Whole house standby generator

[cb684]

Anybody have experience with those? I have been thinking to buy a 20kw generac...

 

[Akida17th]

I have one at my job and it works great. Does a self check monthly to ensure it's working properly. Definitely a good choice.

 

[wildwilly1]

i have a 22kw with auto transfer switch generac . best thing bar none for house and tank . don't ever have to worry about a powerloss again. it comes on automatically after it senses loss of power for 5 sec. then goes off after it senses power back on. don't ever have to touch. I do have a little piece that I got from amazon that I have plugged into bedroom socket that puts out a screeching alarm if power is interrupted that will wake me so I can just check on tank . then go back to sleep . very good piece of mind for me and worth every penny plus good selling point if ever decide to sell home

 

[ReefFrenzy]

i have a 22kw with auto transfer switch generac . best thing bar none for house and tank . don't ever have to worry about a powerloss again. it comes on automatically after it senses loss of power for 5 sec. then goes off after it senses power back on. don't ever have to touch. I do have a little piece that I got from amazon that I have plugged into bedroom socket that puts out a screeching alarm if power is interrupted that will wake me so I can just check on tank . then go back to sleep . very good piece of mind for me and worth every penny plus good selling point if ever decide to sell home

Ditto what he said. We have a Generac for the home which has been flawless for the past 5 years and we just added one connected to our walk-in freezer. Great piece of mind.

 

[den75]

Same here. Very comforting to know you don't have to worry about power outages for your tanks sake as well as your own. Mine starts up every week and runs for about 15 minutes to get the oil circulating and it does some diagnostic checks as well. Power goes out it starts up, after 15 seconds the transfer switch flips and I have power again via the generator. Power comes back, switch flips again putting us back on grid power. Generator continues to run about 30 seconds and switches itself off.

 

[cb684]

Great to hear! I was getting anxious with the reviews in amazon, they are not great (but they are also from low numbers of people). I am planning to get it with a 200amps automatic transfer switch from Lowes and use their instal services too. I am also planning to add a whole house power surge protector (found one for 200 $ at Amazon). Anything else I need to think about? Thank you for the feed back.

 

[den75]

Consider what you actually need to power before you purchase one. You may not need a "whole" house generator. Mine is what I like to call a 3/4 or 2/3 house generator. I opted for the 11kw model which was significantly cheaper than a 22kw or larger which would have been required to do the whole house. The 11kw allows you to power 12 circuits of your choosing in your house. It's just my wife and I so we really don't need power to the spare bedrooms or spare bathroom. My house is all electric so my stove isn't powered but I can still plug in a microwave or BBQ any time of year to eat. Do you really need to power your washing machine, clothes dryer or dishwasher? Even if the power is out for a week you can certainly get by without those. My heat and air is also electric and the 11kw won't cut it for that either. In the summer I can always throw in a window unit or 2 to make things more comfortable. In the winter I have a gas fireplace and wood stove so I am set for heat. Of course refrigerator and freezer are on the generator so I don't lose all the food. For the amount of times you're actually going to need the generator think about what you really need to be on it and what you can do without in an extended outage. For me I just couldn't justify the additional cost of one twice the size or more to actually power the entire house when you consider the amount of time you will actually need it.