Power outage scramble

[pacu mom]

I know that if overloaded, circuit breakers will trip, so I was adamant when the wiring was done for our addition, that there wouldn't be an issue in the equipment room for the big tank. The guy who wired everything and set up the generator told me that 20 KW would not power the whole house A couple of months ago, I discovered I have eight 20 amp circuit breakers for the equipment room. talk about overkill. No wonder the old part of the house couldn't be on the generator system. Right now, I have extension cords plugged into outlets on the generator system going to the current little tank. Really is piece of mind knowing that it will be business as usual during any power outage, whether we are home or away. Sometimes I wake up to the sudden silence only to hear the generator kicking on. It just makes life so much easier.

 

[Leebtattoos]

Thanks for the input. I built the home myself and fully understand how breakers work.

8, 20 amp just to your equipment? How large of a tank are we talking about?? That’s more than 70% of most people’s entire houses. (Not including 220 and appliances on isolated breakers) Haha.

 

[pacu mom]

I got tired of having the old part of the house in the dark during power outages, so talked to an electrical contractor to get another generator. He said that the 20 KW was plenty big to power the whole house as not everything is running at one time. The generator would have to be moved to the other side of the house, and I would have to put in a high pressure line to the propane tank. This would necessitate a ditch running the whole width of our property. I opted not to do it. We have enough of the old house on the generator now, so we have lights in the bedrooms, and can be online where our computers are currently located. Those eight dedicated circuit breakers are what messed us up. I guess we could run extension cords from the equipment room to the rest of the house

When the electrical was being put in, I told him the potential wattage for five Reeflo pumps and several 1000 Watt heaters and two 120W UV sterilizers. To be on the safe side, I guess he dedicated the eight breakers. I have five duplex outlet receptacles and four quad outlet receptacles along the walls of my equipment room so I can plug in whatever catches my fancy.

At least, he did a really nice job labeling everything. Every outlet has a label for the corresponding breaker.

Red dots mark receptacles and light switches on the generator system.

It's a shame it was done that way, but I can live with it, and there is no way I can over load circuits to the equipment room

 

[OnceLoyal]

I used back up Batts for my power heads in case I wasn't home. Then plug everything into the gen. Worked good for a couple decades
Now the home I am moving into I will probably look at installing an auto kick on full home gen. We will see how it goes.

 

[pacu mom]

Whole house generators are definitely super great. Wish mine had been set up that way.

 

[Leebtattoos]

Yep! That overkill for sure. But if you can, why not? Your total load if continuously on is around 80-85amps. Eight, 20 amp breakers should handle about 120 continue amps.


But my continuous draw on this particular breaker, with a 1500w space heater turned on is 14amps. And the day in question, that heater wasn’t on. Making the continuous draw about 2amps on a 20amp breaker.

One day I’ll have a fish room with all that set up!

 

[Leebtattoos]

I used back up Batts for my power heads in case I wasn't home. Then plug everything into the gen. Worked good for a couple decades
Now the home I am moving into I will probably look at installing an auto kick on full home gen. We will see how it goes.

Yeah I’d love one. They start around $4k for my small sq/ft house. 20kw is all id need. But that’s just for the unit itself. I can’t spend that kind of money right now unfortunately.

 

[pacu mom]

My previous reality was if the power went out, I would add more water to the fish tank to get the bio balls submerged in the wet/dry filter to stave off die off. I would throw in a couple of battery operated air pumps in the tank. If the power was out for several days, my husband would bring home a large generator so we could get the fish tank running. This all worked out OK IF we were home. If we were gone a week wake surfing at the lake or two weeks playing in Hawaii, and the power went out, fish would probably die. With a generator, it is business as usual for the fish tank. So very nice.

 

[pacu mom]

Not every one needs a generator. I live in a rural location with frequent outages. The outages last for hours to many days. I absolutely needed a generator, especially since we are gone a lot.

 

[Leebtattoos]

Not every one needs a generator. I live in a rural location with frequent outages. The outages last for hours to many days. I absolutely needed a generator, especially since we are gone a lot.

Yea for sure. I also live very rural. I’m 15 miles from the closest small town. If I’m home, power outages aren’t a huge deal. I have some generators I can hook up to run essentials. I may see what I can’t make off solar.