Whole house generators

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I have a Kohler and am very happy with it, Propane fired (two HUGE tanks) and it starts each Monday morning to charge the battery. The first Time it kicked on it ran continuously for 58 hours. The second long time run was a little over 48 hours. It has kicked in on numerous other occasions but just for a short period.
 
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I installed a 20KW Generac in 2010, I liked the Kohler motor better for no required valve adjustments, there were two local Generac dealers but the nearest Kohler dealer was 80 miles away and he added mileage to service calls. In this neighborhood Generac's outnumber other brands probably 10 to 1. Very happy with the unit, makes life as usual versus making do with a portable generator.
 
I was in Menards today and would have purchased a new 10K Generac @ $1100 if it had been Propane (LP) capable. It would probably have been another $200 or so higher with that feature.
 
Champion Tri-Fuel 10k watt portable.

We have a transfer switch panel for generator only and it powers 95% of our medium sized home. We run it on natural gas when needed, but it's a portable so requires me to set it up and start it vs the built in ones. The difference is my generator cost me $1000.00 plus running the gas line. Electric panel was done 13 years back when we bought the house while upgrading service anyway. A whole house setup would run me $15,000.00. This can run both furnaces/AC (dual zone) but to be safe I'd move everyone downstairs and just power the lower floor in an extended outage. Works great.
 
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We hardly ever loose power, but back about 25 years ago a gas tanker truck wiped out a power pole up on the blvd and all hell broke loose, We lost power for about 8 hrs and all I had was a Honda EM300 that I picked up as a basket case at a flea market for $10 bucks. Figured it would make a nice rainy day project. Not to be, and started on it as soon as I got home. Spent a couple hrs tinkering and on the second pull she fired right up. During the outage I tanked her up and she ran the entire 8 hrs powering the TV, the heater, and one lamp. Lunch was hot dogs and Bush's baked beans on one of those 1 can of LP single burner stoves. My wife said I was her hero... :)
 
Those little Hondas are tough little critters. My first generator was a 500 watt model.

As the world progressed it was bypassed. Then one day I was in the middle of nowhere and needed power for some hand tools. That's when I decided to start carrying it in my work truck. I can't count the number of times it powered tools, computers not to mention charge batteries.

I still use it from time to time. When the need for power would mean stringing extension cords for long distances.
 
My 'suitcase' generator is a FIRMAN brand--nothing to really brag about other than it's handy. It's hard to get started but once it's running, it's both quiet and fuel efficient. Goes anywhere, runs a long time on the tiny fuel tank, and provides 2000 watts. An ebay certified 'refurb', I think I paid less than $200 and got a 2 year warranty.
A couple years back I sold several hundred large round haybales and the buyer needed to haul them during somewhat of a cold snap. It was too far to drive a tractor back and forth for each load and too cold to depend on the tractor starting when needed. I left the tractor in the field and drove the pickup there about 10PM each night to start the generator and connect the tractor's engine heater. At 6 AM next morning, I'd drive up and start the toasty warm tractor. Just the savings of 'road time' on the tractor was worth more than $200 and the generator seems none the worse for wear.
 
During Hurricane Rita I got a 5600w portable generator. Now I also have a Generac 22KW and a propane tank, the propane supplier won't refill the tank unless it is at 20% or lower. All the houses where I live are Electric only, no gas service at all. Power failures are common, lasting from a few seconds to several hours. Almost every house in my suburb has a whole home generator. The generator automatically starts after about a minute. The longest power loss we had was about 10 days. During that period, I switched to the 5600w running the few "necessary" appliances for a few hours or longer to let the 22KW cool down & check the oil, which I usually had to top off. The propane company doesn't have vehicles available to refill all the tanks quickly, some customers waited a couple of days. Getting fuel for the 5600W was easier, and actually less expensive than propane.
 
Last evening power went out. Generator kicked in. But this thread got me to thinking. So I drug out my portable. Shut down the whole house generator and went on the portable.

Only one issue. The battery for starting the portable was dead. So I had to pull start it.

Note to self keep that darned battery on a maintainer. Shoulder doesn't like pull starts these days. And when did propane bottles get so heavy?
 
When I looked into the biggest unknown hit was upgrading my gas meter size to accommodate the genny, furnace, water heater, and stove. Added nearly $1000 to the quote.

I'm still running my 12000Watt portable.
Similar here, no natural gas so I have a big 11KW Honda, an electrician friend helped me get a double throw transfer switch and installed it. I can almost run everything in the house. When on the generator I do turn off the water heater and emergency heat strips for the heat pump central heat/air conditioning.
 
Generacs seem popular here in central Arizona. l had an electrician install an interlock switch in our fuse box. We have a 11000 starting/9000 running dual fuel portable generator that powers most everything if needed. We don't often have a power outage here in Rim Country, but when we do in winter it gets pretty dark and cold around here pretty quick.
 
We have a whole house generator from Generac. It is a 22KW which was the largest that they sold for private homes at the time. (Our house has a 100amp service coming in.) It comes on and goes off automatic though I have friends who have manual-start generators.
These generators require yearly maintenance and ancillary equipment can do all sorts of good things if needed. They use a car battery to start the generator which needs replacing just like a car's battery.
Very helpful if one has medical equipment that requires electricity.
Hopefully, we will never have to live where these are unavailable.
 

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