re: Stand-by Generator for home. Worth it?

quote:

---

Bought one after Ida in 2021.

Have not had Hurricane since.

---

go buy another one so we don't get any this year.

quote:

---

Can you give me pros and cons of powerwalls vs generator?

---

Absolutely.

The real question on storage vs generator is do you have the solar access to generate enough power to run the house off-grid. At the ranch i do and run a 40kW ground mount with 4 Powerwall 2s. In Houston i have shitty solar access so i run the generator with the battery. The battery in Houston is overkill honestly and i only did it because i got it for free. The VPP revenue is nice and i get about $100 a month bill credit for it but it wouldn't be a great ROI if i had to pay full price for it. If you can put a enough solar on top of the battery to run the house then you're in good shape though and thats an ideal setup.

I think that they are very expensive for what you get, but the value of domestic tranquility is truly the deciding consideration.

Just learn how to use them if an extended outage happens.

You cannot run most of them 24/7 without tending to their maintenance and letting them cool at times.

quote:

---

Most neighborhoods don’t run large enough gas lines for the whole neighborhood to lose power and run all the generators at once.

---

This is true, and the reason we don’t have one. All our neighbors have them and when we lost power after an ice storm, no one could use their gas log or cook on their gas stove. No hot water or gas cookery after Ida for that reason as well.

We run several portables and window units, and deal with it.