Print

[gspren]

  Do any of you have much experience with standby generators? I am thinking about a Kohler 14K propane model that would power most of the place when the  power goes out. I have several Honda portable generators but dragging them out in the dark during a storm is getting less fun than it used to be.

Gary

[Ridgekid]

I thought about that many times, especially this year as we have had plenty of outages in the last month. Yet, an investment that big for "stand-by" status has discouraged me to make the plunge. So I haul out the Honda EU2000 and power one side of my electric panel through the OWB and the other side through my garage. Of course I can't power any 240 vac appliances, but we have lights, tv ,internet, fridge and freezer going. Most importantly the circulating pump on the OWB.

[jackel440]

I have the my Miller trailblazer to power up my house and 2 other gen sets if I need them.I would like to have one of those big stand by units though so I didn't have to mess with my other equipment.
I would like to get my hands on one of those 3phase gov.surplus ones to power my big lathe in my shop

[oldchenowth]

After today I am seriously considering a stand by.  We have lost power 3 times today alone.  $25 in gas just today.  I have a 6000 watt genie that does everything but the water heater and dryer.  As a matter of fact I am on mega priced juice right now.  I wish we had gas at least to heat water, the wife is getting a little ripe.  Hope those jackasses at Consumers Energy get their crap together tonight a get my power back on.  Yeah, a backup would be a good thing right now.  I am so sick of pulling that thing back out every couple of hours to fire it back up AGAIN.

[maine owb]

I put a 10,000 watt generac in this past January. I went with generac because there are hundreds in the area. Not so many of any other brand. I have a 2500 sq foot house and a 600 sq foot garage and I can power my entire house with the 10,000 watt unit. If you spec  it out the way the companies have you do it you would waste a ton of money buying a huge generator. I had an 8,000 watt portable and I plugged it into my house via a manual disconnect and turned on everything I would use (no 220 stuff) and it only used about 5500 watts on the meter. I did all the work myself and I installed two 420# propane tanks. That way if I loose power there is enough propane to run the house for a week if i were not here. It also works good in really cold weather. The colder the weather the more propane(volume) you need to produce enough btu's from the propane. My system comes on every monday at 2:00 PM for a 20 minute test and I did loose power once this winter and it worked perfectly.

[jackel440]

I put a 10,000 watt generac in this past January. I went with generac because there are hundreds in the area. Not so many of any other brand. I have a 2500 sq foot house and a 600 sq foot garage and I can power my entire house with the 10,000 watt unit. If you spec  it out the way the companies have you do it you would waste a ton of money buying a huge generator. I had an 8,000 watt portable and I plugged it into my house via a manual disconnect and turned on everything I would use (no 220 stuff) and it only used about 5500 watts on the meter. I did all the work myself and I installed two 420# propane tanks. That way if I loose power there is enough propane to run the house for a week if i were not here. It also works good in really cold weather. The colder the weather the more propane(volume) you need to produce enough btu's from the propane. My system comes on every monday at 2:00 PM for a 20 minute test and I did loose power once this winter and it worked perfectly.

Sounds like you thought your sytem out well.Glad to hear it is working like you planned it to.