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Standby generator (1 Viewer)

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Rusticman

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Here’s my answer to the original post. Yes, I have a standby generator. It cost me less than $6000 (generator, gas caddy, transfer switch and installation). It runs my light, tanks, ac/heat, freezer, fridge, outlets, etc. Originally, I was going to get a whole house generator installed just like the one you‘re talking about. That changed after talking with my electrician. 24KW is more than enough to run your entire house (must be a big house!) with EVERYTHING ON and all things running in your home (Wash/dry cloths, bake, cook, microwave,freezer, fridge...etc.). I sure 24KW is peak power and not constant. When you stuff kick on such as your AC, it will spike and then levels out. I’m sure this setup is upward $10K or more and not factoring in the maintenance involved with upkeep. For me, I don’t need everything ON during a weather event, just the necessities for comfort and survival (including my tanks of course). My generator actually inverter is a Honda eu7000is. It’s quite and very reliable. Besides, this outage was an anomaly, it has been awhile since we had a long term outage and will be awhile longer until we have another. The one thing I see as a big advantage for the whole house installed generator is the switch on is automatic while my setup is manual. Mine is somewhat portable (heavy) the other is fixed and not portable. Mine uses gas, non ethanol for better storage, the other is natural gas. Didn’t I hear some areas didn’t have natural gas service during this outage? Anyways, that’s my take and I figured it’s easier convincing your wife to investing $6000 vs. $10K+. BTW, you can opt for a cheaper generator with the rated power you need. You can do this for a lot less.
 
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steveb

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Well the only positive to this freeze which busted my pool heater is I now have a 1” NG line available.
 

aquaman30k

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Happy to answer any questions or provide a quote on Generac 20kw+ standby generator for anyone considering a whole home/business generator. I work with Generator Exchange which covers most of the Houston metro area or anywhere within an hour of Spring, give or take. Email - Josh@generatorexchange.com

If you mention this post, for my fellow hobbyists I’m including $1,100 in upgrades.

After putting off the purchase for many years, my wife said our 22kw was the best investment we made this year.


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If you get a generac I would get one that has the dial to switch over to propane and have a few large tanks on hand. Apparently some people had issues with Natural gas as well. Appears our grid is a large % natural gas, and the delivery for that relies on the grid... Bad enough storm hits us and it could knock out gas as well.

I'm thinking of going with solar and a powerwall or 4. I saw a video on youtube where a guy in Austin had solar and 2 powerwalls and was able to get enough power each day to keep his house from freezing even with some panels covered. If he had 4 power walls and a way to clear the snow off the panels he may have been able to keep power the whole time. If I remember correctly this is also the last year for rebates on solar unless the new administration extends them.

I would still have my portable generator and you can add a whole house with a powerwall and solar has been proven to pay for itself. If our electric prices go up it may pay off faster.
Yep 2 40 lbs tanks will run you for 2 weeks!
 
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zzl630

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I would for sure. But I'm fixing to have two concrete pads free up in the back yard. One from pool heater and one from pool evaporative chiller.

My pool chiller is probably the most useless thing occupy so much space. Did you have someone remove it for you?
 

steveb

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My pool chiller is probably the most useless thing occupy so much space. Did you have someone remove it for you?
Not yet. Sawzall disconnected it from the rest of the pool pluming :ROFLMAO:

I'm gonna work on getting the electrical disconnected this weekend and hopefully I will get it partially disassembled. I'm gonna try to list it on let go for a few weeks. if that doesn't work sawzall will make quick work of it to make it small enough for trash pickup.

I feel the same way about our pool heater too. Gonna work on getting the electrical and gas disconnected this weekend. It is toast. The entire heat exchanger is cracked from the freeze.
 

aquaman30k

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Curious, what was wrong with the pool chiller? I was thinking of adding one but now I’m thinking it’s a waste?


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steveb

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Curious, what was wrong with the pool chiller? I was thinking of adding one but now I’m thinking it’s a waste?


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oh man where do I start....

its open - by that I mean water comes into it from pool pressure side of the return pump and water is pulled out of it by suction side of the pump at the bottom is a reservoir where all of this happens, its open. There is an internal pump that sprays water on the plastic fins inside the unit that the fan pulls air across to cool through evaporation. During July/Aug/Sept. I could only get it to pull the temp down a couple of degrees (may have been more if I could leave it on 24x hours but couldn't - see below).

I was ALWAYS having to adjust the input valve and drain valve to keep it from overfilling and spilling out or sucking air.

its evaporative - doesn't work very well when humidity is 90%+

They make heat pumps that both heat and cool. That is probably the way to go but going to take some $$ to run.
 
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steveb

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Probably shouldn't be saying all of this lol since I want to sell it. I think it would have been better if they would have plumbed it with gate valves vs. the valves used, or possibly just ran the drain line straight to the pool vs. using the suction side of the pump to drain it.

This is what I have:

1615483987880.png
 
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Curious, what was wrong with the pool chiller? I was thinking of adding one but now I’m thinking it’s a waste?


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Just think in July/August when the beach water in the mid 80’s. Feels like your in a hot tub. Seems like having a chiller would be nice in the summer months to bump it down, but maybe not.?
 
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