How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle refrigerator,
freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some lights but not
Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator and a
plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet from the
electric breaker box and the gas line.
There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the whole
job and wonder what a package price might be for everything that I
described above?
This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this project.
I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair is done.
<arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle refrigerator,
>freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some lights but not
>Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
>transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator and a
>plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet from the
>electric breaker box and the gas line.
>There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the whole
>job and wonder what a package price might be for everything that I
>described above?
>This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this project.
>I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair is done.
What you will pay in NJ is not the same as what it would cost in Two
Egg, Florida. It's a local thing. Check locally.
Oren wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>> generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle refrigerator,
>> freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some lights but not
>> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
>> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator and a
>> plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet from the
>> electric breaker box and the gas line.
>> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the whole
>> job and wonder what a package price might be for everything that I
>> described above?
>> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this project.
>> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair is done.
> What you will pay in NJ is not the same as what it would cost in Two
> Egg, Florida. It's a local thing. Check locally.
> I can guess what it would cost. $14.00
Do the transfer switches used by Generac accept aluminum wire?. My house
was built in 1968 and the wiring to most of the circuit breakers is AL.
Only new circuits added since the house was built are CU.
<arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>Oren wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
>> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>>> generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle refrigerator,
>>> freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some lights but not
>>> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
>>> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator and a
>>> plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet from the
>>> electric breaker box and the gas line.
>>> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the whole
>>> job and wonder what a package price might be for everything that I
>>> described above?
>>> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this project.
>>> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair is done.
>> What you will pay in NJ is not the same as what it would cost in Two
>> Egg, Florida. It's a local thing. Check locally.
>> I can guess what it would cost. $14.00
>Do the transfer switches used by Generac accept aluminum wire?. My house
>was built in 1968 and the wiring to most of the circuit breakers is AL.
>Only new circuits added since the house was built are CU.
Sorry I cannot help with this. Someone here may jump in and give you
advice. I'm dangerous around electricity. :-\
> Oren wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
>> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>>> generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle refrigerator,
>>> freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some lights but not
>>> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
>>> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator and a
>>> plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet from the
>>> electric breaker box and the gas line.
>>> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the whole
>>> job and wonder what a package price might be for everything that I
>>> described above?
>>> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this project.
>>> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair is done.
>> What you will pay in NJ is not the same as what it would cost in Two
>> Egg, Florida. It's a local thing. Check locally.
>> I can guess what it would cost. $14.00
> Do the transfer switches used by Generac accept aluminum wire?. My house
> was built in 1968 and the wiring to most of the circuit breakers is AL.
> Only new circuits added since the house was built are CU.
Power switching equipment usually has connectors rated for both copper and aluminum. The Generac transfer switches I installed all had Cu/Al
connectors for the large wires. ^_^
> Do the transfer switches used by Generac accept aluminum wire?. My house
> was built in 1968 and the wiring to most of the circuit breakers is AL.
> Only new circuits added since the house was built are CU.
pigtail any areas of concern, around here home depot was selling a
generac installed as a package price
On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:28:02 -0500, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote
in <lkcba8ttqv36arqea0oq935sfcqb48o...@4ax.com> Re Re: Installation
Cost of Nat Gas Generator?:
On Nov 15, 10:27 pm, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
> >How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
> >generator?
> $65 to $75 an hour around here.
I haven't hired an electrician here in NJ for a long time,
but that sounds low. The car stealerships now charge
$150 an hour for example. And it's impossible to give
a price, because it also depends on what they have to go
through to run the wiring, if there is something already
there to attach new gear to, etc. You also need a
plumber and the cost of permits. If I had to guess, I'd
bet you're looking at $1000 between the two. Plus
the cost of the generator, which is probably $2500 or
so.
Before laying out the $$$ for ANY Generac home product,
I'd suggest you go to Amazon, look up Generac products
and see what people are saying. Also take a look at
PisssedConsumer.com.
I have a 12KW Generac sitting here, probably gonna part it
out, largely after reading those reviews. This one was
given to a friend by a neighbor. It was about 5 years old
and failed during the hurricane a year ago. Service guy
told him the $3,000 unit was not worth fixing. The rotor is
shot, possibly more. Look on those
sites and you'll see a LOT of people with long, similar
stories. Including ones that were bad right out of the box,
or that were just 2 years old, went through the automatic
testing every week, then died in an hour during real use.
> Oren wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
>> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>>> generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle refrigerator,
>>> freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some lights but not
>>> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
>>> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator and a
>>> plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet from the
>>> electric breaker box and the gas line.
>>> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the whole
>>> job and wonder what a package price might be for everything that I
>>> described above?
>>> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this project.
>>> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair is done.
If you don't want an automatic transfer switch, another way to do it is to add a breaker in the existing service panel and add a mechanical interlock on the panel cover that prevents both the generator breaker and service breaker from being on at the same time. One interlock is:
http://www.interlockkit.com/CATALOG2008.pdf Some panel manufacturers also make them.
>> What you will pay in NJ is not the same as what it would cost in Two
>> Egg, Florida. It's a local thing. Check locally.
>> I can guess what it would cost. $14.00
> Do the transfer switches used by Generac accept aluminum wire?. My house
> was built in 1968 and the wiring to most of the circuit breakers is AL.
> Only new circuits added since the house was built are CU.
The wires will probably be spliced at the panel to wires that go to the transfer switch.
Arnie Goetchius wrote:
> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural
> gas generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle
> refrigerator, freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some
> lights but not
> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator
> and a plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet
> from the electric breaker box and the gas line.
> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the
> whole job and wonder what a package price might be for everything
> that I described above?
> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this
> project.
> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair
> is done.
I can understand why you would consider this a not-DIY project. You may be overly complicating the basic requirement for a smidgen of electrical power.
What you COULD do is:
1. Get an ordinary portable generator of the appropriate capacity.
2. Get a NG adaptor for that normally gasoline-powered unit.
3. Tap into your existing gas line with a detachable hose to the generator.
4. Add an interlock switch and input junction to your existing breaker-box.
The only item that might generate an unconsionable cost is having a certified, licensed, and unionized plumber to attach a suitable "T" and valve for the NG connection.
As an even cheaper alternative is to score a pile of gas cans. When a storm is imminent, get them ALL filled. For a local outage, say a car knocks down a pole in the next block, one five-gallon can should be enough to get you started; you can fill other cans, from a station two blocks, away while the generator is working on the first.
bud-- wrote:
> On 11/15/2012 6:33 PM, Arnie Goetchius wrote:
>> Oren wrote:
>>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
>>> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>>>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>>>> generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle refrigerator,
>>>> freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some lights but not
>>>> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
>>>> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator
>>>> and a
>>>> plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet from
>>>> the
>>>> electric breaker box and the gas line.
>>>> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the
>>>> whole
>>>> job and wonder what a package price might be for everything that I
>>>> described above?
>>>> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this
>>>> project.
>>>> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair
>>>> is done.
> If you don't want an automatic transfer switch, another way to do it is
> to add a breaker in the existing service panel and add a mechanical
> interlock on the panel cover that prevents both the generator breaker
> and service breaker from being on at the same time. One interlock is:
> http://www.interlockkit.com/CATALOG2008.pdf > Some panel manufacturers also make them.
I prefer this approach as it avoids the AL/CU issues and I don't need a
separate automatic transfer box. I checked and they make one for my box
- Square D QO 150 amp Load center. Has interlockkit been around long
enough that (1) most electricians will be familiar with it and (2) it
will be accepted by the local electrical code?
>>> What you will pay in NJ is not the same as what it would cost in Two
>>> Egg, Florida. It's a local thing. Check locally.
>>> I can guess what it would cost. $14.00
>> Do the transfer switches used by Generac accept aluminum wire?. My house
>> was built in 1968 and the wiring to most of the circuit breakers is AL.
>> Only new circuits added since the house was built are CU.
> The wires will probably be spliced at the panel to wires that go to the
> transfer switch.
> The CPSC had extensive testing of aluminum connections done.
> Recommendations from the supervising engineer are at:
> http://www.kinginnovation.com/pdfs/ReducingFire070706.pdf > This is probably more than your electrician knows.
Thanks for the link. I had read Aronstein's stuff before but must have
skipped over the Alumniconn as it is the first time I had heard of it.
CRNG wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:28:02 -0500, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote
> in <lkcba8ttqv36arqea0oq935sfcqb48o...@4ax.com> Re Re: Installation
> Cost of Nat Gas Generator?:
>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
>> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>>> generator?
>> $65 to $75 an hour around here.
> NJ is all union all the time, so $150 to $250 per hour in NJ.
> If it was me, I would skip the xfer switch and just use extension
> cords. You seldom get outages lasting more than an hour right?
Sandy was 11 days, Irene was 4 days and the October 2011 snow storm was
3 days. I can live with an outage of a couple of hours and would not
install a generator for that.
trad...@optonline.net wrote:
> On Nov 15, 10:27 pm, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
>> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>>> generator?
>> $65 to $75 an hour around here.
> I haven't hired an electrician here in NJ for a long time,
> but that sounds low. The car stealerships now charge
> $150 an hour for example. And it's impossible to give
> a price, because it also depends on what they have to go
> through to run the wiring, if there is something already
> there to attach new gear to, etc. You also need a
> plumber and the cost of permits. If I had to guess, I'd
> bet you're looking at $1000 between the two. Plus
> the cost of the generator, which is probably $2500 or
> so.
> Before laying out the $$$ for ANY Generac home product,
> I'd suggest you go to Amazon, look up Generac products
> and see what people are saying. Also take a look at
> PisssedConsumer.com.
> I have a 12KW Generac sitting here, probably gonna part it
> out, largely after reading those reviews. This one was
> given to a friend by a neighbor. It was about 5 years old
> and failed during the hurricane a year ago. Service guy
> told him the $3,000 unit was not worth fixing. The rotor is
> shot, possibly more. Look on those
> sites and you'll see a LOT of people with long, similar
> stories. Including ones that were bad right out of the box,
> or that were just 2 years old, went through the automatic
> testing every week, then died in an hour during real use.
Wow. Alot of people have had problems with Generac. I may need to
consider something else besides Generac. Perhaps Kohler or Briggs and
stratton. Or just forget a Gas Gen and go with a portable to power
refrigerator, freezer, TV and computer. Install gas logs in the fire
place for heat.
HeyBub wrote:
> Arnie Goetchius wrote:
>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural
>> gas generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle
>> refrigerator, freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some
>> lights but not
>> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
>> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator
>> and a plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet
>> from the electric breaker box and the gas line.
>> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the
>> whole job and wonder what a package price might be for everything
>> that I described above?
>> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this
>> project.
>> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair
>> is done.
> I can understand why you would consider this a not-DIY project. You may be > overly complicating the basic requirement for a smidgen of electrical power.
> What you COULD do is:
> 1. Get an ordinary portable generator of the appropriate capacity.
> 2. Get a NG adaptor for that normally gasoline-powered unit.
> 3. Tap into your existing gas line with a detachable hose to the generator.
> 4. Add an interlock switch and input junction to your existing breaker-box.
> The only item that might generate an unconsionable cost is having a > certified, licensed, and unionized plumber to attach a suitable "T" and > valve for the NG connection.
> As an even cheaper alternative is to score a pile of gas cans. When a storm > is imminent, get them ALL filled. For a local outage, say a car knocks down > a pole in the next block, one five-gallon can should be enough to get you > started; you can fill other cans, from a station two blocks, away while the > generator is working on the first.
Yes, I am considering just going with a portable and a pile of gas cans
and plenty of Sta-Bil. Couple that with an interlockkit may be a
reasonable approach.
> HeyBub wrote:
> > Arnie Goetchius wrote:
> >> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural
> >> gas generator? I'm looking at a 6-7 KW generator to handle
> >> refrigerator, freezer, sump pump, gas furnace, computers, TV and some
> >> lights but not
> >> Air Conditioning. It looks like I need an electrician for installing a
> >> transfer box and outlet to the outside to connect to the generator
> >> and a plumber to hook up a gas line. Generator would be about 20 feet
> >> from the electric breaker box and the gas line.
> >> There are a number of companies here (Central NJ) that will do the
> >> whole job and wonder what a package price might be for everything
> >> that I described above?
> >> This may be a DIY for many people but DIY is not for me for this
> >> project.
> >> I would do this in the Spring after all of the work on Sandy repair
> >> is done.
> > I can understand why you would consider this a not-DIY project. You may be
> > overly complicating the basic requirement for a smidgen of electrical power.
> > What you COULD do is:
> > 1. Get an ordinary portable generator of the appropriate capacity.
> > 2. Get a NG adaptor for that normally gasoline-powered unit.
> > 3. Tap into your existing gas line with a detachable hose to the generator.
> > 4. Add an interlock switch and input junction to your existing breaker-box.
> > The only item that might generate an unconsionable cost is having a
> > certified, licensed, and unionized plumber to attach a suitable "T" and
> > valve for the NG connection.
> > As an even cheaper alternative is to score a pile of gas cans. When a storm
> > is imminent, get them ALL filled. For a local outage, say a car knocks down
> > a pole in the next block, one five-gallon can should be enough to get you
> > started; you can fill other cans, from a station two blocks, away while the
> > generator is working on the first.
> Yes, I am considering just going with a portable and a pile of gas cans
> and plenty of Sta-Bil. Couple that with an interlockkit may be a
> reasonable approach.- Hide quoted text -
> - Show quoted text -
A pile of gas cans is not a small problem. Even with stabilizer
added, it only lasts so long. How long depends
on how lucky you feel. So, you still have a bunch of gas
cans to manage. You can also siphon it out of your cars,
but that's no fun either. I'd probably go with a natural gas
portable. I've seen 5KW or so ones for $2,000 with a
Honda Engine. You could also get a conversion kit and
a gasoline generator and make one yourself for about
half that. Some kits allow use of 3 fuels and you can
switch back and forth between gasonline, propane, nat
gas. Overall, one of those approaches sound better
than a Generac standby to me.
Regarding Interlockit, folks on here have used them.
If you're planning on using one and having it inspected,
I'd check with the inspector. I've seen other discussion
threads where the issue of UL lisiting comes up.
Apparently they are not UL listed and some inspectors
might reject it. The other
solution would be to get a new cover panel from the
manufacturer with interlock attached, if available.
On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:47:57 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
<arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote in <k85u8d$mu...@dont-email.me>
Re Re: Installation Cost of Nat Gas Generator?:
>CRNG wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:28:02 -0500, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote
>> in <lkcba8ttqv36arqea0oq935sfcqb48o...@4ax.com> Re Re: Installation
>> Cost of Nat Gas Generator?:
>>> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:22:56 -0500, Arnie Goetchius
>>> <arnie.goetch...@invalid.domain> wrote:
>>>> How much should I figure in my budget for installation of a natural gas
>>>> generator?
>>> $65 to $75 an hour around here.
>> NJ is all union all the time, so $150 to $250 per hour in NJ.
>> If it was me, I would skip the xfer switch and just use extension
>> cords. You seldom get outages lasting more than an hour right?
>Sandy was 11 days, Irene was 4 days and the October 2011 snow storm was
>3 days. I can live with an outage of a couple of hours and would not
>install a generator for that.
Ok, I didn't realize you got hit that bad/often (other than Sandy), so
you will need a xfer switch. I myself would still try to avoid the
built-in solution and go with a portable solution if possible. Built
in gets expensive.
>Ok, I didn't realize you got hit that bad/often (other than Sandy), so
>you will need a xfer switch.
I was determined to forego the transfer switch because outages
were infrequent.
That lasted about three years. Now I'm sick of fooling around
with extension cords - usually in the dark in inclement weather.
Fee to install on the transfer switch is going to be about $250.
I kind of went nuts on the switch. Got one with automatic
load-shedding capability to help with my dinky little 2kw
gennie... so it's costing me about $350 from B&H Photo.
Bottom line looks like about $600.... assuming I continue to
forgo the outside plug...
-- Pete Cresswell
On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:21:24 -0800 (PST), "trad...@optonline.net"
<trad...@optonline.net> wrote in
<294a8a5a-c43a-4dea-8bf2-546838fc0...@c17g2000yqe.googlegroups.com> Re
Re: Installation Cost of Nat Gas Generator?:
>A pile of gas cans is not a small problem. Even with stabilizer
>added, it only lasts so long. How long depends
>on how lucky you feel. So, you still have a bunch of gas
>cans to manage. You can also siphon it out of your cars,
>but that's no fun either. I'd probably go with a natural gas
>portable. I've seen 5KW or so ones for $2,000 with a
>Honda Engine. You could also get a conversion kit and
>a gasoline generator and make one yourself for about
>half that. Some kits allow use of 3 fuels and you can
>switch back and forth between gasonline, propane, nat
>gas. Overall, one of those approaches sound better
>than a Generac standby to me.
OP: just remember that when burning NG or propane in a gasoline
generator, that the generator will only produce about 80% of the rated
power because the NG/propane has about 20% less energy per unit volume
compared to gasoline.
> I kind of went nuts on the switch. Got one with automatic
> load-shedding capability to help with my dinky little 2kw
> gennie... so it's costing me about $350 from B&H Photo.
Sounds like a great idea, which switch is that? What I found on B&H was an APC switch that was more designed for computer backup it seemed
> A pile of gas cans is not a small problem. Even with stabilizer
> added, it only lasts so long. How long depends
> on how lucky you feel. So, you still have a bunch of gas
> cans to manage. You can also siphon it out of your cars,
> but that's no fun either. I'd probably go with a natural gas
> portable. I've seen 5KW or so ones for $2,000 with a
> Honda Engine. You could also get a conversion kit and
> a gasoline generator and make one yourself for about
> half that. Some kits allow use of 3 fuels and you can
> switch back and forth between gasonline, propane, nat
> gas. Overall, one of those approaches sound better
> than a Generac standby to me.
There's another strategy that mitigates the problem of managing gas cans.
Have ONE five-gallon can full of gas and ten or more empty ones.
If you have a local outage - say a pole gets knocked down - the five gallons should provide enough slack such that you can fetch more from a station outside the black-out zone.
If, on the other hand, wide-spread outage is possible, such as the warnings over Sandy or a hurricane entering the Gulf, you'll have ample warning to fill all the cans you have.
> >Ok, I didn't realize you got hit that bad/often (other than Sandy), so
> >you will need a xfer switch.
> I was determined to forego the transfer switch because outages
> were infrequent.
> That lasted about three years. Now I'm sick of fooling around
> with extension cords - usually in the dark in inclement weather.
> Fee to install on the transfer switch is going to be about $250.
> I kind of went nuts on the switch. Got one with automatic
> load-shedding capability to help with my dinky little 2kw
> gennie... so it's costing me about $350 from B&H Photo.
> Bottom line looks like about $600.... assuming I continue to
> forgo the outside plug...
> --
> Pete Cresswell
> > I kind of went nuts on the switch. Got one with automatic
> > load-shedding capability to help with my dinky little 2kw
> > gennie... so it's costing me about $350 from B&H Photo.
It would seem to me to be a better strategy to spend
$75 on an interlock for the main panel and the other $275
on a bigger generator. Automatic load shedding and
a 2KW generator does not compute in my world
>It would seem to me to be a better strategy to spend
>$75 on an interlock for the main panel and the other $275
>on a bigger generator. Automatic load shedding and
>a 2KW generator does not compute in my world
I got the small gennie with the idea of "Lifeboat" vs "Cruise
Ship": low gas consumption, easy to transport to somebody else
who might need it, and so-forth.
Experience so far indicates that 2kw is enough to get by on,
although that's without the furnace in the picture.
Push-comes-to-shove, I'll get a second 2k and parallel them.
But the automatic load shedding would seem to extend the range of
a small unit bc you can hang stuff on it that would otherwise
cause repeated breaker trips due to startup surges. With
automatic load shedding, my understanding is that whole circuits
are gracefully de-powered and then powered up again as capacity
permits.
Case in point would be refrigerators and freezers.
Supposedly the panel's load shedding can be prioritized. My hope
is that it can be set up so that when a refrigerator and or
freezer needs a startup surge that would be otherwise
unavailable, the panel can shut down, for instance, the circuit
servicing the computer room/LAN closet (both of which have their
own UPS) long enough for the refrigerator and/or freezer to get
started.
Just found out that B&H has me back-ordered on the panel, so all
this is speculation.
