Home Backup Power Generator

[wxsniss]

As this is the 3rd time this week / 5th time this year we’ve lost power in our neighborhood (powered by Eversource, outages all courtesy of low hanging wires and questionable pole infrastructure), I’m looking into a backup home generator 

Ideally connected to gas line and automatically turning on when power is out

Any recommendations?

I hear Kuhlman Electric ads for Generac all the time and seems good

I figured this forum would have tons of experience with severe / blizzards

TIA!

[cleetussnow]

Generac are the way to go. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

Are you looking to provide backup power for your entire home or just dedicated circuits that keep the critical stuff running?

ATS’s can get pricy if your looking for a whole house backup.

[wxsniss]

1 minute ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Are you looking to provide backup power for your entire home or just dedicated circuits that keep the critical stuff running?

ATS’s can get pricy if you’re looking for a whole house backup.

Was thinking whole house ATS for simplicity

Kids in multiple rooms, refrigerators, hot water, internet… 

[Baroclinic Zone]

14 minutes ago, wxsniss said:

Was thinking whole house ATS for simplicity

Kids in multiple rooms, refrigerators, hot water, internet… 

You’ll need to install the ATS between your meter and power panel to do this. 
generac is the defacto king of generators. Kohler also is pretty big in the generator business, so they’re an option.

i would reach out to some local electricians and see what they say.

@butterfish55 installs generators.

i sent him a text 

 

 

[butterfish55]

I work for AC Power Solutions in SE MA. We install and service whole house Generac generators. I have also installed many Kohler generators as well. I don't have a preference for brand. But I would definitely recommend just doing the whole house and not dedicated circuits. It might be a little more expensive but it's way more convenient

[512high]

21 minutes ago, butterfish55 said:

I work for AC Power Solutions in SE MA. We install and service whole house Generac generators. I have also installed many Kohler generators as well. I don't have a preference for brand. But I would definitely recommend just doing the whole house and not dedicated circuits. It might be a little more expensive but it's way more convenient

I have a Kohler 22KW whole house generator (2013) no issues, has about 310 hrs. on it. I do annual service on it, have replaced the battery every 3-4 years.

[Brewbeer]

I'm thankful i live somewhere the power rarely goes out, and when it does it's rarely for more than an hour

the one exception was October 2011; 98 1/2 hours of no power with 3 kids under 8, fun times 

[wxsniss]

Thanks for the quick advice guys

I'll probably go with a Generac. I'm a little worried about footprint and available space closest to where our gas/electric intake and meters, but I'll get the consultation and see.

It's easy to lose motivation and keep kicking the can, but I guess worth at least seeing if logistically possible and getting a quote.

[Brewbeer]

What about whole house battery back-up?  @butterfish55 battery only installs a thing yet ?  seems like if outages are short, battery tech might be far enough along to consider.

[butterfish55]

2 hours ago, Brewbeer said:

What about whole house battery back-up?  @butterfish55 battery only installs a thing yet ?  seems like if outages are short, battery tech might be far enough along to consider.

I've installed a few battery (only) back-ups.  Believe it or not, Briggs and Stratton was the brand I installed.  They make battery back up modules for some reason.  Anyway, I don't think they are great for a stand alone system.  They are super expensive and obviously will run out if there is a long outage (more than a day or 2).  But, if your power company charges a higher rate during peak times (3-10 pm), you can program the transfer switch to allow you to use battery power during those times and then charge them with grid power overnight when it's cheaper.  So there's that...

If money was no option, the perfect system would be a combo of solar and battery.  The panels power your house and charge the batteries during the day and you run off battery power for the evenings/overnight.  Wouldn't use much grid power during spring/summer/fall.  

[BrianW]

17 hours ago, Brewbeer said:

What about whole house battery back-up?  @butterfish55 battery only installs a thing yet ?  seems like if outages are short, battery tech might be far enough along to consider.

Eversource has a pretty crazy battery program available in CT and MA. They essentially pay you like 6x retail electricity rates when you discharge your battery to the grid during high demand. 

This is because New England still relies on tons of peak oil fired power plants. When those run electricity from them can be like 30x normal wholesale rates.  These plants are crazy expensive because they idle 95% of the year and run off essentially diesel fuel. These oil plants are also used a lot in the winter when there are natural gas pipeline constraints in New England. ISO New England had an article a few years ago how New England burned something crazy like over $500 million in oil in 1 week during a prolonged cold snap.

Here is some numbers from a powerwall in CT last year I saw online.  The Eversource program is run through Tesla for payments. I think the math is these payments will pay for the battery in 5 years and they have a 10 year warranty.

In 2025 there were 41 events during which my powerwall and solar setup sent energy back to the grid.

• I received a check from Tesla for $1889.42 in February for these events.

• On average, I sent 25.11kWh/event to the grid during each of these events.

• I sent 1029kWh in total to the grid during these events.

• For an average price of $1.84/kWh and average of $46.08/event.

A kwh is currently around .30 in New England. Eversource bought the power from the battery at around 6x or $1.84 kwh during high demand. 

https://www.eversource.com/residential/save-money-energy/clean-energy-options/energy-storage-solutions

[tamarack]

21 hours ago, wxsniss said:

Thanks for the quick advice guys

I'll probably go with a Generac. I'm a little worried about footprint and available space closest to where our gas/electric intake and meters, but I'll get the consultation and see.

It's easy to lose motivation and keep kicking the can, but I guess worth at least seeing if logistically possible and getting a quote.

We had a 13k Generac installed in spring 2020 - we were getting too old to camp out in our own home.  
Our place has a 200 amp entry panel while the house footprint is only 960 sq.ft., 3 bedrooms including the loft, one bath. The unit itself was a bit over $3,000 but we had more like 10k fully installed - dedicated entry panel plus the labor to place and set up the genny.  Since we are far from having gas in the street, we needed to buy 2 100-gallon tanks (nearly 2 weeks running), have them installed plus the underground link to the generator, along with the 200 gallons of propane.  The 10-year guarantee came with the deal.
Other than bi-weekly test runs (5 min) and short runs - <2 hr, we've had only 3 outages, 10 hours in late Sept 2020, 101 hours in Dec 2023 and 7.5 hours 2 days ago.  We pay for the annual servicing, but when lightning blew apart a tall fir 55 yards from the house, also wrecking the electrical link from genny to panel, the techs fixed it with no charge.

[SJonesWX]

I recently learned that whole house generators have a life span of around 20 years.

a friend has had one for 20+ years, and it recently stopped doing its weekly test run, so he had a guy out to service it. Found a blown fuse, which he replaced. when he fired up the generator, the battery literally exploded. No diagnosis as the unit was well out of warranty and there was no guarantee that they could even figure out what the problem was. 

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

2 hours ago, SJonesWX said:

I recently learned that whole house generators have a life span of around 20 years.

a friend has had one for 20+ years, and it recently stopped doing its weekly test run, so he had a guy out to service it. Found a blown fuse, which he replaced. when he fired up the generator, the battery literally exploded. No diagnosis as the unit was well out of warranty and there was no guarantee that they could even figure out what the problem was. 

Yea. Unless you live in a high prone power loss area, i don’t think WHG’s are worth it. It looks cool and is obviously super convenient but if you run the numbers for a mid sized home that rarely loses power (less than once/5yr), it’s a loss. 
 

If folks have the extra cash in this brutal economy, sure…get it. But I would recommend a good portable generator for everyone else.

[Brewbeer]

1 hour ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

 a good portable generator

this is how i managed the 2011 Octobomb.  Grabbed the Honda 2000 we had at work second day in.  It would run the forced air heating system, I macgyver'ed in a temporary plug. After warming the house, the important functions were easy: coffee grinder/coffee maker, power vent water heater, and some temp lighting and phone charging; cooking was on the grill and the camp stove

[JACKASS]

5 minutes ago, Brewbeer said:

this is how i managed the 2011 Octobomb.  Grabbed the Honda 2000 we had at work second day in.  It would run the forced air heating system, I macgyver'ed in a temporary plug. After warming the house, the important functions were easy: coffee grinder/coffee maker, power vent water heater, and some temp lighting and phone charging; cooking was on the grill and the camp stove

Pretty much the same here.

Just had to share my generator with 2 other family households to keep their chest freezers from thawing.

Heated water bed saved my ass!

[ROOSTA]

GENERAC
Really no Question. I had one served all my needs. I would wait to pull the trigger as in extended warranty, 2400W on propane...   

[wxsniss]

4 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Yea. Unless you live in a high prone power loss area, i don’t think WHG’s are worth it. It looks cool and is obviously super convenient but if you run the numbers for a mid sized home that rarely loses power (less than once/5yr), it’s a loss. 
 

If folks have the extra cash in this brutal economy, sure…get it. But I would recommend a good portable generator for everyone else.

What's a good portable generator? Can it power multiple devices throughout house at once (fridge, lighting, HVAC, water heater)? If portable and only set up when needed, how can it be set up outdoors to power things inside? Asking not to be confrontational, I'm genuinely curious what the alternatives are.

We've lost power 5x this year, ranging from 3-16 hour times. Most times not even weather related.

My fear is having to struggle in pitch dark at 2am setting up a portable generator, and not able to ensure kids can sleep and we have refrigeration / hot water.