Power backup for house, need the Borg's opinion

[Evans, Marv]

I have a 10kW Generac air cooled generator w/ a Suburu two cylinder, 18 hp. engine. The circuits I power don't come close to the generator's capacity. It's LOUD! I built an enclosure for it with a hinged top and doors on the sides, large louvred panels on the front & back sides. I tried it with the side doors & top propped open. It never got enough air circulation, & the exhaust fumes built up inside enough to choke the engine down. I had a decently large panel I could open for the exhaust. I finally took the the enclosure off and bought a fabric sort of generator cover for it. The enclosure I built (I thought) had ample openings for air circulation, but it didn't work out. I'd think a lot about that if you want to build your own. Now I'm considering a whole house generator that comes with a cabinet.

[flatbutt]

My weather is not SoCal or even close so whatever I use needs to be weather tite and yes breathable. I've seen some designs that are interesting online. One uses a Rubbermaid container that has been modified for intake and exhaust fumes. The space I have in mind can't fit the rubbermaid so I need to build my own.

[VINMAN]

$24,000 for a gen install??? WTF!!

That's more than double the price of a similar install here in Jerzey.

.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I have a 10kW Generac air cooled generator w/ a Suburu two cylinder, 18 hp. engine. The circuits I power don't come close to the generator's capacity. It's LOUD! I built an enclosure for it with a hinged top and doors on the sides, large louvred panels on the front & back sides. I tried it with the side doors & top propped open. It never got enough air circulation, & the exhaust fumes built up inside enough to choke the engine down. I had a decently large panel I could open for the exhaust. I finally took the the enclosure off and bought a fabric sort of generator cover for it. The enclosure I built (I thought) had ample openings for air circulation, but it didn't work out. I'd think a lot about that if you want to build your own. Now I'm considering a whole house generator that comes with a cabinet.

I have a hobart welder with the kohler ch23. That's a loud machine on full rpm. I also have a kubota gl11k, d1105, and Mitsubishi l3E genies that i enjoy a lot more just because the noise and fuel consumption is a lot less than the air cooled junk.

[Evans, Marv]

^^^^^ I keep mulling over getting a maybe 25kW diesel, whole house generator. Our house is all electric. Haven't gotten close to pulling the trigger though. Red Beard says there are some good detuned (auto type), 4 cylinder gas engined generators that are good though.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

^^^^^ I keep mulling over getting a maybe 25kW diesel, whole house generator. Our house is all electric. Haven't gotten close to pulling the trigger though. Red Beard says there are some good detuned (auto type), 4 cylinder gas engined generators that are good though.

You'll go through a lot of fuel. Probably 1+gallon of fuel per hour at that kw range. Hybrid system with solar makes sense. Run the generator to charge the batteries. As for generator type. I throughly enjoy the1800 rpm water cooled diesels. Quiet, efficient, and reliable. I have a fairly large 4 cylinder daewoo (now bobcat) that is high 20's kw. Can't recommend that brand. The mitsu i have has 15,000+ hours, and the d1105 is at 9,000 hrs, d722 is at a 1,000 hrs. So i run them quite a bit. I also live off the grid so water well, work shop, and light tower are primarily ran off generator. No regrets.

[rfuerst911sc]

Arizona_928 generally speaking how much diesel fuel do you try to keep on hand ? I have casually thought about a backup whole house generator and have determined either LP or diesel is the way to go for me . And in a perfect world it would be water cooled vs air cooled .

I have a diesel pickup and two diesel garden tractors but I only keep 10 gallons on hand as I only use the diesel for the tractors . I know the size of the generator directly affects fuel consumption , but how much diesel do you burn in a 24 hour period running constantly ?

[gtc]

Depends on your load, but a 20kw naturally aspirated diesel genset will use about 1 gallon per hour at 50% load or about 1.7 gallons per hour at 100% load.

I would personally choose natural gas or LP for ease of delivery and long term storage, but i'm sure that choice would depend on what is available locally, and whether your gas service is ever subject to outages.

[Crowbob]

If we are talking about emergency conditions, you can get by with 4 hours per day. 2 in the AM and 2 in the PM. Run everything when gen is powered up. Freezers, fridges, water heater, pumps, furnace, charge batteries, cooking, everything.

Then shut everything down and pretend like your camping for the next ten hours.

At 1.0 gal per hour, do the math. A fiegallon can of diesel will give you one day of comfort.

You’ll have to manage wattage so not everything is running simul.

I keep the tractor full + 15 gals. = shy of a week; 6 days and my calcs are very generous.