Whole house propane generator ?

[Dwanton]

Does anyone use a whole house propane generator ?

Looking into upgrading my portable generator so I can use my air conditioning unit and or heater when needed with everything else in my house .

I use a 5500 watt generac portable now that runs everything except our electric stove and heat pump ( which is a heater and air conditioning unit in one )

I am just wondering how much propane a 14000 watt system would use - and seems it would cost me $4000 to purchase and more to install .

I can get a 17500 watt gererac portable generator for $2600 and it has a 16 gallon gas tank , and uses about 1 to 1.5 gallons per hour .

[boborgera]

Does anyone use a whole house propane generator ?

Looking into upgrading my portable generator so I can use my air conditioning unit and or heater when needed with everything else in my house .

I use a 5500 watt generac portable now that runs everything except our electric stove and heat pump ( which is a heater and air conditioning unit in one )

I am just wondering how much propane a 14000 watt system would use - and seems it would cost me $4000 to purchase and more to install .

I can get a 17500 watt gererac portable generator for $2600 and it has a 16 gallon gas tank , and uses about 1 to 1.5 gallons per hour .

If you have natural gas where you live i would go that way much cheaper than propane and its always there' No tanks to fill, or to run out of.

[Questions]

If you have natural gas where you live i would go that way much cheaper than propane and its always there' No tanks to fill, or to run out of.

Actually most home standby natural gas generators run on both natural gas and propane, and you can easily switch between the two. Sometimes during natural disasters like hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, you know, situations when you might really need to use your genny, natural gas compression stations may get damaged by floodwater, earthquakes can rupture natural gas lines and so on.

So I'd advise having a few propane tanks as backup, just in case. Since you can store propane pretty much indefinitely as long as its in metal propane tanks that are in good condition. That's one of the reasons propane is also better for this purpose than gasoline, for gasoline generators you always have to renew your supplies because gasoline spoils after a while. Same with diesel.

I bought my Generac LP55500 through this site: http://propanegenerator.biz

[piernik]

Does anyone use a whole house propane generator ?

Looking into upgrading my portable generator so I can use my air conditioning unit and or heater when needed with everything else in my house .

I use a 5500 watt generac portable now that runs everything except our electric stove and heat pump ( which is a heater and air conditioning unit in one )

I am just wondering how much propane a 14000 watt system would use - and seems it would cost me $4000 to purchase and more to install .

I can get a 17500 watt gererac portable generator for $2600 and it has a 16 gallon gas tank , and uses about 1 to 1.5 gallons per hour .

We just installed a 14 kw propane generator after several extended power outages last year. This has worked perfectly, the power didn't go off for more than a minute since installing it in March. As to fuel usage the unit we installed uses 1.4 gal. per hour at full load. Just be aware that due to the flow rate if you use 100 gal. tanks you have to have two hooked up in parallel as the flow rate is high enough to engage the emergency shut off if only one is used. We buried a 1000 gal. tank as I am planning to replace an almost 12 year old hydronic boiler with a high efficiency gas unit in the near future.
!4 kw runs my heat, well pump, half my A/C, 2 sump pumps,( the real reason for it) microwave , freezer, satellite and tv as well as some general lighting. Hope this helps.

[DynamoBT]

We have a 13 kw propane generator. It runs parts of our house as we have a specialized need to run quite a few freezers full of raw dog food for our business. It uses about a gallon an hour. We have had prolonged outages since we've had it. And had to "feather" our useage since we only have a 100 gallon propane tank. One big ice storm, they couldn't make propane deliveries because of roads closed. We'd run it for a hour or two and then turn it off for four hours. And we kept it off when we went to bed. So, I advise a bigger tank for one!!! We really should have a bigger tank. But even as is, the generator sure does give us peace of mind over losing power. The generator is hard wired into our house electric panel. It's a great system!

[Dwanton]

We don't have natural gas where I live and they are not gonna bring it out here , same goes for cable TV .

i only have one 100 gallon propane tank now . It's expensive as gas so not sure which way I wanted to go .

Seems as money wise - the gas generator which is half the money is the way to go - at 17500 watts I can hard wire it with an outside box , just plug it in and go . Also with the electric start , my wife can turn it on little complaint ( I hope ) .

I have a 2.5 ton heat pump / air conditioner unit and a small 1000 SF house with full basement .

[SpyderAnn01]

In Michigan our house had a Generac whole house generator with an automatic transfer switch. We were in the country so it was a propane unit. We lived there for 6 1/2 years and never had an extended power outage but we did have a number of short ones. There is no better feeling than to know that you're not going to be without anything when the power goes out. The units are on the loud side but the only people who could hear ours were our neighbors who were sitting in silence in their houses with no power With the transfer switch I wouldn't even have to reset clocks when the power would go out.

[Bob Denman]

You buy a generator and then hope that you never have to use it; kind of like life insurance!
The Missus and I are considering our options right now for a 10kw Generac for our house, and a small 3.5kw for our office next door.
Our power usage is pretty minimal, and if the grid goes out, we don't feel the need to power the entire house anyway. The well pump, furnace, basement (freezers) and the kitchen on the first floor and that's about it.
In the office we'd only need to power the furnace in order to keep the building from freezing up in the Winter.

There's a lot of options out there, but i'd have to say that I think that Generac is the way to go! (IMHO!)

[tobor9]

Right now we have a 5k portable gen that i can roll over to the house and plug in to an outlet outside and throw some breakers(main off,Gen on and all but HVAC) and run the house(all gas appliances ) Someday I want a Generac on natural gas,but too much$$ as we have lived here for 35yrs with only 1 long outage named Hugo.

[Knarfoh]

Does anyone use a whole house propane generator ? .

About 5 years ago, I bought a Generac whole house generator after I lost electric for 6 days in the middle of winter.

The model I purchased is rated at 16KW (propane) and 15KW (natural gas). The difference has to do with the volatility of the fuel source and its effect on engine power (note: this is my layman's explanation for the difference). Since my purchase, it has been needed 3 times including the most recent power outage many experienced in the mid-west due to the high wind damage. I live outside a metropolitan area and power was out from a few hours to 9 days within 5 miles of me. In my case, it ended up being only 3 hours, but the temperature was hot outside and it quickly became uncomfortable.

My unit came with 16 120 volt circuits. It was installed using propane. Later, when a natural gas line was installed in my area, I switched to natural gas. There is a small switch that you can turn to change the generator to run on natural gas.

The owner's manual for the unit I have is HERE. The manual covers all similar generators as well as my particular model.

It is important to know what circuits you want to maintain in your house when the power goes off. You also need to put things in perspective, i.e. what do you want to maintain if there is a SHORT power loss and what do you want to maintain if there is LONG power loss. The two lists will be different. You will need to decide what is more important to you. For example, if the power loss is short term, you might not worry too much about power in your bedroom. If the power loss is long term, you might wish you had electric service in your bedroom if you are used to watching TV there, etc. before going to bed. I watch a lot a TV before going to sleep (broadcast and DVDs) so it was important for me to have power in my bedroom.

All of your 240 volt needs will use 2 of your available circuits. At the time of my original installation, I need 240 volts for (1) heating - heat pump with propane backup system which also provides my air conditioning; (2) electric water heater; and (3) well pump for water. I chose NOT to power the (1) clothes dryer and (2) electric stove and oven. I figured short or long term I could do without the clothes dryer. I have one of those small convection ovens so I figured I could do without the oven - short or long term.



If you have a wife and/or kids, she may feel differently about going long-term without a way to dry clothes or cook. My neighbor bought the same generator I did and during the recent outage, his wife complained she could not bake bread, etc.

THE REAL POINT IS YOU HAVE 16 CIRCUITS - CHOOSE WISELY !! And yes, what you want powered will vary slightly if a long term or short term outage is experienced. OR EVEN TIME OF YEAR !! For example, I decided to add my garage door opener to my list of circuits. I did this because I did not want to have to get out of my car in a snow or ice storm to open the garage door. In the summer, that is not such a big issue with me since I could just park in the drive. But remember, my first extensive outage was in the winter and I was focused on what issues I had during winter weather.

A breakdown of the circuits I chose can be viewed HERE.

I almost considered taking the heat pump out of my list of 240 circuits because I figured I could just use emergency gas backup function of my system to heat the house (REMEMBER, MY ORIGINAL MAJOR OUTAGE WAS IN THE DEAD OF WINTER AND THE SYSTEM USES A BLOWER POWERED BY ITS OWN CIRCUIT). Now, that it is summer, I am glad I had A/C and had not taken the heat pump out of my list of covered circuits.

Besides the items I already mentioned - you will want power to your refrigerator and all of your freezers. I actually have 3 freezers (2 large and 1 small). In my area, we are susceptible to water so the sump pump was important to me also.

Pictures of my entire setup can be viewed HERE

[Knarfoh]

About 5 years ago, I bought a Generac whole house generator after I lost electric for 6 days in the middle of winter.

The model I purchased is rated at 16KW (propane) and 15KW (natural gas). The difference has to do with the volatility of the fuel source and its effect on engine power (note: this is my layman's explanation for the difference). Since my purchase, it has been needed 3 times including the most recent power outage many experienced in the mid-west due to the high wind damage. I live outside a metropolitan area and power was out from a few hours to 9 days within 5 miles of me. In my case, it ended up being only 3 hours, but the temperature was hot outside and it quickly became uncomfortable.

My unit came with 16 120 volt circuits. It was installed using propane. Later, when a natural gas line was installed in my area, I switched to natural gas. There is a small switch that you can turn to change the generator to run on natural gas.

The owner's manual for the unit I have is HERE. The manual covers all similar generators as well as my particular model.

It is important to know what circuits you want to maintain in your house when the power goes off. You also need to put things in perspective, i.e. what do you want to maintain if there is a SHORT power loss and what do you want to maintain if there is LONG power loss. The two lists will be different. You will need to decide what is more important to you. For example, if the power loss is short term, you might not worry too much about power in your bedroom. If the power loss is long term, you might wish you had electric service in your bedroom if you are used to watching TV there, etc. before going to bed. I watch a lot a TV before going to sleep (broadcast and DVDs) so it was important for me to have power in my bedroom.

All of your 240 volt needs will use 2 of your available circuits. At the time of my original installation, I need 240 volts for (1) heating - heat pump with propane backup system which also provides my air conditioning; (2) electric water heater; and (3) well pump for water. I chose NOT to power the (1) clothes dryer and (2) electric stove and oven. I figured short or long term I could do without the clothes dryer. I have one of those small convection ovens so I figured I could do without the oven - short or long term.



If you have a wife and/or kids, she may feel differently about going long-term without a way to dry clothes or cook. My neighbor bought the same generator I did and during the recent outage, his wife complained she could not bake bread, etc.

THE REAL POINT IS YOU HAVE 16 CIRCUITS - CHOOSE WISELY !! And yes, what you want powered will vary slightly if a long term or short term outage is experienced. OR EVEN TIME OF YEAR !! For example, I decided to add my garage door opener to my list of circuits. I did this because I did not want to have to get out of my car in a snow or ice storm to open the garage door. In the summer, that is not such a big issue with me since I could just park in the drive. But remember, my first extensive outage was in the winter and I was focused on what issues I had during winter weather.

A breakdown of the circuits I chose can be viewed HERE.

I almost considered taking the heat pump out of my list of 240 circuits because I figured I could just use emergency gas backup function of my system to heat the house (REMEMBER, MY ORIGINAL MAJOR OUTAGE WAS IN THE DEAD OF WINTER AND THE SYSTEM USES A BLOWER POWERED BY ITS OWN CIRCUIT). Now, that it is summer, I am glad I had A/C and had not taken the heat pump out of my list of covered circuits.

Besides the items I already mentioned - you will want power to your refrigerator and all of your freezers. I actually have 3 freezers (2 large and 1 small). In my area, we are susceptible to water so the sump pump was important to me also.

Pictures of my entire setup can be viewed HERE

SPECIAL NOTE: After I wrote this up, I got a call from my Generator Service Company. I had contacted them about switching over some of my unused circuits. They came today and made the changes I requested and charged me $70 for the work they did.

When my generator was first installed I had an electric water heater and well pump. Since those were 240 volts each, I used 4 of my 16 circuits for those two (2) purposes.



I had them switch out those 2 items (since I no longer need them) for 4 other circuits in my house. I have now connected to the village water system (my well water was terrible) and I replaced my old electric water heater with gas model so I picked up 4 120 volt circuits I could use for other purposes. I made sure the entire upstairs (all the bedrooms) and a 2nd garage (detached) were covered as well as the lights in my basement.

[saunD]

To get you started here are a great few articles that should help answer some of your questions as well as give you some more insight into generators themselves ...

http://www.norwall.com/blog/generator-sizing-guides/

http://www.norwall.com/blog/news-and...ators-running/

http://www.norwall.com/blog/generato...-fuel-choices/

These few articles should give you a better understanding of generators overall ,, Hope this helps in your search