Whole House Generators

[Hoover]

Just wondering if anyone has one?

Pros? Cons? Tips?

Thinking about putting on in the house before I finish my basement ceiling.

[tmax63]

I have a 7000 watt portable that has enough juice to run my well pump and a few things (not all at the same time). I live in rural CO and the longest we've been without power in the 20 years I've been here is about 3 days after an ice storm about 15 yrs ago. Enough to keep the frig and freezer cold is all you need, especially if you're on city water. Be careful on the wiring side so that if it's ever used it doesn't back feed the grid and electrocute some poor bastard working all night to get you your power back on, not to mention cook your generator at the same time.

[Reerun_KC]

Been wanting to do this also. Want one that runs on propane and can service the whole house .

[Hoover]

Yeah I'm looking at a 22KW air-cooled system that would run off of natural gas. This should run everything in my house except for the electric emergency heat on the geothermal system, which shouldn't be an issue. My wife is never going to get a generator out and get things running, so I'm looking for something that senses when there has been a power failure and comes on automatically.

[BucEyedPea]

I'd like to get one. We lose power at least once a year here.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Yeah I'm looking at a 22KW air-cooled system that would run off of natural gas. This should run everything in my house except for the electric emergency heat on the geothermal system, which shouldn't be an issue. My wife is never going to get a generator out and get things running, so I'm looking for something that senses when there has been a power failure and comes on automatically.

Check your local regs. The transfer switch may need to be installed by a licensed electrician and certified in writing for your house to be saleable in the future.

It's an important consideration nonetheless, as tmax states, if you're simply inline, you are energizing the line when repairmen are trying fix it and are expecting dead wires, and when they do repair the line all the power of the system will surge into your unit.

Do you have existing propane or natural gas resources, or will you need a fuel reservoir as well?

Is the 22kW a hard target, because a lot are 20kW rated.

Here's a fairly cheap resource you may wish to peruse

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...TIRISPFGXYUXKA

[SAUTO]

I've got one that I bought last year, 22kw generac.

It's sitting in one of my buildings waiting on my ass to get it installed.

[TribalElder]

How shitty is your electric company?

I have lost power for less than 10 minutes in 2.5 years

[Mr. Laz]

Tesla is working on something too.


Tesla gearing up for release of batteries for the home

By John Anderson

February 25, 2015

16 Comments
Tesla home battery, which is currently produced for SolarCity's home energy storage system...
Tesla home battery, which is currently produced for SolarCity's home energy storage system (House Photo: Shutterstock)
The same lithium-ion battery technology that powers Tesla’s electric vehicles will be used to develop a battery for the home, according to a statement by CEO Elon Musk during a recent conference call with analysts. The batteries would be used by homes and businesses to store excess energy generated from solar panels during the day, and drawn from at night when panels sit idle.

Official details of the project are still a ways off. When we contacted them, Tesla said they’re currently not sharing any additional information about their energy storage and home batteries for several months. What Musk did reveal during the conference call was that "we’re going to unveil the Tesla home battery, or consumer battery, that will be for use in people’s houses or businesses, fairly soon." Adding that, "we have the design done and it should start going into production probably in about six months or so. We’re trying to figure out a date to have the product unveiling – it’s probably in the next month or two. It’s really great. I’m really excited about it."

As the company’s first foray into selling directly to the home energy storage market, the batteries are expected to get plenty of attention just by virtue of the attached Tesla label. And it should be an improvement from the home batteries Tesla has been quietly supplying to its sister company, the solar panel maker SolarCity, located up the road from Tesla in San Mateo, California. Those batteries are currently available in select markets within California, and only through SolarCity. The new batteries would be more widely available.

Tesla would face plenty of competition for their batteries, with names like Bosch, GE and Samsung involved. Honda has unveiled a demonstration smart home that features a rechargeable home battery, along with an electric vehicle, solar panels and geothermal heat pump, and is driven by an energy management system.

Researchers from both Harvard and MIT have developed flow batteries for renewable energy storage, while Bloom Energy’s fuel cell boxes act as a power source as well as an energy storage device.

One area where Tesla might stand out is in cost. Tesla assembles its battery packs from battery cells provided by Panasonic, and is about to do it on a massive scale as soon as 2016 at its gigafactory currently under construction in Nevada. Such an economy of scale – producing 50 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity each year – is expected to push the company’s car battery costs down by 30 percent. Based on the same technology, Tesla's home battery costs should come down as well.

Home batteries have the potential to be a boon to homeowners who draw energy from rooftop solar panels, particularly those whose homes are connected to the grid via utility companies that offer variable rates that depend on the hour of day, aka Time-of-Use (TOU) rate plans. PV users typically have to draw power from the grid in the afternoon and evening when the sun wanes, which is also when a utility’s energy rates are highest. Home energy storage systems help homeowners keep costs down by drawing from the battery instead, and recharging the battery during off-peak hours.

Sources: Tesla, SolarCity energy storage

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

How shitty is your electric company?

I have lost power for less than 10 minutes in 2.5 years

Uhhh there's these things called severe thunderstorms that have been known to knock out power in large areas at times. If you're in a rural area you could potentially be out for a week or more as they're the lowest priority after a storm. Here in the city the longest outage I can recall was around 36 hours after a nasty storm in 2008.

[Mr. Laz]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Uhhh there's these things called severe thunderstorms that have been known to knock out power in large areas at times. If you're in a rural area you could potentially be out for a week or more as they're the lowest priority after a storm. Here in the city the longest outage I can recall was around 36 hours after a nasty storm in 2008.

for us(OP,KS) it's ice storms, they trash the trees and knock down power lines

[displacedinMN]

Dad bought one for the farm a few years ago after a big Iowa ice storm.
7500 watts. Had a switch put in for the electrocution reason above.

It can run the fridge, freezer, water pump and furnace without a problem.

Used it a few times. Worked great. Kept them warm.


I would say well worth it because when Obama shuts off all the coal power plants, we would need to run generators on gasoline.

[eDave]

Originally Posted by TribalElder

How shitty is your electric company?

I have lost power for less than 10 minutes in 2.5 years

It's for the impending apocalypse.

[Stewie]

Buy the smallest Generac you would need. Enough to keep people warm, food cold, run a few lights and maybe a TV. 7500 watts is usually enough to do this. I've had my power out for a week and kept things running on a 3000 watt gasoline generator. It was an extension cord parade around my house, but we were warm and all our food was saved.

[Hoover]

I'm not going to instal it myself as my house has a 400 amp service and things are a little more complicated than normal due to my geothermal