Generac generator?

[TPA]

I rode out Hurricane Irma (2017) north of Orlando because I couldn't convince my other half that riding out a hurricane on a barrier island was a better idea. So... we carried the EU2000 and a 6,000BTU window shaker AC to a cousin's house. I have a thick chain for the generator, but this time I couldn't find it. BUT I did find my wireless motion alarm w/remote alarm and packed that instead. Good thing too.

We were in a good area, only 3 homes down from where the mayor lived. It was the third night without power. Generator was sitting on the back steps of the house, cord going through the sliding glass door. It was about 65F inside the house from the window AC cranking away. I decided to take a shower around 11pm. As I was completely lathered up, I heard the motion alarm go off. I was hoping it was just a raccoon or similar. Then it went off again... poop. Fortunately, it was a special time of the month for the Missus and she wasn't having it. I'm not sure of exactly what she did, but it was intimidating enough that the guy ran quickly. No bodies were found, so she didn't use a gun. We called the police, and also decided to bring the generator in for the night.

 

[lumen aeternum]

A neighbor up the street has a Generac that runs on natural gas. I understand that it cost him about $100 a day in the summer last year, when we had an unusual event that knocked down many trees & put the power out for several days. I think it might be quieter than a large gasoline generator unit.

I think he pays $100 or $200 a year for preventive maintenance on it.

So if you can't stand the heat for a week, you might say a one-off $700 every few years is the cost of insurance. OTOH you can put a window AC in a couple of rooms, if you have a place to store them between outages.

I don't know the current cost of having your panel box reconfigured with a whole-house generator switch. And it won't run your central AC anyway.

 

[lumen aeternum]

IIRC the defrost heater in a fridge is around 600w...

I never really thought about doing this with my home, but I don't see why you couldn't disconnect the defrost heater. Depending on the fridge, this could be simply unplugging a connector. On others this could be a real pain.

Does the defrost work on a timer, or by a sensor? If a timer, when you power off
the fridge, does the timer revert to "max time until cycle" or "cycle now" or keep its time in a register?

 

[lumen aeternum]

Those who say these little "extension cord" units can power their whole house AC -- how many tons is it, & how many starting amps does it draw? What is the draw of the other things running when the AC decides to start up?

 

[BVH]

I have a 4-ton Trane. My AC guy told me to install a soft start box which I did. Took the inrush current from 121 Amps to 50 Amps. But I still wont attempt to start it with my Honda 7000is (7,000 watts for 20 or 30 seconds if I remember correctly. 5,500 watts continuous) inverter genny. 7000/240V = 29 Amps per leg.

 

[Sneakers356]

Had no power for 8 days during superstorm Sandy. No generator. Couldn't get gas. Gas stations didn't have power. About a year later decided to get a Kohler kw natural gas generator with an automatic transfer switch. Dealer that I contacted wanted $17,500 just to install the generator. Gas line would have to be done by a plumber. Decided to do it myself. Total cost was less than $10,000. Everything in the house works as normal when it's running. AC, pool, fish pond, etc. Ten seconds after the power goes out the generator is providing power. It does make a little noise, kinda like a commercial lawnmower running as it has a two cylinder, 30 horsepower engine. The gas company had to install a larger flow gas meter and regulator so it wouldn't starve the other appliances. My concern wasn't for AC in the summer as having electricity for heat in the winter was a higher priority.

 

[lumen aeternum]

Another thing. These small generators are usually what they call "job site generators." And they have a GFCI built in. Which means that if you attach it to your house circuit - either with a proper transfer switch on your panel box, or by backfeeding - you will have more than one GFCI on every circuit which normally has one. And that does things like blow out the generator.

 

[hamhanded]

Another thing. These small generators are usually what they call "job site generators." And they have a GFCI built in. Which means that if you attach it to your house circuit - either with a proper transfer switch on your panel box, or by backfeeding - you will have more than one GFCI on every circuit which normally has one. And that does things like blow out the generator.

Can you elaborate on why that can happen?

 

[LEDphile]

Another thing. These small generators are usually what they call "job site generators." And they have a GFCI built in. Which means that if you attach it to your house circuit - either with a proper transfer switch on your panel box, or by backfeeding - you will have more than one GFCI on every circuit which normally has one. And that does things like blow out the generator.

Multiple GFCIs in series aren't going to damage anything, although it does sometimes become an interesting question of which one trips first if there is a ground fault.

But the reason that a jobsite generator with integrated GFCI won't work when connected to the main panel of a house is because the neutral and ground are bonded at the panel. A GFCI functions by looking at the difference in current flow between the line conductor and the neutral conductor - any difference is assumed to be going somewhere dangerous and if the difference gets too high, the GFCI trips. If the neutral and ground are connected together, some of the current that normally flows through the neutral (and back through the GFCI) now flows through the ground conductor (and not through the GFCI). This usually results in the GFCI tripping, which tends to make the generator less useful for powering the circuit, but won't harm the generator any more than any other operation of the generator with no load will.

 

[scout24]

To touch on the Generac/Kohler debate: All else being equal, Kohler has a marked edge in available warranty, reliability, and experience building generators. I don't own either, but I've worked on both. Both big investments to be sure, but something worth considering if you're looking long term.