BowSowy said:
aTm2004 said:
BowSowy said:
Sea Speed said:
htxag09 said:
How many of them actually service and maintain them how they're supposed to, though? Especially seeing how some just ran for 100-200+ hours a month and a half ago? A generator isn't a set it, forget it, and always be covered type investment.
Also, it should be a reality and taken into consideration when fiscally looking at generators and when planning for emergency situations. The number of these things has grown exponentially. Don't expect parts or techs to be readily available
The above is a big reason why I just go with the interlock kit and portable generators. The unknowns really tip the scale to make the $20k in investment worth it to me.
For sure this. I'm in to my backup power about $1700 and should be able to power our garage apartment plus select circuits in our house or fewer circuits in the house and one home HVAC system. Really hard to justify an extra $10-$15 grand for the auto start generac.
I think this is where I'm going to end up. Right now, I just have a small 3000W generator to run portable AC, fans, chargers, and a couple of lights - enough to not make it miserable. But I'm not sure I want to drop $15K to make it so that we go from not miserable to comfortable for a couple of days every few years. Spending less than that for a generator that will power something like central AC, fridge, internet, etc. seems like the way to go.
For your backup power, how long does a tank of gas last? And how much gas do you keep on hand? That is the one benefit I see to a Generac with NG - I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night to refuel.
They sell dual fuel and tri fuel generators, which I would go with if it were me. They cost a bit more, but having options to fuel it would be worth the extra to me. I was talking to a neighbor this morning and he's running select things in his house on a tri fuel Duromax that's hooked to his NG line. Not sitting as pretty as many with a whole home, but still pretty comfortable.
If you go dual fuel, you can get some sizable propane tanks to keep on hand (and probably a lot easier to find to get refilled than gas) and the propane doesn't go bad.
So you could get a 13000W tri-fuel like posted above for $2K. Get an interlock switch installed, and hook it up to your NG line and you're looking at sub-$5K for what is essentially a whole home generator?
Not entirely. I have this same setup. Depending on what you are powering you are limited. I have a large house with a 4 ton ac downstairs and 2.5 ton upstairs. I have a soft start on my downstairs which allows me to run it. I can't run both at the same time. Perhaps if I put another soft start on the second unit. You will need to be mindful of using the microwave, oven, dishwasher and anything else that has a heating element as these consume large amounts of wattage.
Running a dryer is a whole nother beast and not something my generator can currently handle.
That being said, for the cost and convenience factors this was an easy decision for me.
