refrigerator, my over-the-air TV, a 100 watt light bulb, and a large electric fan. I could briefly change the power from the refrigerator to the microwave, and at night I ran only the refrigerator and a window unit air conditioner for my bedroom.

For a couple of years after I made the purchase, I ran the generator annually, and changed the gasoline and oil each year. After a while the novelty wore off and it got stuffed in the back of the garage. This time, we didn't even drag out the generator because it was a sure thing that the gasoline had gotten gummy although I had put gas stabilizer in the last tankful and it would take some effort to clean it up and get it running.

As I've mentioned before, food preparation without electricity is not an issue because I have a camp stove and a gas grill.

In the case of Irma, when it became apparent that we might be without electricity for a couple of days, we started preparing the perishables in the freezer for each meal. Nothing spoiled and we ate well. If the power outage had extended another half day we might have cranked up the generator for the refrigerator and electric fans.

Now, The Villages has just gone through a direct hit by a hurricane which was estimated to be a Category 2 blow, which is the worst that a hurricane this far inland is likely to be, so you might want to question the wisdom of the high cost of an investment in a whole house emergency generator in view of the infrequency that hurricanes even come inland as opposed to doing coastal damage.

What are the odds?

Check central maine diesel website

I would agree with Carl. For a little perspective, we lived in Michigan (about 2 hours north and west of Detroit) for about 12 years before moving here full time. When we moved to Michigan, I asked my neighbor about buying a whole house generator as I was concerned with the winters and not having heat, and he advised me against it. The utility lines were underground, and he told me that in the 12 years he lived there before we came, they only lost power very briefly (a few hours). We lived there for 11 years before a storm hit that resulted in us losing power for three days. The storm was rain/wind related and it was not yet cold enough to worry about frozen pipes. My major concern was that my sump pump did not work, so I literally made over 100 trips up and down the stairs bailing out my sump. In retrospect, I might have made the investment when I first moved to Michigan for a little more peace of mind.

Should we lose power here (we were fortunate that we did not lose power with Irma), from our perspective the worst would be that we would be without air conditioning, and we could lose refrigerated food. At least we would not be worried about frozen pipes or no heat as we could have faced in Michigan.

However, should health issues be such that maintaining air conditioning is a requirement, then you might weigh that into the equation. Given the number of events of lost power in this area due to storms (other posts seem to indicate that it has been minutes/hours versus days not including Irma), I am not sure that the cost benefit analysis would say it is worth it as I can buy a heck of a lot of groceries before I break even.........

I completely understand both CarlinTampa and TraderJoe's positions. The Villages came out relatively unscathed in Irma. However there are still pockets here with no electricity. Our generator serves 2 purposes. It sits there to provide some level of certainty that my wife will have A/C and power. Her medical condition is significantly impacted by heat. The generator also provides me the ability to participate in volunteer activities that are disaster related, knowing that my wife will be comfortable.


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I am not sure about TECO requirements in The Villages, but in Wisconsin I was required to have the gas company install a larger gas meter on my existing gas line. This is because the generator uses more gas.