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Generators

Most modern stationary (IE, permanently installed) gensets exercise automatically.

But yes, once a week "for a few minutes" isn't proper. Once a month for 20 minutes would be far better, and preferably under load. It's like people who start their motorcycle once a week all winter long and run it for 60 seconds thinking they're doing it a favour when in reality it's only making things worse.
 
I put in an 8k Kohler that runs on propane, does all the essentials in the house and came with an auto transfer switch, I think it was about 4 grand for the parts. It's very very loud but you are always very very happy to hear it kick on.
... auto runs 20 minutes once per week to test.

It's air cooled. liquid cooled run slightly quieter and cost a lot more.
 
@Scuba Steve I am in a 3 storey townhouse...the hydro and gas meters on on the side of the end unit (I'm second from the end)...driveway is in back of house...garage is street level...deck is on second level on top of garage...to do what you said means I would have to run a cord from my second level through someone else's back deck, or down the brick between our garage doors because there's no way I'm leaving a generator in my driveway...

@Mad Mike can fully understand why he needs a reliable unit, that would definitely suck if things went south...

hubby and I are going around the house trying to figure out wattage required for what we would want to keep running...darn appliances don't give any details on their darn stickers!
 
ifiddles said:
hubby and I are going around the house trying to figure out wattage required for what we would want to keep running...darn appliances don't give any details on their darn stickers!
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Look for the tag with the model number. They should all list the volts and amps that they are rated for. Almost everything with be 120v x the amp rating shown as a conservative estimate. Things like a furnace won't tell you this info. With some research on the model number you may find the fan and pump hp. 1 hp is 746 watts.
 
Just look at your circuit breakers. If you have an 8k generator you have roughly the same as a 60 amp 120 volt service. Half that if you need to power up 220 volt appliances.

Does your range top and oven both run on electric? You have a problem.

Things that make heat and cold require the most power followed by electric motors, lights and electronic devices are relatively low power draw.
... at least you are on city water so you don't need to power a water pump & pressure system.
 
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Again, I'm just wondering...how often is your power off that you're looking to invest this sort of money on a standby generator? After the cost of the generator itself, the auto panel, the electrician to install it all, the gasfitter to plumb it....you can easily be in for $7-$10K (or more) range depending on what size generator you go for.

A $300 inverter, $50 worth of welding cable and some booster cable clamps to make a set of cables to connect it to your car battery when needed, a $50 extension cord, and a $10 power bar goes a long way for the typical "an hour here and there once or twice a year" type scenarios.
 
@GreyGhost we did...nada...LOL...anyways, I used averages that I found online and came up with 6498 watts (that includes fridge, freezer, furnace, hot water tank, microwave and crock pot for cooking)...found a worksheet online that said to add up the Running Watts then add in the highest Starting Watts together to get your total needed...obviously the microwave and crock pot wouldn't be running the whole time (microwave alone is 1500 watts), but the other items would be...

need to do a bit more research and make some calls to the town of Milton and ask some questions on Monday...
 
You heat your water with electric? Why! that's terribly inefficient. You have natural gas!
 
Trials said:
You heat your water with electric? Why! that's terribly inefficient. You have natural gas!
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High effeciency hot water tanks, or on demand hot water tanks do require some 120v power for electronics and such even if they actually do the heating with gas.
 
Trials said:
You heat your water with electric? Why! that's terribly inefficient. You have natural gas!
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Well it would be 100% efficient, just not cost effective.

I miss water heater with a chimney. That kept my house warm during the xmas ice storm years ago. At this point, without power almost all gas burning appliances (furnace, water, fireplace) pack it in. Our current gas stove is dumb enough to work without power.
 
GreyGhost said:
I miss water heater with a chimney. That kept my house warm during the xmas ice storm years ago.
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You were pumping it's exhaust directly into the house?
 
@PrivatePilot not really thinking about the one off hour here or there type of outage, more along the lines of a multi day/week outage like what happened in Montreal years ago...also thinking if we do end up moving to the country somewhere, we can take it with us...and finally, it's something we could potentially use in the RV that we'd like to get when we retire in 8 years or so...

just looking at some videos on YouTube about inverters...still can't picture this in my head though...if I used my car (which is parked in the garage) we'd have to keep the garage door open to let out the fumes...I can easily run an extension from my car inside the house as there's a door from the garage to my main floor, however, then fumes would come in...if we use hubby's truck, which is parked outside on the driveway we'd have to leave his hood open (no worries about exhaust as he parks outside) or cracked slightly and leave the inverter in the garage so it doesn't get stolen...hmmmm...as I'm typing, this might work...hmmmmm
 
PrivatePilot said:
You were pumping it's exhaust directly into the house?
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No. We're still alive. Filling tubs and all sinks every few hours with hot water. Kept house above 10C for the outage. Not amazing, but no generator at the time. Got one after and only used it during two power outages since. Neither one really required it but I had it so meh.
 
@Trials sorry, my post above was for you...

@GreyGhost it's situations like that ice storm a few years ago that we're thinking about...when that happened, we were at hubby's house in Cambridge (this was before we were married) and he lost power...we came to my place in Milton, and we were fine...his brother lived a few houses down the street from his place in Cambridge, and they were out for a few days, whereas we were fine...

we've recently bought a freezer (small one, 5.5 cu ft) and it's pretty well stocked with meat (in case the food supply goes south in the near future with this pandemic and possible upsurges in the winter months) so we definitely want to make sure nothing spoils...

hubby's been watching too many prepper videos LMAO
 
ifiddles said:
@Trials sorry, my post above was for you...

@GreyGhost it's situations like that ice storm a few years ago that we're thinking about...when that happened, we were at hubby's house in Cambridge (this was before we were married) and he lost power...we came to my place in Milton, and we were fine...his brother lived a few houses down the street from his place in Cambridge, and they were out for a few days, whereas we were fine...

we've recently bought a freezer (small one, 5.5 cu ft) and it's pretty well stocked with meat (in case the food supply goes south in the near future with this pandemic and possible upsurges in the winter months) so we definitely want to make sure nothing spoils...

hubby's been watching too many prepper videos LMAO
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Talking about permanently installed 10Kw with automatic transfer switches and taking the generator with you in a few years in an rv are very conflicting. Once it is permanently installed, in all probability it is being sold with the house. If you go with the temporary setup with a plug and portable generator, sure, keep the generator.

I havent seen an rv with a portable 7000+ watt generator. They are heavy and annoying. Most have either a 2-3000 watt portable inverter generator or a bigger one permanently mounted.
 
GreyGhost said:
Talking about permanently installed 10Kw with automatic transfer switches and taking the generator with you in a few years in an rv are very conflicting. Once it is permanently installed, in all probability it is being sold with the house. If you go with the temporary setup with a plug and portable generator, sure, keep the generator.

I havent seen an rv with a portable 7000+ watt generator. They are heavy and annoying. Most have either a 2-3000 watt portable inverter generator or a bigger one permanently mounted.
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The generac stationary units are plug in, like a military gender. The gas connection is like a bbq, the power connection like a range, you can hard wire too.

Too big for an rv. Rv gennies run gasoline or diesel, home gennies natural gas or propane. RV sets cost a lot more, they are used for residential installs.
 
I got a cheap Champion generator. Peak 5500w, 4000 running watts. Had an electrician install to the panel with a manual shut off. Works great and will run power to the whole house but you can't run major power sucking appliances like the dryer etc. It will allow you to cook on one burner or electric frypan, power your fridge, freezer, furnace and tv plus the lights with no issues.

Yeah it's a little noisy but your neighbours really don't give a **** when you invite them in get warm or have a hot coffee. I have found that by angling sheets of plywood around it I can direct the noise away from neighbouring homes so they can actually get some sleep at nights.
 
@BKnight how much was the unit and how much was the install?...where did you put the unit?...did you need any special permits from your region?...how do you like the generator?
 
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