Go to a web site like GENERAC, and they will have sizing guides.

Email sent!

Sent u direct number to my partner who is the President of Tri-Watt Electric. She's a great Ag!

Tell her I asked you to call. She's expecting to hear from you.

VegasAg - Dont have the ability to PM, how can I make contact with you or someone with your company?

Email me at miknava at gee mail

I'll send you our contact info.

CanyonAg77 said:

---

Quote:

---

From what I've seen, the cheapest you will get into a whole home is $9k. Is that about right? Plus it would stay with the house at that point if I move.

---

We ordered this one for mom.

https://www.generac.com/all-products/generators/home-backup-generators/guardian-series/24kw-7210-prwview-transfer-switch-wifi-enabled

About $5700, and installation and wiring will run the total to a little over $9,000.

She already had a pad poured, and the meter and the natural gas line are right there with it. It should run the whole house, unless she tries to run the AC, dryer, and oven all at once.

I guess you could always take the generator with you, and leave the transfer switch and other hookups. But the buyer might take offense. Leaving it as a selling point would probably net you more money.

And as you've probably seen me say before, there was a 20 week backlog of orders at Generac when we ordered in January. I'm betting that has at least doubled.

---

Canyon, did you have someone in the panhandle take a look at the installation? Was wondering about this.

TarponChaser said:

---

Is that connected to a natural gas line or what?

---

Gasoline. I've yet to fry something. I turn on the generator and let it run for a few minutes and flip breakers on one at a time over the course of a few minutes. I also make sure not to let it run out of gas.

Mom is in Hale County, so we got a company out of Lubbock.

http://commercialelectrictx.com/

I found him through the Generac web site, but was also directed to someone who actually called today to see if I was interested. Three months after I first requested a quote.

hellapark said:

---

I have a Westinghouse dual fuel 9500 model. I like having flexibility of using either gasoline or propane, and I already have a 250 gallon tank for several propane appliances.
Set it up in my shed with an flexible exhaust hose. I hooked it all up myself with the advice of my father in law, who is a retired master electrician.
Ran the power directly to the box on my meter pole thru an AC disconnect switch and 30 amp breaker feeding the water well circuit and circuit back to the house panel. Just have to make sure and cut off the service breaker coming into the box from grid during and outage. It's more work than a automatic transfer switch but really not bad considering how in expensive.
I can run my entire house and my water well, or my entire house and hvac system. Just can't do all at the same time.
In a pinch I could run space heater or window unit in closed bedroom.
I bought for hurricanes but never imaging its first use would be for a weeklong winter storm like this.
I spent maybe $1300 total.

---

Just bought that model, glad to hear you like it. Should have bought it a long damn time ago.

I'm seriously looking at that Westinghouse 9500 dual fuel model as well. For those that have a portable type gen running the house, how are you guys clarifying the load so you don't get spikes? Everything I'm seeing, this particular generator doesn't seem to play nice with electronics.

In looking at the inverter generators, they don't seem to have the power availability as these standard ones.

I typically run all my electronics through a UPS anyway, so I guess that's one way to clean it up.

Would UPS or surge protection prevent the issues with the generator?

Adding to the cost, but I've seen discussions about whole home surge protectors. Thoughts on these? I would think they would be nice to have either way, right?

Installed a Generac 22kW when we built our house in 2015. Its our final house, in country. We also use propane for cook top, tankless water heaters, a gas stove for heating living area on swing days (40 degrees plus), outdoor kitchen, and fire pit.

I originally wanted the 30kW unit as it is liquid cooled but it was hard to source and twice as expensive. My thinking was the liquid cooled unit could run for weeks to months where the air cooled line seemed to me to be more for up to a few weeks.

When we installed ours the 16kW unit was the most popular size, but the price difference between the 16 and 22 was not much. Ours runs everything in the house except the outside lighting (keeping a low profile) and emergency heat strips on heat pumps.

Put in a 1000 gallon underground tank and fill it every year in August.

On the other hand my dad built in 2019, just installed the transfer unit with outside plug for portable generator. It worked great as well but only ran a few lights, the fridge and freezer. If I recall the Honda 6500 portable generator is about the cost of my Generac, uses gasoline, and probably has to be filled every 4-5 hours (depending on load). I didnt like the idea of always keeping a couple of days of gas on hand so just went propane whole house system.

Annual inspection and service runs about $250-$400 a year.

Glad we had it but this is first time in five years it came on other than weekly test runs. Is it worth it for 3-4 days of electricity every five years? If that is the use rate going forward I probably would go the transfer switch and portable route.

ForeverAg said:

---

I don't have anything further to contribute other than I'll be getting a permanent whole home generator and at least a 500 Gallon propane tank buried just for the generator. Hearing our neighbors generator and seeing all their lights on while I see the frost of my breath in my own home makes this a very easy decision for me.

---

Double or triple the propane amount and you are good to go for just about anything besides a total meltdown. With the 80/20 rule you will only get 400 gallons of propane in the tank, a 22-27 kw generator will burn around 2-3 gal/hr at half load and around 4 gal/hr at full load. This equates to only 4 or 8 days of power with a 500 gallon tank. My wife and I have been planning to build with a minimum of 2 weeks worth of power, because we will close enough to the gulf that another major hurricane could make things rough for awhile.

coastalAg said:

---

aggie1819 said:

---

coastalAg said:

---

For those of you with portable generators, what are the limitations with running appliances off of them? Have heard of people frying electronics with their generators. Is this a load issue?

---

That's likely because they are using construction portable generators. Ones for the home have power inverters and are spec'd different.

---

It seems like many on this thread are using those construction generators to power their homes. I have the same Briggs & Stratton that I think was described just above. Just wondering what the implications of installing a transfer switch and using it to power appliances and electronics for an extended period vs getting a Honda inverter generator or something similar.

Sorry, this is probably basic, but an electrician I am not.

---

A standard generator does not produce as clean of power as an inverter does. Electronics are more susceptible to issues from dirty power

ForeverAg said:

---

I don't have anything further to contribute other than I'll be getting a permanent whole home generator and at least a 500 Gallon propane tank buried just for the generator. Hearing our neighbors generator and seeing all their lights on while I see the frost of my breath in my own home makes this a very easy decision for me.

---

Before going propane I would check run time. 400 gallons (capacity of 500 gallon tank ) would run less than a week. That's $800 per tank.

I have 2 generators. A honda 2000w and a duromax 4000. I bought the duromax 5 years ago, and this week was my first time to use it. Typically I might use the honda twice a year for a few hours.

Not worth spending a lot of money on, IMO. Even when our AC went out in August for a week, the honda could run the portable AC unit (to cool one room).

I think I will get the kit for extra gas capability for the Honda.

If buying portable, definitely buy one with a power inverter. That will prevent surges from damaging electronics

Anyone running whole house PTO generators? I hear they produce a very steady clean electricity and if you already have a 30-40hp tractor and up can run it for long periods of time on a tank of diesel. Heard some estimates of .25-.5g/hr.

mosdefn14 said:

---

Naveronski said:

---

I've been wanting a generator for a while, but this has pushed the Mrs to consider it as well.

I know trying to buy one today would be silly, but where do I start?

Figure a 1800 sq ft home
HVAC, fridge, garage freezer
Home office? Two PC's and monitors, etc.
Some lights around the house.
Furnace and tankless water heater are both gas, but still need power to function.
Quiet is a big plus. I'd love to be able to take it tailgating/camping/hunting.

Gas? Propane? Natural gas?

I've seen some great posts above, but it seems like there are a bunch of manufactures and even more model options.

---

That's like telling the car salesman you want to drive 110 with the top down, but also run carpool duty and pull a 30ft wakeboard boat.

---

Well damn, but okay.
Ignore the "quiet" part it sounds like.
Buy a big generator with an inverter?

Reel Aggies said:

---

Anyone running whole house PTO generators? I hear they produce a very steady clean electricity and if you already have a 30-40hp tractor and up can run it for long periods of time on a tank of diesel. Heard some estimates of .25-.5g/hr.

---

Since you've done some research on those and I haven't, what would this translate to for an 18hp tractor? Is it even worth considering a PTO vs. going with something else?

I'm def not an expert but did read replies to several forums concerning PTO gens. The folks that run them seem to like them, but I think the min HP for 20kw was 40? Can't remember off hand. Any lower and you running wide open and really stressing engine to maintain the speed of the gen. The biggest downfall it seemed was that most folks didn't want to tie up a tractor because they were likely using it to push snow and moved down limbs etc. That and several didn't like the idea of having to set it up, or have a family member back tractor up and hook up if they weren't home. I don't think either of those issues would be a big deal for me. I'd say find an older 4020 size tractor and back her up there and let it rip lol. More likely scenario for me would be running AC after a storm rather than snow. I like the idea of the PTO gen. A decent size tractor would prob sip diesel to power it and since I have a diesel p/u, could have a diesel stand and fill tractor and truck to keep fresh. Seems like you'd be able to run for a long time and not worry much about refilling. Plus you can use tractor when not needed for gen, which will likely be 99% of the time lol. Just my thoughts.


Looks like NH sells a 7200w that can run with 14hp,
Saw elsewhere a rule of thumb is 2hp per 1kw. YMMV

aggie1819 said:

---

If buying portable, definitely buy one with a power inverter. That will prevent surges from damaging electronics

---

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I'm covered. The generator feeds the house through the main panel by the transfer switch. I have whole home surge protection on the panel before power gets to the house and all my sensitive equipment have additional surge protectors.

Reel Aggies said:

---

I'm def not an expert but did read replies to several forums concerning PTO gens. The folks that run them seem to like them, but I think the min HP for 20kw was 40? Can't remember off hand. Any lower and you running wide open and really stressing engine to maintain the speed of the gen. The biggest downfall it seemed was that most folks didn't want to tie up a tractor because they were likely using it to push snow and moved down limbs etc. That and several didn't like the idea of having to set it up, or have a family member back tractor up and hook up if they weren't home. I don't think either of those issues would be a big deal for me. I'd say find an older 4020 size tractor and back her up there and let it rip lol. More likely scenario for me would be running AC after a storm rather than snow. I like the idea of the PTO gen. A decent size tractor would prob sip diesel to power it and since I have a diesel p/u, could have a diesel stand and fill tractor and truck to keep fresh. Seems like you'd be able to run for a long time and not worry much about refilling. Plus you can use tractor when not needed for gen, which will likely be 99% of the time lol. Just my thoughts.


Looks like NH sells a 7200w that can run with 14hp,
Saw elsewhere a rule of thumb is 2hp per 1kw. YMMV

---

Yeah, my first thought was having the tractor tied up when I need to be moving snow. And good to know on the hp ratios.

Sounds like this is probably not a good option for me.

So if this information can help anyone making a decision, I stopped by Generator Supercenter in Houston today.

For turnkey installation here is some pricing:
22kw basic install $12,400
38kw basic install $25k-30K

Propane tank installed (I believe underground) is $3500

Their maintenance service was around $420 a year.

Considering the 22kw is available for $5700 and the 38kw is available for $12,700 I decided this place wasn't for me. ATS run around $700 unless you need a 400amp panel which would run youa around $2600 I believe online.

To get an estimate, they require a $500.down payment which is fully refundable. I certainly understand that however the website says free estimates so that's not the best look for them. All in all this might be a good thing for others, but for me I couldn't pay that much of a premium for convenience when all you will need is a electrician and a plumber/propane guy. Hopefully this helps someone on here.

And that's why I ended up with 12k dual fuel portable converted to NG and a transfer switch to the panel. All In for less than their cost for just the genset.

The more I read, the better your version sounds.

Naveronski said:

---

The more I read, the better your version sounds.

---

It's not perfect, you give up a little convenience for a solution a fraction of the price. You have to physically start the generator (mine has remote start) and hit the transfer switch.

My next step is running a flex exhaust out the garage wall and adding a quick connect for the NG line. My panel has whole home surge protection and all the appliances are doubled up and plugged into surge protectors. I like it because I still have 2 vehicle fuel tanks worth of gas as a backup in case the NG supply is down.

That's true.

I'm expecting to move in the next <3 years, so being able to take it with me is a requirement.

Yah, definitely a plus. A $150 winch in the garage allows me to load up the generator to power the ranch or for family that might need it for disasters.

And if it gets too rough around here in a storm, it just comes with us to wherever we bug out.

What 12k dual fuel generator do you have that's remote start?

Player To Be Named Later said:

---

What 12k dual fuel generator do you have that's remote start?

---