Whole House Standby Generators

Married2Allis

Well-known Member
What make, model, and size standby generator do you have to run your house in a power outage and how much did it cost including installation and electric panel work?
 
About 18 months ago I installed a 20 KW Kohler propane, powered, whole house back up generator. I sized it as I did to avoid any load shedding costs and complexity.

Last summer I built a new post building about 75' from the house and wired it to the house side of the transfer switch so that the building is also backed up.

Because I sized the generator to back up just about everything (common sense, of course), no inside-the-house electrical work was necessary.

Though I did much of the work myself, you should expect to spend somewhere around $7,000 - $7,500 to have a system similiar to mine installed (aside from powering the out building). Excavation, concrete, landscaping, etc. will be additional cost.

Last year a large oak tree fell onto a 32 KW line about 1/4 mile from my house snapping off two 60' poles. Power was out for about 23 hours and I was the only residence in the area with power.

Dean
 
We have a Honeywell (made by Generac) 12kw
with auto transfer switch. It runs on
propane. It was roughly $5k with
professional install. We've had it for
almost 3 years and have been happy so far.
It runs our well, fridges and freezers,
heat/ac, and some lights and outlets.
 
Our back up generator is a 15KW belt driven head powered by a 23HP single cylinder diesel engine. Everything is manually operated, engine starting and switching. Switching was professionally installed and is accomplished at the meter base with interlocked breakers. A quick memory check of major component prices and adding in a generous amount for smalls comes up less than $3000.00
 
This talk about generators makes me wonder where our Texas friend Billy Shafer; he has been AWOL for a while.
 

Size depends on what you need to run. Electric stove, water heater, any electric heat, even how many horse electric well pump.

We could get by with about 6000 watt. But our biggest single electric load is our electric range. We use LP for heat, water heater, and clothes dryer.

Dusty
 
Better ask how much does it cost to operate? Making your own electricity is many times more
expensive than buying it from power company.
 
I've had a 20KW for a few years now. Installed it myself which wasn't too difficult as the house was set up when built. ATS is on an outside panel about 100' from house near utility 25KVA transformer. Cost about $4K complete.
 
It depends on load? A/C? Electric stove, water
heater, well, sump, heating? Milbank makes a good
one with a good warrenty. It cost about 900.00 more
for a 20kw vs. 12 kW. they also have a cold weather
package that includes a battery warmer and
crankcase heater.
 
Obviously.

Back up generators are intended only for occasional use when utility power is not available.

Dean
 
Dan,
Would you mind telling me what kind of fuel consumption that unit goes through? I've been interested in something like that, and I'm curious. How long have you had it running at one time?
Thanks,
Jeff
 
I got a 19KW phone company unit at auction. 900
hours on a four cylinder diesel Onan. It has been
great. The cement pad and transfer stuff was as
much as the generator.

I have it on a battery maintainer all the time. In the
winter I plug in the block heater when a storm is
coming but it will start without it. Not happily, but it
has an intake glow plug to help it. It's very efficient
and has bailed us out many times. It runs the whole
farm.
 
Yessir! Total comfort and economical cost of operation do not go hand in hand. Hooking the set up to the propane tank or natural gas line doesnt materially change the cost of operation, just sets it back to the next billing cycle or tank fill. It does however eliminate the fuel storage/shelf life problems with gasoline. Diesel was the best option for my world. Last outage of any length we ran our whole house plus the neighbors lights and well pump on just less than 2 quarts an hour over 60 hours. Still expensive electric but far less than the other neighbor who burned 1 gallon per hour of gasoline.
 
Something to think about. When hurricane Andrew hit Florida, my brother managed a 350 unit mobile
home retirement village. He had generators, but couldn't get gas for 3 weeks. Roads were impassable
and the gas stations didn't have electricity.

So you may think about what fuel you want to use? How much fuel do you want to stock pile? Gas has
a short shelf life. Diesel may jell and be hard to start in sub zero. Propane may have issues in
sub zero too.
 
Most whole house standby generators that I have seen run on natural gas. Never run out of fuel, no problems with aging or spoiling fuel, no problems with gelling or difficulty vaporizing. Only way that makes sense to me!
 
If I were to install one and had a 500 or more gallon LP tank on hand, Id do like my neighbor and get an LP Gas Generator as thats easier then hauling gas or diesel to it and no worry with stale or water in gas or diesel.........plus a 500 # tank would last so long..............

John T
 
have 25000 unit hooked to its own 500 gal tank. one best things done.next house project is lifting
it this spring.
 
We have natural gas a 1/2 mile in both direction of house and there are 7 homes in this stretch and they won't put gas through. I have LP gas but at the cost of LP (except for this year) has been out of site. I have a gasoline powered generator and they like to drink gas at about a gallon an hour.
 
That's great if you have natural gas available. I don't nor do many farmers on this board. For me it's propane.
 
They [b:f7782f605c]WON'T [/b:f7782f605c]put it through? I bought a house where the gas line ended next door. The Gas company was happy to extend the main, just a matter of cost. They polled the 14 or 15 neighbors downstream from me and nobody wanted it :roll: I had to bear the whole cost but it was worth it to me to get off the propane tank, plus the gas cost is cheaper and it's an asset for resale of the property. IIRC, the payback was about 3 years when I did the conversion and it's gotten better since then.
 
d beatty,
So you are looking at 24 gallons a day, at $1.50/g, $36 per day. Proves my point, making electricity is expensive.

I think my small portable generator may use a gallon in 3 hrs at half capacity, 1500w. I've never had to run it all the time for back up power. And when I do use at the house, it only run the well, refrig, toaster, coffee pot, hot plate and a lamp or two. Use portable propane heater is needed. I even made the load management circuit that turns power off to everything when the well kicks on. Returns power to refrig after a 10 minute delay.

I can't see the need or the expense to power up everything, just the important things. It's been a few years last time I needed back up power.

If things really got bad, I could live in my back up house at the other end of county.
 
Yea, I own a car and truck, 4 tractors and two portable generators. What does that have to do with the cost of making electricity? I also own two houses at opposite ends of the county and have two different electric companies. So I have a back up house too, do you? So what's your point really???
 
I am presently installing a 20 Kw Natural Gas fueled Onan with the matching automatic transfer switch unit.
$2,500.00 for the gen set with 408 hrs from local Electric Coop surplus sale. It was the back up power supply for the radio and computer units. I was told that they change them ever so often
in years rather than hours. Most of the run time on this one was test time as the complete set of records
included with it show. I sure wish it was finished now with the winter storms rolling through the upper part of
the state and possibly could wreak havoc here also.I will have another $2,000.00 in the installation and am doing
most of it myself. When I get it installed though, the peace of mind knowing it will supply all the needs for
water, heat and everything else needed will far out weigh the increased cost of producing electricity in a power
outage. If it was the prime source of power,it would be a bigger consideration. I had an 8 Kw I used for 30
years and it was gasoline and had to be plugged into the manual transfer switch ever time it was needed. It was
expensive, read 3/4 gallon of gasoline per hour for full load, and some load management, but sure was better than
a cold house,no water,lights or what ever. Hooking to the natural gas line was a little more work,but will be
nice when it does not run out of fuel in the middle of a storm. if you want to discuss how much it costs, come
see me in the middle of a winter power outage and see how nice it can be. Gene Davis Tennille, Ga.
 
Geo -TH,In.

Probably not many of us have the nice option of a back up home on another electric source. I for one have no other place to go unless I go to my daughter's house that is 75 miles away. Some of us have to stay put and deal with the problems as the come to us. I expect that not too many consider the cost when the lights are out and the storm is raging. Cold feet and hands will make the cost bearable most of the time. Most of the times this is a temporary thing anyway.

I was talking to a financial adviser once and she said, "that when the alligator is chomping at your butt, you don't worry how deep the water is, but rather how fast you can swim". So while it is true that generating your own power is expensive, it is most of the time more pleasant and more preferable than being with power. It is in my book anyway.
 
My point hasn't changed, it't many times more expensive to make your own electricity. I have two generators, should have some idea what I'm talking about. In worst case, I have generators to run the well to keep water flowing in the event house lost power in sub zero temps. So far, I haven't had to do that, but if necessary I could.

I'll never invest in a whole house standby. Haven't had a need to do so. Been a home owner since 1977.
 
The point should be obvious.

Hopefully you do not need me to instruct you that a back up generator is merely a type of insurance, which, like homeowner's insurance, is expensive.

You do have homeowners insurance???

Dean
 
I agree with your piece of mind assessment, Gene.

My generator investment has bought me the piece of mind which may allow me to stay in my place longer than I might feel comfortable otherwise. It also removes nearly all of the uncertainty that I always lived with when I left the house for any length of time in very cold conditions. The furnace does not run without electrical power and a power failure in 0 degree weather occurring when I was away could be a catastrophy in any event and a major catastrophy for me as I have hot water heat.

Dean
 
George,I have respect for your system,but you only having 110 volt current doesn't hack it in todays world.In my houses and most homes today,Refig.and lights are about the only things on 110,everything else is 220 ONLY.As far as you can MOVE to another house if needed is about the stupidest thing leaving a house to maybe freeze.We have had at least a 20K backups since early 50s and now have 3 complete systems.They have run times from 00 hours to two weeks non stop at a time per yr.My cost over the yrs.is no higher then yours and we have a system that gives us some comfort without having to hook up and babysit some MICKEY MOUSE system.If we can respect your system,then YOU should RESPECT what we do as we don't have money in yours and you don't have any MONEY in ours.
 
I have a 20kW propane Generac with ATS on my house and a 20 kW Winco PTO generator as an extra. The original engine on the Generac had an oil leak out of the box, but the second engine has been fine for several years. I might actually need the generator for 5-10 hours per year, but it is peace of mind that it is there when needed. I am gone a lot for work, so this is good for my family.
 
Massey, this whole thing has gone crazy. My original post was "Better ask how much does it cost to operate? Making your own electricity is many times more expensive than buying it from power company." AND I WILL STAND BY THAT REMARK. I never said don't buy one. I did say I have no need for one a whole house generator. I have my house protected with just a RV generator to power the well in the event I've lost power for weeks, which I never have, and back up propane heaters.

Then people started going crazy. The original question was how much will it cost and what size standby generator is necessary? I feel operation cost should be included and later I add you should think about what fuel and how much to stock pile. All good points, don't you think??

Respectfully, I'm entitled to my opinion, just like you are. So cool down and have a nice day.
George
 

We have a 4000 watt RV generator, a 4000 watt belt driven generator that I run with the 17 horse garden tractor, and a 5000 watt portable generator.

I would like to get a 6000 watt LP inverter generator to run the house incase of extended power outage.
That should be cheep to run and take care of our needs.

Dusty
 
Geo-TH,In


I,for one see your point !! If they were trying to make their own electric and live off the grid ,then it probably wouldn't be worth it in the long run with the cost of fuel and how much the bigger whole house units would use in an hour , but most of these guys seem to be talking about buying these units to have electric when the power goes out for some reason like a big storm !! The cost of the unit ,switch and installation is a one time thing and when it's paid for it is paid for , but the fuel cost and repairs and maintaince is an own going thing over the life of the machine . Like buying a car ! Once it's paid for it's paid for , but the gas and oil and other normal maintaince things and parts when it tears up is an on going thing over the life of the car !!
 

With past and upcoming obscene electrical prices in Ontario. A home owner installed grid tie solar system is cheaper power during the 6 to 8 midday hrs of peak sunlight.
 
(quoted from post at 21:46:19 01/21/16) YEA, still expensive.
Not sure what you are saying, George. Have you ever been without power in cold weather for several days? Or several days in the summer with 100F heat and a beef in the freezer? Cost to operate is way down the list compared to keeping the pipes from freezing or abandoning your place until the power comes back on.
 

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