re: Natural gas, home generators, thoughts

I would personally stay away from Generac. That is all.

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Tri fuel portable generator to power home is the way to go if you have NG furnace and water heaters. Can power central HVAC unit with 13,000W no problem. 1/4 price of generac.

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Drier pulls some wattage

The 13k tri fuels are derated with nat gas and propane

With ac start up and drier running, and other essentials you can push the little Duramax tri fuel

My neighbor recently put in a whole home generator. He put in a Generac for an 1800sq ft. house and he said it cost around $17000... He has over estimated things in the past so I took that value with a grain of salt...

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of my neighbors here in south Florida have Natural gas powered Generac's. I think you are looking at 10-15K depending on what size you get

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My house is set up with a portable 11kw generator converted to Natural gas. It's not automatic, but I can get it running in 5 minutes. Powerful enough to run central AC and fridge along with lights and typical use load. Total of about 3k with electrician getting the house wired up.

I have a 9500 watt tri-fuel. Can easily power the whole house, minus central air, oven, and dryer. I have two window units on a shelf in my garage. The generator brand new was $1200, and another $200 in electrical materials to add breakers and power inlet on my back porch where I have a natural gas quick connect. Was definitely a lot cheaper than the Generac route. I looked at getting a soft start kit for my central air and a bigger generator, but figured you're looking at twice the cost for a short term need that's only needed very rarely. Can manage with window units for a couple of days.

Also, there are very few Generac mechanics in South La, at least during Ida that was the case. I know several people that had Gerneracs go down and were in a bind. At least if you go the portable generator setup, you can get a backup generator and keep trucking. The hardest part during hurricanes is gasoline. If you get the tri-fuel, you have the best options to not have to fight crowds searching for fuel.

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Yea we are around 4k square feet and 4 a/c units totalling 10 tons and the guy said you can run everything full blast

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I have a Generac that runs the house and even the pool. There is a propane tank on the side of the house that feeds the generator. I forget the size of the tank but it’s about five feet tall. The lady that I bought the house from said the tank could keep the generator on for 30 days. The propane is on auto refill by the local company. I live on an island so I don’t have access to natural gas.

I’ve got Grasten coming out on Monday to give me a quote. Me and a buddy are going in together for stand-by generators. We’ll try and negotiate a multi-home discount. If you’re anywhere near The Woodlands, you can join us on the multi-home discount.

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I have a 9500 watt tri-fuel. Can easily power the whole house, minus central air, oven, and dryer. I have two window units on a shelf in my garage. The generator brand new was $1200, and another $200 in electrical materials to add breakers and power inlet on my back porch where I have a natural gas quick connect. Was definitely a lot cheaper than the Generac route. I looked at getting a soft start kit for my central air and a bigger generator, but figured you're looking at twice the cost for a short term need that's only needed very rarely. Can manage with window units for a couple of days.

Also, there are very few Generac mechanics in South La, at least during Ida that was the case. I know several people that had Gerneracs go down and were in a bind. At least if you go the portable generator setup, you can get a backup generator and keep trucking. The hardest part during hurricanes is gasoline. If you get the tri-fuel, you have the best options to not have to fight crowds searching for fuel.

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I have essentially the same setup. A Firman Tri-Fuel 8500W I got from Costco for $700. Had the 50A hookup installed in the back and had a plumber run a quick connect valve off of my natural gas line for the grill on my patio. Neighbor had a tree fall last night out of nowhere and cut power to our side of the street. I wheeled the generator out, fired it up and plugged it in. Runs everything but the central AC, had a window unit going in my bedroom. Ran it all night up until about an hour ago when power got restored. This is the first time I've run it for an extended period and I'm really pleased with it. Was very nice not to have to go fill the generator with gas every few hours and this was a fraction of the cost of a whole-home unit. I've heard from buddies that have them that the Generacs can leave you in a bind when you need them the most, I like the ability to just swap out the generator if I have any issues with it and keep going.

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Tri fuel portable generator to power home is the way to go if you have NG furnace and water heaters. Can power central HVAC unit with 13,000W no problem. 1/4 price of generac.

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This is my set up. Tri fuel gen with interlock. House has gas stove, dryer, heating, water heater. I don’t think it’ll support my central so I have a window unit in the back room. But I’ll be good for winter outage.

Interlock $750(thanks to H&G rec)
Firman gen $800