Generac generator for whole house - Page 3

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

@Sakuya wrote:
Also, did you buy directly from company? I see places like Menards sell them.

@Sakuya We purchased ours through a Generac Authorized Dealer. They took care of the installation and obtaining the permits. They also monitor the generator and do maintenance on it once a year. The one time we had a problem with it they made the necessary repairs.

Effie54 · ‎09-08-2010

For what it's worth, we had a whole house Generac generator installed. This decision was made after a terrible tropical storm knocked the power out for 3 days. Once that happened, quite a few of us in the neighborhood had them installed. It's a great feeling to know you will have power if a storm hits. I say to go for it. It also adds value to the home vs. a portable generator.

JuJu in NC · ‎09-16-2010

We have a Briggs and Stratton whole house generator. It is the most wonderful thing that we have treated ourselves to. When the power goes out it comes on flawlessly and runs our whole house. We have a 3500 square foot house. It runs on propane. Good Luck! I think if it isaffordable for you it will be well worth it.

sarahpanda · ‎03-11-2010

Wow ! I've never seen so many positive comments in a thread - about anything ! You all have been very helpful...but one more question....What is this business about ''testing'' the Generac? Is that something I would have to remember to do physically outside? What does that involve? TIA !!

RedTop · ‎09-01-2010

I'm in rural WV and have had a Generac generator for 12 years. The initial outlay was about $17,000 for the size we needed as well as concrete pad, wiring, plumbing and 500 gallon propane tank and fill, since this area does not have natural gas lines. We purchased and had installation thru our heating and air company, and have the unit serviced every October.

Our generator will power the heating system of our size house. In an outage, I can cook, watch TV, keep our food cold/frozen, and have hot water for showers. As has been said, you do not go hog wild with electrical usage on generator power. When the power goes off, I unplug everything nonessential, like air purifier, lamps, etc. I do not wash or dry clothes, since I have to be mindful of the amount of propane in the tank. The more appliances that are plugged in is key to how much propane the generator needs to run.

A generator was the last big planned upgrade to the house before I retired. It has come in handy for summer and winter outages. As we expected, oxygen is in use in our home now, with no worries about how do we manage without power. A generator is a good investment.

Effie54 · ‎09-08-2010

@sarahpanda wrote:
Wow ! I've never seen so many positive comments in a thread - about anything ! You all have been very helpful...but one more question....What is this business about ''testing'' the Generac? Is that something I would have to remember to do physically outside? What does that involve? TIA !!

@sarahpanda Hi. Our generator does a self test every two weeks; a specified day and time, set up by the electrician installer. What that means is, it turns itself on (to test itself) and lasts for only 5 minutes. You don't have to do a thing. I don't even notice when mine "tests" or is on. It's nice and quiet. Once it's installed, it only needs once a year general maintenance by the electrician (not a big fee either). I hope this helps.

shoesnbags · ‎03-10-2010

@Boehm Collector wrote:
@Sakuya wrote:
Also, did you buy directly from company? I see places like Menards sell them.
@Sakuya We purchased ours through a Generac Authorized Dealer. They took care of the installation and obtaining the permits. They also monitor the generator and do maintenance on it once a year. The one time we had a problem with it they made the necessary repairs.

@sarahpanda My situation is just like @Sakuya described, except that we have not had a problem with it. My Generac ran its weekly test just a little while ago and I got notifications by text and email when it turned on as well as 5 minutes later when it turned off. The second message always says that it's "ready to run" - ie. all is ok. It's connected to our natural gas line, so no propane needed.

I live in hurricane county so as others have said, this was well spent money. I have a handcapped son who would suffer terribly if the AC were not able to run. And since I was recently widowed, I appreciate that the generator comes on automatically so there's nothing I have to fiddle with. A whole house generator is a wonderful thing to have if you can afford it.

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." Jimmy Buffett

haddon9 · ‎03-09-2010

@Sugipine wrote:
I would love to have a Generac myself. My house is old, build in 1973, so they say I will need a new breaker box so it could work with my house. Houses built before 1998 are more likely to need the upgrade. That will add several thousand dollars to the cost. I cannot afford it right now.

Our house was built in 1992 and DH bought a generator a few years ago. We had to get both a plumber and electrician to do whatever needed to be done (it was his project not mine) to get it up to working properly.

So far the power has only gone out for a few minutes at a time occasionally except once over this past winter. That time we had torrential rain and the basement started to overwhelm one of the sump pumps (we have two). Well before the generator turned on we started to get water creeping in and we were removing the water via a shop vac (thank goodness we had the power from the generator then!) and dumping it into the other sump pump well.

Our neighbor behind us got a lot of water damage in their basement and had to get it renovated over the winter.

I don't know what brand we have but it will power most things in the house. However it has to be turned on manually rather than going on automatically. Those generators are more expensive. If I lived alone I would have no idea what to do!

I was nice to have the lights on and not have to worry about food in the fridge going bad.