Preparing for Next Time

[markiver54]

I guess after what we've just been through with hurricane Helene you will understand why I'm thinking about purchasing a generator...hindsight is 20/20...right?

Whether the weather is affected by US or not is debatable, however, I do think the climate is changing. We have lost a lot of food over the past several years because of power outages and I believe there will probably be more in my lifetime. Weather patterns seem to be getting more violent.

My question is, If we decide to purchase a generator then which one? I DO want an inverter type for cleaner power delivery. I've watched positive reviews on YouTube and I like what I see regarding the Harbor Freight Predator 5000 model, dual fuel. (propane or gas) It seems that it would be enough for the whole house if things are selectively run. This unit is priced at $1099.00 but I'm told it frequently goes on sale.

Any opinions regarding generators from ownership or experience would be appreciated before we make the decision to take the plunge or NOT.

Mark

[North Country Gal]

Mark, up here in the north woods just about everyone in the neighborhood has a generator as a back up, thanks to our very long winters. We tried gas powered for a while, but in very cold weather, we would have trouble getting it started because it would sit for so long not being used. Bill switched over to propane because propane is easier to get started in our cold weather. Much better.

I've been pestering Bill to get one of the rechargeable battery inverter units, just to have around as a backup at times. One of our neighborhood friends use one and likes it, but Bill doesn't want to bother with one.

[daytime dave]

Mark, I've been thinking of a triple fuel generator, gasoline, propane and natural gas. I have natural gas at the house and hope that it would be worth hooking up to. If I had my druthers, I would find a diesel generator. Haven't looked hard, so haven't found one.

I hope you get something as you got hit this time and the next time could be worse.

[BigAl52]

Mark
Id probably go for one of those for the house if only wanting to use it for a back up. Other than that my only experience with generators has been with Honda and I now have a Costco Gen. which is yamaha powered at half the price of the Hondas. Though I did at one time own 2 Honda EU 2000's and they are bullet proof. Easy to start and work great. My Costco has been good also I use it for a back up for the RV. It wont run everything in the RV but it will run the heater and keep the batterys charged.

[markiver54]

Joanie, Dave and Al... thank you for the valuable input. This kind of info really helps when making these types of decisions.

[Sir Henry]

I think diesel is the best generator but fuel storage can be a problem. Gas is next but even gas also goes bad. Propane stores the best but then you cannot use propane colder than -44F.

I have a diesel generator on the RV and could use it in an extended emergency.

[Mags]

...
My question is, If we decide to purchase a generator then which one? I DO want an inverter type for cleaner power delivery. I've watched positive reviews on YouTube and I like what I see regarding the Harbor Freight Predator 5000 model, dual fuel. (propane or gas) It seems that it would be enough for the whole house if things are selectively run. This unit is priced at $1099.00 but I'm told it frequently goes on sale.

Any opinions regarding generators from ownership or experience would be appreciated before we make the decision to take the plunge or NOT.

Mark

I have a 5500 Watt gasoline powered generator. It it barely big enough to selectively run things. When the power is out it'll run our refrigerator, freezer, the internet, the fan on the wood stove and a few lights. I have to turn most of that off to run the well pump for few minutes to re-pressurize the water tank. Can't run the main furnace or the kitchen ovens at all. I continue to make do because I had to buy that specific generator in an emergency and it was the only one I could get when I discovered the older one I had, was fried.

A better choice in my situation would be a 7500 or 10,000 minimum. An almost perfect choice would be a 22,000 or 24,000 whole house. I'm on the fence about diesel or propane fueled. Definitely not gasoline. It's the only gasoline powered appliance I have and as Gene pointed out long term storage of gasoline is problematic. I regularly use propane and diesel for other applications, so I don't have to worry about those fuels going bad. The Generac brand has generators that are tri-fuel, propane, natural gas or diesel. At a minimum I'd be looking at their 7500 model.

[BrokenolMarine]

Let's settle in... Got your coffee?

When we first moved to the country we bought a portable genny to run things if we lost power and we lost it often. A friend said we could buy some wire and a three prong dryer plug and backfeed into the panel by plugging into the dryer wall socket any time the power went out and just turn off the breakers for anything we didn't need so then genny would run what we did need..

I checked with an electrician friend of mine and he nearly stroked out... he said to never do this!

Doing this can run power back out onto the power lines where the lineman are trying to repair the lines and get someone injured or killed. Glad I didn't listen to my cheap neighbor. I paid to have the electrician install a proper electrical cutout, with a plug for the genny. The cutout isolates the house from the powerlines and it's socket provides your connection for the generator to plug into the house panel.

Now, the good thing about a portable genny is that it's a bunch cheaper than a whole house genny and other than the cable to connect it and the cutout, not hard to get it going. The bad thing is you have to pull it out, get the cable ready, switch the cutout, and connect the cable, then start the genny. You are good. But you can normally only power certain systems. Usually lights, the fridge and freezer, blower for heat... some will handle the AC. When we were using the genny, we had to turn off the freezer to run the HOT Water Heater... then turn off the hot water heater to run the freezer again. Not a big deal, the freezer stayed frozen long enough for the family to shower. We heated water for dishes and cooking on the woodstove. (A boon, so we didn't have to run the furnace.)

Every few hours we had to shut down the genny, let it cool, refill the fuel tank, then restart it. Once we didn't need it anymore it was IMPORTANT to turn off the fuel valve and let it run all the fuel out of the carb and fuel lines... the ethanol fuel eats fuel lines if allowed to sit. Also the rubber in the carb, and the gaskets. I made it a habit to replace the fuel line once a year whether it needed it or not, the fuel made it soft and eventually the vacuum of the engine running would collapse the weakened fuel line and choke out the engine. Frustrating at 3am when the power went out and you can't get the genny to stay running.

Last concern? Noisy Genny attracts unwanted attention during power outage and a small genny is easy to run off with. I set mine up inside the woodshop in the dead of winter, so it didn't disappear while we were sleeping. Kept it locked up when not in use.

Generac? Ours in Central VA ran on propane from a 500 gallon tank. Automatic on and off with power failures and tested itself every Monday for 15 minutes. 22K genny ran everything in the house and both my shop and Miss Ts. If the power fails, the generator waits 30 seconds to make sure it's not a brown out then kicks on and runs until power returns. It keeps running to insure power is really back on and stable then shuts down and returns to standby.

When we moved to OK, Same thing. 22K generac genny, this one on Natural Gas since the pipeline runs right by the house. It runs it all, self tests on Monday. This one is connected to the genny company by a modem and self monitors. If there is a failure they call and tell us they are coming out to repair it, if they can't log on and make the adjustment or correction by wire. Flat monthly fee covers that and the twice a year service.

The generac was one of the first TO DO items on the list at the new farm house here.

[Mags]

Automatic cutouts are nice, but there is a less expensive code complaint manual cutout. It's a subpanel off the main panel that provides power to critical circuits to run during a power outage. The breakers in this subpanel are paired and strapped together. Throwing the straps one way connects power from the main panel. Thrown in the opposite direction, the critical circuits are disconnected-isolated from the main panel and connected to the generator port of the subpanel. Hence no back-feed to the power line. Since this is a manual method, someone has to plug in the generator, throw the straps and start the generator. Then reverse these steps when the power comes back on. It's handy to have light plugged into a circuit on the main panel so that you know when the power is restored.

[rickhem]

We have a propane fueled Kohler 14RESA that was there when we bought our place. It's out by a detached garage where power goes from the poles to undergound and over to the house. There's a big panel with the switch too, so it cuts off any connection with the supply side when the generator takes over powering the house. Remember to factor that part in when quoting for a new generator, it's not just the cost of the actual generator. The extras and the electrician to install all of that will probably triple the cost of your generator. Ours does everything, and with well water, oil fired hot water baseboard heat, and a few mini-splits, it's a good system to fall back on if necessary.
I wrote about my unit not doing the weekly exercise runs in another thread here, and how I ended up needing a new control board for $1800, but we're back to full functionality again.
Interestingly, I made an acquaintance at a motorcycle event a couple weeks ago, and found out he was a tech for a generator company, and does service calls for a lot of very large units down in NYC. He was very complimentary about the Kohler whole-house generators, saying they were under-rated and very well built. He could have been just being nice, after me telling about my $1800 board, but I'll take a positive comment to help ease that pain.