OT - Portable Generators

[greenbean.sixpack]

In honor of Hurikin Season, I'm looking for a portable generator. Costco has a Firman 7500W Running / 9400W Peak Tri Fuel Generator for $799. It gets good reviews from the coona*sses on Tigerdroppings. Anyone with experience with these generators or other recommendations in the same price range?

I have a predator run quiet generator from Harbor Freight that is good for tailgate type situations, but need something bigger.

Anyone have a transfer switch wired into their house? If so how much for equipment and install and any cons with it?

https://www.costco.com/firman-7500w-running--9400w-peak-tri-fuel-generator.product.100840185.html

 

[maroonmadman]

I'm in the standby home generator business. For an automatic transfer switch it cost around $800. Figure around another $750 - $1000 for installation. Manual transfer switches are around $400 and you can figure pretty much the same for install. Good electricians aren't cheap, cheap electricians aren't good.

As far as home units full auto standby home units - say 14 KW's and up - get ready for a 6 to 8 month wait for Generac. Others are similar time waiting period. There are some big dealers that have them in stock and will ship, just get ready to pay. Installation generally runs from $2500 to $4000 depending on ease/difficulty of install.

 

[Dawgbite]

Mikes Weather Page recommends Fireman generators if that helps.

 

[Fritz!]

My MiL sheltered here in Jackson during Laura. Got the last Firman Costco had in Ridgeland. Went back to SW Louisiana with her and after a few days running it on propane and gasoline, while rewiring her panel, hooked it up to her NG meter. I think it ran 3-4 days before the low oil shutdown kicked in. The it was like clockwork, added oil ever several days. That thing ran 24/7 for probably 3-4 weeks. Al she had to worry about it was adding oil. Overall great generator for the money.

 

[Dawgbite]

Poor man's transfer switch. Add a 30 amp breaker to your breaker box and run a dedicated 30 amp plug nearby. Buy a 30 amp RV extension cord and cut off the female plug. Add a male plug that matches the newly installed 30 amp plug. The new breaker needs to be on the side of the breaker box that has most of the things you require power to during an outage, refrigerator, freezer, some lights, some receptacles. Cut off the main house breaker to prevent back feeding power. Plug the cord into the new plug and then into the 30 amp plug on the generator in that order. Start the generator. This will provide power to that buss or that side of the breaker box up to 30 amps. You need to shut off any high amperage use items on that side of the box like the AC unit and water heater. It won't provide power to anything on the other side of the box. I doubt this is up to any code but I know multiple people who have been using this setup for years.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

I'm in the standby home generator business. For an automatic transfer switch it cost around $800. Figure around another $750 - $1000 for installation. Manual transfer switches are around $400 and you can figure pretty much the same for install. Good electricians aren't cheap, cheap electricians aren't good.

As far as home units full auto standby home units - say 14 KW's and up - get ready for a 6 to 8 month wait for Generac. Others are similar time waiting period. There are some big dealers that have them in stock and will ship, just get ready to pay. Installation generally runs from $2500 to $4000 depending on ease/difficulty of install.

I need portable as I have elderly relatives 2 hours north and chances are they will need the generator more than me. So I need to shuttle generators back and forth.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

Poor man's transfer switch. Add a 30 amp breaker to your breaker box and run a dedicated 30 amp plug nearby. Buy a 30 amp RV extension cord and cut off the female plug. Add a male plug that matches the newly installed 30 amp plug. The new breaker needs to be on the side of the breaker box that has most of the things you require power to during an outage, refrigerator, freezer, some lights, some receptacles. Cut off the main house breaker to prevent back feeding power. Plug the cord into the new plug and then into the 30 amp plug on the generator in that order. Start the generator. This will provide power to that buss or that side of the breaker box up to 30 amps. You need to shut off any high amperage use items on that side of the box like the AC unit and water heater. It won't provide power to anything on the other side of the box. I doubt this is up to any code but I know multiple people who have been using this setup for years.

The good old suicide cable!