Which would be better, portable generator with transfer switch or whole house backup generator?

Portable as price is cheaper and you can buy a backup and upgrade/take it with you if needed.

how much wood have you got?

After I cut the broken branches and season them, probably over a cord of firewood.

I can also probably get scrap wood from my old woodworking job which will easily add up to over a cord of dried wood.

If you already have a 7k, I'd go whole house... Rather, I WILL be in the new house. Automatic transfer, and the portable will be for the shop.

Dual-Fuel would be good, depending on which was available.
Gas storage might be a problem, I was wishing I had another 50 Gal. of WATER--I can't imagine how much gas I would have needed.
How much did you end up burning?

What's your fuel source gonna be ?

You ain't gonna be able to count on the utility company's natural gas.

You're gonna hafta to have your own supply and storage for it.

I've been wondering myself about a generator and been thinking solar.

My aim,though,is only to keep 2 refrigerators and fans going.

I was thinking about using a propane grill for cooking and staying stocked up tanks for that.

The FLA heat in a power outage is what I fear.

portable with transfer :)

portable nukular reactor
made in chyna of course

The portable will give you more flexibility.

Dual fuel sounds good, but motors sometimes don't like to run on gasoline after they have had a steady diet of propane.
I was in charge of testing and getting maintenance for generators in remote locations.
They used onan and Koehler fueled by diesel or propane. These were stationary units.

I heard Propane prices were out of sight.

About an 1/8 of a cord for 5 days. Kept inside around 60-65 degrees when outside was in the 10-20s.

$2600 seems awfully cheap for what you're getting on the portable side. As they say, you get what you pay for. I have a 5000 watt Honda inverter generator, portable. The genny alone cost $2-3k from a farm supplier. Then I installed a receptacle connected to a 50 amp breaker in the electrical panel. I connect the generator to the receptacle with an appropriately sized cord for the amperage(can't remember the gauge off the top of my head). Then I turn off the the main breaker, this keeps the power from back-feeding out through the meter into the overhead lines. It won't run my whole house like normal, but it will easily run a few lights, modems, routers, chargers, fridge, deep freeze, gas furnace(as long as the gas is still flowing). It won't run my air conditioners. Honda sells a cord that would let me connect two generators together, so if I really wanted to I could get another 5000 or 7000 watt generator to be able to run more stuff. Even the price for the natural gas whole house setup seems very cheap. What size propane tank are they giving you for that price? Have you done the math, based on the specs of the whole house generator, to estimate how long whatever sized tank they're selling you, will run the whole house generator for at 80% duty?

I have 5x20lb propane tanks and 5x5gallon gas cans. I also have a 320 gallon propane tank for the whole house I wonder if I can hook up to the portable generator. I will have to ask the propane guy when he does a refill.

Heat will be wood from my wood burning stove. I have a 15000btu window a/c for the living room that I can run on a generator during summer power outages if it happens because 100+ degree Texas heat is pretty dangerous if there is no a/c or circulation for air.

I use to install solar. During the winter storm, the solar was useless because snow covered the panels. My neighbors that had solar all went without power, even battery backups because they ran out and cannot recharge from the panels. I just hear the neighbors using portable generators for power like me.

Whole house LP generator with 1000 gal propaniac tank out back. Should get you about 30-40 days.

So I should add, I don't have a transfer switch, I just make sure there isn't too much stuff plugged in, in the house, garage, etc before firing up the generator. Sometimes I might turn off circuit breakers rather than unplug stuff. My power doesn't go out often but when it does I've got something to keep me going. If gasoline runs out, and I'm not stocked up, I'm screwed.

Diesel and a 350 gallon tank

The lady that did the quote didn’t mention anything to my wife since I was at work when she came over to look at the breakers to see what is needed. I think she over estimated. They were planning to tap into my 320gallon tank for the propane for the whole house generator. I don’t know how long it’ll last with a generac 22k system. I really just need the deep well pump running and the refrigerator. I have a 80gallon bladder tank for the well water. Shouldn’t need more than 3 hours a day for that. I have a 55watt solar panel and inverter to charge electronics if necessary. If things get desperate I have a 20000 gallon pool in the back I can filter with my Berkey water filter.

The portable is a champion dual fuel and a 9000watt transfer switch. I’ll have over 22gallons of propane from my 20lb tanks and 25 gallons of gas if I fill up my gas cans. My current 7000 watt generator said 10.5hrs at half load for 6.25gallons.

Last Edited by iamwayne on 02/21/2021 01:57 AM

Don't use diesel, get propane. Keep the tank shut in, propane lasts almost forever.

OTHER SUGGESTION!

First of all, remember that is just temporary, a few hours, or a few days, at max. If you not rich, you cannot afford to make a parallel AC network in your house, at a switch of your button, and it's not efficient, even in the theoretical concept! This kind of stuff it's justified at hospitals, nukular sites, where is a matter of life and death.


I'm using for emergencies a Loncin LC3500i (best chinese Honda clone for a real 3,000W power genny on gasoline)


In the following setup:
- When I need the well pump, it's just for a few minutes, and will draw around 2,000W, because my well is a 300ft depth well, and it needs some power. I will use the system presostate, but I will power individually when there is not anymore water in our reservoir.

I have a parallel system of lightning in the entire house, just on LED bulbs, which it's just for seeing when moving around, not too fancy.

When the hot water form the water heater boiler is not hot anymore, just bit warm, I will power it to the genny for 2-3 hours depending on the level of warmness of water still in the reservoir and according with heater thermostate.

So, I have some small power all the time for lighting (as I pass through house I will keep on, just in the room I reside at that moment), I can pump water from the well, I can heat water around 100 liters, I can charge my mobile phones, my laptops and my Internet modem. Of course, I need to decide and switch manually between the well pump and the boiler as heavy drains on genny, but on another outlet I keep an extension cord where I have all the small power electronics and as well a plug which will go to the wired LED lightning system in the house.

And I'm as well looked as "the man" becase only me I know how to switch those heavy consumers, and it pays for the hassle, and if it's not just only for few hours or few days, it's bearable.

Mind you, I can use the genny as it's very quiet and has a function of economy for gasoline when it doesn't require much of the power output> Probable in US, a genny like that will cost around 1,500 to 2,000 USD, gasoline is cheap and such it will force you to make some reserve, both for car and for the genny (another good aspect, and it not need to store for years, because it will need stabilizers otherwise, because if not used the stored for genny, after a time you fuel your car, and replenish the reserves with fresh one) and it's very safe for the electronics (as it has pure syn inverter) and consuming less than it's complete tank for a half day of intense usage, and less than a full tank when moderately used.

As I said for emergencies it's just very quiet, economic, not much hassle and cover for all the important energy needs at a small home, and could also supply some power tools, that are not exceeding 2,000 - 3,000W (like large circular saws, etc) or stick welding and such hungry for power tools.

Plus diesel gels up...even now in Texas I guess.

When thinking for a transfer switch, in your mind you equate a normal power consumption, while you are in emergency. You have to consider that the power produced through generators, it's much more costly than the network one, both in investment(down-payment for buying the genny and installation and licensing in some states!) and the cost for kilowatt, because it's produces in small quantity just for you and not for a city or a county!

So don't make that mistake of thinking if you are not rich! If you were, you would already had consultants and companies would have solved that problem for you!

You need to make your own fuel (bio ) and capture power to be truly self sufficient.

If you are getting a fixed install, get a used industrial diesel generator, they are usually self contained on a skid and are portable.

The reason, the home generators are fine for short outages but won't work well for long 24/7/365 power. The used industrial diesel generator can be run 24/7/365.

I just lost power for 4 days because of the ice storm.

About 3000 homes, near me, are still without power after a week.

I live in a very rural area.

I have a water well.

I have a 100kw generator. Cummins 6bt diesel engine. Just like the ones in older Dodge trucks. It has a 300 gallon fuel tank, that I keep filled. It is mounted on a trailer.

I have a 40kw PTO powered generator. It requires a 50hp or larger tractor to run it.

I have an 8000 watt portable gasoline fired generator.

I also have a 3500 watt propane generator.

I prepped for the storm by wrapping all my outdoor faucets with pipe insulation. Doubled and duct taped.

I also gathered up several gallons of water, in various containers.

I did not foresee a power outage lasting as long as it did, so I did not think I would need the larger generators. They required some initial prep, or in the case of the PTO gen, cranking my diesel tractor, hooking to the gen, situating it near the main breaker panel, etc.

I was relying on the 8000 watt gasoline generator to get me through a short loss of power. It had served me well during several hurricane and tornado related outages.

THAT WAS A MISTAKE!

I was concerned about gelling diesel, so I pre-positioned the 8k gasoline gen near the main breaker panel, under cover, before the ice storm.

I have 2 chest freezers inside my home, and 3 chest freezers outside, under cover. I also have 1 refrigerator inside, and 2 outside.

YES, I AM A PREPPER!

I knew the outdoor freezers would do just fine during the cold temps, so I wasn't too concerned about generating power.

My biggest concern was my water well. But, it has a 60 gallon tank, pressured at 60 psi. That should last at least 2 days, without power. I also have heat tape wrapped around the tank. Works great to keep the tank from freezing, WHEN THE POWER IS ON.

Before the storm, I shut off, and drained the water pipes supplying my workshop. No worries there.

I turned the outside faucets on, 4 of them, to a rapid drip, to keep them from freezing.

24 hours after the storm, I was losing water pressure, due to the dripping faucets.

I went out to the 8000 generator and attempted to crank it. The choke appeared to be frozen. Odd, because the generator was under a shed roof, and not wet.

Even though I had serviced this gasoline generator last summer, and ran it for an hour, the damn thing would not crank. The pull rope broke after about 10 pulls, so I had to go to my shop and get a car battery. The gen has electric start.

Getting a battery was not an easy task because the door to the shop was frozen shut, and the ground was slicker than owl shit!

Even with a hot battery, that generator absolutely would not crank, and it was way too cold for me to take it apart and troubleshoot what was wrong with it. I believe it was not getting any fuel.

Now, I was in a predicament. I feared the diesel would gel, ruling out the use of my tractor powered gen, and the big Cummins. And, they would both take some moving around, not very easy on ground covered with a sheet of ice.

I am used to using my generators after hurricanes, been through several, but this cold weather operation was a completely new experience.

Looking back, I realize that I did not prep properly. I was lazy, and didn't anticipate the power being so severely affected by ice, so deep here in the SOUTH. I should have set up one of the big gens, and wired it into the breaker panel, before the storm hit.

I still had the 3500 watt gen to fall back on, though. The only problem was, and this was a BIG problem, this generator only puts out 120 volts. My well pump is 3/4 hp, 240 volts. I could not run it with this gen.

SO, I decided to drain the well tank, to keep it from freezing.

48 hours after power failure, and with temps rising to just around freezing, I brought out the 3500 watt generator. I have owned this generator for 8 years. It is a cheap no-name brand, that I bought from Tractor Supply. I bought it strictly because it ran on propane, and it was CHEAP!

This generator is completely reliable!!! NO gasoline to get old, when not in use. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!.

I was able to run all the freezers and refrigerators on the 3500 watt generator. I just staggered plugging them up, to avoid all of them drawing starting current at once. Four hours of generator power, per day, kept them all cold.

Yesterday, 5 days after the storm, I powered up the water well. Everything was ok, except one broken pipe at an outdoor faucet. Took me about 10 minutes to repair it.

Some useful bits of info you all might not think about:

I use Coast EAL20 LED lanterns for lighting during power failures. They put out ample light, and the 4 D batteries last for a very long time. I recommend Coast flashlights because they are well made, for the price.

I used a small inverter, 400 watts, powered by a car battery. I charged my laptop, cell phone, and tablet with it. More importantly, I plugged my wireless router into it, and maintained my internet service, throughout the power outage. After 4 days, it was still going strong!

I used a Mr. Heater MH18CH propane heater for heat, as well as a couple of those little Buddy heaters. I know they are not considered safe for indoor use. BUT, THEY WORK, if you are not a MORAN!

The little heaters used 3 bottles a day, EACH! The MH18CH uses a 5 gallon tank, and is much more economical to operate.

I would recommend a medium sized, portable, PROPANE fueled generator, electric and manual start, if I had to choose only one. Make sure it supplies 120/240 volts. At least 8000 watts. Keep in mind though, a generator of that size is hardly "portable"! You are not going to just pick it up and throw it in the back of your truck, even if you have help. You can roll it around, but even that is not easy, on dirt!

I know this is a LONG post, but I thought you all might benefit from some firsthand experience.

You're also screwed if someone leaves a running push mower and steals your generator in the middle of the night.

A whole house unit is a lot more theft resistant.

My 6500W run, 9300W surge Honeywell/Generac generator has always got me through the several day to over a week power outage. No use of electric stove, dryer, washing machine and other high current draws. The oil furnace and shallow well 115VAC water pump are the big loads and there isn't any problem.

Paint it in another color then white.

I have used 3 cords this year...