I am thinking about buying a guardian natural gas standby generator. I can buy a 7000k unit without controller for just under $2000.00. Does anyone here have standby power?
standby electric generators
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I have a Generac Guardian v-twin air cooled generator that runs on propane, rated for 15 kw. It was installed within the last year. I am on a dead ended primary line about 1.5 miles long, and the area generally is subject to distribution outages due to ice and downed trees.
A freeze up here in winter would probably cost me $30K or more to repair.
Everything is automatic. If there is an outage, after approx. 20 seconds the generator starts up, and then after about another 10-15 seconds the house is switched over to the generator.
When utility power returns, the unit waits until utility power remains available for about 20 seconds, the transfer is made back from the generator to the utility line, and then after about 15 seconds the generator shuts off.
As we have no natural gas here, my unit runs on propane vapor. We have a 550 gallon cylindrical horizontal tank, which is kept no more than 3/4 full so we have an adequate vapor boil off area.
And by the way, so it will start in cold weather, the oil in the generator crank case is Rotella synthetic 5w-40, which I also use in my GMC Duramax and have had great cold weather start-up performance.
A freeze up here in winter would probably cost me $30K or more to repair.
Everything is automatic. If there is an outage, after approx. 20 seconds the generator starts up, and then after about another 10-15 seconds the house is switched over to the generator.
When utility power returns, the unit waits until utility power remains available for about 20 seconds, the transfer is made back from the generator to the utility line, and then after about 15 seconds the generator shuts off.
As we have no natural gas here, my unit runs on propane vapor. We have a 550 gallon cylindrical horizontal tank, which is kept no more than 3/4 full so we have an adequate vapor boil off area.
And by the way, so it will start in cold weather, the oil in the generator crank case is Rotella synthetic 5w-40, which I also use in my GMC Duramax and have had great cold weather start-up performance.
I think Iam going to go ahead and buy it. The only reservation I have is in a worst case senario, I could loose my gas supply also. I have heard out in california they loose their gas sometimes due to earthquakes. We dont have that problem in ohio, but anything possible. I will say that is one time propane would be better then natural gas.
I have a unit about the same size. I bought it about 30 years ago. Its a very good good unit but its "do it yourself". Engine is a 10 HP Briggs comercial cast Iron unit. Dad welded a frame and the Engine and Gen are bolted onto it. It is on wheels.
I have an illegal hookup. I put a 240 Volt outlet with the bteaker located in the main pannel just like another circuit. To operate it, I cut off the main power and backfeed through the Panel. Like I said-totally ilegal.
Since mine is gasoline powered it drinks tons of gasoline. You will want to figure out exactly what you want to power. Truthfully if you have city water (no well) it may not make a whole lot of sense to go through the expense. I origionally bought it for the heat-but since then I bought a Propane stove that normally heats most of my house. Since it requires no electricity I am pretty self sufficient without the generator.
Soi if you need the heat-just use your natural gas heating unit. Or buy a Kerosene heater. With 10 gallons of kerosene you can easily go a week for heat.
If you are worrying about your stuff in the freezer spoiling..that may not be worth the added expense.
If my unit were to totally die..I wouldn't replace it.
Also-consider in a real emergency-you may not have gas service=you are screwed.
I have an illegal hookup. I put a 240 Volt outlet with the bteaker located in the main pannel just like another circuit. To operate it, I cut off the main power and backfeed through the Panel. Like I said-totally ilegal.
Since mine is gasoline powered it drinks tons of gasoline. You will want to figure out exactly what you want to power. Truthfully if you have city water (no well) it may not make a whole lot of sense to go through the expense. I origionally bought it for the heat-but since then I bought a Propane stove that normally heats most of my house. Since it requires no electricity I am pretty self sufficient without the generator.
Soi if you need the heat-just use your natural gas heating unit. Or buy a Kerosene heater. With 10 gallons of kerosene you can easily go a week for heat.
If you are worrying about your stuff in the freezer spoiling..that may not be worth the added expense.
If my unit were to totally die..I wouldn't replace it.
Also-consider in a real emergency-you may not have gas service=you are screwed.
Theory is that you could send the electricity back out to the line and the step/down transformer would step it back up to high voltage and electrocute a lineman.
It's not a theory, that's why linemen assume every wire is live when doing repair work.
My disaster preparedness equipment includes:
Honda EU2000i generator 5 Gal gasoline stabilized
Kerosene 23,000 BTU Heater 10 Gal clean Kerosene stabilized
Deep Cycle battery - 500 watt power inverter
Extra propane tank for gas grill
8 Gal of distilled water (replenished through use)
Numerous dry cell batteries of various sizes
Low power flourescent lighting
Food stocks for a couple of weeks
Enough ammo for a small war
Honda EU2000i generator 5 Gal gasoline stabilized
Kerosene 23,000 BTU Heater 10 Gal clean Kerosene stabilized
Deep Cycle battery - 500 watt power inverter
Extra propane tank for gas grill
8 Gal of distilled water (replenished through use)
Numerous dry cell batteries of various sizes
Low power flourescent lighting
Food stocks for a couple of weeks
Enough ammo for a small war
TSC has a generac 12kw unit with the transfer switch and everything you need (nat. gas or propane) for $2850
I have the same things. My normal heat is a propane stove and I have a 2 1/2 month supply of propane. Water isn't much of a problem since I have a well.quote:
Originally posted by 427Z06:
My disaster preparedness equipment includes:
Honda EU2000i generator 5 Gal gasoline stabilized
Kerosene 23,000 BTU Heater 10 Gal clean Kerosene stabilized
Deep Cycle battery - 500 watt power inverter
Extra propane tank for gas grill
8 Gal of distilled water (replenished through use)
Numerous dry cell batteries of various sizes
Low power flourescent lighting
Food stocks for a couple of weeks
Enough ammo for a small war
I keep thinking of one. I would be very tempted to join Al outside the law. Lose my electricity, I lose my heat, water, and with Vonage, my phone once my 650 VA UPS dies.
Note, parts of Ohio are over due for an earthquake when the New Madrid Fault lets loose. Could disrupt pipe lines supplying areas much farther North.
Note, parts of Ohio are over due for an earthquake when the New Madrid Fault lets loose. Could disrupt pipe lines supplying areas much farther North.
MolaKule
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My hookup is the same as AL's, but didn't know any part of it was illegal. Not quite up to code (needs a separate switchover circuit).
We have winter outages quite often. I use the gasoline-powered 5.5 kW generator to power the fans in the furnace (our heating is LPG).
Have seriously considered acquiring an LPG unit.
We have winter outages quite often. I use the gasoline-powered 5.5 kW generator to power the fans in the furnace (our heating is LPG).
Have seriously considered acquiring an LPG unit.
I only want to add that we have a well for our primary water supply, and if there were an extended power outage we would lose everything but the phone.
There have been ice storm outages in this area that have lasted 24 hours or more. As we have no natural gas, electricity is used for cooking as well as everything related to running the oil fired furnace.
Also, the unit has a weekly timer so that it starts up and exercises itself about 10 minutes once a week. You start it up the first time to set it, and a 7 day timer remembers that is the time of day to exercise itself weekly. During the "exercise" start-up, the unit does not switch itself over to power the house.
If you are in an area where there is unreliable power and extended winter outages are a possibility, the unit will pay for itself many times over the first time it saves you from a 24 hour outage during freezing weather.
There are two advantages of propane over natural gas operation. First, the unit's ratings are about 10% higher on propane fuel. That's a minor advantage. However, a major advantage is that, while the natural gas grid and electric grid are separate and natural gas is normally available during area wide power outages, if an outage occurs during a natural gas peak demand period, there is a small possibiity that the natural gas grid may see excessive demand, affecting natural gas deliverability.
With propane, you are about as isolated from dependency on supply infrastructure, so long as your tank is big enough to take you through an extended outage, and propane delivery remains available.
There have been ice storm outages in this area that have lasted 24 hours or more. As we have no natural gas, electricity is used for cooking as well as everything related to running the oil fired furnace.
Also, the unit has a weekly timer so that it starts up and exercises itself about 10 minutes once a week. You start it up the first time to set it, and a 7 day timer remembers that is the time of day to exercise itself weekly. During the "exercise" start-up, the unit does not switch itself over to power the house.
If you are in an area where there is unreliable power and extended winter outages are a possibility, the unit will pay for itself many times over the first time it saves you from a 24 hour outage during freezing weather.
There are two advantages of propane over natural gas operation. First, the unit's ratings are about 10% higher on propane fuel. That's a minor advantage. However, a major advantage is that, while the natural gas grid and electric grid are separate and natural gas is normally available during area wide power outages, if an outage occurs during a natural gas peak demand period, there is a small possibiity that the natural gas grid may see excessive demand, affecting natural gas deliverability.
With propane, you are about as isolated from dependency on supply infrastructure, so long as your tank is big enough to take you through an extended outage, and propane delivery remains available.
sbc350gearhead, Thanks for the reply about TSC, I will check them out.
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