Generator Thread ....When the power goes out...

[Timber Cruiser]

How Are they hooked to generator ?. separate ground ? I have seen them hooked to ground cable going to power meter.

Not hooked to genny at all. Just drove several 8’ copper grounds randomly away from the house to divert any future strikes. Genny is grounded but these are independent.

 

[biker_bill]

Was nice to actually need the generator, the damned thing is 26 years old. That and the patch panel worked perfectly. We were out for almost 12 hours and that’s the longest its ever had to run. Loved the patch panel, freezer, garage, living room, fridge, sump pump and the furnace fan were all working with the flip of a switch! Gas was old with Sta-Bil in it, it coughed a little at first, moisture I guess, then smoothed right out.

It’s nice to be prepared!

 

[Dusharoone]

Find a military Gen they bad to the bone

 

[Leveraction44]

I may purchase a Generac standby gen in the next year. I will probably get the option that switches automatically when it senses loss of utility power and then switches back when utility power is restored.

Any of you know of any considerations or potential gotchas or recommendations that you are willing to
share?

 

[lostchild]

I may purchase a Generac standby gen in the next year. I will probably get the option that switches automatically when it senses loss of utility power and then switches back when utility power is restored.

Any of you know of any considerations or potential gotchas or recommendations that you are willing to
share?

If you have natural gas service at your home, go with that . If not, I would consider propane with as large a tank as you can afford, or at least capacity to run the generator for several days- longer is better.
And build a raised platform for the generator to protect it from flooding.

 

[Dusharoone]

If you have natural gas service at your home, go with that . If not, I would consider propane with as large a tank as you can afford, or at least capacity to run the generator for several days- longer is better.
And build a raised platform for the generator to protect it from flooding.

Just find a military generator

 

[10thmountain]

seeing this thread pop up - reminds me to crank my Genny for a few mins today.

 

[imawoodsman]

OttoMan , LOTS of GR8 info here my brother.
Check it out.

 

[Horsehat]

I may purchase a Generac standby gen in the next year. I will probably get the option that switches automatically when it senses loss of utility power and then switches back when utility power is restored.

Any of you know of any considerations or potential gotchas or recommendations that you are willing to
share?

When you calculate the cost of operating one of these along with initial cost, over several days you might find it cheaper to just throw away whatever is in the freezer/fridge and stay in a motel for the duration of the outage. Everyone is in a different situation. It just didn’t add up for us. In a long term outage where fuel availability might be an issue it made even less sense.

 

[Dusharoone]

When you calculate the cost of operating one of these along with initial cost, over several days you might find it cheaper to just throw away whatever is in the freezer/fridge and stay in a motel for the duration of the outage. Everyone is in a different situation. It just didn’t add up for us. In a long term outage where fuel availability might be an issue it made even less sense.

Totally agree it's not worth it that's why I said get a military diesel generator it doesn't cost the same to operate from what I was reading