Whole house generator

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Big_Daddy_Jp

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Anyone have a hook up for these? I’m looking at getting a Generac installed with switch gear. I purchased a generator to use for back up power and planned to back feed the house when the power goes out. Now I think I would like to just get the real deal. I live in San Diego but Alpine to be exact. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

 
We did the Generac 22KW when we had the solar system installed on our house. With the blackouts you don’t even notice when the blackout starts since the gennie fires up on its own. 

 
I bought mine (24K Generac) on line from Home Depot, had it delivered then got an electrician to hook it up. Bought & installed a 250 gal dedicated propane tank to run it. 

 
My house is already on propane. My power panel is within 15’ of where I would want it installed. My propane line is 20’ away. Should be pretty straight forward.

 
Big_Daddy_Jp said:
My house is already on propane. My power panel is within 15’ of where I would want it installed. My propane line is 20’ away. Should be pretty straight forward.
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I’m on propane as well, I went with a dedicated tank for the house, one for the shop and one for the genny due to locations and the amount of heating needed during Idaho Winters. Probably the best upgrade I’ve done, great insurance against an extended outage. Make sure and go bigger than you need, the price break for a smaller genny may not make sense.

 
Big_Daddy_Jp said:
Anyone have a hook up for these? I’m looking at getting a Generac installed with switch gear. I purchased a generator to use for back up power and planned to back feed the house when the power goes out. Now I think I would like to just get the real deal. I live in San Diego but Alpine to be exact. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you
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My friend down the street did the generac kit from northern tools about 5 years ago. It is plumbed into his propane tank. Its been flawless so far. We lose power often out here in pine valley. Im seriously considering the same thing with its own 200 gallon propane tank

 
This is my set up now (past 6-7 years) This generator has been incredibly reliable (140hrs). It powers my house (lights, tv, internet, 3 refrigerators), my wife even does laundry sometimes. It is kind of a pain to have to plug in and hit the start button at 4 am. Its amazing that old fuel and all the thing just runs. Battery has never let me down i think im ready for the upgrade

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I shopped around and found a 400amp ATS from Kohler on Craig’s list for $600. This transfers my entire panel over on my home. I didn’t like the smaller dedicated circuit types. Besides my house has a main panel and two sub panels so there was not a way to get circuits from three panels. Besides when we are in “aux” mode we are not turning on heavy consumers. Right now I have a 50 amp twist lock to my generator and later may hard wire 100 amp service. I like the whole house transfer-switch. 

 
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My current generator is an industrial low rpm diesel generator with. 80 gallon skid below. This will come in handy when I get my 250 gallon red diesel filling station at home. But the propane seems best hour per gallon. My neighbor found a 1000 gallon propane tank he bought. He’s prepping for the millennium 

 
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I did a  Generac  propane in Havasu with an automatic transfer switch not one issue in 15 years   and it got used there with blackouts they have ... Sold the place in 2019 and the inspector said it was perfect...

 
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I’ve had a few power outages since I moved to this house 2 years ago. My plan was to use a regular generator and have it wired to back feed the house. A couple times the power went out we were at the desert. A couple more times we were at work. It seems the odds aren’t in my favor to be home when it happens! The power has never been out longer than a day so I don’t need a dedicated propane tank. Also, I think I can get away with a 10k generator. Fridge, lights, water heater don’t use much. Even if I need to run the heater or ac I have a 5 zone ductless mini split so only need to run the rooms I’m in. If you calculate the running amps not the starting amps, I’m way in the good.

 
Those of you who do back feeding…. Do you know if a circuit breaker works in “both directions”. Just curious. I just don’t know. My guess is with ac it doesn’t really matter

 
yamahagenerators.com has a good deal on a 26kw standby generator propane or on  gas

 
John@Outfront said:
Those of you who do back feeding…. Do you know if a circuit breaker works in “both directions”. Just curious. I just don’t know. My guess is with ac it doesn’t really matter
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Fun question. I just did 60 seconds of googling. If i trust the info they were saying, unless the breaker is specifically marked with Line and Load then they will work in both directions.  

We have a back feed setup here. I started making a post from my laptop that i need to finish. 

 
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Saw your thread the other morning. Was about to put this 9500 Westinghouse into storage mode so i took video of it running. I was surprised how loud it was. Overall build quality is decent. 

If money and space is no factor then go wild with it. I think having a dedicated propane tank would be super cool. That is the biggest downfall i notice to these things. How can you store enough fuel to last a week? What happens when the gas station is down and propane guy aint delivering? Like most of us duners i keep my eyes open for a mega deal on a used Honda 2000 of any version. If power goes out you need to ask yourself how often do you really need 240v? Maybe running an electric dryer is high on the list because laundry is done daily for kiddos in school. Or running a welder to build some A Team apparatus. Most of the time living in socal all you really need is a working fridge and maybe 15a of 120v. Having a small genny that sips gasoline might get used more than the monster genny. 



 
Nobody has tied there generator into a natural gas supply at their house?

 
Like I was saying, I have generators. I have a Honda 6500 I can use along with a few others. When the power goes out and I’m not home, who is gonna drag the generator out of the garage and hook it up for me? Not to mention, if I’m gone for a few days, who’s gonna keep it fueled? I bought a dual fuel generator I was gonna use and tie it into my propane but it’s loud AF! 

 
John@Outfront said:
Those of you who do back feeding…. Do you know if a circuit breaker works in “both directions”. Just curious. I just don’t know. My guess is with ac it doesn’t really matter
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When the power goes out; i run my panel backward. Turn off main from street, turn on main at bottom of my panel, start generator. When done. Reverse.

i dgaf what sdge thinks. These constant power glitches have ruined a washer, fridge and 2 computers. Eff this state and its infrastructure. 

 
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