[Deschodt]

You know, you guys, the collective ;-)

Goal is to have practical backup power at the house as our utility (PG&E) is third world class and frequently has power outages (voluntary and involuntary).

- Solar comes out to 20K for panels, $10-12K per powerwall (might need 2), and a life of 10 years on those only... Ouch.

- Full house gas generator - while the genny is $6000 or so, the total bill including power transfer switch, some trenching (location is an issue, can't be too close to neighbors), gas lines extension, pad, permitting, etc -> $24000 - Jeeeezus, hold me !!!! I thought that could be done under 10K !

- Plan C (as in cheapskate), transfer box for 10 circuits to plug in a regular generator - $2200 or so. Nothing automatic there, start generator, feed 10 circuits of my choice. On that one, my honda 2000i would not work because of how my old house is wired, I'd apparently need a 240V inverter putting out more wattage too, so either a $4500 honda 7000i (quiet), or an el cheapo $1000 louder unit... I don't understand the 240V part but he said some circuits in my panel use the same white wire and cancel each other out, needs to be a 240v inverter or my 110 inverter (which is only 2000W anyway) would melt my "white wire" when the power comes back, something about the shape of the wave... electricity is magic to me ;-)

Seems right to y'all ? Expensive ? BS ? that 240V deal ? other ideas ? Goal is not to invest $$$ to save $, it's simply to have convenient power in the house (microwave, fridge, wifi, TV, PC, lights) without a mess of extension cords when the utility goes kaboom.