We have our generator on the covered back porch behind our detached garage.

It's a lucky/good set up for us for our generator needs. Far away from living areas, far away from neighbor, but close to electrical panel and protected from the elements.

We have a detached garage and our panel/generator is far from the main house. Nat Gas is on the other side of the house so that's our issue for utility hookup...plus then the generator would be near the bedrooms.

I put in a 26 KV Briggs & Stratton in September. Beryl is the first time I've lost electricity since installation and after 120 hrs it continues to run with no issues powering my entire house with 2 ACs and the pool. Supposed to check the oil after 100 hrs run time which I did yesterday and it needed about a 1/2 qt top off. I have a maintenance plan with the provider in Tomball, and if there are any issues they will come out 24/7 and they also conduct the annual tune up. At this point I have no doubt it was a good investment.

You can buy a "Gen Tent" on Amazon. They're made specifically for this situation and are relatively inexpensive. Just make sure it's compatible with your brand. Looks like this:

MarylandAG said:

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For those of you using a portable generator to backfeed your house through a transfer switch or interlock, what do you do when it is raining? Unless I am mistaken, you have to protect them from the elements and you have to put them at least 20-30 ft from the house to be safe from the exhaust so that take a porch or patio out of consideration. So the power goes out and it is raining (and will be for a few days), where do you put the portable generator?

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I built a shed on the side of my house and used an aftermarket kit to route the exhaust outside the shed so my CO alarm wouldn't trip. I ran the back feed outlet into the shed so I wouldn't have to mess with moving my generator during wind/rain events.


Be careful on ventilation though, I should have done the calculations to see how much fresh air would be needed to keep the temp within normal operating range but I figured why bother and just put a 630 CFM fan on the shed with a couple of intakes down low. Ended up getting 130F+ in the shed as none of my tests the past few years ran for longer than 10-15 min under load.

I plan on adding a couple more powered intake fans to the shed as well as some additional passive ventilation so that the temperatures remain reasonable.

For those running the house with a portable generator: outside of the cost of whichever generator you buy, how much would I expect to spend to have an electrician do all the necessary work at the breaker box, install the transfer switch or interlock kit, etc.?

I've been seeing people say anywhere from $500-650.

My gas meter & elec panel are on opposite sides of the house.

However, I have a gas stub out on my covered back porch that could be tapped into. Would I need to upsize that stub out for a portable 15-16kW gen?

My thought is that would be cheaper & easier to run an elec line to that location and put stub out a permanent connection there, and would provide some cover for the generator.

I asked about trying to tap into a closer existing gas line and was told it would not work because of the CFM of gas needed. I have to get a high pressure gas meter installed and run a 1.25" line to meet the needs of a 20KW generator.

I tried the same thing when wanting to install a gas pool heater. The stubs and existing lines I had for fireplace and grill are too small.

bkag9824 said:

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Would I need to upsize that stub out for a portable 15-16kW gen?

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Why this large? The max you can push through a generator plug/breaker is 50A X 240v = 12000w.

You'll likely need a 3/4" line feeding it, either directly adjacent to the meter or directly off an oversized 1 1/2" or 1 1/4" main trunk.

What is the OB's opinion on the ICM soft start? I know it's not a "smart" soft start and $100 cheaper. I don't really care for the Bluetooth diagnosis but it seems the microair is highly recommended in the portable generator FB group

OilManAg91 said:

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I put in a 26 KV Briggs & Stratton in September. Beryl is the first time I've lost electricity since installation and after 120 hrs it continues to run with no issues powering my entire house with 2 ACs and the pool. Supposed to check the oil after 100 hrs run time which I did yesterday and it needed about a 1/2 qt top off. I have a maintenance plan with the provider in Tomball, and if there are any issues they will come out 24/7 and they also conduct the annual tune up. At this point I have no doubt it was a good investment.

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Generator supercenter or grasten?

Power Solutions Specialist

P.H. Dexippus said:

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bkag9824 said:

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Would I need to upsize that stub out for a portable 15-16kW gen?

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Why this large? The max you can push through a generator plug/breaker is 50A X 240v = 12000w.

You'll likely need a 3/4" line feeding it, either directly adjacent to the meter or directly off an oversized 1 1/2" or 1 1/4" main trunk.

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Didn't know that about max flow. Not an electrical guy, but thank you for that info. Very helpful so I don't buy something larger than what can actually be used.

One sized alike this is about ideal for a homeowner. The max running watts on nat gas is fairly close to the 12000w plug/breaker bottleneck.
https://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/Westinghouse-WGEN14500TFC-Portable-Generator/p154100.html