Generac Back-Up Power

[Remington]

Most don't. Some do. Some also have best friends who are/were HVAC guys.

My point is that they should be cirtified/factory trained To install and service. I hate that generac sells to the public to ”purchase install themselves” but will not let you talk to tech support, deal with warranty's or buy parts without being certified. The other issue is gas supply and how the gas line is hooked up. If things are calculated correctly, its amazing how many need a new meeter to properly supply the unit And in some cases new line from the street. Propane is sometimes just needs an adjustment to the regulator. Im just stating what I see and deal with on daily basis.

 

[Admin]

 

[Remington]

Livingston County was fine with it when i showed then the Generac docs. Electrical and Mechanical inspections passed without issue.

Livingston co has always been a bit Squirrley with there codes as to others 😂
The gen itself, clearances and gas line is under Mechanical.
good u had it inspected Tho.

 

[Scoop]

Livingston co has always been a bit Squirrley with there codes as to others 😂
The gen itself, clearances and gas line is under Mechanical.
good u had it inspected Tho.

Built a 24x36 two story pole barn. Installed 100A service, all lighting and electrical on both stories and LNG for the 80K BTU forced air heater. Installed my 20kW whole house (and barn) generator. Took the opportunity to run LNG to the back deck for our BBQ grill. I got to know all the inspectors in 47 very well ...

Besides ... if you don't do things right nor to code (and pass all your inspections), the insurance company won't want to pay a claim.

And the safety of your family, of course. Most important.

 

[KevP700-4]

Kohler 14K (RESA14) nat. gas here. Test choice is weekly or by-weekly. Also can test loaded or not, actually 3-4 different modes you can test. We tested weekly for a 6mo break-in period, now on the by-weekly without the house load. All's good.

Unit is 3 yr old. No oil burn through the years, on twenty minute test cycles and emergency run time of 20+hrs annually. Annual 5-30w syn oil changes with filter, as well as air filter and 2 plugs. No need for valve adjust as Kohler uses hydraulic lifters. We were told to replace the Group 51 start battery every 5 years, it's constantly trickle charged in its housing.

Really like the unit and it is serving us well in an area with allot of trees and power outages. Don't mind the testing at all!!!

Oh, the manual allowed us 24" from the house, which was ok with the inspector.

 

[HBarlow]

This conversation has been educational for me today. I've learned a lot I did not know. Thanks to all for the quick education.

For one thing, I "assumed" a so-called whole-house genset could carry the entire electrical load in the house. I am not aware of any load shedding having occurred but the Generac hasn't run much in the last two years other than weekly exercise. We had fairly frequent power outages the first year we moved here but I think Appalachian Power did a lot of tree trimming and solved the problem.

 

[X50]

I installed a 15KW Generac at our old homestead in FL around 2006 running off of a buried 500 gallon propane tank. It's still chugging along.

Over the years we lived there (sold in early 2021) it ran for extended periods a couple of times. The longest was a week after a hurricane took out the power line. We ran it 24/7 for that entire period, other than one shut down to change the oil/filter (ran synthetic in it). While we were conservative with our power usage, the AC was used all day with the thermostat around 78 during the day and 72 at night. The house has a well, so that periodically kicked on too. About the only thing we didn't use was the dryer.

I have a second 15KW unit that I'd bought at the same time that we are going to install at our WV Farm. It'll run off of natural gas as we have free NG due to a gas well being at one end of the farm. Heat is forced air/NG as is the cooktop and dryer. I've got a gas water heater to install in the next month or two, so the only heavy potential draws on the generator will be the AC, well, and the oven.

One downside to these air cooled Generacs is that the power output is dirty at very low loads. As they get loaded, the output becomes a much cleaner sinewave. The second 15KW unit was originally installed at the old homestead to power my office which was in the in-law apartment and had its own electrical service. Originally I was running multiple servers in the office; their power draw and the AC load they created kept the generator loaded so that I didn't have any problems.

Once the servers were no longer there, I discovered that the load wasn't heavy enough to keep UPSs from constantly cycling due to the dirty power- even ones that were typically generator friendly. I hooked an oscilloscope up to the generator's output and could watch the trash disappear as I plugged in everything I could find. The second generator was uninstalled and the office transfer switch was paralleled off of the house generator. I don't know if the newer models are better, but probably not.

 

[KevP700-4]

This conversation has been educational for me today. I've learned a lot I did not know. Thanks to all for the quick education.

For one thing, I "assumed" a so-called whole-house genset could carry the entire electrical load in the house. I am not aware of any load shedding having occurred but the Generac hasn't run much in the last two years other than weekly exercise. We had fairly frequent power outages the first year we moved here but I think Appalachian Power did a lot of tree trimming and solved the problem.

Your turn will come😂

 

[bjniceguy]

if you live in colder climates they offer battery and oil filter warmers to help with start up.

 

[Bow4life]

@Remington
What size generac do you need to buy to get one that's liquid cooled? I am going to have one installed for my house hopefully next summer and I would prefer liquid cooled. I work 24-48 hour shifts and I dont want to worry about it running continuously if I'm at work.

 

[KevP700-4]

Northern MI we use the carb heater on the gen. The heater kicks on when temps go below 40* and has a minimal electric draw. Keeps carb from frosting over in extreme temps, nat gas carb.

Figured the battery would be ok as we use trickle chargers on all the batteries and their performance and longevity have been very good without additional heat. The battery heater they offered was a blanket style that laid over the battery. Dealer said it wasn't needed so long as we kept up with a fresh battery about every 5 years.

Kohler also offered the oil heater (stick type). Waived on that as my tractor is 23 yrs old and never had oil heat, it's a twin cylinder Kawa engine with allot of cold weather starts (snow plowing) and no issues.

No doubt the other gen makers have them all offered, or there is aftermarket available.

Another interesting point is Kohler will sell you the unit, you can install it, but no warranty unless a Kohler Certified Tech does the start up process. and sends in the papers. That may bother a few folks. I let them do the install.

 

[Remington]

I installed a 15KW Generac at our old homestead in FL around 2006 running off of a buried 500 gallon propane tank. It's still chugging along.

Over the years we lived there (sold in early 2021) it ran for extended periods a couple of times. The longest was a week after a hurricane took out the power line. We ran it 24/7 for that entire period, other than one shut down to change the oil/filter (ran synthetic in it). While we were conservative with our power usage, the AC was used all day with the thermostat around 78 during the day and 72 at night. The house has a well, so that periodically kicked on too. About the only thing we didn't use was the dryer.

I have a second 15KW unit that I'd bought at the same time that we are going to install at our WV Farm. It'll run off of natural gas as we have free NG due to a gas well being at one end of the farm. Heat is forced air/NG as is the cooktop and dryer. I've got a gas water heater to install in the next month or two, so the only heavy potential draws on the generator will be the AC, well, and the oven.

One downside to these air cooled Generacs is that the power output is dirty at very low loads. As they get loaded, the output becomes a much cleaner sinewave. The second 15KW unit was originally installed at the old homestead to power my office which was in the in-law apartment and had its own electrical service. Originally I was running multiple servers in the office; their power draw and the AC load they created kept the generator loaded so that I didn't have any problems.

Once the servers were no longer there, I discovered that the load wasn't heavy enough to keep UPSs from constantly cycling due to the dirty power- even ones that were typically generator friendly. I hooked an oscilloscope up to the generator's output and could watch the trash disappear as I plugged in everything I could find. The second generator was uninstalled and the office transfer switch was paralleled off of the house generator. I don't know if the newer models are better, but probably not.

your one lucky guy! Lol.
did you check your gas pressure when the issues at low load happened?
Your dirty power is usually gas pressure and or what your trying to run. With everything your describing you need a liquid cooled gen. the newer air cooled won't make any difference

 

[Remington]

@Remington
What size generac do you need to buy to get one that's liquid cooled? I am going to have one installed for my house hopefully next summer and I would prefer liquid cooled. I work 24-48 hour shifts and I dont want to worry about it running continuously if I'm at work.

All depends on what your trying to run. that is, you will have to calculate the KW factor of all your appliances and that total of them all running at the same time (rare that happening lol But important) will determine what you need. But then whoever is installing it should do a gas meeter or propane regulator & tanke calculation to determine if and what meeter/regulator tank upgrade you will need.
remember the gen will be the main and first source of gas when it runs over any other gas source, furn oven, Wh etc. too small of meeter will rob them and plus the gen and will cause problems.

 

[X50]

your one lucky guy! Lol.
did you check your gas pressure when the issues at low load happened?
Your dirty power is usually gas pressure and or what your trying to run. With everything your describing you need a liquid cooled gen. the newer air cooled won't make any difference

Back then I didn't have gauges for checking gas pressures; I've since added them for working on NG install/maintenance on the farm. The propane company that installed the buried tank set up the regulators to each generator. Since I no longer had much load in the in-law apartment, it made more sense to uninstall the second 15KW generator to eliminate the additional propane usage.

Here at the farm, the electrical power demand is way lower than what it was in FL (especially trying to keep a 2700 sqft house comfortable in the oppressive FL heat). The old 15kw should do fine. If it does blow, I've got a Champion tri-fuel (gasoline/propane/NG) portable generator that can get me by in an emergency.