biggen
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- May 6, 2018
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I’m considering replacing mine with either a no maintenance or agm so I don’t have to screw around with filling it up.
Natural Gas Generators
- Thread starter IReallyLikePizza2
- Start date
I have an AGM in there, but the AGM in my truck only lasted 2 and a half years anyway, so seems like no better
biggen
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I just put a new AGM in my truck. Two years doesn’t give me warm and fuzzies!
My Generac was floating my AGM way too high. I bought a Battery Tender, use it to charge, then drop the voltage for float.
I have an optima yellow top that is 5 years so far on it.
Do the oil changes yourself like ^^. They are easy and cheap with Fram or WIX filters. I run Penz 5w30, same as my truck so always have a lot on hand.
Yep change the oil myself, and stock a lot of oil and filters. Have a good amount of the OE Generac filters from buying a few maintenance kits I got a good deal on, mainly for the air filters
But, I have a few FRAM Ultra Synthetic filters too, much easier to change because of the rubber grip
Running Kirkland 5W-30, same as my truck also
But, I have a few FRAM Ultra Synthetic filters too, much easier to change because of the rubber grip
Running Kirkland 5W-30, same as my truck also
I know it has been a year since this thread was active, but...
Tomorrow I have a guy from Grasten coming to give me a quote on getting a whole house standby generator. The prices have gone up considerably. From the Generac website the 'starting at' prices are $7k for the 6kW air cooled and $16k for the water cooled 27kW units. That is more than twice the cost. Not sure it is worth it to go water cooled.
Any comments?
Tomorrow I have a guy from Grasten coming to give me a quote on getting a whole house standby generator. The prices have gone up considerably. From the Generac website the 'starting at' prices are $7k for the 6kW air cooled and $16k for the water cooled 27kW units. That is more than twice the cost. Not sure it is worth it to go water cooled.
Any comments?
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
Have you looked at any of these?
I don't own any of these, just been reading up on them.
Home Backup Sale
Secure your power with big savings on backup solutions. Shop EcoFlow stations, bundles, and batteries designed for reliable home energy protection.
us.ecoflow.com
brianegge
Getting comfortable
I've never understood the value in the whole house standby. We lose power for a few minutes here and there, and we we have a storm might lose it for a week. My computers and such all have at least 15 minutes battery, which is long enough for me to pull out the $700 portable, connect it to my house's propane tank and power, and switch over to gen power. I'd need to be losing power all the time to see any sort of return on a whole house.
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
There are those folks that can't handle the need to do that.
I have a brother and sister in law in their 70's, and there is no way they could do that.
Can't we just couple the front half of 1974 Silverado to a Generator and use the cooling system from that. Its like redneck Lawn art
And I've never understood why someone chooses "xyz", why does anyone "need" xyz, ad infinitum...
A bit strong...
Not everyone else is you...
About 3 years ago I looked at the options. To use a portable generator safely and easily, I would need a transfer switch and/or panel interlock of some sort, an external plug on house. Then there's my panel that has no room left, and it's an old Challenger box. So I'd need a new panel. Then a decent size 240v inverter generator (for noise), enough to run a heat pump hvac. What size and how many propane tanks for maybe 2-3 days runtime (and any sort of "return"). Could I haul a generator out myself (as a senior post cancer and close to failing kidneys)?
Only found 1 electrician that would even come to house, and then he never got back with quote.
I face hurricanes, so no hooking up for maybe up to a day (yeah, have had a few ugly ones that hung around for a while), gotta wait until danger has passed. At that time I was doing dialysis at night, what if power went out then?
In the end, with so much hassle to put together a portable solution, and the cost, for ME, whole house was the better easier no headache solution.
"Return" on investment can be measured in many ways. One way is the absurd pleasure of sitting in your house doing whatever, the power goes out, and 20 seconds later, before you can refresh your drink, the gen powers up, and let there be light! And if it's post hurricane, having a/c, because the next day is always clear and 80-90 degrees!
BTW, did get a kidney transplant, one of about 5-7 people at my transplant center in my age bracket (old phuck), LOL.
Don't get me started on how much ammo I "need"...
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You may not have much choice on gen capacity, at least here (code requirement I believe), if there's an automatic transfer switch, the gen has to handle full house load, considering any load shed devices also installed. If the 6kW needs 4-5 load shed devices, at the cost per each, it's probably close to break even paying for higher kW. Although if using a finite fuel supply, you could get more run time with smaller gen. Then there's the power derating of a gen if using nat gas instead of propane, so up you go in kW. At least back when I got mine, going up several thousand kW was a minimal increase.
Couldn't speak much on water cooled value/$ beyond the info out there already on the benefits.
Certainly would advise getting quotes on other brands. Generac, being the highest volume name out there, I guess is bound to look a bit worse perhaps for reliability... just percentage failure x volume. That said, my mother has a generac that must be 20+ years old, and has been thru times of running for a week straight, still kicking. But people will say they were built different back then.
Hell, everything house related has exploded in cost. Replaced hvac I think it was late '24, about double cost of my prior one. I went with Briggs & Stratton 22kW, roughly $5k gen, $4k install about 3 years ago.
Haha, off topic, when someone tells me they bought a box or two of 50 rounds, my eyes glaze over, my hearing gets weak... wait, what, your unit of measure is 50 rd box, get back to me when you're talking cases,Don't get me started on how much ammo I "need"...
Don't believe your lying wallet.
That too ideal... 1974 go with the Gremlin...
I got pretty paranoid after Helene hit western NC (and the other states), even with my whole house gen (but limited propane), I bought a small dual fuel inverter gen for propane use only, 6kW peak, but down rated for propane, and the Ecoflow delta 2 max, 200 watts of solar panels, and 2 extra 20lb tanks to add to existing grill tank.Have you looked at any of these?
I don't own any of these, just been reading up on them.
Home Backup Sale
Secure your power with big savings on backup solutions. Shop EcoFlow stations, bundles, and batteries designed for reliable home energy protection.
For my all electric house, my average per month usage is about 1,100 kWh. Peak winter/summer it's 1500-1700 kWh per month. So anywhere between 30-50 kWh/day, that's 720-1200 kW/day. Those big ecoflow units, $8k and up for a 12kWh, for me, wouldn't last long, but one could conserve. Then what the cost for a 240v battery backup system? Again for me, all electric, no 240v rules out stove, hot water, hvac.
Then... after you run down the batteries, how to recharge? Or assumption that outage duration is short enough? Solar?
Tesla power wall? Roof of solar? Then they'll brick it remotely, LOL. Didn't look at the Anker stuff.
From my perspective, those "portable" or wall units could be an adjunct, or if you have really limited needs, a good part of a house, with careful energy use.
My ecoflow could be used to power fridge easily overnight for example, and maybe some lights (if I run out of propane for main gen), then microwave, etc or internet. The small inverter gen could power stuff at same time as charging ecoflow (takes a couple hours). Lots of scenarios if I loose power for more than 3-4 days.
YMMV
Check out Will Prowse on youtube for battery/solar solutions.
Adding to what looneytunes has listed, Anker Solix is now offering the Anker Solix E10 system that literally includes everything. From batteries, control panel, inverter and even a small autostart trifuel generator to recharge the batteries. Designed to tie into existing solar systems, too. Really looking into something like this, FWIW.Have you looked at any of these?
I don't own any of these, just been reading up on them.
Home Backup Sale
Secure your power with big savings on backup solutions. Shop EcoFlow stations, bundles, and batteries designed for reliable home energy protection.
biggen
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I paid $12.6k for a 24kWh Generac air cooled back in 6/24. I'm on natural gas so it is de-rated to 21kWh. It's still plenty big enough for my needs. I do a full load test on it once a month for 30 minutes and a weekly 5 minute test in addition to that. Cranks right up with no problems.
I'll tell ya after having this thing, I'll never go back to portable gens. Sure, the portables are cheaper. But they are also a PITA. Dealing with gas cans, wheeling them around, manually plugging them in, keeping them out of the rain when running, storing them in the garage, etc... And small engine mechanics are a dying breed. No one can work on the Chinese built gens you buy at the box stores so prepare to take up another hobby working on it and learning from Youtube videos.
Having a standby is a breeze. I literally hope the power goes out during storms just so I can be one of the few houses on the street still with our power on.
guykuo
Getting comfortable
A couple one to two week long outages were a lot easier to get through with our whole house generator. We continue with out lives pretty much as normal and our freezers stay frozen. Automatic switchover in 20 seconds is lovely, but still need a bunch of UPS units to let the computers and camera system stay alive until the transfer completes.
guykuo
Getting comfortable
One of the first things we do when power does go out is turn off landscaping lights.
Also, don't want to be THAT HOUSE with its Christmas lights on while everyone else scrambles just to keep a phone charged.
biggen
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Haha. I guess I’ll keep my lights on proudly. The sound of the thing running gives it away.