Our generatior

Old Vet · #1 09/21/10, 11:04 PM

About 1 1/2 hours ago my electricity went out and is still out. Our generator started up and with in 1 Minuit I had power. It is the best investment I have ever made. You never know when the power will go out and when it comes back on it will shut down and transfer it to the power grid. All together it cost me under $8,000 and will even run the air condition and the pump with no problem. Nobody has to do anything except fill the propane tank every once in a while. I am the last place on the line and the first to get power from my generator.

CrashTestRanch · #2 09/21/10, 11:07 PM

wonder if those transfer switches would work identical if connected to a complete solar off-grid setup? Maybe used for low power or maintenance situations

deaconjim · #3 09/21/10, 11:09 PM

We had one installed when we bought our house. Last winter we were without commercial power for a total of about a month. The generator carries everything in the house with room to spare. The first time was during an ice storm and lasted for a week, and I was working in Chicago the whole time. It was without a doubt worth every penny we spent on it.

StealthZJ · #4 09/21/10, 11:31 PM

We have to use our generators in the winter because we loose the sun and the wind usually won't blow enough to keep the batteries fully charged. The 2500w propane generator will recharge the batteries and run everything in the cabin. We only fire up the 5kw unit when I'm running the air compressor or larger amperage power tools.

Old Vet · #5 09/21/10, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deaconjim

We had one installed when we bought our house. Last winter we were without commercial power for a total of about a month. The generator carries everything in the house with room to spare. The first time was during an ice storm and lasted for a week, and I was working in Chicago the whole time. It was without a doubt worth every penny we spent on it.

I bout mine after the ice storm and had to go out and tend to the generator two times day It was a real pain to go out and check the gas and even to get gas for the next week. The word that got me was what would have happened if I were away from home (like in the Hospital) and no power. I could have made it alright with my old generator but My wife couldn't.

Old Vet · #6 09/22/10, 12:49 AM

After the power went off and it is 3 hours and it finally came back on. The generator went off just like it was supposed to and all the time I was on the computer after it went off for about 5 minuets before I could get it booted up again. Must buy a battery back up and plug it in so that it will not go off again. Oh wait I just found one in the closet next to my computer all I need to do is plug it in.

deaconjim · #7 09/22/10, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Vet

I bout mine after the ice storm and had to go out and tend to the generator two times day It was a real pain to go out and check the gas and even to get gas for the next week. The word that got me was what would have happened if I were away from home (like in the Hospital) and no power. I could have made it alright with my old generator but My wife couldn't.

That's exactly why we chose the one we did. I knew I would be traveling for work, and I didn't want DW to have to hook up and start a generator, or to have to worry about how much load was on it.

Callieslamb · #8 09/22/10, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Vet

I bout mine after the ice storm and had to go out and tend to the generator two times day It was a real pain to go out and check the gas and even to get gas for the next week. The word that got me was what would have happened if I were away from home (like in the Hospital) and no power. I could have made it alright with my old generator but My wife couldn't.

This is why we bought a big one this year. I couldn't start the other one and I am not a weakling. DH just got it all wired to the house and barn and running a couple of weeks ago. Did you find it economical to run? Our next purchase will be a 1000 gallon propane tank - then a battery back-up system.

ronbre · #9 09/22/10, 06:45 AM

i bought a generator a year ago and the GUYS still haven't gotten it hooked up and ready to use..we have had a couple power outages during the time we've had it..

I better be bugging them about it this week eh?

Txrider · #10 09/22/10, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Vet

I bout mine after the ice storm and had to go out and tend to the generator two times day It was a real pain to go out and check the gas and even to get gas for the next week. The word that got me was what would have happened if I were away from home (like in the Hospital) and no power. I could have made it alright with my old generator but My wife couldn't.

How much run time do you get off a tank of propane? And how big of a tank?

Helena · #11 09/22/10, 07:31 AM

OK..help me out ...most of you all have a large propane tank to keep your generator running..full time..24/7 ??? we have a small generator that is intended to be used only a few hours a day to keep the freezers cold and to get water up from our 250' well. I wouldn't be running the whole house ..as usual..with it. Do you all run your homes with the intention of having everyhting working as if you were still on the grid. Our is for only the very few times our electric has went out for an extended period of time and fortunately that was several years ago for about a week only and we didn't have the generator at the time. Actually, we have never used this generator for emergencies yet..thank goodness..

Our Little Farm · #12 09/22/10, 07:32 AM

It depends on how much load you have on it.

We have one and It has been a Godsend. We regulary have power outages here and I dont have the strength in my right arm (nerve damage) to start a normal one. Ours is propane fed. We make sure that our tank does not get low.

Economical, not really, but then what generator is? Worth every cent? Yes, and then some.

Our Little Farm · #13 09/22/10, 07:33 AM

No I dont have a full load going on ours, we could but then it would pull more.

We just have a 500 gallon tank, would prefer to have a 1000 G but it is what it is.

Our Little Farm · #14 09/22/10, 07:37 AM

This is very similar to the model we have.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_315094-24212...7C1%26page%3D2

It is SO much quieter than hand cranked gennies.

Michael W. Smith · #15 09/22/10, 10:08 AM

I really need to look into getting one. And since I have free natural gas, the only cost to run it would be the orginal cost of the generator and the transfer things.

We are on a co-op electric company and for a while we were out of electric several times. After a big shake up of the Board of Directors, we have very few power outages, but still - an ice storm or heavy snow can bring down trees and lines.

Our Little Farm · #16 09/22/10, 10:09 AM

If you have natural free gas I would jump at getting one. It only takes an ice storm for everything to come to a halt.

Mine comes on 7 seconds after an outage. It's clean power and does not mess up my computer.

Backfourty,MI. · #17 09/22/10, 10:32 AM

We just have a portable 6000 watt portable generator that runs on regular gasoline. It works great for us when ever we have a power outage which is quite often it seems.

A few years ago we were without power for 4 days in the middle of winter becuase of a bad snnow storm. We are so far out that we are not the first folks out here to be hooked back up, they always start with the more populated areas which is understandable, our generator ran everything we needed for those 4 days.

Would like one of the big whole house generators you folks are all talking about eventually but don't want to spend that kind of money right now.

Our Little Farm · #18 09/22/10, 10:50 AM

We got ours in a sale for $3000.

LisaInN.Idaho · #19 09/22/10, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrashTestRanch

wonder if those transfer switches would work identical if connected to a complete solar off-grid setup? Maybe used for low power or maintenance situations

Yes. When we were completely off-grid (we're grid-tied now but use very little grid power) when out batteries got low in the winter, the generator would come on automatically to charge them.

trkarl · #20 09/22/10, 05:11 PM

We have a 6kw diesel and a Honda EU2000 we used once in a while when the power went off. Never had an automatic transfer set up though.

Now since I installed the off grid solar system we usually don't even know the power is off until we look at the stove clock or something. Whats kind of funny is at night if the power goes out the whole neighborhood is completely black except our house. We don't know until one of us goes outside to take out the dog or something. This can be a problem.