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  1. #11
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    Your situation is exactly why we refused to go all electric with our new rural home (and will never do so until we can go solar on site). Power goes off for days, rolling brownouts and blackouts are common. If you are worried about heat primarily, you may want to consider a wood or pellet stove with battery backup.

    In our situation, all I could afford was a 10,000 watt whole home propane Generac inverter/generator. I was sick and tired of dealing with a 10,000 watt portable one in a previous home. The built in Generac cost less $2000 installed with the transfer switch and extra circuit breakers and is more than sufficient to run all critical systems and lights, meaning it provides clean juice to run the 2 water pumps for our well and septic, the internet node, a water pressure booster pump, three fridges, and the electrics that are in our ultra efficient propane furnace (98%) and water heater, stove, dryer, washer, the (optional) fans in our two gas propane fireplaces. Having propane also means no portable tanks for the grill too. The Generac would not be enough to run a heat pump (or air conditioner, which is pretty much unnecessary in our climate).

    Installed 10 years ago, it's pretty much forgotten about until the lights go off and it comes on 1 minute later. It tests itself once a week and reminds me to call service every fall to do basic maintenance (air and oil filters, oil change, new spark, battery every couple of years. It's as reliable as a wood stove, only there's no wood and I don't have to mess with it, and neither does the family when I am not home. Its completely automatic.
    Doug, Patti and our puppy Leo are from upstate NY.
    Imagine 2019 XLS 18RBE
    2021 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dadeo6472 View Post
    Your situation is exactly why we refused to go all electric with our new rural home (and will never do so until we can go solar on site). Power goes off for days, rolling brownouts and blackouts are common. If you are worried about heat primarily, you may want to consider a wood or pellet stove with battery backup.

    In our situation, all I could afford was a 10,000 watt whole home propane Generac inverter/generator. I was sick and tired of dealing with a 10,000 watt portable one in a previous home. The built in Generac cost less $2000 installed with the transfer switch and extra circuit breakers and is more than sufficient to run all critical systems and lights, meaning it provides clean juice to run the 2 water pumps for our well and septic, the internet node, a water pressure booster pump, three fridges, and the electrics that are in our ultra efficient propane furnace (98%) and water heater, stove, dryer, washer, the (optional) fans in our two gas propane fireplaces. Having propane also means no portable tanks for the grill too. The Generac would not be enough to run a heat pump (or air conditioner, which is pretty much unnecessary in our climate).

    Installed 10 years ago, it's pretty much forgotten about until the lights go off and it comes on 1 minute later. It tests itself once a week and reminds me to call service every fall to do basic maintenance (air and oil filters, oil change, new spark, battery every couple of years. It's as reliable as a wood stove, only there's no wood and I don't have to mess with it, and neither does the family when I am not home. Its completely automatic.
    Well, in all fairness, we bought the house in 2007 and it was a three year old house at the time. Our area, Knoxville, TN, normally has fairly mild winters when compared to areas further north of us and the type of cold we experienced here is not the norm during the winter months....but it does happen occasionally. I would venture a guess and say that the majority of homes here are primarily electric and the heat primary heat source is a heat pump with electric backup. Also, many, many of the houses here are built on a slab, vs. a full basement or crawl space under them. I did install a propane fireplace about 7 or 8 years ago and I have a 100 lb tank for that....but, all of that is on the rear side of the house, and my electrical service entrance is on the opposite side or the front of the house...and the fireplace with the self contained blower/fan, doesn't even come close to being able to keep the house warm when the temperatures start dropping. It would be a major undertaking to provide a propane supply to the front of the house and then put an unsightly generator there too. The other option I guess would be to put the propane tank and generator on the rear of the house and then do underground all the way around to the front and the service entrance for the power. Either way, a lot more money than I am wanting to spend for a whole house permanently positioned generator. And of course, with being pretty much all electric here, a 10Kw generator of any kind would not work for our application. The backup heat strip is 10Kw all by itself. None of this is ideal, and I certainly understand the way you feel about not going all electric when you had your house built.....I would probably have made that same decision as you....but that's water under the bridge and I am trying to deal with the most cost effective solution for what I presently have. In one respect, I'm going to hate to sell my Yamaha 6300 Inverter generator, it is very quiet and has the famous Yamaha quality, just like Honda generators do, but it is simply not enough generator for running the A/C and or the heat pump during outages. I have that listed for sale on here and other places, so hopefully it will sell and help offset the cost of buying the new generator.
    Last edited by xrated; 01-10-2023 at 06:56 AM.
    2016 F350 CrewCab Dually
    2018 Momentum 394M...Heavily Modded!
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    Excessive Payload is a Wonderful Thing

    "If it ain't fast....It ain't Fun"

  3. #13
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    How loud is it?
    Location - Wherever the road takes us...Full-timers
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  4. #14
    Site Team xrated's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by el Rojo View Post
    How loud is it?
    Which one....the new one I'm getting or the Yamaha that I have for sale?
    2016 F350 CrewCab Dually
    2018 Momentum 394M...Heavily Modded!
    2023 Suzuki GSX-S1000 GT+
    Excessive Payload is a Wonderful Thing

    "If it ain't fast....It ain't Fun"

  5. #15
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    The new one.
    Location - Wherever the road takes us...Full-timers
    2015 Momentum 380
    2019 Ram Dually

  6. #16
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    20kw!! Wow, that is a big portable. @xrated you’re gonna need an overhead 300gal tank to feed that baby, and I can help you out with that, as soon as I fire up the chain saw and get the brush cut away from it!
    Larry and JoAnna
    ‘23 Chevy 3500HD CCLB DRW High Country 6.6L Diesel, ‘22 Solitude 310GK-R, Hensley BD5
    MORRyde 8k IS, QD8000 Genny, Dual 5kVA Quattros
    Dual SOK 48V 100ah Server Rack Batts (10kWHr)

  7. #17
    Seasoned Camper
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    Quote Originally Posted by xrated View Post
    Well, in all fairness, we bought the house in 2007 and it was a three year old house at the time. Our area, Knoxville, TN, normally has fairly mild winters when compared to areas further north of us and the type of cold we experienced here is not the norm during the winter months....but it does happen occasionally. I would venture a guess and say that the majority of homes here are primarily electric and the heat primary heat source is a heat pump with electric backup. Also, many, many of the houses here are built on a slab, vs. a full basement or crawl space under them. I did install a propane fireplace about 7 or 8 years ago and I have a 100 lb tank for that....but, all of that is on the rear side of the house, and my electrical service entrance is on the opposite side or the front of the house...and the fireplace with the self contained blower/fan, doesn't even come close to being able to keep the house warm when the temperatures start dropping. It would be a major undertaking to provide a propane supply to the front of the house and then put an unsightly generator there too. The other option I guess would be to put the propane tank and generator on the rear of the house and then do underground all the way around to the front and the service entrance for the power. Either way, a lot more money than I am wanting to spend for a whole house permanently positioned generator. And of course, with being pretty much all electric here, a 10Kw generator of any kind would not work for our application. The backup heat strip is 10Kw all by itself. None of this is ideal, and I certainly understand the way you feel about not going all electric when you had your house built.....I would probably have made that same decision as you....but that's water under the bridge and I am trying to deal with the most cost effective solution for what I presently have. In one respect, I'm going to hate to sell my Yamaha 6300 Inverter generator, it is very quiet and has the famous Yamaha quality, just like Honda generators do, but it is simply not enough generator for running the A/C and or the heat pump during outages. I have that listed for sale on here and other places, so hopefully it will sell and help offset the cost of buying the new generator.
    You are in a tough situation... On the plus side, I bet your cost per KWH is less than what we pay the greedy rascals at National Greed....

    errrr... did I say Greed.... I meant National Grid...
    Really, I did. I said Grid! Please don't turn off my electricity! I paid my bill!
    Doug, Patti and our puppy Leo are from upstate NY.
    Imagine 2019 XLS 18RBE
    2021 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel

  8. #18
    Site Team xrated's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dadeo6472 View Post
    You are in a tough situation... On the plus side, I bet your cost per KWH is less than what we pay the greedy rascals at National Greed....

    errrr... did I say Greed.... I meant National Grid...
    Really, I did. I said Grid! Please don't turn off my electricity! I paid my bill!
    Well, I'm just now replying to this.....why? We had an outage this morning around 9:30AM....and it just came back on about 5 minutes ago. But, it wasn't the electricity this time; Xfinity was down. From what I could gather, someone may have crashed into a pole and or a sectional truck line that serves a huge area where we live. I guess the next research job I'll be doing is for Starlink.
    2016 F350 CrewCab Dually
    2018 Momentum 394M...Heavily Modded!
    2023 Suzuki GSX-S1000 GT+
    Excessive Payload is a Wonderful Thing

    "If it ain't fast....It ain't Fun"

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by xrated View Post
    No, it's carbureted...but I'm a huge believer in Sta-Bil. It's really hard to find something this big...AND EFI...AND low THD unless you get into the Generac Whole House units, and then you're talking probably in the $12,000 range for the generator, the install of all the equipment, the propane tank and running the line to it....plus the automatic transfer switch.
    Do you have non-oxy (no ethanol) readily available down there? With that you don't have to worry about the carb gumming up. It's available at just about all the fuel stations where I live but not sure if that's the case everywhere. I run it in everything except the car and truck as that isn't legal. But never have to deal with stabilizer additives in lawn mowers, boats, ATV's, generators, or anything else. Just mentioning in case you aren't familiar.
    Chad
    2023 23LDE 965W Solar, Victron Multiplus, Solar Controllers, Cerbo GX, 4x280AH DIY Lithium Batteries, SeeLevel Tank Monitoring, Shock Absorbers (Replaced 2022 22MLE)
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  10. #20
    Seasoned Camper
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    Quote Originally Posted by xrated View Post
    Well, I'm just now replying to this.....why? We had an outage this morning around 9:30AM....and it just came back on about 5 minutes ago. But, it wasn't the electricity this time; Xfinity was down. From what I could gather, someone may have crashed into a pole and or a sectional truck line that serves a huge area where we live. I guess the next research job I'll be doing is for Starlink.
    Yeah... reminds me of a quote from a mentor:
    "Technology: It's totally great, unless it totally sucks!"
    - Robert Carlson, Director for Information Technology, Operations and Maintenance, Naval Sea Systems Command. He was my first boss when I worked for the Navy..... in 1985!
    A brilliant guy. He'd worked with Admiral Grace Hopper as a civilian analyst and programmer.
    Doug, Patti and our puppy Leo are from upstate NY.
    Imagine 2019 XLS 18RBE
    2021 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel

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