Recommend portable generators

[patrickgpe]

Work has not had power since Friday night. I want to get something for our home to protect us. I’m thinking of getting a solar one, but wanted to hear suggestions from those that have one, 

[nate82]

Can never go wrong with a generac.  That is all I know.

[LouisEly]

Is there a reason you need portable?  They typically have a max run time of 12 hours.  My parents have a whole-home generator.  They're more expensive ($5k), but they connect to your home's LP or natural gas source and thus can run as long as necessary.

[patrickgpe]

3 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Is there a reason you need portable?  They typically have a max run time of 12 hours.  My parents have a whole-home generator.  They're more expensive ($5k), but they connect to your home's LP or natural gas source and thus can run as long as necessary.

price would be the only reason to get portable. that is a good point though. something to consider. 

[RedStickBrew]

I have a Cummins home generator powered by natural gas. Powers everything in my home and works great. Generac has the majority of the market share and will likely cost less depending on the size you need. I would get a recommendation from your trusted electrician and get pricing for the unit and install to determine if it makes sense

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Depends on what you want to power during an outage.  If you want to power everything in your home for a few days, a portable one will not be big enough.  If you just want to power a fridge and a few other devices, a portable one will work. But you will need to have an electrician install a transfer switch (~$1k) so you can safely disconnect the grid and power your devices.  Alternatively, you can just run extension cords from the generator to your fridge and other devices but that will be pretty messy.  If your concern is having heat and you have a gas furnace, you will have another issue. Your furnace needs electrical power for the controls and they rarely come with a plug that you can use to connect to the generator. You would need an electrician so best to go the transfer switch route.

Another consideration is the type of generator. I have one that can run off propane.  I have three propane tanks and just rotate those via my gas grill.  Gasoline goes bad so storing gas for emergency is a lot of work (you'd have to rotate gas tanks into your car every few months).  Propane has a longer shelf life.

Solar is a bigger expense up front but eliminates the gas/propane storage issue.  However, you don't have power when the sun is not out.  In winter storms, its cloudy for days. You would need a huge battery bank (more $) to store energy.

As you can see, i have thought about this a lot.  The least hassle is a whole house generator connected to your gas line.  But the up front cost is high.  I'm an electrical power engineer and one who is notably cheap, so I went the portable gas generator route with a bunch of extension cords. If I need to, I'll figure out something on the fly.  I haven't had to worry about it for the 10 years I have had it, but it is a nice peace of mind.  I do start it once a year to make sure its still working.  Hope this helps.

[homer]

I think a whole house generator helps with resale value. You'd potentially get your money back and then some. 

[MrTPlush]

Don't get a solar one. It is a lot of investment for quite a bit of potential headache. If you are getting a generator, you need it to be reliable. 

Generators usually don't help your homes value much. As nice as they may be and as much as one may say they would like one...99% of people don't have one. No one starts their house search with one of the requirements being a generator. So naturally, it just doesn't add value for a buyer.

I wouldn't shy away from a gas one. Yah, gas goes bad...but you just run it down after using it. It may only last 12 hours on a tank of gas, but driving to the gas station for more gas is pretty easy. It is the most economical and best ROI in my opinion...as far as taking care of needs. Plug in your fridge...plug in a few other things, boom....you are good. 

I just find whole home generators to be a luxury and rarely save your arse. The only people I know that have one and NEED it are people with saltwater fish tanks with well over $10k in fish etc. in them. If your concern is your furnace and heating your house, just have an electrician alter your furnace so it isn't a light switch and instead a plug into an outlet. There are plenty of portables that can handle your furnace plugged into them. Then if/when you move you still have generators to take with you instead of it being attached to the house you are selling. 

 

[patrickgpe]

Thanks guys for the suggestions

[homer]

37 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

Generators usually don't help your homes value much. As nice as they may be and as much as one may say they would like one...99% of people don't have one. No one starts their house search with one of the requirements being a generator. So naturally, it just doesn't add value for a buyer.

https://www.consumerreports.org/home-improvement/8-ways-to-boost-your-home-value

Potential Bump: 3 to 5 percent

Obviously your home has to be valuable enough to make it worthwhile.

 

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

I wouldn't shy away from a gas one. Yah, gas goes bad...but you just run it down after using it. It may only last 12 hours on a tank of gas, but driving to the gas station for more gas is pretty easy. It is the most economical and best ROI in my opinion...as far as taking care of needs. Plug in your fridge...plug in a few other things, boom....you are good. 

One other consideration with gas ones and extension cords - they need to be kept outside, and running the extension cords inside will require some type of opening (door/window/other) into your house.  During the winter that brings cold air inside, during the summer warm/humid air and insects.

If you live in an area where the power lines could be taken out by falling trees/branches, or if ice storms could knock out the power lines, you'll need to think about how you'll run extension cords into your home and what openings you will need to have and the effect that those openings will have.  You might need to have those openings for a few days before the power can be restored.

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

Generators usually don't help your homes value much. As nice as they may be and as much as one may say they would like one...99% of people don't have one.

That's because it's not something that people think about unless they've had it happen to them or someone they know well.  People are thinking about the roof, the furnace/AC, the appliances, siding/exterior walls, floors.  Replacing most of those (except for appliances, but refrigerators are $2K now) cost as much as a whole-home generator.  That, and many realtors... have an unimpressive amount of knowledge about home ownership costs and risks and what to look for when home shopping (plus, with a shortage of homes now, people can't be too choosy.)

It's like an insurance policy.  You already spend $1,500 per year on home insurance... which most people have never had to to use.  Amortize the cost over the expected life of the whole home generator and factor that into your insurance costs.

[MrTPlush]

20 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

It's like an insurance policy.  You already spend $1,500 per year on home insurance... which most people have never had to to use.  Amortize the cost over the expected life of the whole home generator and factor that into your insurance costs.

But what are you insuring against? In the Midwest, where I am guessing he lives...there isn't a ton of risk with an extended power outage. 

I guess you could amortize it over the life of the loan, which will make the cost seem small. That is also how you make a speedboat seem cheap too though. I guess I don't know that I would compare it to insurance. You need homeowners' insurance because you don't have hundreds of thousands to rebuild if it burns down etc. There are plenty of alternatives compared to a whole home generator, some quite cheap. I am guessing the average person, at least in the midwest, would be lucky to run into 10 times the home generator made a huge difference (aka probably a good 3+ day power outage). Heck, many maybe half of that over a 30 year life of a generator (usually considered max life, could be less). So you pay a solid $1k per time it kicks in to save the fridge or the house from being 45 degrees? There are probably better ways to spend $8k or so at that point. 

That is kinda why I say, you have to find value in the luxury of it. Where the typical power outage of 2 hours, 8 hours, maybe 24 hour power outage being avoided is a huge value to you. 

Of course, a lot of it depends on where you live and the infrastructure. My first step, if I was pondering a whole home generator, is finding a neighbor that has lived in the neighborhood a long time. Are extended power outages often etc.? If he can't even recall a big power outage, that is probably a sign it isn't much of a concern in your area. If you live in a newer neighborhood and all the utilities are underground...a big generator is likely going to be quite a waste. 

[Samurai Bucky]

We were without power for 12 hours.  This is the first time we had a power outage like this in the 25 years I lived in my suburban Milwaukee home. 

I had done a little bit of research.  One thing I found is only for members of Costco.

https://www.costco.com/generac-home-standby-generators.html

There are some other solutions where you can have an electrician add circuits to the house that identify key systems as critical.  Then, there is a connection on the back of the house with a switch.  You would plug in a portable generator and flip the switch.  Only the key items would be powered.

As associate of my wife had put in a full-home Generac solution, but did not disclose the price.  My guess it was well above 10K.

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, MrTPlush said:

But what are you insuring against? In the Midwest, where I am guessing he lives...there isn't a ton of risk with an extended power outage. 

I assume you mean other than hypothermia from loss of heat.

Damage caused by burst pipes from cold temperatures, and having to turn the water off to prevent burst pipes (and thus, no water).  If it's a heavy snow/ice storm or lots of downed trees/power lines, you might not be able to leave for several days (that's when you have to worry about hypothermia).  If you work from home, potential loss of income or having to take time off because you can't work (and then not being able to go on vacation because you have fewer vacation days left).  No power to be able to charge cell phones in case there is an emergency or people trying to get in touch with you to see if you are OK.

I was in the NYC area for hurricane Irene.  Hurricane Sandy was even worse.  There were so many downed power lines and trees that it took a week or longer for many people to get power; they had to clear the trees first before the power company could even begin to repair the lines because they couldn't get to them.  And because of the down power lines and trees, people couldn't leave or go anywhere (except on foot).  Limited food at home, no food delivery because of the downed power lines and trees.  A severe ice storm could have similar effects.