topic Re: Whole Home Generators in Home

Whole Home Generators

Lilysmom1 — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:00:38 GMT

It is time for us to replace our generator. I think we should opt for a whole home generator.

Does anyone with one care to comment? What brand did you buy, how does it perform?

Would appreciate your views.

@JustJazzmom , do I recall you recently had one installed?

TIA. LM

Re: Whole Home Generators

Kachina624 — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:03:53 GMT

@Lilysmom1 @SeaMaiden has mentioned having bought one.

Re: Whole Home Generators

On It — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:07:37 GMT

I am looking forward to the responses as well. I am stuck having to live in Texas, and we all know how well the power grid holds up under pressure.

Re: Whole Home Generators

jackthebear — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:10:16 GMT

do it

we have a generac, for the whole house,

worth every penny

Re: Whole Home Generators

nana59 — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:11:55 GMT

GENERAC!!! best purchase we ever made.......

Re: Whole Home Generators

ninjawife — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:15:18 GMT

We had a tornado rip through our development last summer and we were without power for 5 days. We contacted a company to install a Generac but they are in short supply in our area. We have been waiting a year to have it installed.

Re: Whole Home Generators

Lilysmom1 — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:23:20 GMT

@ninjawife @nana59 @jackthebear @On It @Kachina624 Excellent feedback so far! ThNk you. Our present generator is General and it has served us well!

Looking forward to more comments. LM

Re: Whole Home Generators

Nightowlz — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:36:18 GMT

We want a Generac but it takes a while to get one right now. Our electrician is waiting on 2 for customers. He said it's been 3 months. He said there's a part they are having issues getting.

You can go to Generac online to enter info to see what size you need plus price. You will also have to pay for a transfer switch. The electrician told us we would also have to call a plumber since we would connect to natural gas.

We have a regular generator now but it's noisey.

Re: Whole Home Generators

cookie16 — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:39:40 GMT

We installed a Generac whole house generator year after Sandy hit us in NW NJ and we were without power for 10 days. No heat (house got down to 40), water or toilet function and electricity. We went with a 10,000 kw and very pleased with it. We have propane so that isn't the best scenario because we are at delivery co. mercy but haven't had an issue with that. We had to decide what power was most important for us to be put on this generator and we chose all the above. It also depends what circuits are now together so you may not have all appliances or rooms on the generator but we took the most necessary and eliminated the extra. The company you choose will explain it all. Our refrigerator and freezer are on now as well. The largest generators cost more but also use more propane or your type of fuel. We do get many outages for various reasons, some short but some a few days and it has always gone on. We do have it serviced every year to ensure proper running and never an issue.

Re: Whole Home Generators

tessam — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:47:27 GMT

We have a Generac whole house generator installed after Sandy hit us in Connecticut. IMO they are VERY pricey, but when making an investment such as this you really go "get what you pay for". Ours is reliable and we have not had ANY issues. Just be certain whatever brand you get to go to a reputable dealer and follow the recommendede maintainence schedule. My son just replaced his and there was a VERY long wait as generators are in short supply these days FYI. We wish we had it installed years ago! Good luck!

Re: Whole Home Generators

RedTop — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 21:29:50 GMT

@Lilysmom1

We've had a Generac whole house generator for 9 years. We live rural, so propane is our power source, with a 500 gallon tank. Our generator does a test run every Wednesday at noon.

The generator was purchased thru the company that installed and maintains our heat pump. We have dealt with them for over 25 years. Our generator is big enough to handle electrical needs for this house, but in an outage, we cut back and don't try to have every TV and light on, use the oven, or do laundry. We have the power to do it, but focus only on keeping the 3 refrigerators and freezer running, lights on, and heat or a/c, depending on the weather. When the generator runs, anything plugged into an outlet is pulling more propane from the tank, so we unplug, or flip the breaker, on everything electrical we are not using.

The first lesson we learned is that when the heat is on, and we turn the hot water on and activate the water heater, it pulls so many amps at once, the generator will shut down. So, if it's cold outside and the heat is on, we must lower the thermostat long enough to take a shower, then turn it back up once the shower is over.

3 days is the longest our generator has run in 9 years; never needed more than 120 gallons of propane since the fill up. I have the propane topped off every 2 1/2 years. Our furnace and generator get serviced every October.

Our initial expense was $17,000 for the generator, concrete pad, cable, transfer switch and hook up. Best money we ever spent.

Re: Whole Home Generators

godi — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 21:07:09 GMT

We had a generac installed when we were building our home. It only came on three times and each time it was absolutely priceless. It's five years old now and we had to get the oil changed and a new battery for it. It comes on every Saturday at noon for a test run. They are definitely worth it. IMHO

Re: Whole Home Generators

granddi — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 21:21:28 GMT

Thanks to all!

Re: Whole Home Generators

itsmagic — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 21:51:33 GMT

We don’t have one but I have three friends who all had Generac installed. One friend lives in an area with frequent electrical failures so it’s been good for them. The other two haven’t had the electricity go out yet since having it installed. One friend mentioned it cycles on once a week for a few minutes during its downtime.

Re: Whole Home Generators

Snowpuppy — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 22:08:30 GMT

Just a word on Generac, if you don't use an authorized installer Generac will not honor the warranty.

Kohler will come in a close second.

Longest I've been without power is 3 days. DS just had a 5 day power outtage. He was out of town and he only lost the contents of his fridge/freezer.

Re: Whole Home Generators

Mistreatedbycs — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 22:23:46 GMT

Generac and you do need to place the order, pay the half down and wait. It's been about a year in October since it was installed. My wait time last year was 4 months.

Cost was about $8,000,

Best bet is to not go through your electrician but if you can, find an authorized dealer/distributor for Generac since those people have "clout" to getting product faster.

Best investment ever made.

Re: Whole Home Generators

SeaMaiden — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 12:37:38 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Lilysmom1 @SeaMaiden has mentioned having bought one.

@Lilysmom1 Yes. We had one installed in 2019. We bought a Generac brand. Ours runs on propane( we installed two huge tanks) as our home is all electric. If you have gas, you could hook up to your gas line (probably a better choice if you have it gas).

if the power goes off for any reason, the generator automatically kicks on and all power is restored. When the power comes back on, the generator automatically shuts off.

There are several models of Generac generator to decide on. You decide what fits your need, and what you want to $pend💰.

ours with Install cost about $15,000 plus or minus... the two tanks of propane FILLED and with install was another $2000.

Re: Whole Home Generators

LonestarBabs — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 14:14:21 GMT

I live in Texas and seriously considered getting a whole house generator to at least power the heat or A/C with a few other things. Did a lot of research, contacted a reputable local Generac authorized dealer and they were very helpful. They weren't taking any orders for the remainder of the year and have people on a waitlist for next year because they can't get product. I decided against it due to the high cost (at least $14-17K) and the fact that I may not recoup the investment during the time I will be living in this house. Wish I could do it but just can't afford it.

Re: Whole Home Generators

Allegheny — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 16:56:10 GMT

Last year we had a Kohler whole house generator installed. Our installer is an authorized dealer. He worked with his father for years who is a dealer for Generac. Of the two systems his preference was Kohler.

With his guidance we selected a model which could provide enough power to run everything in the house. The install was simple since we already have natural gas.

Our system plus install was around $7600. Annual service maintenance is recommended which costs about $200 (depending upon dealer).

One of our best home improvements; should have done it years ago. Being on a well water system makes losing power even more challenging.

I just spoke with our dealer last week. He said we are lucky we got our system last year. This year he is having trouble getting units and there is quite a wait.

Two months ago our electric was down for 30 hours.

Re: Whole Home Generators

Lilysmom1 — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 20:52:04 GMT

@SeaMaiden We are rural sort of...about 15 minutes from city centre. We do not have gas here. Our heat is heat pump and oil. We have a propane stove in the kitchen and a propane fireplace and have two of those huge propane tanks already installed. Hopefully we can hook into that supply.

it certainly sounds like General is the top choice.

I appreciate all the feedback! LM