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re: Home backup generator
Posted on 7/31/24 at 5:52 am to Shotgun Willie
Posted on 7/31/24 at 5:52 am to Shotgun Willie
In Prairieville, I've gotten 3 quotes in the last couple of months for a 24kw, about 25' of natural gas line, transfer switch, concrete pad, turn key job and the price quotes were $14,000 / $14,800 / $15,600.
Damn near all of our neighbors have and love them. I know how great they are, but I just struggle to justify that cost.
What I'm also currently looking at is buying a larger portable generator that can run on natural gas and building a little cover for it to protect it so it can stay outside in position similar to a permanent one, running a gas line, installing an interlock kit on my outside panel and 50amp/220v plug outside, plus soft start on my central AC unit all for less than $5,000. I know it won't be as great as the whole home, and there is some first world problem "inconvenience" as I'll have to go outside and flip the breakers and turn on generator instead of it automatically happening, but man it's just so much cheaper.
Damn near all of our neighbors have and love them. I know how great they are, but I just struggle to justify that cost.
What I'm also currently looking at is buying a larger portable generator that can run on natural gas and building a little cover for it to protect it so it can stay outside in position similar to a permanent one, running a gas line, installing an interlock kit on my outside panel and 50amp/220v plug outside, plus soft start on my central AC unit all for less than $5,000. I know it won't be as great as the whole home, and there is some first world problem "inconvenience" as I'll have to go outside and flip the breakers and turn on generator instead of it automatically happening, but man it's just so much cheaper.
1
Posted on 8/1/24 at 11:10 am to Shotgun Willie
$5500 for 22kw generac and transfer switch. Purchased 120’ of the generac all in one cable which was about $900. Did the electrical myself and paid a plumber $100 to come run gas to generator which was only about 10’.
Posted on 8/1/24 at 1:41 pm to Skeeterzx190
I was in Northern Tool y-day and they had a General 24kw with free transfer switch for like $6500.
Northern Tool
Northern Tool
Posted on 8/2/24 at 7:05 am to Doug_H
quote:
I know how great they are, but I just struggle to justify that cost.
Easily justified once you have one and your power is out for 20 plus days after a storm.
Posted on 8/2/24 at 3:20 pm to Bro Dad
Got my quote on Cummins 20kw today...$14.5K
Posted on 8/2/24 at 3:53 pm to Bro Dad
quote:
Easily justified once you have one and your power is out for 20 plus days after a storm.
and what was your NG bill for that? $3K
You add that up and the cost of the generator, and you could have just hooked up a small honda to your fridge and then go stay at a nice hotel and saved yourself $10-15k.
Posted on 8/2/24 at 4:01 pm to TeddyPadillac
quote:
and what was your NG bill for that? $3K
Already did the analysis on here.
Residential NG at $10 per mmbtu is still significantly cheaper than electricity at $0.15 per kWh even though the markup is 400%.
Once efficiently of generator is factored in, for NG or Diesel, it will be approximately 2x normal electricity price. Not $3k.
Posted on 8/2/24 at 4:45 pm to Dallaswho
quote:
Residential NG at $10 per mmbtu is still significantly cheaper than electricity at $0.15 per kWh even though the markup is 400%.
Once efficiently of generator is factored in, for NG or Diesel, it will be approximately 2x normal electricity price. Not $3k.
You run a 20kW generator at 60% load and you're going to be consuming close to $100/day worth of NG. I don't know what it cost you for electricity, but it sure as hell isn't $50/day for me.
You're $10/mmBTU isn't real life. It it were, my gas bill would be more than half of what it is right now considering $10/mmBTU is equal to $1/Ccf, and i consumed 12Ccf this past month. My bill should be $12 right? So why is my bill $35?
Posted on 8/2/24 at 4:58 pm to TeddyPadillac
quote:
and i consumed 12Ccf this past month. My bill should be $12 right? So why is my bill $35?
Obviously service charge which you are paying regardless.
Posted on 8/2/24 at 5:08 pm to Dallaswho
and propane is 3.25/gal here in Hammond USA. In 1995 it was 3.50
Posted on 8/2/24 at 7:25 pm to TeddyPadillac
For hurricane ida the cost to run my generac 22kw was less than $30 per day. That’s running the entire house as normal including a pool pump for 12 hours a day. $30 per day and no hassle of evacuating, traffic, eating out, and having elderly parents to deal with to me is well worth the cost. But everyone is different.
Posted on 8/2/24 at 10:04 pm to Kreweofwayne
quote:
Willie, you might to research getting a manual transfer switch installed to run part of your home with a tri-fuel generator. This will save you a lot of money compared to the whole home option.
This is what I do. Paid about $900 for the generator which I believe is either a 12 or 14kw. Then another 2k for the switch to be installed. But I have mostly gas appliances. I can run everything in my house except my central AC and the dryer. But I can run three small window units at the same time. That keeps the living room bearable. While the master bedroom and my kid’s bedroom downright chilly.
It has its cons. Wheeling it through a muddy yard on the tail end of a thunderstorm isn’t exactly the funnest thing I’ve ever done but overall I’m extremely happy with the setup.
Posted on 8/2/24 at 10:22 pm to CottonWasKing
quote:
Paid about $900 for the generator which I believe is either a 12 or 14kw. Then another 2k for the switch to be installed. But I have mostly gas appliances. I can run everything in my house except my central AC and the dryer.
A 12kW or 14kW can easily run your central air if you put a soft starter on it. I'd advise the Micro Air Flex which about $375. Makes your compressor just run smoother overall.
Posted on 8/2/24 at 11:17 pm to TeddyPadillac
quote:
You run a 20kW generator at 60% load and you're going to be consuming close to $100/day worth of NG.
Not even close. My neighbors 22kw ran for 14 days straight for Ida, stopping a few times for inspections / oil change, and said his bill was avg $21 per day more than normal.
I ran my whole house on my homemade portable for a 6 hour outage recently and our bill was $4-5 more than normal.
This post was edited on 8/9/24 at 8:08 am
Posted on 8/3/24 at 6:32 am to bapple
quote:
A 12kW or 14kW can easily run your central air if you put a soft starter on it. I'd advise the Micro Air Flex which about $375. Makes your compressor just run smoother overall.
I’ve thought about it but I have two units and the way the house is laid out I would have to install both of them with soft starts to make it worth it. We just haven’t run into a situation where we couldn’t get by with the window units.
I’m in north Louisiana so month long outages due to hurricanes aren’t really a worry. We just get the occasional ice storm and (my heating is gas so I can run that) spring thunderstorms that knock down lines for a couple a days.
Posted on 8/3/24 at 4:16 pm to TeddyPadillac
quote:
and what was your NG bill
Just got mine. 26kW ran for 8 days and cost about $200. My electrical bill for that same period would have been about $100.
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