I'm in Cypress, TX in Villages of Cypress Lakes and have been lucky, we have not lost power very often, in fact only once in nearly 4 years of having been in this neighborhood that I can recall. Luck eventually runs out, and this cold weather is serving as another reminder of something I have been considering for years. So my question is are those with whole home generators having any issues in the cold? Any other things you wish you would have done different?

I use a CPAP machine that I cant sleep without and my wife is a cancer survivor and to this day gets severe hot flashes, so a day without out AC on a Texas summer day would be brutal and need electricity for the CPAP.

I know the whole home setups come in natural gas or diesel. Considering the cold and concerns for diesel gelling, Is natural gas the way to go? I'm sure even the gas ones have limitations, what are they? I started this thread since we usually think of generators during hurricane and I wondered if the extreme cold brought about things you would have done different.

You can eliminate the diesel gelling concern by mixing kerosene (#1 diesel) with the #2 diesel and add anti-gel additive. That's how winter blend is made for the Midwest and our diesel vehicles operate without issue at or below -20F.

Natural gas has an advantage of ease regarding fuel except as you're seeing now with low pressures.

I'll have a propane setup once I move out of city limits.

CenterHill, how much fuel does your generator use in say a day? I have a 500 gal tank and am considering the same unit but I'm curious how long I can run it.

Generac 22kw here. Been putting in some work with the power down. No change in what we are doing in home. also running pool pump and well without problem. 250gallon tank has decreased approx 10 percent with 8 ish hours of run time.

If Right started with a full tank and has used 10% in 8 hrs and my math is right that is a little over 3 gal/ hr, with a 250 gal tank he could run that generator for a month, damn is that right?

2 days!! That would be worth it. I've gotten to the point where if I dont have it I have this choking sensation when I try to sleep, its a horrible sensation. That would solve my issue but my wife needs electricity with the hot flashes she gets. Also, I work from home almost exclusively so no power is an issue. Like I said luck runs out, this cold spell and and this thread is the convincing factor for me. I'm going to get a whole home setup. I will have to research diesel vs propane vs natural gas, iI think they have gasoline powered ones as well. I know there is a generac superstore on 249 between Tomball and Willowbrook!

Haha, I was way off on my math.

Since I'm in the city, if I went propane wouldnt I have to have a tank? I'm assuming the HOA would have issues with a propane tank in the back yard, or is the tank part of the generator unit?

Possible to bury the tank?

The installer told me 3-4 gal/hr. Sounds like that's accurate based on what others have said in here. I have a 250 gal tank and was hoping for 3 days worth of running. We just had another blackout and I ran only the biggest central heater and a large ceramic heater, which seemed to work better than 2 central heaters like I had done earlier.

Love my propane generac.

Does anyone have a PTO driven generator? I'm thinking of getting one instead of a propane or diesel generator. Hopefully my tractor is already running so I wouldn't have to worry about another motor starting.

38kw general natural gas. Love it. No issues. Quiet as well!

We have a 24kw kohler generator, works great and handles everything we throw at it. We are completely solar and generator power only.

Having a propane generator is great with very little maintenance, I change the oil when I change my truck.

Now we also have a smaller generator that I purchased at harbor fright (6,000 watt). For times like this when its cold outside, we only use the small generator for overnight. Reason being is we don't need a ton of energy to power cpap and cell phones. Our house is pretty energy efficient so a simple space heater keeps our room decent.

Using the small gen for 10-14 hours only cost me $10, once the sun comes out everything is powered by solar so the gen never really kicks on. This saves a ton of propane.

How much does one of these generally go for installed?

Did you get any freezing rain and/ or snow covering your panels? How much power are they able to collect in those conditions?

Was on fence for one of these after near miss from Hurricane Laura. Now that we are dealing with this crap, I'm all in. Have a 500 gallon propane tank so hopefully could get one of these installed in 2021.

MarylandAG said:

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If Right started with a full tank and has used 10% in 8 hrs and my math is right that is a little over 3 gal/ hr, with a 250 gal tank he could run that generator for a month, damn is that right?

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I don't know but my diesel 30kw burns a out a gallon an hour.

My math was off, I think I confused myself and confused days for hours. If he has a 250 gallon tank and said he used about 10% in 8ish hours, I assumed a full tank to start so he used 25 gallons in 8 hrs, so about 3.125 gallons/ hr. So 250 divided 3.125 means he has enough fuel for 80 hrs, or 3.3 days, so those with a 500 gallon tank should be able to go for about 6 1/2 days, give or take.

A gallon per hour seems pretty phenomenal. Either way, like a poster above said, I was on the fence on a whole home generator this weather event does it for me, I'm also all in!

I will also look at that battery backup for the CPAP, pays to be as prepared as possible.

Which battery backup do you use?

How many gallons per hour does your unit burn?


EDIT, NM, I read the other post on consumption.

How much was the installation of one of these things?

Kohler 16kW set up used 2.3 gal per hour of propane at full load. 250 gallon tank is very adequate.

FBG_Ag78 said:

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Did you get any freezing rain and/ or snow covering your panels? How much power are they able to collect in those conditions?

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We did get freezing rain and 6in of snow, we finally got full sun yesterday but the panels were covered with snow. So I got my ladder and push broom, I pulled almost all the snow off without having to get on the roof. Once the panels got light you could see the ice really start to melt.

We should be good to go today! A little inconvenience but its better than not having power, ill figure something out so next time I dont have to get on a ladder.

coastalaggie said:

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How much was the installation of one of these things?

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Our 24k kohler whole home cost $15k turn key with concrete base.

Also I can't stress this enough bury your propane tank, it doesn't cost much more and you can actually get a full tank. Ours didn't cost much and we live on solid rock.

Even if I lived in the city I find a small 250 gal and have it buried in my backyard.