Portable Generators & Furnace/Heatpump

[Flopsweat]

You probably don't want lead acid batteries inside the house. Prefer lithium ion if the charger will work with them, AGM if not?

I got a 1500 VA UPS that will run my router and antenna for about 10 hours, and the whole office setup for about an hour. Then there is the laptop which run about 5-10 hours depending on what I am doing.

I now have three LP 20# tanks. The genset is supposed to run 10-12 hours on each at 50% load. If I don't need to be doing consulting/contract work, and I have firewood, I can get by with running the genset for about 4 hours a day at 50% load - 2 in the morning, 2 before it gets dark charging everything and running the fridge, maybe an hour or two every other day for the freezer.

Went into town today, saw a LOT of trees and limbs down going down the mountain.

Listened to a guy on the radio who does consulting work for power outages and repairs and so on. He said two things; 1) we need to do a better job of dealing with trees. 2) We need to put lines underground whenever possible (when opening up the ground/roads for repair/etc.) - he said the main cost for underground was when the ground is dug up.

Thanks. I don't want lead-acid batteries in the house. I'm pretty sure I can run AGM. If you discharge them a lot it's better to have a modern charger specifically made for them, but I don't expect them to average more than one or two cycles per year, so I can probably fake it. If not, it's still way less for a new charger than a good generator. I'm still in the planning stages so who knows, I may just get a propane genny and replace the UPS batteries with stock ones. We'll see when all of the math is done.

 

[made in china]

Does your home have natural gas?

Our home has NG furnace, cooktop and water heater.

If our power goes out, entire house can run like normal on less than 5kW. Just can't use the oven or electric dryer.

Another thing to be aware of when buying gas appliances (LP or NG) try and buy those that can run without AC power. A modern trend these days are water heaters and gas fireplaces that must have 120VAC to run. We always buy those gas appliances that can run without AC power. Our brand new fireplace is a "millivolt" style and our new water heater is a self-venting type (we have one in a basement, most have a vent fan and AC powered controls).

So, even no generator on our house, we can run a fireplace and have hot water.

 

[Midasknight]

Thanks again all learned allot. Talking to my rep who's selling the furnace/heatpump and will update on what I chose.

 

[BBQ Guy]

Thanks again all learned allot. Talking to my rep who's selling the furnace/heatpump and will update on what I chose.

I am interested to hear about the decision as well.

 

[Alexx1401]

Does your home have natural gas?

Our home has NG furnace, cooktop and water heater.

If our power goes out, entire house can run like normal on less than 5kW. Just can't use the oven or electric dryer.

Another thing to be aware of when buying gas appliances (LP or NG) try and buy those that can run without AC power. A modern trend these days are water heaters and gas fireplaces that must have 120VAC to run. We always buy those gas appliances that can run without AC power. Our brand new fireplace is a "millivolt" style and our new water heater is a self-venting type (we have one in a basement, most have a vent fan and AC powered controls).

So, even no generator on our house, we can run a fireplace and have hot water.

That was one of the BIG selling points to me on the home we have now, gas. Wish the stove was but at least the hot water is. Just had the tank replaced. Had no idea some of them use power now. Thankfully the new one is like the old, no power needed. Have a gas fireplace to that needs no power. In winter the damn dogs love it. When its cold I turn in on and they live in front of it.
The best part though is the water. It's nice to know that even if the power goes out I can still take a nice hot shower when I come home from work. One of life's luxuries I would REALLY miss.

 

[Flopsweat]

That was one of the BIG selling points to me on the home we have now, gas. Wish the stove was but at least the hot water is. Just had the tank replaced. Had no idea some of them use power now. Thankfully the new one is like the old, no power needed. Have a gas fireplace to that needs no power. In winter the damn dogs love it. When its cold I turn in on and they live in front of it.
The best part though is the water. It's nice to know that even if the power goes out I can still take a nice hot shower when I come home from work. One of life's luxuries I would REALLY miss.

Ah, flashlight showers. Takes me back. I had to heat water on the fireplace but at least I had some kind of hot water.

 

[Alexx1401]

Ah, flashlight showers. Takes me back. I had to heat water on the fireplace but at least I had some kind of hot water.

LOL, have done a few of those when camping. "Shower" was water heated in a 5 gal bucket, then dip and poor to get clean. Was not fun when young and sure as hell would not be any more fun now. When I am tired and sore nothing feels as good as a nice long, HOT, shower. At least now if the power is out I can still enjoy that.

 

[Flopsweat]

LOL, have done a few of those when camping. "Shower" was water heated in a 5 gal bucket, then dip and poor to get clean. Was not fun when young and sure as hell would not be any more fun now. When I am tired and sore nothing feels as good as a nice long, HOT, shower. At least now if the power is out I can still enjoy that.

Well imagine your third day without power, an unheated, dim bathroom, a flashlight and a bucket of hot water. Not my favorite camp shower story. And no, I don't mean band camp.

 

[Midasknight]

Friday the new furnace and heatpump will be installed. Told the Rep I want a transfer switch installed. My thinking is "it's there if I want to buy the right type of generator" but I still have the option on just getting a smaller generator and run lines into the home. If I choose that I'll get those ceramic heating space heaters. Plus, if I sell the home with the switch there and installed that might be a plus for the next owner.

 

[eb in oregon]

You don't need to hire an electrician or do anything fancy to run a generator. All you need do is wire a connecting cable for 220/240 volts, disconnect the main breaker from the power grid, plug the cord into a dryer or similar 220/240 outlet, fire up the generator and power your house. For portable generators there are no special regulations (that I know of) to add wiring or outlets to your house. That is only necessary for a permanent installation.

We have powered our home with a generator during power outages for over 35 years. First we had a Craftsman 4Kw generator for a long time. I got tired of starting it as it was recoil start and easy to bust some knuckles. I gave it to my brother and we got a Dewalt 8Kw with electric start. We have used it twice this year alone. The outlet is outside on our concrete patio. It was once a plug intended to run a Craftsman Arc Welder. All you need is a 220/240 outlet and the generator. It is critical to remember to disconnect the main circuit breaker. You could fry some poor guy down the line trying to restore power. And you may have to throw some circuit breakers off for devices that take lots of power. That's one of the reasons we bought an 8Kw, it'll pretty much run the whole house.

 

[made in china]

You don't need to hire an electrician or do anything fancy to run a generator. All you need do is wire a connecting cable for 220/240 volts, disconnect the main breaker from the power grid, plug the cord into a dryer or similar 220/240 outlet, fire up the generator and power your house.

We do this at work sometimes (I work in an electrical industry) and it is shunned by our safety department.

We call that kind of power cord a "suicide cord".

 

[Alexx1401]

We do this at work sometimes (I work in an electrical industry) and it is shunned by our safety department.

We call that kind of power cord a "suicide cord".

The last Gen I bought had a LARGE warning about the "suicide cord" stuck to the front of it and on the first page of the manual which I got a good chuckle over. I had seen these made for a long time and when you see one it's easy to see where they got that nickname. Thankfully we seldom need the gen. If I needed it more often I would pay to have a transfer switch. The thought of pulling the dryer out to get at the plug not to mention the "suicide cord" does not tempt me. Be afraid someone in the family other than me would try to use it some time and light themselves up