Generac Cost?
 

Going to be talking with a contractor next week. We're a 1500 square foot ranch house, gas furnace & water heater, rest, including the well, on the grid. Previously I had used a wood stove backup and a hand pump on the well. No longer physically able enough for those to work for me during a long outage...think the longest outage ever was 12 days.

So, anybody here have one? Thoughts? Input appreciated.

Contact Readbeard.

I think it will be painful. I am curious. I stashed a 3-5000 W portable genset in my shed for just this sort of thing. I would love a whole house but I really don't need it and would rather squander the $$$ on something more fun.

And there are another half dozen or more existing threads on the subject.

Just type in "Generator" in the SEARCH feature and the world is your oyster.

You're welcome and good luck! :)

Get a 15kw unit or so, around 7500 installed. You'll need a large source of ng or propane. That'll do everything on a house that size, including a/c if you have it. No regrets.

Vash, thanks for the links....Greg..special thanks to you...15kw and 7500? Got it...was really looking for an expected price range. we have natural gas to the house...

Natural gas is a great way to go . Our rural setting is propane only . We had a 20k Kohler installed about 3 years ago and it works great . Probably overkill for our 1620 sf house but I also power an RV carport , a parking garage and my man cave garage which has a minisplit for heat/AC . We also have a well pump .

We can run anything we want during a power outage , which is very nice if we happen to have guests . The guy we chose to purchase from also did the install . He has access to all the brands out there . In his opinion Kohler is the superior brand for quality and support . Do your homework for your area .

My parents had a 10KW in their home. This was installed YEARS ago. I think the cost was around 8K with us running the line from the propane tanks to it.

How big is your propane tank? Ours is 250gal for a residential home.

When we purchased the home I put in a 500 gallon tank . I would fill it in July with " summer rates " and it would last until the next July .

When we had the generator installed I put in an additional 250 gallon tank as backup insurance . Filled it under summer rates also . The tanks are teed together so can easily switch from one to the other as needed . So far we have not had to use the 250 gallon tank .

I have just started researching this topic now.
If the grid goes down temporarily, NG or propane is awesome.
If the GRID goes down, NG is gone and propane will eventually run out.
I'm going solar.
Don't care about central AC or heat, but local intermittent heat and well pump are priorities.
8kw solar systems can run my well pump and cost around $5k.
I have a few smaller systems and like the technology.
Even in total grid failure solar should be OK.

If you have a powerwall...

After moving here, during our first hurricane, we lost power for 4 days. It sucked. I vowed never to go thru that again. We have a 2,900 sf ranch with 2.5 tons of heat pumps. Put in a 22.5 kw Generac. The house is all electric. Installer helped us arrange for gas service. When a hurricane hits here, the causeway, only way on or off, pretty closes down & the roads are littered with fallen trees. If you run out of propane, you're screwed. Our longest outage has been 7 days & everything in the house runs like nothings happened.

We put in a Generac 26 KW generator a couple years ago, natural gas/propane. Seems to be reliable, comes on as required, so far no complaints. Things to consider: not cheap. Generac is proprietary for everything. It has to be their product, oil, filters, heaters...everything, or won't honor the warranty. I've been told they will analyze the oil if the engine fails, to ensure it was their oil. The generator has to be installed by a Generac trained technician/dealer...or warranty is void. Their app is so-so. Techs have to trained at Generac to work on their machines.

Good things, reliability, customer support, they do have an app, trained techs.

We had a power outage, 24 hr+, before we purchased the generator. We live in a remote area, not having power isn't an option (electric medical devices). Plus, we travel, and didn't want to come home to a freezer of rotten meat. Power company admits keeping a consistent grid is challenging due to terrain and staffing. We could have bought solar with batteries, but the overall cost was significantly more than the NG generator. Plus, electricity was less than $90/mo.

Overall, for peace of mind/comfort, no regrets.

I have a 10kW Generac for our house. Had it for about 17+ years. The longest we've been without power once was four or five days. I originally bought the generator as a source of power while building the house but never needed it for that purpose. I have it wired into the power panel thru a transfer panel mostly for some lights, freezer, and refrigerator. They've updated the power lines in the area to resist fires, so there have been less outages in the last couple of years. If I had to replace the generator, I'd go with batteries, since we have solar panels. My second choice would be a diesel generator. Although my set up has worked out well for us, I just don't like air cooled engines for a generator set up.

Many thanks to those weighing in with their experiences. I considered solar, but here in the Willamette Valley...lots of winter days with zero sun, and it's mainly winter when the long power outages happen.

The conractor I've contacted is a local industrial electrical contractor with a good reputation. I'll be sure to ask about brands other than Generac...