Generator install - where to start

[WinterDeere]

Some propane companies are installing wireless monitoring on tanks now, keeps them from showing up for 20 gallons, keeps you from running out.

I'll have to ask about that. I've been using so little propane, only two fills of my tank in 15 years, that I keep my contract on "will call" basis. Unless we start having more frequent outages, I don't expect the generator will nudge the usage very much most years, but we will see.

We've had outages as long as 4 days, when I could rip thru some fuel. But many other years, our total outage time might be 10 hours or less.

 

[Duds13]

Yep... already in the works. Had another contractor out last night, just waiting on his bid, now. Once I have that, I'll probably be pulling the trigger.

Awesome, congrats!

 

[Duds13]

I pay $100 a year for the Generac monitoring app. Will flag any issues, tell you when it kicks on if you arent home, etc. I find it handy but you may not. Something to consider

 

[vanskills]

That's what I've been doing. The plan is to get away from that, to have a fully-automated system. I won't always be around to babysit the wife and kids, when the power goes out.


Try $25k - $30k, based on initial quotes.

I know how, I'm an electrical engineer and grew up working in building trades, specifically plumbing and HVAC. And if I'd done this in 2023 while my business was still young and not very busy, instead of installing my own in-ground swimming pool, DIY'ing this would have been a slam dunk. But I have no time for it, right now, I'm just too busy with new business. I can make more than the cost of install by spending those same hours at my desk, while also building my business and not having to turn away customers, versus spending those hours to DIY it.

That said, I'm still frugal. Grew up cash-poor, some things you just can't shake. So, I'll be price shopping for best options, as much as I can manage.

Wow, that’s ridiculous , if I wasn’t working in the oilfield I would do that

Sounds like easy money lol

 

[WinterDeere]

Every quote I've received so far has been mid-$20k's, without propane tank work included. Part of that cost is running electric 200 - 250 feet around the house, as propane is out back and service entrance out front, on a relatively large house.

 

[tradosaurus]

Every quote I've received so far has been mid-$20k's, without propane tank work included. Part of that cost is running electric 200 - 250 feet around the house, as propane is out back and service entrance out front, on a relatively large house.

Look at it as if you are buying a cheap new car.

 

[WinterDeere]

Yep. Just one that's a lot less fun to use.

I already selected the contractor, just waiting on clarification of one or two final details.

In bonus news, both my water heater and water softener system broke this week. It's turning out to be one of the more expensive weeks, in which I'm not walking away with a new car, boat, or house.

 

[tradosaurus]

Well, I’m excited and envious for you. I don’t have the money to spend on a generac so installed my fifteen kw generator in a small storage shed next to the generator feed plug on my house. At two hundred and twenty lbs I really don’t want to move it.

 

[ning]

I tell everyone I know that doesn't have a house, that they've been lied to about the economics of (renting) vs (buying a house).

How much doesn't a house cost? Oh the mortgage is this much, don't forget taxes and insurance!
Anything else? .... *crickets*

I show them a spreadsheet I have of costs over time. $24k for a roof? I'm expecting $40k+ when I finally do it here; granted it's lasted a while, but that's still $1.5k/year that needs to be considered just for that. Water heater, hvac, paint, etc. Not to mention yard upkeep.

Yes many of us "enjoy" doing a lot of this work, but it still costs money. My spreadsheet shows over $1k/month when you consider long term work. Sure, the house you buy may have a new roof and if you're lucky it won't need work. New furnace? Cool. A lot of "extra costs" depend on luck and maintenance (which costs money... and/or time and money); maybe you pay more up front for a place with new stuff (which may or may not need work soon). You get the general idea.

Oh, don't forget to budget for a tractor, too.

 

[WinterDeere]

Especially if you have a historic home, as I always have. I did everything myself for decades, but now with running a startup business and kids in their teens, there's only time for a few projects per year... slower than the rate at which things break around here. Now I have a mason, painter, and horticulturalist all on retainer, each spends a week here every year, usually with at least one helper.

This year was new wrap-around porch roof, new kitchen door, a whole bunch of painting, some stucco and stone repair, water heater, water softener control board, and standby generator... at least the stuff I can remember. And the year ain't even 20% done, yet!

Oh, and I just bought the first of 5 rounds of fertilizer, yesterday.

 

[grsthegreat]

Every quote I've received so far has been mid-$20k's, without propane tank work included. Part of that cost is running electric 200 - 250 feet around the house, as propane is out back and service entrance out front, on a relatively large house.

Just get another propane tank…..buried if necessary

 

[WinterDeere]

Just get another propane tank…..buried if necessary

I will, if early usage indicates its warranted. Not a big deal.

But it will be buried. I've never been into the trailer park aesthetic of propane tanks on display.

 

[grsthegreat]

Burying a new tank would be way cheaper than power cable run around house you are talking about, not to mention voltage drop. We try to keep control wire runs under 100 feet.

 

[orezok]

Every quote I've received so far has been mid-$20k's, without propane tank work included. Part of that cost is running electric 200 - 250 feet around the house, as propane is out back and service entrance out front, on a relatively large house.

Don’t get caught in analysis paralysis. Just get it done.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I will, if early usage indicates its warranted. Not a big deal.

But it will be buried. I've never been into the trailer park aesthetic of propane tanks on display.

If you bury a new tank, make sure you will have truck access to it, especially in winter.

An ex coworker made that mistake and now has to shovel a path across his yard so the delivery driver can drag a hose over to fill it.

In summer, he has to deal with ruts in the lawn made by the delivery truck, since the driver is too lazy to use the hose.

 

[WinterDeere]

Burying a new tank would be way cheaper than power cable run around house you are talking about, not to mention voltage drop. We try to keep control wire runs under 100 feet.

Voltage drop is only a big issue if you don't size the feed appropriately, and I really don't want an ugly generator sitting in the front yard.

Figure 26 kW max load yields about 108 amps at 240 volts, so 220 feet of 4/0 aluminum at 110 + j*41 m-ohm/ft at ~0.9 power factor yields a 2.3% voltage drop. Not a huge deal, and well within standard 5% tolerance.

Would shorter be better? Well, only in that it would allow us to run much smaller conductors for this size generator. But that would put an ugly box in my front garden, and the noise right outside my kitchen window. No thanks!

If you bury a new tank, make sure you will have truck access to it, especially in winter.

An ex coworker made that mistake and now has to shovel a path across his yard so the delivery driver can drag a hose over to fill it.

In summer, he has to deal with ruts in the lawn made by the delivery truck, since the driver is too lazy to use the hose.

If I were building a new system from scratch, I definitely would have put it closer to the driveway. But our tank was already buried by a prior owner, and it's about 150 feet from closest driveway access, across our back patio. Not ideal, but it's there, and I ain't moving it!

If a delivery driver were too lazy to drag a hose, I'd find a new one. But that tank has been there since the 1990's, and we have never encountered that problem.

I do usually help the driver snake the hose thru the pool fence, as it's within the pool area on the far side of a patio. But even that hasn't been a real problem, they sometimes have it done before I even notice they're here.

 

[WinterDeere]

Don’t get caught in analysis paralysis. Just get it done.

You clearly don't know me. Contract was already signed. I don't sit on things long... no time for it!

Installer tells me we're on his schedule for early May.

 

[WinterDeere]

If I were building a new system from scratch, I definitely would have put it closer to the driveway. But our tank was already buried by a prior owner, and it's about 150 feet from closest driveway access, across our back patio.

Quoting myself, but I wonder why they don't just trench and bury a line from ideal tank location to some ideal fill location, closer to driveway, when they install these things?

I had an idea to put an extra one or two 3" or 4" conduits under my pool patio, before we had that poured. But with everything else going on, I designed and managed excavation, pool contstruction, and patio construction all myself, I just never got to that before it was time to back-fill and prep for concrete pour. If I'd had those, it'd be a pretty easy straight 100 foot shot from existing tank location to driveway side of pool patio fence, to install a filler neck closer to the driveway.

But then again, that tank was buried ca.1995, and we didn't install the pool until 2023, so someone had already been dragging a hose across the old yard and patio for at least 18 years prior. Here's how they do it, propane tank is on far side of hexagonal gazebo.

 

[orezok]

You clearly don't know me. Contract was already signed. I don't sit on things long... no time for it!

Installer tells me we're on his schedule for early May.

Well, it has been over a month! Being a General Contractor for 40 years, taking a month to make a decision KILLS your schedule.

 

[bigtiller]

Here's how they do it, propane tank is on far side of octagonal gazebo.

View attachment 5242818

Is that a pickleball court painted on your driveway approach? A lot of people around here have them.