Dave. You should get with your electrician early to decide what you want to power (that will determine the size), the location of the unit, and your transfer box. You're smart to plan for that now, since it is a lot cheaper and effective that way.

That is key.

Our electrician came over a month before the install and we went through the "must power" circuits and then the nice to have's in order to build a power budget plus spare capacity.

He also designed in a circuit that powers two lights, one upstairs and one downstairs, that illuminate when the grid is back up. My system is manual transfer powered by a portable generator so it is nice to have that feature.

I have no idea how he did it:cool:

One other thing. Our main fuse panel in is the basement in a small closet. The transfer box is now right next to it. I wish it was in a more convenient spot. Something to think about.

I'd compare it to the sound of the engine on our 26 hp mower.

Look at the data plate on every appliance you intend to operate. I was shocked to find out our 10 year old fridge/freezer pulls 11.2 amps and our 2 year old of similar size only pulls 6 amps. I had only looked at my new one and assumed they would be the same. I guessed that the 4 amp freezer and old fridge would work together on a 15 amp circuit. Once I really looked at the old fridge I changed my mind and ran 2 circuits.

Very smart to plan ahead.

Make sure the mechanical room is of generous size and don't finish the ceiling. I would not finish the wall around the breaker box either. It's a huge PITA to have to work in a room where all the plumbing and wiring is behind drywall.

I've often wondered - how long do you run a generator considering the refrigerator or freezer only run a short time till thermostat turns them off. Do you sit and listen for this?

Whenever I've had to rely on generator power after a major event that causes power loss. It depends....

If I am experiencing flooding gen set is on 24/7. After needing to run pumps 24/7... Ill shut the system down overnight..... Fridges and freezers can keep things if power is only off 6-8 hours. If you have a tank type water heater, it will have hot ( warm) water a few hours after a shutdown..


I did this after Sandy... 12 days with no power

To save money:

1. Make sure that the NG meter and the electrical panel are on the same side of the house.
2. Make sure that the electrical panel and the NG meter are within 20' (or even closer) of each other.
3. Make sure that the Central Air breaker, the refrigerator breaker and any other outlet or appliance deemed "must have" during an outage, is located inside that same panel, and not in some distant sub panel.*** Don't forget well pump if you are not on city water.***
4. Make sure that that same exterior wall of the house (where the electrical panel and the NG meter are located) has a 15' area where there are no doorways and no opening windows. (permanently sealed windows should be allowed, but check local permitting office).

Get three quotes, one of which should be Lowes. (Lowes is the #1 Generac retailer in the world). Costco would be another quote if possible.

DL

I just saw that you are in Texas. Generator Supercenter is the highest volume installer of Generac home standby power in North America. Generator Supercenter is based in Houston (Tomball) but there are franchises all over Texas.

Make sure that you get a 10 year warranty (retail $995 but ask for a discount) and sign up for the monitoring maintenance plan. It's $444 per year ($37 per month) and includes the annual service and 24/7 monitoring. Excellent value. That 10 year warranty is offered "for FREE" by Generac every February/March. The problem with waiting till February/March is getting scheduled for installation before hurricane season. The best deals are to be had between now and February 1st. Come February, you will get the Free Warranty, but very likely no other discount.

YMMV.
DL

Though I have never had the necessity in a serious, long-term outage in an emergency situation, as in no way out to get fuel, in the winter you can get by with running a gererator 4 hrs/day: 2hrs in the AM upon rising, and 2 hrs in the evening before calling it a night provided you have enough wattage to run the entire house. Essentially, for 4 hours out of each day you can live pretty normally.

If you don't have enough wattage, you'll have to stagger the appliances, making sure everything doesn't come on at the same time by opening/closing circuits on the panel.

This is a bit off topic, but these are what the power company is installing all over our area. I understand they won't necessarily prevent outages duriing high winds, but will be a big advantage during potential fires. The top picture is of one of the main distribution poles. It's about 3+ ft. in diameter at the base. The other pole in the second picture is a regular pole. All steel.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604207120.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1604207160.jpg

Our power finally came back on last night at 8:00 so three days without power ☹️ . My Honda generator ran fantastic with no issues . During daytime hours we would run it three hours and then off for three hours . This worked fine for fridge and freezer and we lost no food .

I would time the on/off cycle so I turned it on around 9:00 at night and I let it run through the night and turn it off in the morning . Running on " economy " mode it used less than a half a tank of fuel through the night run.

The worst part was not having water for flushing toilets . We are on a well and I currently have no way to power the well pump , I will change that in the future. I was able to fill 16 one gallon containers so we had flushing water .

In a perfect world I would have a 12 - 15 kw whole house generator , wired professionally and I would cycle circuit breakers as required to not overload the generator . Being in a rural setting my fuel choices are gasoline/diesel/LP . So I will work with those fuel choices to try and find a solution that makes sense .

15 days for us and I ran similarly as you. On all day then off overnight.

Our LP supplier didn't want to spot their tank on our property if it was only for a generator. They said if I wanted a tank for an LP generator I would have to buy it.

If I decide to go the LP route I would search for a local used tank for sale . My LP provider could care less if the tank comes from them or not . But they DO want a legible serial number on the tank for their records . The 500 gallon LP tank we have for the house now was a used purchase off CL . By owning the tank you can shop for LP price . If you rent from a LP provider you are stuck with just them .

My well has its own meter maybe 700 yards from my house. Years ago I had a transfer switch installed so I could take my generator ( carried by my tractor ) to the well. Power outages aren’t nearly as bad when you can still shower.

Longest here has been 7.

I bought two smaller Honda gens to augment the bigger gens for overnight usage, powering powering only the sump pumps and water to the house...we have our own well. The bigger gens get a rest and the small Honda's sip gas in the critical task of keeping the basement dry.

During the day it goes to the stable to power that separate well so the horses can be watered.

What size generator are you using to drive the well pump ? I have no idea what size/amps/hp my well pump is but I think a relatively safe guess is a 2500-3000 watt generator would run just the pump . Then there is the electric water heater which I may switch to LP for exactly the reason to keep amp load low . I think I can power my house with a 10 kw - 12 kw generator by being smart/conservative .

Thanks guys for your prompt feedback. Much appreciated.

Best,
Dave

Here:

https://www.generatorjoe.net/html/wattageguide.html

Work with an electrician to manage your power load.