Home Generator

[QDOG5]

I'm in the market for a home generator. I live in a 3,000 sq. ft. home. I'm looking for a generator that will power the entire house and an outdoor hot tub. I'm in suburban Chicago which has a climate similar to Connecticut. The generator will run on natural gas. Any advice on brand or how many kilowatts or other considerations would be appreciated. I'm hoping to do it all in for $5,000-$6,000.

 

[SubbaBub]

We're going through the same thing right now and I have 2 proposals in front of me. Both places install Kohler and Generac and both suggested Generac. Our house is about the size of yours but we don't have a hot tub, which I don't know if it changes the electrical load enough to get a bigger generator, and they suggested 18kW. I'm assuming you have central A/C as we do also. Price to install is about $8,500.

Unfortunately we don't have gas or propane here so I have to get a separate quote to install propane tanks but since you have gas to your house you don't have to deal with that. I don't know if we had gas whether there would be an additional cost above the $8,500 to hook up the gas to the generator. Probably minimal cost anyway.

$5,000 to $6,000 seems low but maybe Chicago is cheaper than Boston. Of course you probably know that the cost for generators has gone up the last year because so many people are getting them. Lead time to get the generator could be 6 weeks they said since they're flying off the shelves (if you could fit one on a shelf!).

I was going to say 8k sounds about right.

 

[UChusky916]

I purchased my current home with a whole-home Generac generator that runs on propane (2 tanks in my backyard). Mine doesn't power EVERYTHING in the home, but probably 75% of the outlets including all of the essentials (Water pump, hot water heater, refrigerator, washer/dryer, etc.).

For me, it's been a life-saver. When the microburst hit CT 3 years ago, all surrounding towns lost power, and our neighborhood didn't get it back until 7 days later. I was lucky to have light, charge things, take hot showers, run appliances, etc. My 2 propane tanks were only half empty after the 7-day outage, so it was relatively efficient too.

We've lost power a handful of times since then and it's great to have the generator automatically just switch on.

For my next house I imagine I'll fork out the $ for one, because it is worth it just for one "catastrophe", and improves the value of your home. Go with Generac.

 

[kpat23]

To me the cheapest and easiest way to go is buy a portable somewhere 12-14 kw and install what’s called a Generlink. It’s a transfer switch that mounts right to your meter outside. It’s up to 40amps which will run most of your house. you plug right into the bottom of it and it will disconnect once it sees utility power. looking at probably 3k for the whole setup.

 

[kpat23]

To me the cheapest and easiest way to go is buy a portable somewhere 12-14 kw and install what’s called a Generlink. It’s a transfer switch that mounts right to your meter outside. It’s up to 40amps which will run most of your house. you plug right into the bottom of it and it will disconnect once it sees utility power. looking at probably 3k for the whole setup.

 

[Husky25]

My wife b****** about getting one. "Do we need that?" Well one time is all it took. I am buying property in Savannah Georgia. She said make sure you put a generator in.

We need one in the current house because we are on a well. The old house was on city water and sewer. So my wife didn't exactly complain, but I think she had other things prioritized.

I have friends who packed up as much food as they could and went to a hotel after Isaias. I remember telling my wife that we look at it in those terms, the unit and hookup pays for itself inside of 14 powerless days (we've used 5 so far in 14 months.).

 

[Chuck]

To me the cheapest and easiest way to go is buy a portable somewhere 12-14 kw and install what’s called a Generlink. It’s a transfer switch that mounts right to your meter outside. It’s up to 40amps which will run most of your house. you plug right into the bottom of it and it will disconnect once it sees utility power. looking at probably 3k for the whole setup.

I love having back-up power. I bought a much smaller generator (5kw) right before Sandy hit. I ran extension cords through the house, and it was helpful. I had a transfer switch put in the next summer and it is significantly more useful. I'm able to run everything I need for a while. That includes 2 fridges, most lights, internet, hot water heater fan (heater is gas), furnace (gas), garage doors. Doesn't run the kitchen appliances, central AC, or some rooms (lights/outlets). This fall we lost power for about 36 hours and we didn't really miss much.

Pros:

• Much cheaper than full house.
• Portable, so you can also lend it to a friend, or take it somewhere else (including a move).

Cons:

• Much louder than my neighbor's full-house, autoconnected.
• Need to put it in place and start it. I made sure to shovel the area and I keep it in a rubbermaid shed. My neighbor's just sits there.
• Similar to above, they aren't really made to run in wet weather, which is generally when we lose power. The built-ins sit in their own weather protected (I assume) case. I've looked into options to run the portable in rain/snow, but have only found umbrellas that attach or DIY kits (that's not something I can do).
• If you aren't home, they don't kick on automatically. That can lead to pipes bursting (cold) or water in basement if you have a sump pump, etc.

All-in my cost was $1,400 (transfer switch and generator). I'm thinking of upgrading the generator to 7.5kw and keeping the smaller as a back-up. Since Sandy, we've only used it 5 times or so. The automatic is a superior option (in my opinion), but not necessary in my situation.

 

[HooperScooper]

Are the two 100 gallon tanks set above ground, or are these buried too? We have a propane stove, no pool or hottub yet but in the works, and we are putting in electric air-to-water heat pumps for heating in house remodel.

I want to bury them but they said the smallest tank they will bury is 500 gallons. I may just get a bigger tank or buy the tanks rather than rent them and pay someone else to bury it. Assuming I can do that.

 

[Platt81]

View attachment 65267

The only scary thing about these is they’re known to have internal components fail, and when they do you are unable to get utility power until they come out and unlock the meter and subsequently remove the GenerLink. A typical Eversource meter isn’t locked but for these to be installed in between the meter pan and the meter they need to lock the meter onto the GenerLink.

 

[kpat23]

The only scary thing about these is they’re known to have internal components fail, and when they do you are unable to get utility power until they come out and unlock the meter and subsequently remove the GenerLink. A typical Eversource meter isn’t locked but for these to be installed in between the meter pan and the meter they need to lock the meter onto the GenerLink.

like anything there might be issues. I’m a troubleshooter for eversource so we run into them a lot generlinks since eversource approves them and as far as I know there have never been an issue on eversource property. If there was there would be a a lot of information on it and I’d be one of the first to know. There’s a lot of problems with regular transfer switches since it’s essentially a main breaker. Any extra equipment can be an issue. You would be amazed how many house fires I go to because solar panels catch on fire.