Generators - The one important piece we always miss

[Rick.45cal]

This is Avery important point that you have brought up.I live in an area where there's hardly any power outages yet in a year .May be for once for a few hours .
In that case ,which type of generator is suggested as I would run it probably only once or twice a year for a day or so ?

Regards,
Abhishek

Any portable gas powered machine should be routinely run, even if just for a few minutes to keep everything lubricated and keep fuel from going stale in the lines. You should also source ethanol free gasoline, as the ethanol will cause a laquer to form inside the carb causing premature failure.

 

[Pola0502ds]

Fortunately my whole house 17kW runs on natural gas. I have it set for dual fuel just in case natural gas fails. I can then switch to 100+ pound propane tanks. Keep in mind that the little grill tanks won't work. They don't have enoug pressure.

What is the pricing on something like this?

 

[Pola0502ds]

I've got a Honda inverter generator. Clean power is important if you are running sensitive electronics off of it. I don't want to cook my APEX. I also keep on hand a significant supply of gasoline for it. They aren't cheap, but it starts up right away with the push of a button, it's quiet, efficient, and it will power everything I need for an extended outage. (A week or more if neccisary). Hurricanes in Florida are no joke!

Which model?

 

[mbmax]

Generac 22k for the whole house. Learned after Lost everything during hurricane Sandy in NJ.

 

[ironman20725]

5000 watt paid 200 for it off a buy sell trade site

 

[Rick.45cal]

Which model?

EU3000is

 

[Pola0502ds]

Forgive me for my ignorance but i lack a lot of knowledge when it comes to electrical stuff. What is the difference between a generator, a inverter, and a switch? I do not have one yet but the Wife and I have been talking about getting a whole house but i doubt that will happen soon so i will go after a small unit.

 

[jd371]

Generac 22k for the whole house. Learned after Lost everything during hurricane Sandy in NJ.

I didn't have a reef tank at the time, but it wouldn't matter if I did because we never lost power, cable or anything, my car did get crushed by a tree though. The block across the street and all the surrounding ones were without for 6 days, it's like our block was in a bubble. My friend has a generator that I can borrow in a pinch, but I will end up buying one of my own.

 

[ruth howard]

This is Avery important point that you have brought up.I live in an area where there's hardly any power outages yet in a year .May be for once for a few hours .
In that case ,which type of generator is suggested as I would run it probably only once or twice a year for a day or so ?

Regards,
Abhishek

We run ours for about 15 minutes once a month. We put Sta-Bil in with the gas.

 

[TonapahNorth]

What is the pricing on something like this?

It was about $6500 installed if I recall. This included the plumber to run all natural gas lines, the Generac install, and an electrician to set the auto switching and run electric. This also included all inspections and permits.

As an aside, if you go with a whole house generator, DO NOT skimp on the permits and inspections and don't get an inexperienced installer. Generators installed improperly can destroy - truly. I had another house with one installed and during the install, the electrician pumped all the juice to a single buss bar in the panel. This basically overloaded everything. Long story short, I went in the house to see if everything was working and my DVD player was on fire. Everything that was connected to that side of the panel was fried. It was a big insurance claim against the installer.

Also, if I need to use propane, it requires some work to switch over the regulator. And I have to haul big butt tanks over to the generator.

 

[mardoon]

Using a Generac 17K whole house generator here and on natural gas.

 

[ironman20725]

Forgive me for my ignorance but i lack a lot of knowledge when it comes to electrical stuff. What is the difference between a generator, a inverter, and a switch? I do not have one yet but the Wife and I have been talking about getting a whole house but i doubt that will happen soon so i will go after a small unit.

Generator makes electricity from a gas, inverter turns power from a battery to 110 electric switch starts and stops power from generator to electricity lines on and off.

 

[Brew12]

Forgive me for my ignorance but i lack a lot of knowledge when it comes to electrical stuff. What is the difference between a generator, a inverter, and a switch? I do not have one yet but the Wife and I have been talking about getting a whole house but i doubt that will happen soon so i will go after a small unit.

A common generator will use motion to directly generate AC power.
An inverter generator will use motion to generate AC, rectify it into DC and then convert it into usable AC power.

A switch turns things on and off. A really nice whole home unit will include an Automatic Transfer Switch. This will disconnect your home from the utility and switch it over to the generator so it will power your home without you taking action. They may even sense when utility power has been restored, switch back to the utility, and shut the generator down.

 

[ironman20725]

Yeah what he said^^^

 

[SteadyC]

Any recommendations for those of us in condos where generators are not allowed?

Before I go to generator, I have a large dry cell D.C. battery, with a battery tender to maintain charge, and a D.C. to AC inverter. Dry cell, or gell cell batteries are much safer than acid car batteries, and have massive power.

 

[jasonrusso]

This was my solution before I got a whole house generac. I'm all NG so a 14Kw runs my house including my central air.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2250591

 

[Benders Bay]

Anyone tried a dedicated solar power system ?

 

[Mundeez]

You can get the IceCap battery backup from BRS for about $100. It can keep the powerheads running for quite a while, which can keep your SPS alive and happy until power is restored. They can't run a heater tho :/

 

[jasonrusso]

Anyone tried a dedicated solar power system ?

I have solar panels on my roof, and they are far too unreliable to be used as a primary power source. In New England, 80% of the power outages are caused by snow. When there is snow, there is no solar.

 

[Sharvey103]

I am using a Generac 22kw for the whole house. It is plumbed in directly to the natural gas. It has auto switching as well. 10 seconds after power out it starts up and loads 10 seconds later. Once a week it starts up and runs diagnostics, emails results and shuts down. In the last 2 years I have used it for 12 hours or more 3 times. Well worth the investment.