Automatic whole house generator systems.

[Fxfymn413]

Hopefully its not. One thing not worth replacing is rotor and stator set.

I think that it is worth it. We are both experienced mechanics and he serviced and repaired gen sets as part of his duties at a previous job. If it ends up being the stator/rotor and cost $2k he is still a couple grand ahead of a new set. And if it doesn't work out we will part it out.

I just have a hard time believing that the rotor/stator would go bad on such a low hour machine. We'll see.

 

[oosik]

First - I knock on wood. Been out here 40+ years and never once needed to rely on a generator. Longest outage - 28 hours. Just DID NOT go into the freezer and some food from the refrigerator - out on the porch. It was winter. We bundled up as the house dropped to around 58F.

The co-op utility has two planned outages per year. Two or four hours long each. Sufficient time for them to do what they have to.

I think it has a lot to do with - is the utility riding the wave or staying ahead of the wave.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

First - I knock on wood. Been out here 40+ years and never once needed to rely on a generator. Longest outage - 28 hours. Just DID NOT go into the freezer and some food from the refrigerator - out on the porch. It was winter. We bundled up as the house dropped to around 58F.

The co-op utility has two planned outages per year. Two or four hours long each. Sufficient time for them to do what they have to.

I think it has a lot to do with - is the utility riding the wave or staying ahead of the wave.

We have had 4 outages here in 27 years. The longest was 5 days, which included a county-wide outage because the BPA line went down. We were without outgoing communications, because even the land line went dead after 48 hours. The outage last December was 56 hours, which puts it in 2nd place. Like you, I use the deck for a refrigerator. We keep the food in "coolers" to keep it away from the wildlife, else the raccoons would have a feast.

I typically don't bother to start a generator until the second day of an outage. With a wood stove, we can make coffee and a pot of stew or pot roast on the stove, and the house never gets cold. My main generator right now is a propane electric start, which my wife can handle by turning a valve and pushing a button. If I'm home, I like to play with my spare gensets. I only ran the main generator to heat a tank of water for showers. The rest of the time I kept the entertainment center and wifi up with a little camp generator, filtered through an antique Raytheon line stabilizer I picked up at an auction years ago.

Of course, if things really go sideways we could move into the travel trailer with its propane furnace.

 

[TheMan419]

I believe these standby units are often oversized, to meet unrealistic demand calculations, and high sales commissions. However, I also do realize that some people actually need a 20k unit. And, I also realize that I don't.

Which was excatly the point. Each of us has different needs/demands/wants from our generators. I too have a portable. We have a well and can run what we need/want off the portable just fine. As I get older and moving the portable around becomes more cumbersome a standby generator will be purchased. Hopefully by that point the income stream will allow me to have the luxury of getting unit that lets me forget the power is "out" and just do what I want in the house.