frankj1 wrote:up to about 6 inches of snow on our way to an expected 20...all falling on the left over 5 inches still on the ground around here.
Big winds, strong possibility of power loss for the third time in March.
Danm, started reading about natural gas whole house generators the other day, scratched the surface is all, but it appears to be limited to 3 brands...Generac, Kohler, and Briggs & Stratton.
Gonna do a lot more research cuz I really don't plan to spend an evening with a one-call closer in my house for a few hours.
Have a friend who put in a Generac when he rehabbed a beautiful home on Cape Cod several years ago, said it cost a little over 10K when all was said and done including electrician. His home is larger than mine, but it has been a few years. Might have to get somewhat less than "whole" house option.
Should be an education this Spring.
Frank I have a Generac at my house. It was installed by the previous owner. I think it was about 5k for the unit and final bill 7k after installation.
I can say that I do love having it. Mine runs the water pump/sump pumps, air, furnace, bathrooms, kitchen, and 2 main living spaces. It is maxed out but the bedrooms and outside lighting are the items he left off which isn't a big deal.
The pm items come in a kit and is easy to do yourself. I let it run 10 mins each week set on a timer. The only problem that I have is if its really cold at times it won't kick over on the startup so I have to go out and manually cycle it on. The problem becomes compounded as the tank empties. So a full tank (80%) will almost always kick on, as it drops near 60% anything in the low teens gives it grief. Around 45% any freezing temp gives it grief. The fix is switch it off auto into manual and letting it try to fire itself for a few minutes. It's always kicked on eventually. After figuring out the drop in pressure causes the difficulty starting I will just have them come out and fill when I get close to 50. I think my tank is 250 gallons and early this winter was my first fill in 5 years of owning the house but we've only lost power once.