Friend was telling me about his 5,000 KW genset for the next power outage.

[longbow]

It's his first generator. Generac brand and he got mad when I asked him how much the substation cost him.

 

[Brandon]

5,000 kw is a tad much for a home!

 

[snapping turtle]

5,000 kw is a tad much for a home!

Depends on the home. Depends on the needs.

I think my generator is 7.5 kw on propane and 9kw on gas and it is not huge or over the top or a true sine wave. I think my neighbors is a generac and is 14 kw.

As the solar generator becomes more common and the batteries get better solar generation with a secondary propane generator and maybe even backup power banks for items in the house will become more of the standard. Run off the solar and batteries till the sun does not shine top off the batteries with the generator when needed and run freezers ect off the power banks.

 

[laf]

5,000 kw generator


Vs
5kw generator

 

[Mark-DuCo]

Maybe it's just me but I really don't understand how people justify the cost of those whole home generators. Does your power really go out that long and often?

I just have a 2000 watt inverter type generator mainly to take to my sons dirt bike races and camping. If my power goes out long enough, I will use it to power my fridge and freezer. In my 34 almost 35 year on this earth I have only ever been without power for more than 6 hours 1 time, and that was only 2 days when I was around 8 years old. We survived with some candles, a buddy heater, cards, and board games.

I just cant see justifying 20+ thousand dollars just to have creature comforts in the event of a very rare power outage.

 

[firecadet613]

Maybe it's just me but I really don't understand how people justify the cost of those whole home generators. Does your power really go out that long and often?

I just have a 2000 watt inverter type generator mainly to take to my sons dirt bike races and camping. If my power goes out long enough, I will use it to power my fridge and freezer. In my 34 almost 35 year on this earth I have only ever been without power for more than 6 hours 1 time, and that was only 2 days when I was around 8 years old. We survived with some candles, a buddy heater, cards, and board games.

I just cant see justifying 20+ thousand dollars just to have creature comforts in the event of a very rare power outage.

It's the convenience factor, if you're not home it'll kick on by itself, plus I'm sure they finance it.

I was about $14,000 (plus a propane tank) for a Generac vs $899 ($1,500 all in) for a 13kw that'll run it all, I just have to manually plug it out and flips a few breakers.

The $899 unit has served us well and ran for many days straight when needed.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Maybe it's just me but I really don't understand how people justify the cost of those whole home generators. Does your power really go out that long and often?

I just have a 2000 watt inverter type generator mainly to take to my sons dirt bike races and camping. If my power goes out long enough, I will use it to power my fridge and freezer. In my 34 almost 35 year on this earth I have only ever been without power for more than 6 hours 1 time, and that was only 2 days when I was around 8 years old. We survived with some candles, a buddy heater, cards, and board games.

I just cant see justifying 20+ thousand dollars just to have creature comforts in the event of a very rare power outage.

If it does, its worth it. I want the ability to always have power no matter what. But with our underground lines, I think our outage is less than 30 minutes per YEAR, tops.

As such I too just have a 2300 and have color coded outlets near the fridges and freezers and critical spots to keep the essentials up. Seems like a nice happy medium. when power drops I can go plug my generator into the dedicated feed, and power those extra outlets.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

I guess I'm just a tight a**, my $450 predator and extension cords will work for me.

 

[AndreusMaximus]

Maybe it's just me but I really don't understand how people justify the cost of those whole home generators. Does your power really go out that long and often?

I just have a 2000 watt inverter type generator mainly to take to my sons dirt bike races and camping. If my power goes out long enough, I will use it to power my fridge and freezer. In my 34 almost 35 year on this earth I have only ever been without power for more than 6 hours 1 time, and that was only 2 days when I was around 8 years old. We survived with some candles, a buddy heater, cards, and board games.

I just cant see justifying 20+ thousand dollars just to have creature comforts in the event of a very rare power outage.

Well, if you live somewhere the power hasn't gone out for more than six hours in the last few decades, then of course you're not going to understand shelling out the money for a generator.

But for folks who live out in the country where a bad storm can easily knock out their power for a week, and it's pretty normal for them to have months' worth of meat in the freezer because they butcher their own animals and store it, well, then the investment in a generator makes an awful lot of sense.

Edit: Sorry, somehow I misread your post and thought you were talking about generators in general. Don't ask me how, when you literally mention having a small generator yourself in the second paragraph. Anyways, never mind, I agree with you. I don't know anyone who has paid that type of money for a whole-home generator; a cheap unit with a few extension cords will handle the essentials just fine.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

Well, if you live somewhere the power hasn't gone out for more than six hours in the last few decades, then of course you're not going to understand shelling out the money for a generator.

But for folks who live out in the country where a bad storm can easily knock out their power for a week, and it's pretty normal for them to have months' worth of meat in the freezer because they butcher their own animals and store it, well, then the investment in a generator makes an awful lot of sense.

I live out in the country with lots of trees and power outages, but I guess my REC is better than most. We're almost always back on in a few hours. I also have freezers full of meat from animals I hunt and butcher myself, which is why I have my small generator to power them.

 

[Brandon]

Depends on the home. Depends on the needs.

I think my generator is 7.5 kw on propane and 9kw on gas and it is not huge or over the top or a true sine wave. I think my neighbors is a generac and is 14 kw.

As the solar generator becomes more common and the batteries get better solar generation with a secondary propane generator and maybe even backup power banks for items in the house will become more of the standard. Run off the solar and batteries till the sun does not shine top off the batteries with the generator when needed and run freezers ect off the power banks.

Correct my math if it is wrong, but thats what, 5 million watts? Thats alot of generator - for a home.

 

[eric001]

Our neighborhood seems to be at the end of a long run...often the first to lose power when a storm comes through and it also seems to be low priority--I guess no rich folks-->less important to get reconnected.
We've been out of power for 4+ days before once, and 2+ days several times since we've live here (about 30 years).

Some years we only lose power for a few hours or maybe a few different chunks of a half day to a day or so...

But the last time we were out of power before we got the whole-house generac, we were out for 2 and a portion days and we ended up with 3-6 inches of water in the basement depending on where you were at... that was the storm that my portable ate itself and I couldn't find a replacement in a timely manner.

Since then, our neighborhood was out for 2 days--we were out for maybe 5 seconds. Done with that whole mess.

Never again.

 

[armalitesheepdog]

My Harbor Freight 9000\7500 watt and a transfer switch in my breaker panel powers my whole modest 1000SF home
Total investment under $1500. Also has a battery start. No pulling it has the option to pull start
My power goes out several times a year. Once during a winter storm it was out 3 days

 

[Leadeye]

We use a 14.4 KW Generac. Power goes out, it comes on automatically. At the old house there was set up, disconnection, and pull start which the gardener did not like. When we moved I just made it easy for her.

 

[Ingomike]

I live out in the country with lots of trees and power outages, but I guess my REC is better than most. We're almost always back on in a few hours. I also have freezers full of meat from animals I hunt and butcher myself, which is why I have my small generator to power them.

For folks that travel it is huge peace of mind that when I do lose power my house is still running, my meat is safe, and neither my fanmily nor I must do a thing. On a day I was working from home, early this year, had a 6 hour outage, never missed a beat.

It is all as @firecadet613 said folks are paying for convenience. Another factor is several of us seem to at least know the basics as to how to use a generator to power our house but many folks have no idea or are possibly to old to do what you describe…

 

[dieselrealtor]

Maybe it's just me but I really don't understand how people justify the cost of those whole home generators. Does your power really go out that long and often?

I just have a 2000 watt inverter type generator mainly to take to my sons dirt bike races and camping. If my power goes out long enough, I will use it to power my fridge and freezer. In my 34 almost 35 year on this earth I have only ever been without power for more than 6 hours 1 time, and that was only 2 days when I was around 8 years old. We survived with some candles, a buddy heater, cards, and board games.

I just cant see justifying 20+ thousand dollars just to have creature comforts in the event of a very rare power outage.

In the past 15 years, we have been without power for roughly 30 to 45 days total. Several of those times was three or more days at a time. Really depends on where you live, my first office was on the same leg as a Duke Energy Office so it was the first to have power restored LOL