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Anyone installed a home generator recently? Seeing how much I can roughly do it for
Posted on 7/12/23 at 9:10 am
Posted on 7/12/23 at 9:10 am
Looking to maybe install a home generator in Baton Rouge area. How much did you spend and who did you go with?
This post was edited on 7/12/23 at 9:13 am
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Posted on 7/12/23 at 9:44 am to Bill_86
Me, my dad and my brother do installs as a side gig. You order the generator yourself, we help you with it. Then we get all other materials needed for a complete install. We install the generator, gas pipe, electrical and transfer switch. Before we leave you'll be up an running. General rule of thumb a 20kW with a 200 Amp transfer switch is going to run you about $6,000. Our install with materials starts about $3750 for a basic install. If you have a long run of gas pipe or wire and conduit it goes up from there. Also burying underground increases the price. We just did install #105 this past Saturday, all since 2021. Hope this helps.
This post was edited on 7/12/23 at 10:03 am
Posted on 7/12/23 at 1:08 pm to Bill_86
Got rid of one from my parents house recently and offered it to my neighbor. She got a quote to install the old 17kw one w/pad and transfer switch: $16K 
I'd do your own pad personally to save some $$ right off the bat.
I'd do your own pad personally to save some $$ right off the bat.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 1:21 pm to idlewatcher
We order a prefabricated concrete pad when we order the generator. It's the way to go.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 2:56 pm to tigers win2
i'm far too cheap to do this.
I understand its super nice to have it come on automatically when the power goes out, but who the hell is losing power that often to make it worth it?
I've been living in BR for 20 years now. Outside of Gustav and Isaac, i maybe have lost power a handful of times, and for a few hours at most, and i wasnt' even home for 1 of them but got the alert from Entergy on my phone.
It's quite easy to hook up my portable generator that runs almost everything in my house, including one of my AC's, and i'm about to opt to get one that can handle NG so i don't have to deal with the gas, even though my generator will run all night without needing a fill up.
I just can't fathom spending $20-30k for a backup generator.
I understand its super nice to have it come on automatically when the power goes out, but who the hell is losing power that often to make it worth it?
I've been living in BR for 20 years now. Outside of Gustav and Isaac, i maybe have lost power a handful of times, and for a few hours at most, and i wasnt' even home for 1 of them but got the alert from Entergy on my phone.
It's quite easy to hook up my portable generator that runs almost everything in my house, including one of my AC's, and i'm about to opt to get one that can handle NG so i don't have to deal with the gas, even though my generator will run all night without needing a fill up.
I just can't fathom spending $20-30k for a backup generator.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 3:01 pm to SkintBack
quote:
Me, my dad and my brother do installs as a side gig.
What area?
This post was edited on 7/12/23 at 3:02 pm
Posted on 7/12/23 at 6:48 pm to Weekend Warrior79
Baton Rouge, to New Orleans to Slidell and the North Shore.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 6:51 pm to TeddyPadillac
I install them, and I work for an electrical engineering company and I dont have one for that reason. For Ida we evacuated to Destin. Made a vacation out of it for about $2,000. I have a portable 6800w that runs on natural gas and it makes the house inhabitable and gets me out of a pinch, all I need.
I dont want my generator coming on for 2 or 3 hour outages when I'm not home.
I dont want my generator coming on for 2 or 3 hour outages when I'm not home.
Posted on 7/12/23 at 9:52 pm to TeddyPadillac
quote:
I understand its super nice to have it come on automatically when the power goes out, but who the hell is losing power that often to make it worth
I live in a neighborhood fed off a major road with overhead lines and those overhead lines have big old trees all around them. The little pop up storms we’ve gotten lately have the potential to knock out power randomly and having it fire up automatically certainly is nice.
I had a coworker tell me the money is worth it for the “price of peace” with his family. We lost power for 6 hours back in May from a random pop up storm. With a wife pumping for a newborn and storing milk, she may have had a panic attack if she had lost her stash. I didn’t even have to give it a second thought and life went on uninterrupted.
But everyone is different and plenty get by with just a small portable powering the essentials. No judgement here
EDIT: I also agree the pre-made concrete pads work well. I have mine set on one over a bunch of loose gravel and the gravel is contained by some landscaping borders. Works well.
This post was edited on 7/12/23 at 9:55 pm
Posted on 7/13/23 at 7:02 am to Bill_86
Not BR, Denham. Wanted a Kohler but the salesguy was sketchy as hell. Ended up with a Generac installed by EGS Otimize. Easy process all around with the exception of Entergy's input. I upsized a few things and ended up at $10k. What they recommended was at about $8.5k. Extremely pleased with the service.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 7:30 am to TeddyPadillac
quote:
i'm far too cheap to do this.
Same. I just opted to put in a power inlet box with interlock kit on the main panel. Turn of the breakers I can't energize (electric stove, water heater, etc.). I recently upgraded from 30A to 50A though and will eventually put a soft start kit on the AC so I can run it.
In all, it cost me about $200 without the soft start kit.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 7:41 am to bapple
quote:
I had a coworker tell me the money is worth it for the “price of peace” with his family. We lost power for 6 hours back in May from a random pop up storm. With a wife pumping for a newborn and storing milk, she may have had a panic attack if she had lost her stash. I didn’t even have to give it a second thought and life went on uninterrupted.
i get this without a doubt, but Entergy will tell you how long the power is going to be out and they are usually pretty accurate. If it's an hour, then it's no big deal. If it's 6 hours, then i go pull out the generator and hook it up.
quote:
But everyone is different and plenty get by with just a small portable powering the essentials. No judgement here
I"m not powering just the essentials. I"m powering everything i want. I don't have extension cords everywhere. It takes me less than 5 minutes to take the generator out and hooked up to the house. I bought it during Gustav and it still starts on the first crank every single time.
I'm not judging either. If you have the money, do what you want with it. I"m just stating i'm a cheap arse.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 7:44 am to TeddyPadillac
quote:
I just can't fathom spending $20-30k for a backup generator
Wife wanted to do this, I said no. Instead, I got a powerful generator and had an electrician install a 50 amp inlet box. Instead of spending $20k, I spent just over $2k. If power goes out, I pull out the generator, hook it up to the inlet box, turn off the power to the house and turn on the power for the generator, and it powers the entire house AC included. This process takes about 10 minutes total.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 7:56 am to Chimlim
quote:
Wife wanted to do this, I said no. Instead, I got a powerful generator and had an electrician install a 50 amp inlet box. Instead of spending $20k, I spent just over $2k. If power goes out, I pull out the generator, hook it up to the inlet box, turn off the power to the house and turn on the power for the generator, and it powers the entire house AC included. This process takes about 10 minutes total.
this is what i do as well.
I just don't get paying 10-20 times that so you don't have to go outside and take the generator out and plug it in, a handful of times a decade.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 8:04 am to TeddyPadillac
quote:
quote:
Wife wanted to do this, I said no. Instead, I got a powerful generator and had an electrician install a 50 amp inlet box. Instead of spending $20k, I spent just over $2k. If power goes out, I pull out the generator, hook it up to the inlet box, turn off the power to the house and turn on the power for the generator, and it powers the entire house AC included. This process takes about 10 minutes total.
this is what i do as well.
I just don't get paying 10-20 times that so you don't have to go outside and take the generator out and plug it in, a handful of times a decade.
This is what I am having done also as soon as the parts come in. My current 6250 watt generator won't run everything, but it will run most of my house. I plan on getting a storage box to put the generator in where all I have to do is start it and plug it in. The generator right now is in the garage and the interlock will be at the back of the house.
This post was edited on 7/13/23 at 8:06 am
Posted on 7/13/23 at 8:35 am to Chimlim
quote:
Wife wanted to do this, I said no. Instead, I got a powerful generator and had an electrician install a 50 amp inlet box. Instead of spending $20k, I spent just over $2k. If power goes out, I pull out the generator, hook it up to the inlet box, turn off the power to the house and turn on the power for the generator, and it powers the entire house AC included. This process takes about 10 minutes total.
I'm currently waiting on a huge trifuel portable I ordered for this same setup. Plan to run my 5ton a/c with a soft start and most of the rest of my house (excluding maybe 1 water heater). I think this is absolutely worth it vs 15k for a whole home.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 9:05 am to TeddyPadillac
quote:
I just can't fathom spending $20-30k for a backup generator.
I live about 15 miles from Vermilion Bay. Hurricanes are when I obviously worry about power outages the most. Currently when this happens, my husband will hook up the generator and tend to it.
I've told him that the day he dies, I will make 2 calls -- one to the funeral home and the other to someone to put in a home generator. If we get to the point that he just doesn't/can't fool with it anymore, then we may consider putting one in before he dies lol.
Posted on 7/13/23 at 9:18 am to bapple
quote:
The little pop up storms we’ve gotten lately have the potential to knock out power randomly and having it fire up automatically certainly is nice.
I had a coworker tell me the money is worth it for the “price of peace” with his family. We lost power for 6 hours back in May from a random pop up storm. With a wife pumping for a newborn and storing milk, she may have had a panic attack if she had lost her stash. I didn’t even have to give it a second thought and life went on uninterrupted.
This is where I am at with the peace of mind.
I'm also in a neighborhood that loses power frequently. That storm a few weeks ago had us out for 2 days.
I have a portable generator and could hook a few things up but I am not trying to ration power. I told the guy I want the entire house on in case our families have to come here. Got a Cummins 25kw
Posted on 7/13/23 at 9:47 am to Deactived
You do not need 25kW to power your house.
They size these things up assuming you're going to run all 3 your AC's on 65, your microwave is on at all times, you get another microwave to run 24/7 just for fun, your washing and drying clothes at all times, your stove is electric and your cooking down some meat you got out the freezer that you're going to simmer for 48 hours, someone is taking a hot shower using your electric water heater at all times, and your wife decides it too cold from the AC and turns on your electric heat.
I have a 6kW that runs 1 of my two 4.5ton AC and everything else in my house. that's 2 fridges, several tvs, the internet, lights, fans, microwave, etc. I have a gas water heater and gas stove. I probably couldn't run the dryer, but if i turned the AC off i could. My AC is new and is a true variable speed, but putting a soft start does the same basically.
6kW is skimping it without a doubt, which is why i'm going to be upgrading to something a bit more and to a trifuel generator, but i still won't run both AC's at the same time. The living area and kitchen of my house is on one unit, and that one stays on all day. The bedroom side of the house is on another unit and that one stays on all night. The only reason i really need more is to run the pool pump. Having a pool makes it easy to get everyone out of the house during the day and let the generator take a break.
If you're spending $20-30K on a backup system, i'm sure you dont' care about the gas bill you get when it comes on for prolonged periods, but i've heard horror stories of peoples bill when they were without power for a week or two. I was without power for 4 days for Isaac. I had 27 gallons of gas and i used almost all of it over those 4 days.
As you can see, i'm a cheap arse. Sure it would be nice to have the entire house come back on automatically, and never worry about that, but i'm about as close to that as you can get while paying so much less. But hey, I'm not telling anyone how to spend their money. If you got it, do what you want with it. I'm just letting other cheap arse's like myself know that it's really not that expensive or difficult to get most of your house running on a portable unit. and i without a doubt get it for older people wanting that peace of mind. I'm still young enough that it's not a big deal for me to roll the generator out of the shed and hook it up real quick.
They size these things up assuming you're going to run all 3 your AC's on 65, your microwave is on at all times, you get another microwave to run 24/7 just for fun, your washing and drying clothes at all times, your stove is electric and your cooking down some meat you got out the freezer that you're going to simmer for 48 hours, someone is taking a hot shower using your electric water heater at all times, and your wife decides it too cold from the AC and turns on your electric heat.
I have a 6kW that runs 1 of my two 4.5ton AC and everything else in my house. that's 2 fridges, several tvs, the internet, lights, fans, microwave, etc. I have a gas water heater and gas stove. I probably couldn't run the dryer, but if i turned the AC off i could. My AC is new and is a true variable speed, but putting a soft start does the same basically.
6kW is skimping it without a doubt, which is why i'm going to be upgrading to something a bit more and to a trifuel generator, but i still won't run both AC's at the same time. The living area and kitchen of my house is on one unit, and that one stays on all day. The bedroom side of the house is on another unit and that one stays on all night. The only reason i really need more is to run the pool pump. Having a pool makes it easy to get everyone out of the house during the day and let the generator take a break.
If you're spending $20-30K on a backup system, i'm sure you dont' care about the gas bill you get when it comes on for prolonged periods, but i've heard horror stories of peoples bill when they were without power for a week or two. I was without power for 4 days for Isaac. I had 27 gallons of gas and i used almost all of it over those 4 days.
As you can see, i'm a cheap arse. Sure it would be nice to have the entire house come back on automatically, and never worry about that, but i'm about as close to that as you can get while paying so much less. But hey, I'm not telling anyone how to spend their money. If you got it, do what you want with it. I'm just letting other cheap arse's like myself know that it's really not that expensive or difficult to get most of your house running on a portable unit. and i without a doubt get it for older people wanting that peace of mind. I'm still young enough that it's not a big deal for me to roll the generator out of the shed and hook it up real quick.
This post was edited on 7/13/23 at 9:49 am
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