Looking Forward to the Next Power Outage

[Dan F]

For a few years I've been backfeeding electricity from a generator into my house through a breaker. This has worked pretty well, but opening up your breaker panel and hooking up wires in the dark is a real pain in the butt.

Last year I bought a really nice electric start generator (on sale for $1200) so I finally decided to set it up right.

I had an electrician come out (permits and inspections are a good idea if you carry homeowners' insurance) and install a second panel with all the essentials - aquariums, TV, furnace, well pump, lights, freezer, refrigerator, and a couple others. This panel has a safety switch that only allows the power to be fed from the generator when disconnected from the main.

A 240V 30A male flanged receptacle outside the house makes hooking up the generator a snap, it should take less than five minutes to roll it onto the driveway, start it, and plug it in.

 

[hondas3000]

How much is this setup cost? and will it auto switch back to main power source when the power back on? That is nice especially your breaker is on the outside wall. Mine main breaker is 5ft from the outside wall so if I want to hook up, I have to cut the drywall to feed the wire. But will look into one as well.

 

[BaNaKeen]

Haha i like that T.V. is put under essentials, but really a great investment, it can cover its price in what it saves you in one case of a bad outtage

 

[Dan F]

How much is this setup cost? and will it auto switch back to main power source when the power back on? That is nice especially your breaker is on the outside wall. Mine main breaker is 5ft from the outside wall so if I want to hook up, I have to cut the drywall to feed the wire. But will look into one as well.

I haven't gotten the bill yet, but it should be around $500. That, plus the cost of the generator and the cord to attach it will total around $1800.
This system doesn't automatically switch, you plug in the generator, start it up, and then switch the power from main to generator manually. My mom has a propane powered auto-start unit at her house and I think she spent over $15,000 to install it...

Haha i like that T.V. is put under essentials, but really a great investment, it can cover its price in what it saves you in one case of a bad outtage

Right after aquariums and before everything else. The TV circuit is also the computer circuit, so I guess MFK is an essential, too.

 

[Conner]

Wow, $15,000 is pretty high. Does she have a large house, with everything in it set to run off the generator?

I was looking into getting a standby, auto-start generator (natural gas) for my house while I was looking at it, but ended up needing to do some other essentials instead (roof and furnace/heat pump).

Granted, my house is only about 2,400 sq. ft., and I am only looking at running a few large tanks, the furnace, fridge, oven, and sump pump, but I was looking at units that cost around $3-4,000 for the unit, plus about $1-2,000 for the install.

If I wanted the whole house on it, so that I couldn't tell there was a power outage, then it would have been more like $5-6,000 for the generator, plus another $1-2,000 for the install.

 

[jsodwi]

Very nice I have been putting this off for a long time. Still running extension cords around the house. I should really get this installed. How many watt generator did you go with?

 

[Conner]

By the way Dan, nice set up! I've thought about doing something similar just to run the tanks, furnace, fridge, and oven. We've got a nice gas/wood burning fireplace in the living room, so we could probably even leave the furnace off of it. Just haven't had the money to invest in it yet.

 

[Dan F]

Wow, $15,000 is pretty high. Does she have a large house, with everything in it set to run off the generator?

I was looking into getting a standby, auto-start generator (natural gas) for my house while I was looking at it, but ended up needing to do some other essentials instead (roof and furnace/heat pump).

Granted, my house is only about 2,400 sq. ft., and I am only looking at running a few large tanks, the furnace, fridge, oven, and sump pump, but I was looking at units that cost around $3-4,000 for the unit, plus about $1-2,000 for the install.

If I wanted the whole house on it, so that I couldn't tell there was a power outage, then it would have been more like $5-6,000 for the generator, plus another $1-2,000 for the install.

It is a big (4000 SF) house and it is all-electric. The generator is a couple hundred feet from the house, and because they live in the country they had to buy a propane tank. I can't remember the exact figure - it might have been $12,000.

Very nice I have been putting this off for a long time. Still running extension cords around the house. I should really get this installed. How many watt generator did you go with?

It is an 8000W-run/10,000W-start gene. It has a Subaru-Robin motor. Since the connection is 30A at 240V I should be able to run up to 7200W, which is a bit less (800W) than the generator is capable of.

By the way Dan, nice set up! I've thought about doing something similar just to run the tanks, furnace, fridge, and oven. We've got a nice gas/wood burning fireplace in the living room, so we could probably even leave the furnace off of it. Just haven't had the money to invest in it yet.

That is the one thing we don't have that I wish we did - a wood stove, but I can run the furnace in propane mode (not the heat pump, though).

 

[Conner]

Yeah, we're having the dual-fuel furnace heat pump put in for efficiency and cost reasons. The furnace in the house is original (25 years old) and so was the roof, so they both needed to be replaced.

The house already has natural gas, and furnace before was gas. The dual-fuel model is only like $550 more than the all-gas model, so it made sense to go ahead and add it.

Once I can, I'm going to seriously consider investing in a nice generator. Whether an auto-start one like I really want, or something more similar to yours. I'm getting to the point where I've got enough invested in the stock in my aquariums that I'd really hate to lose it.

Its actually a really nice fireplace, all brick with a nice wood built-ins on either side. The fact that we can run it as a gas fireplace, or burn logs in it is really cool as well.

 

[pacu mom]

Dan, congratulations on your generator set up. Word of advice to you and to everyone considering getting a generator---make sure your generator battery is charged! I was more than annoyed that our generator did not turn on automatically when our power went out two weeks ago. We could not even get it started. Apparently when it was set up, the generator did not run long enough to charge the battery. It's supposed to turn on once a week, and I had wondered why I had never heard it--assumed that it turned on when I was at work--had even questioned the electrical guy who installed it.