Wanting to be more prepared for weather. We've gotten more snow this winter, and our power has gone out a couple of times, sometimes for an extended amount of time.

I know nothing about generators. Talk to me like I'm 5. What do I need? What would you suggest? Gasoline, diesel... what to power it? How do I hook it into our electrical grid?

TIA.

I'm assuming you had an licensed electrician install your interlock? I've asked a couple and they kind of looked at me funny and wanted to do a transfer switch.

Just curious

Don't think you HAVE to use a licensed electrician unless required by your city/county. But I would suggest the install be done by someone competent.

How much would that whole setup cost for the nterlock and install?

First, you need to figure out what you want to run when the power goes out. Generac has a pretty good wattage estimator on their website that will help you figure out how big you need to get. I looked at a natural gas Generac, 22k watt, but the only location that worked was on the opposite side of the house from my electrical box. This would require running wire up through a 2nd story attic and back down again on the other side of the house. It would have also taken up some space that was already a little cramped. The cost was around $12k installed, so all things considered, I bought a portable gasoline 17.5kw Generac and had an electrician friend handle the switch installation.

I can roll it from my garage to the backyard and run a 25' cable to the new switch plug. I have a ground cable within a few feet where this will be set-up, so that's convenient too. The bonus to me is its portability. If I move or just need something big for whatever reason, I've got it. I've tested it with a 5 ton AC unit, along with everything else in the house (3 refrigerators, 2 ovens, washer/dryer, etc.) and it held up really well. I isolated the upstairs 4 ton AC because I really didn't want to push the surge wattage (26.25kw).

Got this from Northern Tool. Their delivery time is pretty slow, but I'm glad I have it for the next hurricane that comes through.
Generac GP17500 Portable Generator

ShinerDunk93 said:

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What are all those useful labels doing on your breaker switches? Who does that?

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No kidding, most of mine are labeled "lights/plugs"

NRD09 said:

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ShinerDunk93 said:

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What are all those useful labels doing on your breaker switches? Who does that?

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No kidding, most of mine are labeled "lights/plugs"

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I bought them off Amazon. Do not buy them! The adhesive sucks. As you can see some of them are peeling. I have opened the panel door and had some fall out. I've glued most of them back on with stuff out of my wife's scrapbook supplies. Thanks for not giving me crap about misspellings.

Talk to Tim Zaskoda out of Caldwell. He does preventive maintenance and repair on backup generators and can give you some good information.

https://www.zaskodarepair.com/

Don't know if it's a statewide problem, but even getting a Generac affiliated electrician to talk to you is like pulling teeth in the Lubbock area. Been putting in inquireies and calling since November, have finally got a guy to commit to coming to mom's house for estimate next week.

I do have a question about running wire to the breakers.

We plan on doing a whole house generator on a transfer switch. It appears to me that you could simply hook the generator in downstream of the meter. You'd only need to go to the breaker box if you were putting a smaller generator on critical circuits, only.

Right or wrong?

Generac is way behind. My father stocks and sells them and he's struggling to get them into inventory right now. I'm sure Lowe's is buying them up so inventory is out there but it's not as plentiful as it was.

.....definitely get a Generac 22k or the new 24k.

- Nat Gas preferred and get the transfer switch and WiFi adapter so you can monitor it.
- I have to use propane which SUCKS only because at full load it would drain my 250 gallon propane tank in less than 48 hours.

When mom and dad did some work on the house 20 years ago, they poured a pad for the generator right next to the electric and gas meters. So, yeah, going Natural Gas.

Ha! I replaced every switch in my house and still didn't label them. I'm so angry every time I look at the breaker box.

I'll come at this from a little different perspective. I personally think the whole house systems are overkill. Natural gas generators are very inefficient and expensive to run. I get by easily with a 5500w portable I've had since before Katrina (2005). It runs lights, ceiling fans, freezer, and fridge, and a small window a/c if needed. We were without power for 2 weeks after Katrina. We did fine. Since then I've had a couple of outages up to 1 week. I can do without the hassle and expense of a whole house system for a week or so every 3 yrs. Here's what I did:

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician.

1. I had two unused slots on my main panel. I purchased a dual pole 30amp breaker and installed it there. This is the backfeed breaker. This breaker is always off, unless I'm running the generator.

2. I installed a 30amp (L14-30P) receptacle to that breaker. You want the male receptacle otherwise you would need to make a cable with two male ends, aka suicide cord.

3. When power goes off and I need to use the generator, I turn off the main breaker and then all other breakers. I then plug in the generator and start it. I flip the 30amp breaker for the generator and then flip on each breaker I need to run, letting each kick on before flipping the next. Leave the main breaker off.

The interlock just keeps you from having the main and the generator backfeed breaker on at the same time. I have clearly written instructions taped to the electric box for running the generator. It's not up to code, but I don't think the interlocks are code in all States. Some require the transfer box with separate breakers.

zooguy96 said:

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Wanting to be more prepared for weather. We've gotten more snow this winter, and our power has gone out a couple of times, sometimes for an extended amount of time.

I know nothing about generators. Talk to me like I'm 5. What do I need? What would you suggest? Gasoline, diesel... what to power it? How do I hook it into our electrical grid?

TIA

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First off I'd figure out what you want to be able to run when the power goes out?

Everything?

A whole house generator powered by natural gas if you have it gas at your house.

Hooking it to the house electrical (assuming you go with the whole house) typically requires a transfer switch to keep you from sending power out to the grid and injuring a lineman working on the "dead" line.

If you only want to run window units/fridge/freezer then you can get a smaller gas powered one (if you have a bunch of full gas cans) and use extension cords.

The whole house is definitely the more expensive way of doing it but you buy once and cry once.... While having your house heated/cooled during an extended power outage the wife won't be crying

In our case, mom is elderly, and a whole house system makes the most sense.

I decided that I probably won't power the AC unless we're talking days without power and high humidity. Portable ACs for each bedroom are more efficient and nice to have anyway as redundancy.

87IE said:

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zooguy96 said:

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Wanting to be more prepared for weather. We've gotten more snow this winter, and our power has gone out a couple of times, sometimes for an extended amount of time.

I know nothing about generators. Talk to me like I'm 5. What do I need? What would you suggest? Gasoline, diesel... what to power it? How do I hook it into our electrical grid?

TIA

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First off I'd figure out what you want to be able to run when the power goes out?

Everything?

A whole house generator powered by natural gas if you have it gas at your house.

Hooking it to the house electrical (assuming you go with the whole house) typically requires a transfer switch to keep you from sending power out to the grid and injuring a lineman working on the "dead" line.

If you only want to run window units/fridge/freezer then you can get a smaller gas powered one (if you have a bunch of full gas cans) and use extension cords.

The whole house is definitely the more expensive way of doing it but you buy once and cry once.... While having your house heated/cooled during an extended power outage the wife won't be crying

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Yeah, I used to cheapskate my way out of things. Recently, I've decided to just save up for big purchases (For me, that's anything $0-5K). Better in the long run (most of the time), and keeps the wife happier (all of the time). In the past 2 years (With the new house), have gotten:

Storage Building - originally going to go with a 10x10 due to cost, but went with a 10x20 metal building with a roll up door and a ramp. Got it for just over $3k.

Landscaping - Could have done this myself, but the wife wanted it taken care of quickly. Got 15 trees, 60-80 bushes, roses, mulch, etc. in one day (my BIL does commercial landscaping). Of course, too much $$ later - but he let me pay it off over time.

Got a good quality tiller for the huge garden. I'll eventually get a small utility tractor - probably next year after we pay off all our debt (hopefully) this year.

So, I'll probably go with a full house system. Thanks for the input.

So I'm on the ground floor with all of this, but this is a timely thread for me. We just dealt with a 5 day outage at the property we recently bought, which was of no consequence, since we aren't going to be living in the house for a few months, and there's a wood stove, so I was able to keep heat going while I was working out there.

But, we do plan on purchasing some kind of generator for when there's an inevitable outage again. I would want to run a small electric heating system, refrigerator and 2 deep freezes. Those are the absolute must haves. NG/Propane are not an option.

What's the recommended route for this?

If you happen to have a tractor you can buy a Winco PTO driven generator for much less.

https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/electrical/generators/pto-generators/22005p-22-000-watts-pto-generator-kit?infoParam.campaignId=WR&msclkid=af25679a203510b729eb0793c1f29869&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%5BADL%5D%20%5BPLA%5D%20%5BElectrical%20%26%20Lighting%5D%20%7BGenerators%7D%20(Neutral)%20-%20%5BHigh%20Priority%20SKUs%5D&utm_term=4582558319507816&utm_content=Electrical%20%26%20Lighting%20-%20Generators%20-%20(Neutral)&adlclid=af25679a203510b729eb0793c1f29869

Had a propane 22kw Generac installed at our house a few weeks ago, the installer said it would run the house 3-4 days on a 250 gal propane tank so we'll see what happens. I work away from home for extended periods and wanted something seamless for the family, otherwise I probably would have gotten a smaller portable one.

If you're in East TX, Daniel Brooks sold and installed ours. He did a great job and has contacts with a propane company if you need a tank and all that.

936-433-6395 is his number

I got a portable generator with a transfer switch like most others. I also put a conversion kit on it to run it off the natural gas supply from the house. Can do the same with propane if desired and it keeps you from having to refill with gas. Safety precautions suggest to stop the generator and let it cool off before refilling with gas. Ain't nobody got time for that.

rich1 said:

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If you happen to have a tractor you can buy a Winco PTO driven generator for much less.

https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/electrical/generators/pto-generators/22005p-22-000-watts-pto-generator-kit?infoParam.campaignId=WR&msclkid=af25679a203510b729eb0793c1f29869&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%5BADL%5D%20%5BPLA%5D%20%5BElectrical%20%26%20Lighting%5D%20%7BGenerators%7D%20(Neutral)%20-%20%5BHigh%20Priority%20SKUs%5D&utm_term=4582558319507816&utm_content=Electrical%20%26%20Lighting%20-%20Generators%20-%20(Neutral)&adlclid=af25679a203510b729eb0793c1f29869

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That's intriguing, but what if I need to use my tractor while the power is out?

NRD09 said:

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CanyonAg77 said:

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Don't know if it's a statewide problem, but even getting a Generac affiliated electrician to talk to you is like pulling teeth in the Lubbock area. Been putting in inquireies and calling since November, have finally got a guy to commit to coming to mom's house for estimate next week.

I do have a question about running wire to the breakers.

We plan on doing a whole house generator on a transfer switch. It appears to me that you could simply hook the generator in downstream of the meter. You'd only need to go to the breaker box if you were putting a smaller generator on critical circuits, only.

Right or wrong?

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Nobody responded to this directly so i will:
WRONG! You have to disconnect your system from the grid (as described a couple posts below yours) to avoid backfeeding the grid and electrocuting a lineman
Edit: missed that you mentioned a transfer switch... that should do it

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Exactly right. And Other than the safety of the utility workers, your generator would be trying to carry the load of your whole neighborhood, not gonna work. Your home must be disconnected from the grid.

Sorry. To clarify, yes, I know we need a transfer switch.

The question was whether we can simply do one big wire going to the house, or if we have to send new wires to the breaker.

I expect it can be just tied into the existing one wire.

I believe you can just make a 2-male-ended 220 extension cord and backfeed an outlet. That's totally illegal though, unless the outlet is on its own breaker with an interlock to the main

Maybe I'm not understanding the question but you will have grid power and generator power coming in on separate wires into the transfer switch.

Sorry, seems like I'm doing a terrible job of explaining. There will be a transfer switch. It will be automatic, not sending 90-year-old mom out into the snow to switch plugs. Generator will not start and run until power company feed stops. At which point, transfer switch cuts the house and generator off from the main line. Generator starts, power heads for the house...but not the power company line because - transfer switch.

The only question is about the line from the generator into the house. I assume you can use the same line the power company uses to go from the pole to the house (after disconnecting from power company)

I see people talk about having to run a different set of wires from the generator to the breaker box. My assumption that is done only if you have a low output generator, and are only going to run selected circuits during an outage.

With a big generator, I don't see a need for separate wires, and that was all I was trying to confirm.