topic Re: Generators in Among Friends

Generators

Group 5 minus 1 — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 13:02:54 GMT

We have a whole house generator. We bought it several years ago. Have never regretted

it. When the power goes out (we live in Michigan) and it does fail a lot. it comes right on.

Our house is large (4000 sq. feet) and it is so great. We can take a shower,FLUSH the toilet,etc

Has to be professionaly installed. Ours is wired into our propane.

Re: Generators

LindaSal — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 13:20:47 GMT

ITA, we had a generator for years when we had our larger home way out in the woods.

It was connected to the well pump, the furnace and many outlets in the house which is a necessity (especially for the refrigerator, and oh yeah, the coffeepot!). It was a Godsend more times than I can count.

We now live in a townhouse which does not allow generators, totally stupid!

Re: Generators

SeaMaiden — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 14:05:00 GMT

@Group 5 minus 1 wrote:
We have a whole house generator. We bought it several years ago. Have never regretted
it. When the power goes out (we live in Michigan) and it does fail a lot. it comes right on.
Our house is large (4000 sq. feet) and it is so great. We can take a shower,FLUSH the toilet,etc
Has to be professionaly installed. Ours is wired into our propane.

@Group 5 minus 1 we also have a Generac whole house generator. Our house is about 2000 square feet. We are all electric, so had to go with two - 200 gallon propane tanks above ground installed. The other option was a 500 gallon tank that would have to be underground buy law.... and that was NOT AN OPTION TO BURY. Many of my neighbors are on a gas line, so they just hook up to that. Wish we had that option.

Since I am limited to the propane in the two tanks, we decided on having lights and refrigeration... but no furnace( heat) or hot water. Also can not use my stove, or washer and dryer but, can use my microwave and space heaters that pull less than 1000 watts of power. It really just depends on the amps that certain things pull.

With the two tanks of propane, we could go for about 8 days without power and have lights and refrigeration etc 24 hours a day. I hope the power is never off that long... but it is peace of mind to know that we would at least have some comforts....

The few times our power has been off it is nice to have TV and lights! I can deal without taking a bath for a day or two....

Re: Generators

1Snickers — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 14:15:59 GMT

I'm on my second whole house generator. The first one ran so much through hurricanes, etc. and was hit by lightening it wore out!

My area is wooded and roads are narrow if there's snow or trees in the road I can't get out.

Mine will run everything, including heat & air conditioning, but I'm careful to not run high wattage items like my dryer all at once.
It's peace of mind to have it. Sometimes I don't even know it's on!

🏡 🔌💡🧺🛀🏾🛌❤️

Re: Generators

walkingal — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 14:30:41 GMT

@Group 5 minus 1 I have one too. Worth every penny.

Re: Generators

06greatwife — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 14:53:14 GMT

We have a whole house generator too. We had to have a larger gas meter installed to be able to do so which meant our yard had to be dug up to have the new gas line laid, but we would do it again in a heartbeat. It is definitely peace of mind having it when bad weather is forecasted where we live. Also if we ever sell our house, it is going to be a nice selling feature and give our house added value.

Re: Generators

ID2 — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 16:01:19 GMT

We got a whole house generator several years ago. We live in upper rural Michigan. Great investiment. We arent inconvenienced whatsoever whenever the power goes out. It not only powers our house, it also powers the back house in case we have guests.

Re: Generators

Lucky Charm — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 16:29:22 GMT

We're going to have one installed next year at our summer home, which we plan to move to permanently.

When we were building, they were going to re-pave the street so we acted fast and got gas hooked up to the property as it only had electric. It would've cost us about $5000 more to have the street dug up for gas service afterwards.

We've always had a large, but portable one and luckily never had to use it for more than a few hours.

Re: Generators

Carmie — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:17:34 GMT

We have two portable gas powered generators. We have used them for camping a few times and let a friend borrow them when his power went out for about a week.

His friend how has a whole house generator.

We were thinking about getting one too, but we built our home in 1988 and have never had a power outage that lasted for more than an hour or so and that was only twice. Our power lines are underground.

They appear to be wonderful and a great investment if you live in an area with power issues.

Re: Generators

newjerseygirl — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:43:29 GMT

We had a Generac whole house generator installed after Hurricane Sandy.

We had no electricity for 8 days after Sandy.

The generator is connected to the gas line for the house. It turns on as soon as the electricity goes out.

The generator kicks in and runs for 15 minutes once a week as a check.

I also have a maintenance contract for it. It gets serviced every 6 months to make sure everything is in working order.

Re: Generators

SeaMaiden — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 13:10:20 GMT

@newjerseygirl wrote:
We had a Generac whole house generator installed after Hurricane Sandy.

We had no electricity for 8 days after Sandy.

The generator is connected to the gas line for the house. It turns on as soon as the electricity goes out.

The generator kicks in and runs for 15 minutes once a week as a check.
I also have a maintenance contract for it. It gets serviced every 6 months to make sure everything is in working order.

@newjerseygirl How much does the 6 months maintenance cost? Just curious so I know what to expect.

Re: Generators

newjerseygirl — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:22:51 GMT

@SeaMaiden The maintenance contract costs about $300 annually. It gets service 2x a year. It is such an expensive investment that you want to make sure it is always working properly.

It is powered by gas through the gas line to my house. It has to run once a week for about 15 minutes to stay in good working order, like a car engine.

There is a Generac box in my garage next to the electric panel. It all has to be connected so it can kick in when the electricity goes out.

During the maintenance call, they check out the whole unit and make sure everything is in good working order. They check the outside unit as well as the box in the garage.

Also, with the maintenance contract, you have someone who will come and look at it if you have a problem.

I have had mine for quite a few years now and it is fine, It has kicked in a few times when the electricity went out.

If/ when you decide to get one, there are certain requirements (at least where I live) about how close to the house it can be and where it can be positioned.

When it does kick in, it emits exhaust, just like a car engine. So, consider that when you decide where to put it.