Son finally got his power back on

RayP(MI) · Dec 25, 2013

He lives near Nashville, MI and was right in the middle of that ice storm last weekend. Power went off 3am Sunday, got it back on today about 10am. That"s a real Christmas gift. Took my generator down to him Sunday, and he"s been running it on and off since then. Three hours on, and then about the same off, except at night when he went to work. Was able to run furnace and refrigeration. Water took 220v, and I wasn"t able to rig up a connector for that. Would have taken a pretty long (expensive) extension cord. Going to look into how he can do a better job next time, but for now he"s out of the woods.

As you all enjoy your Christmas, think for a moment about all those who are still out and the line crews who have given up their holiday to try to restore power. Crews came from out of state, some from as far away as Kansas. Still a lot of folks out of power, some may not be restored until the weekend. One nasty storm. Generator paid for itself all over again. Don"t use it often, but has saved my bacon on several occasions. Couldn"t afford it when I got it. Now I consider it priceless. Best $350 I"ve invested in a long time!
Replacement today would cost more "n twice that.

Merry Christmas all. Remember the reason for the season!

massey333 · Dec 25, 2013

I don't know for what size gen.you may have,but you have two inexpensive choices.1 Most all elec.box mfg.make a Double Throw Branch box and you just move what Emergence power needs you have to that box and run one power cord(Generator)to outside.Any good Electricion or supply house will know what you want.$100-$150 2.Not as convenient,but make up a power box with 110- 220 plugs in it and have your needs on plugs you can unplug and plug into the box.B&D will kill me on this one,but the power box can also be used for other needs.These boxes can also be purchesed all ready made up. Number 1 is the best and quickest way.

Scott 730 · Dec 25, 2013

www.interlockkit.com

www.geninterlock.com

www.natramelec.com

There are many choices for interlock kits without having an unsafe system designed by Bubba.

730 virgil · Dec 25, 2013

about this time last year M-I-L bought mrs 730 and I a generator.
we had not had to use it for long period time YET,but i think that day is coming. we have 2 neighbors north of us that are last 2 on line so when electric goes off we are out for several hours.

Bspauld · Dec 25, 2013

I'm about 8 miles from Nashville, glad hes got his back, Its going to be a while before they get ours back. Still lots of lines down, the tree removal company is working to get the trees off the lines. A cold water sponge bath sucks, and washing my hair with cold water sucks worse, but Im warm in the house and have running water, so it could be a lot worse

Spook · Dec 25, 2013

I still don't power here, but I have a dedecated generator to run things. I ran the place for years with a 6500 watt coleman generator, but after 10 years or so, it crapped out. Fortunately, the power came on later that day. I didn't need it for a couple of years, but the last couple of years, we have needed it a lot! I am in Livingston county, and they are telling us saturday....

RayP(MI) · Dec 25, 2013

Son is on Tri County Coop electric. Am going to guess you're on Consumers? TC appears to have a small foothold there, especially compared to Consumers. TC is fairly big just north of us, has an office/yard/shop in Blanchard - 6 miles from us. So probably fairly easy for TC to mend their system down there, compared with the many outages in the bigger companies have.

pete black · Dec 25, 2013

when I built our home last year I had a separate box installed with four circuits that fed from a twist lock plug. 1-refrigerator, 1-microwave, 1-den, 1-bedroom. gives me tv and small heater plus cooking. completely separate from utilities. have not had to explain it to a lineman yet.

RayP(MI) · Dec 25, 2013

Due to the way his place is wired, a transfer box, especially dedicated lines would be a very nasty job. He got by with a couple extension cords. Wired a plug on furnace - just pull plug out of outlet, plug into cord from generator(freezer, refrig also). Not quite bubba, but got it done.

rrlund · Dec 25, 2013

So you got your generator back as a Christmas gift? lol

I bought a smallish PTO driven one on an auction out east of McBride 20 years or so ago. When I just run the house on it,I can run it with the Oliver 66. It'll run the 220v pump,electric water heater,furnace and all. Michael might want to keep his eyes open for a small one like that. He took the B down there didn't he?

Hay hay hay · Dec 25, 2013

I use a very simple and inexpensive system.

6000 watt generator.

Propane kitchen range(light with matches) handles cooking and heating water for washing.

Generator and 3 extension cords handle (PLUG-IN )lights, tv, computers, freezer, in one or 2 rooms, and propane furnace blower & igniter.

A Simple switch installed by my electrician disconnects the furnace from the house power system and switches it to a 110v plug on the side. 3rd extension cord runs the propane furnace blower off the generator.

Water comes from the community system by gravity.

Heat, lights, food and water.

Nothing hooked to the power grid.

We survive until the gasoline supply runs out because the roads are all iced closed or blocked by downed trees....or the power comes back on.

NoNewParts · Dec 25, 2013

Like to add my thanks to the crews coming in from all over to help with the ice damage.
My power was only out 10 hours, but my sons was out for a few days (trees took out his transformer)
I took him my generator and some propane heaters and he got by ok. When the power crew knocked on his door to tell him it was back on, they were from Boston. (we are in the furthest western NY corner)
said they came out to try to get stuff on for Christmas.
Me, my son, and grandson appreciate it. Thanks

RayP(MI) · Dec 25, 2013

Not yet RR - I still got it. Had some difficulty rounding up truck and trailer during harvest season.
(Uncle Ivan has dad's old grain truck, but needs repairs before it's roadworthy.) He has my genset for now.

Fortunately, I have a backup a buddy picked up at a garage sale a couple years back, decided he couldn't start it due to his health, so I got it for what he paid for it. Either one will power what we need as long as we don't try to do it all at once. One's 4000 watts, the other 5000 watts.

jm. · Dec 25, 2013

At 65 years old built a new house 5 years ago, installed a permanent generator and after 5 years can say it is one of the best investments I have ever made. Everbody wants to trash Generac but this 20 kw unit has powered us thru several two and three day outages . Have it wired in and soon as the power goes off it kicks on. Runs from our propane tank so always has fuel.

buickanddeere · Dec 25, 2013

X2

Thank you Scott

The legal transfer mechanism that powers up the entire
service is superior.

Texasmark1 · Dec 25, 2013

Now that answered my main question and that was fuel. Propane for fuel is perfect as you don't have any worries about stale fuel and gum and deposits and water and all that "stuff". Course you knew that. Grin.

Great installation and looks real professional. Don't need them often, but when you do sure nice to have. I like the idea of the auto kick in too.

Mark

massey333 · Dec 25, 2013

Scott730 gave you some info leads,i used Cutler-Hammer boxes for the two I did(Rental Houses).There is no Dedicated lines needed tobe put in.You just remove the fuses(breakers)from your main box that feed X-Y-Z needs and put them in the new double throw branch box which is then fed by a new lead(60-100A)from the main box.Then a second lead to your Generator and then all is needed to work is throw the switch to which ever source is needed.It will only allow you to feed from one source.A electrician can have it installed in less then 2-3 Hrs.I have 6 200-200 Amp.on the main feeds for all my others.Do it right once and never worry about it again.

jm. · Dec 25, 2013

Mark Actually the photo does not show the regulator. I ran the line over and installed the riser but hired the gas guy to set the regulator and plum in the unit. If you look close the house in the basement has TWO two hundred amp boxes. The generator only picks up one which we call essential services. Has all the circuits like kitchen, well, utility room and lights. We really only give up the central heat/air and some minor stuff. Really is a neat set up and so far I am satisfied. Have a thousand gal propane tank for the vent-less fire place so always have fuel and as you say no worry about bad gas or frozen fuel. Kicks on automatically in about 12 seconds and when power returns has a 10 minute cool down no load cycle before it shuts off.

MarkB_MI · Dec 26, 2013

We lost power here in NE Oakland County on Sunday morning. I got the Honda fired up and it ran constantly until power was restored Monday afternoon. Stepson down the road has a propane-powered Generac standby generator, which crapped out Monday morning. Tuesday I drug our Honda over to his house and we wired it up in place of the dead Generac, and it's still running two days later. Unfortunately, because it's going through the goofy Generac transfer switch, only about half the house has power. Also, his electric hot water heater is on interruptible service, so it has service completely separate from the house meter, meaning no hot water.

Conclusions:

1. Given a choice between a permanent Generac installation and a portable Honda, go with the Honda. The Honda will of course cost just as much as the Generac and be much less convenient, but the Honda will WORK when you need it. And you can use it to help out your neighbors when their Generacs bite the dust.

2. Follow B&D's repetitious advice to use a transfer switch that switches the whole house service, not one that switches just a few circuits.

3. If you're on propane, replace your electric water heater with an LP gas unit.

36 Coupe · Dec 26, 2013

Simple way to do it.Drives the experts nuts but it works.

Bspauld · Dec 26, 2013

I do have consumers and they are working non stop, but so many trees down on power lines that they arent making a lot of headway. They went thru a couple of years ago and trimmed trees or cut them down near the lines, but it didnt help here.

jm. · Dec 26, 2013

Mark Interesting.. What happened to the Generac engine failure, and how many hours, I need to know what to be looking for. So far my unit has 140 hrs working fine. How old was his unit and what engine?

MarkB_MI · Dec 26, 2013

I can't say how old it is exactly, as it was installed by the previous owner. I'm guessing it's no more than 10 years old, maybe a few hundred hours of running time. Nor am I sure exactly which engine it has, but it's not a engine problem. It starts and runs, but won't produce any power and shuts itself down after about 10-15 seconds of running.

I studied the schematic, and I think the most likely culprit is the brush assembly, which is a relatively cheap part to replace (~16 bucks plus shipping on eBay). But neither my stepson or I have had a chance to dig into it further. If it isn't a bad brush, then the voltage regulator and control board are the next candidates, and I don't think they are quite so cheap as the brush assembly.

Texasmark1 · Dec 27, 2013

To survive our recent ice storm, I brought my 6.3 and 5kw gens. from the shop in my FEL and sat them on the back porch down wind of the house. Only had 15 gallons of gas on hand so I ran them intermittently, using the 5 most of the time as it has a 10 hp engine vs a 16 and is a lot better on fuel. Ran 100' of 12/3 and several 14' 14/3 wires all over the house to run essentials. Quite messy.

So after reading your post, I looked up Generac on www and got some details of your unit. I really like their attention to reliability and the price is very reasonable, considering. Figure another $2-3k to get it installed reliably and you're good to go. I already have the propane line running by where I would set it up with a 500 gallon tank I fill just before the October winter price increase. So, as you said, running out of fuel is not an issue.

As I get older I will be thinking more of that setup; surely if we have an inversion of "global warming" and have more frequent ice storms.

Thanks for posting and planting the seed.

Mark

buickanddeere · Dec 27, 2013

Cold air and exhaust blowing in through the open door or window never made a whole lot of sense.

Son finally got his power back on

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