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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