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Whole house generator (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter PinkydaPimp
- Start date
That's what I'll be doing. In theory I'll put my deposit down next week for a 18kW Generac.
i ended up going natural gas generator. I’ll look at solar later.
Installation probably in August...
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
Yea my guy said they are quite backed up. i sent my deposit last week. Im guessing it will be installed spring if i'm lucky.
dkp993
Footballguy
If you don’t mind me asking what did you pay Pinky(what are your bids Chowda)? Thanks
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
~14k. I had a quote around 17k, and a quote around 9k. The 14k was the person i think can do the best job and he installed a friend of a friends system. This is for a 24kw Generac.
$14.2K for an 18kW Generac
$15.5K for a 20kW Briggs & Stratton
The actual Generac unit is like $5500. The rest is electrical and plumbing work, the concrete slab, permits, etc.
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
Finally getting this generator installed. Will be nice to have peace of mind for outages. Still may consider solar in the future(maybe when the roof goes) but more for cost savings and not to keep the lights on during prolonged outages.
Phil Elliott
Footballguy
Not sure what the economics are this year with cost of solar vs savings and increased energy costs. But typically you were looking at 8-12 year break even.PinkydaPimp said:
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
As far as I'm concerned, we broke even during the high winds on Monday morning. The power went off for half an hour, and we didn't even notice. That's just sweet.
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gianmarco
Footballguy
I looked at this as well when you brought this up. Similar cost for us. We decided to hold off as that's a lot and we just haven't experienced that many outages here.
May revisit in the future.
Brunell4MVP
Footballguy
So a whole house generator where we are costs like $10K-15K. The power goes out maybe twice a year for 2 days each time. That's 4 days per year. Pack the bag, drive 10 mins, and I'm at a Ritz Carlton for $280/night. Point is, I can spend a lot of nights at the Ritz for 10K.
brun
Footballguy
This works for you. Others may have other considerations: pets, frozen pipe possibility, additional residents in an in-law appartment, entertaining guests, crypto mining rigs, etc. My luck is such that 5 minutes after checking into a hotel, assuming they're not all full with other refugees, I find that my power has been restored.
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
Yea I’m lifetime platinum so that would be nice but a room that fits the entire family and doesn’t come with complaining about not being able to play X game or watch y show or if this happens during a crazy ice storm in the winter where i can’t get to a hotel easily, etc would be more costly.
ultimately the generator does increase the value of the home but it’s pricey. we are seeing people especially in cyber wanting to attack our power grid so i would not be shocked if a huge outage comes from that also and where i love storms are getting stronger every year.
for me though that peace of mind is worth it for my family. Solar would have been like 70k to do the same so I’m happy with my decision.
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
That’s correct. It was around that for break even with solar. But the initial investment(we did not want to finance) was a lot and i think it’s going to drop/get better in a few years. Plus I’m it’s current state solar isn’t really built to protect against long outages during say winter or horrible weather. Which is what i wanted. I’d rather use it to save on electric costs only.
dkp993
Footballguy
When I did my solar I didn’t do the batteries for two similar reasons. One the cost on the batteries is bound to come down over the next couple years and I could always add it. Also a concern was for the system to function properly it’s still had to have access to their satellites. So for me to this lessened the independence for some kind of long-term outage like the obvious fourth coming zombie apocalypse.
But my question to you is how does this work with the natural gas. Is natural gas guaranteed the flow long-term regardless? Like for say the guaranteed forthcoming zombie apocalypse. I’d like to have power 4yrs after the grid collapses not just 4 days.
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brun
Footballguy
I don't think that will matter. It's well known that the sound of your generator's engine will attract zombies. So, you won't be running it that long anyway.When I did my solar I didn’t do the batteries for two similar reasons. One the cost on the batteries is bound to come down over the next couple years and I could always add it. Also a concern was for the system to function properly it’s still had to have access to their satellites. So for me to this lessened the independence for some kind of long-term outage like the obvious fourth coming zombie apocalypse.
But my question to you is how does this work with the natural gas. Is natural gas guaranteed the flow long-term regardless? Like for say the guaranteed forthcoming zombie apocalypse. I’d like to have power 4yrs after the grid collapses not just 4 days.
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
Yea if the grid is down for 4 years I’m likely to have evacuated my home by then.When I did my solar I didn’t do the batteries for two similar reasons. One the cost on the batteries is bound to come down over the next couple years and I could always add it. Also a concern was for the system to function properly it’s still had to have access to their satellites. So for me to this lessened the independence for some kind of long-term outage like the obvious fourth coming zombie apocalypse.
But my question to you is how does this work with the natural gas. Is natural gas guaranteed the flow long-term regardless? Like for say the guaranteed forthcoming zombie apocalypse. I’d like to have power 4yrs after the grid collapses not just 4 days.
dkp993
Footballguy
Sure, I was obviously joking. But what is the gas situation for a prolonged period of time of power outage? Let’s say power is out for 3 weeks, is there an issue? Thanks.Yea if the grid is down for 4 years I’m likely to have evacuated my home by then.
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PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
I don’t believe so other than high gas charges.
there are other gotchas with solar and running in longer term. You would basically need a ton of batteries and even then they rated it lasting for a couple days max only running limited stuff.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
We have three batteries (Tesla). You do realise they recharge with the solar panels every day? Unless you are just using the grid to charge them. I wouldn't even consider that an option.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
I'm not sure what you mean here. If the area grid goes out, the panels and batteries still work. We wouldn't be able change the setting without outside access, but the house would still run as usual.
dkp993
Footballguy
Correct, but as the Tesla rep explained it to me the battery system still needs to be able to communicate with the Tesla network to work. If the power goes out under normal circumstances it can, as it supplies its own power, but if the Tesla network goes down (like what could happen in the zombie apocalypse) the the battery system won’t work my longer. In other words it’s not truly independent. I didn’t like that. Combine that with the cost of battery packs likely to come down and it was enough to have to not add it.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
I don't think this is correct. Perhaps the rep wasn't all that great at his job.dkp993 said:
PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
Do they charge if its cloudy? If the panels are snow covered? I presume you have an inverter? Can you store enough energy during the day to keep your entire house afloat day and night in peek winter or a heatwave in the worst case scenario? when we ran calculations it would have been VERY expensive and required alot of batteries to store enough energy to do this and thats IF the conditions were not impacting the ability to charge.Mrs. Rannous said:
There is that too. There are little gotchas about solar like the fact without batteries you cant use the panels in an outage for example.dkp993 said:
What i came down to after quoting 5 systems is that natural gas was way more economic and would work better in an outage. Additionally, i can work on making my home more energy efficient and get to a point where down the line solar + battery + inverter that would cover the whole house is feasible in the future. Though tbh, now that i have the generator, i dont think there is a point in doing that unles prices drop heavily. So i would mainly get solar to offseat costs and not depend on it for long outages which i think is a better plan for using solar anyway. for me at least. But i know there are folks that can make it work.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
And here we go.
As long as we aren't changing the settings, it works just fine. And we really don't need to do that at all.
As long as we aren't changing the settings, it works just fine. And we really don't need to do that at all.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
They charge pretty well here. We live in Houston, so we get a good amount of direct sunlight year-round. We have a 1900 sq ft house that is pretty energy efficient. We do have an inverter. Mr R calculated what we would need to run everything, including AC, with no grid - hence the three batteries. We could always make adjustment to our usage if we had to. It's usually pretty sunny after a hurricane, so we weren't concered about that. We don't get a whole lot of snow, so it's not a concern. The whole system cost about 48K. Since Mr R works from home, it does provide stable power for his job. It should be pretty easy to add a car charging station should we need to.
(I was also not certain that our gas line was a high enough grade to install a generator. We only have a gas stove and fireplace. Even the water heater is electric.)
(It seems we have two inverters. The amount of panels was more than one could handle.)
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PinkydaPimp
Footballguy
So sounds like it makes sense for you. Me being in the northeast, its a bit different. The times when i need it the most it may not be conducive to producing energy. I would need many more batteries and praying for enough sun to fill the batteries and power the house.
dkp993
Footballguy
Thanks. It’s possible I misunderstood him and he was talking about the app functionality, I did some more research last night and found what you posted here too. The good thing is I can alway added it in if I change my mind. Im in So-Cal so sun is not a problem lol.
Osaurus
Footballguy
I figured this thread was close enough to what I am asking for so.....
I am in the market for a smaller (1000-2000 watt) solar generator for emergencies. I already have this gas powered generator, but am looking for an additional solar generator to be used in tandem or on its own. The problem I am coming up against is that a lot of the panels I am seeing are water-resistant (Jackery brand in particular) and not waterproof. I live in FL and have ruined more than a few water resistant electronics that lived outside. Anyone know of a good solar 1000 w generator with 2 waterproof solar panels (most likely)? TIA
I am in the market for a smaller (1000-2000 watt) solar generator for emergencies. I already have this gas powered generator, but am looking for an additional solar generator to be used in tandem or on its own. The problem I am coming up against is that a lot of the panels I am seeing are water-resistant (Jackery brand in particular) and not waterproof. I live in FL and have ruined more than a few water resistant electronics that lived outside. Anyone know of a good solar 1000 w generator with 2 waterproof solar panels (most likely)? TIA
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FatMax
Member
That's rough, man. Thoughts and prayers.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
There's no interruption with the power walls. Score!
beer 30
Footballguy
I missed this quote from last year but if the grid does go down, about 90% of us are gonna die within 3-6 months so you'll have your pick of homes to set up in
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
I'd be interested in finding out, too.
3C's
Footballguy
I've been without power for more than a week twice. It starts out not fun, then it's "fun" roughing it, then it becomes not fun again. Fortunately I was able to be prepared both times. I need to at least get a transfer switch in for easier whole house power from a portable but a whole house standby would be nice.
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Big Blue Wrecking Crew
downsized
Bump for the latest and greatest in this front. Brief research shows Kohler as higher end vs. General, so welcome insights from anyone who has taken the plunge recently.
Sitting in power outage due to East Coast storms as we speak...
Sitting in power outage due to East Coast storms as we speak...
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