Home standby generators
 

Anyone have experience with Generac?
Are they worth it in the villages.

Lots of threads on this subject. Do a search and you will see lots of comments.

In the four years I have lived here full time I remember once when the power was out for an hour or so. I don't remember it being four hours. I don't remember more than two or three times that it was out for even a minute.

If it ever does go out for an extended period of time you will be glad you have the whole house generator. You could have a long wait before that day happens.

I am sorry posters just say look it up, even though those posts can be multi years old.

Up north we have whole house Generac. It cycles every Friday, and requires once a year maintenance. That said we are country living in a small neighborhood setting with acres of land. Our power grid is great then it’s not. We loose power 4-11 times a year for up to 10 days. So well worth the thousands we paid.

Since 2007 in TV living in 4 different villages, we have lost power for 15 minutes total. Friends in St Catherine have a Generac in 4 years it has kicked in twice for less than an hour.

In my opinion, it is not worth it. A house on my street has one, and it is very noisy, and can be heard 5 houses away. I often wonder what it would be like if every house had one. I would probably need to leave my house during a power outage because the noise would be unbearable.

Infrastructure is underground here in The Villages. Better than a 99% chance you will never need it.

No, unless you have medical problem that requires 24 -7 power. I’ve been here 10 year and never had power lost more than couple hours and I’m still reasonably good shape to coop. generac highly rated.

Wow it must need serious maintenance. It should only recycle once a week for less than 5 minutes. We can hardly hear ours that is next to 2nd master with 22’ ceilings. Even running for 5-10 days when power is out is nothing like running our 220 contractors generator.

Maybe it’s not Generac?

There must be different types of Generac generators, because this one is very noisy, and it has been that way ever since it was installed at least 3 years ago. Whenever there is a power outage, I walk around the block and I can hear it from 5 houses away. I don't think it needs maintenance. It is just plain noisy.

I'd get a big battery, like the Anker Solix: Anker SOLIX F3800 | Minimum Effort, Maximum Power - Anker US
or Tesla Powerwall https://www.tesla.com/powerwall

Or a car that can feed power back into your house like the Tesla Cybertruck: https://www.tesla.com/support/powershare
No need for a noisy generator, fuel and maintenance.

Not needed, power is very stable here.

Losing power here is much lower likelihood/risk than being hit by lightening.

Motel is cheaper.

Storm coming?
Call ahead in the area were there's no path from the storm and book a room
a couple days in advance.

Just make sure you can cancel your reservation anytime.

Your Welcome

We thought of going the permanently installed standby generator but the cost of getting the unit and having it professionally installed (high) vs. the probability of ever having to use it for any extensive length of time (low) decided us against it. Instead we purchased a portable inverter generator, specifically a Westinghouse iGen 2500. I forget the cost ($750.00 maybe?) but at less than 50 lbs you can take it anywhere, and a couple of trial runs showed that it will run everything in the house except the A/C--and we have enough fans to keep us reasonably cool in the interim.

Inverter is important: non-inverters can generate more power for the same money but can injure anything that has a computer brain and as that includes everything but probably electric lamps, fan and maybe toothbrush we took the safe route.

Upkeep is simple. I run it once a month or so, usually mowing the lawn and doing other lawn work such as edging and trimming the hedge, make sure the oil is clean and keep the gas reasonably new, and it never gives any problem.

I’ve looked for a “whole house” battery backup system. This would be my preferred method if it wasn’t for the cost. One could purchase two Generac systems for one comparable whole house battery backup system. Then becomes the issue of charging the batteries. You have an additional expense for the solar panels. My understanding is the solar panels put on your roof by/for the utility companies cannot be connected to battery backup systems.

I have a friend with a Generac generator. It is not noisy. But as others have said, extended power outages are rare here in The Villages. Unless needed for a medical reason, I would take a very hard look before purchasing.

I haven't looked at the numbers yet but a few things to consider:

1. How long will the batteries last if they are running the entire house? Is that number of days/hours/minutes worth the cost?

2. Assuming a bright clear day, how much additional time do the panels give you? Are they sufficient to run the whole house while also charging the batteries? If you used power sparingly could they charge the batteries enough to last through the night? And in a situation where the power is out, will you have a bright clear day?

3. It might be possible to charge the batteries without the solar panels. The panels may be a nice feature but might not be necessary.

I'm not saying the batteries aren't worth looking into. I'm glad to see the links so I can evaluate the systems for myself. I'm just not clear on the balance of benefit to cost.

We have been here (village of Pinellas) since 2013, I can count the number of outages on one hand, and even when IRMA and IAN hit, we never lost power. I think the longest outage was well under 2 hours, probably around 1 hour.

Now if you are still worried, I would get a small say 2 kW INVERTER generator, find a suitable location OUTSIDE the house away from openings, and have a suitable power entrance installed. Then you can use an extension cord for your absolutely equipment. We actually have 2 and shortly a 3rd UPS to cover critical equipment.

I see commercials all time says government will install solar panels for free.:beer3:

As far as whole house backup generators go, Gererac is one of the best.

That said, if you have SECO as your power company (Sumter County), your really don't need one. In the 3.5 years we've owned out home, power has gone out 2-3 times, for a few minutes each time...

Duke Electric is less stable with more (and longer) power outages...

Although the electric utilities are underground...the feeders bringing them into TV is above ground. Lose the feeder during a storm, you're out of business.

Been just south of 44 for 3 years and have had about 30 minutes of outage. Not worth it for us.

At a previous home I was always loosing power and in the winter months, sometimes for days. Generac is a great brand and reliable. Been here in the villages a bit less than two years now and never lost power more than a few minutes. Not worth putting in a stand alone generator but did buy a small portable Honda just for basic power if needed

Generac is a good brand. They had issues with a certain size generator years ago. I think it was their 11KW or 14KW. Don’t quote me on which size had the problem but do some research on that issue prior to buying one. Good luck!

Had one up north. Excellent. ESP in winter months. Not sure you need one here. Very expensive if you also hook up AC. Did not do that up north

Irma
 

IRMA 2017 - Pine Hills lost Leesburg power 19 hours Seco never lost it

Generators weekly testing noise
 

By far, the BIGGER problem with whole house gas generators is the weekly self test noise. Imagine if every house in your neighborhood had a generator that cycled on and off weekly on a random time and date!

You are much better off looking for a battery backup system that can manage specific lighting and refrigerator.... Although some threads here might be old, they tell the same story....It's a very rare occurrence to lose power for an extended period......

I would suggest to have them come out to give you an estimate. As many have mentioned that we hardly lose power in TVLG but if you have medical equipment or really just want the piece of mind then it can’t hurt to see what it would cost and if it’s worth it.
Gone are the days of some folks out here that are really willing to help those that ask questions out here.
Good luck on your search.

General are reliable generator bit
 

Florida has spent massively on electrical infrastructure. With transmission and underground local distribution I see no need for backup. Been here 5 years with no interruptions. Worked 45 years for electrical utility.

Generac Electric Generator
 

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. We moved to The Villages from an area rampant with hurricanes and outages. I was interested in purchasing a generator that self tested itself monthly and had sufficient power to maintain our air conditioning and refrigeration. I attended a hurrican awareness expo at Savannah Center and discussed this with a rep from one of the generator companies. Did I get a surprise. He told me that The Villages rarely suffers power outages and then for less that an hour. All of the electricals are underground and we have an outage only if one of the sub-stations goes down.

Maybe, we had a lot of power outages.Really don’t know what rules are in TV, state laws you’ll have to check!

No need for solar panels.
Solar is for energy generation.
Batteries solve the intermittent power issues.
Cost depends on the size. I'm sure you could also get a solution that's half what a Generac costs, and when you factor in maintenance of the Generac vs no maintenance for the battery system it's not even close.
Also, some electric cars have that feature built in, they can power your house in the event of an outage, so for those it's "free."
Just like the battery in your laptop, if you're unplugged you can still surf talk of the villages.

When we lived in Michigan we had a neighborhood with trees that during storms often took out the power lines that we above ground. Have lived here 10 yrs. and experienced one power outage of aprox. 1 hr. The lines are below ground and not subject to storm damage. Occasionally a critter manages to interupt a transformer but that is short lived. Is it worth it to buy a Generac here. In my opinion no.

The only thing I see that I need a generator for in the south area is for my fridge, if power were out for 6+ hours. It would take a large generator for your AC, and you would need to wire it into your panel. If it's hot and you are out of power for that long, you can probably find a rec center that does have power, and cool off there.

In the south area, and we have NG for cooking, and if I need hot water, I could boil it. Golf cart with USB plugs to charge phones. Bottom line, I don't see power being out here that much or that long to make the purchase and maintenance of a generator of any kind worth it.

Want Quieter -- get an 1800 rpm model. The noisy ones are 3600 rpm.

Been here since 1998 really haven't a power outage more than several minutes. I do have an F150 with 7200 watt inverter in case, it'll run almost everything in the house except the AC

They are very expensive and probably not worth it unless you need the piece of mind and don’t care about the cost. A portable generator with a dedicated plug would be a better choice. If you are not comfortable using a portable generator then get a large electric solar power system. All you do is plug it in and it will run most everything except the AC for 24 hrs if you are conservative with usage. Recharge using portable solar panels in the yard! They cost double the price of a gas generator but have advantages.

Great idea. I am also considering this route after learning how infrequently, and short-term, the power goes out in TV.

The advantages of the battery backup is no generator storage in garage, no cumbersome process to drag it outside and find someplace to shelter it, no oil changes, no late night refueling during a storm, no gas storage and refreshing gasoline every few months, no engine maintenance, no noise, and no cutover process.

If we are going to loose power for 2-10 days (as we did in New England) a gasoline (or even better propane or natural gas) generators are the way to go. But it seems down there the outages are way less frequent (due to buried lines and no snow storms to rip down tree limbs onto overhead wires) and only last a few hours--maybe a day at most. A battery backup is ideal (albeit short-term) fix for this situation.

The reality is if we lost power for more than a day we would probably bug out anyway. Power doesn't bring back internet and there are only so many card games and puzzles we can do. :MOJE_whot:

We are likewise considering a PowerWall or Anker alternative.

A portable generator is a heck of a lot cheaper. You get an electrician to install it and put a disconnect in your breaker box to cut off to the powerlines. Just plug in the cord, go flip the switch and start the generator.