Stop hemming and hawing, just be a man and do it

AJ02 said:

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Yeah, not sure I want to take the risk on a new $25k AC system we just had installed less than a year ago. Looking for a generator with low THD. Think I might've found a Westinghouse big enough that specifically stated THD <5%. It's not an inverter generator, but says it's good for sensitive electronics.

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Duromax has a 11kW and 16kW inverter generator with <5% THD

https://www.duromaxpower.com/collections/inverter-generators

11kW would be enough to run a house with a single 3 or 4 ton AC unit. You'll pay more for the inverter vs. standard genny, obviously.

TXTransplant said:

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AgLiving06 said:

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After the freeze, I got serious about my setup. It powers my whole house (4 ton ac with hard start). My brother has 2 ac's and his 12000 version just powered both on nat gas.

If I had to guess, this all in for me was $3500. The more handy you are the cheaper it could be done. I wanted to make sure everything was done right and I have no desire to mess with electrical.

Setup
Duromax 13000EH (with conversion to tri-fuel). They now offer a tri-fuel 13,000kw.
50A interlock
3/4 inch nat gas line
Quick connect on the natural gas meter for the house to connect to.
50A RV connection from my generator to the interlock
Whole home surge protector
I also have ~120 lbs of propane and 3- 5 gallon gas cans.

The primary upside of the tri-fuel over a whole home generator is the fuel flexibility and cost. If for some reason natural gas hit a pinch point, you have other alternatives.

The primary downside is you have to set it up yourself which during a big storm could mean waiting a bit.

There was concern expressed about THD. This is from Duromax website:

Quote:

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DuroMax portable generators will output an industry standard total harmonic distortion (THD) rating of about 12%-20% depending on load applied. They will produce a sine wave, not a modified or square wave. This is perfectly acceptable for running common commodities found in your home such as TVs, computers, your appliances, etc.

THD is a measure of the deviation of a sine wave from a "perfect" sine wave. All electricity, including power company electricity, has measurable THD.

If you have a specific item that requires less than 5% THD such as a UPS style battery backup, a pellet stove, or high efficiency furnace control board, we recommend purchasing a DuroMax Inverter Generator that provides a less than 5% THD.

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An inverter currently doesn't have tri-fuel options (not sure if it can be added), and it's quite a bit more expensive, but if you have a real sensitive equipment that you must use during an outage, that's the best option. You can just plan to spend an extra thousand or 2.

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This is exactly what we are doing. My BF bought his last summer on a tax free weekend. I just bought one today, and they are on sale for $1799 (with tax, it's slightly cheaper than what he paid).

Have an electrician lined up to do the wiring for $300 per house. He's a procrastinator and hasn't finished out the install. I mentioned to him the other day that he better get on it, given the predictions for hurricane season. So he got on my case again about buying one of my own.

I want mine plumbed into my natural gas line (haven't got a quote for that, yet). My BF has used his with propane.

My issue is I don't want to have to be moving it, so I want a little "dog house" to keep it outside and have it be protected. I'm not sure this is a great idea (mainly because Houston heat and humidity is so brutal), but we've been brainstorming ideas.

I don't have a soft start, so I don't know that I'd run my A/C. BF seems to think if things are sequenced properly I could run it. But my main interest is being able to run the fridge/freezer, have working lights and outlets in my bathroom, and run some ceiling fans.

I grew up on the MS Gulf Coast with no central heat and air until I was a teenager. The power outage during the freeze was way worse for me than being without A/C in the summer.

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I'm out near The Woodlands, can you share the electrician's info. I've called a few with no call back. If you don't want to share here, you can email me at my username@Gmail.com. Thanks!

Let me get the contact info from my BF and I'll email you. I won't see him until later tonight.

My coworker told me about a Facebook group that has a bunch of Houston people who post info about this. I'll share that too. Lots of helpful info about electricians, plumbers, and enclosures (not sure if it's been shared already).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1716967438485868/

Booked my appointment for the interlock install so I can run most of the house off my F-150

Just got a quote from Generator Supercenter for a 22kW. ~$15k installed. That includes extra gas line and a thicker concrete pad.

8-10 week lead time on install.

TXTransplant said:

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Let me get the contact info from my BF and I'll email you. I won't see him until later tonight.

My coworker told me about a Facebook group that has a bunch of Houston people who post info about this. I'll share that too. Lots of helpful info about electricians, plumbers, and enclosures (not sure if it's been shared already).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1716967438485868/

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Thanks. I'll find one in there. Appreciate it!

Got a DuroMax 13k tri-fuel, 10 circuit transfer kit, 50 kA whole home surge protector, genny extension cord, and cover for ~$2600 OTD from Home Depot. Just can't justify >$15k for a system that's only benefit is auto-start when I work 10 minutes from the house.

We're going to do the same, for the exact same reason. I'm a little nervous about potentially damaging my AC units running on the generator - does the whole home surge protector help against that?

ETA I'm looking at the 15,000 Duro max Tri, and planning to run on natural gas.

jenn96 said:

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We're going to do the same, for the exact same reason. I'm a little nervous about potentially damaging my AC units running on the generator - does the whole home surge protector help against that?

ETA I'm looking at the 15,000 Duro max Tri, and planning to run on natural gas.

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Same on the NG. I may look at a soft start if needed, but the DuroMax is supposed to be a "cleaner" current (although not a true invertor generator) from everything I've read.

P.H. Dexippus said:

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For those planning to run on nat gas, make sure you size the hose correctly. Most need 3/4" or even 1" supply lines if over 20'. Seems like a lot of people try to power large generators on 3/8" or 1/2" hoses.

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The DuroMax comes with a 3/4" nat gas hose.

Looks like the price went up from $1799 to $1999 (still on sale from $2499). I wonder if that's because so many people are ordering.

Mine is somewhere in Spring. Hoping to get it today.

Some women spend $2k on a designer purse; I spend $2k on a generator.

The 15000 Duromax comes with a 3/4. We might look at replacing it with a 1".

Our gas meter is across the entire yard from the breaker box. Is the meter where the gas line quick connects to the hose?

Any risk running a window unit on one of these? I'm only going to power my garage apartment and a couple circuits in the house. What size generator do you reckon I would need for that? Garage apt has window unit, fridge, induction cooktop and the rest of the regular stuff. Will power the fridge in the house as well.

Got my Duromax today. Some delivery info, if you order directly from them:

They do send tracking info via email. I ordered on the 26th, and it was in Houston on the 29th. But I didn't get anymore shipping/location updates after the 30th at 12:55 am, if I checked tracking via the email they sent me.

I did have a tracking number, so I went to the shipper's website (RL Carriers) and entered the number there. That website said it would be delivered today (June 4). So, it sat in Houston for 5 days before they delivered it. I don't know if that's because they have so many deliveries, don't deliver on weekends, or some combination thereof.

I opted to WFH today so I could be here when they delivered. I heard some noise outside, so I put up the garage door. Sure enough, the generator was right outside the garage, and the truck driver was closing up the truck. I asked him if he could put it in the garage, and he said he'd already put his equipment away.

He didn't even knock or ring the doorbell to see if anyone was home.

The generator comes on a pallet, in a box that clearly identifies what it is.

I managed to shimmy it inside my garage using a small dolly to get it up over the garage lip, but it was not easy.

The shipping confirmation email from Duromax still isn't updated past May 30.

Don't remember the carrier but we ordered a bathroom vanity from Bed, Bath, and Beyond...yes you can still buy from them...and that's how they handled it.

My wife was home all day, didn't ring the doorbell, knock, anything. Wheeled it up the driveway and left it there on the pallet.

Do they at least put it at the front of the driveway so it's not super easy for someone driving down the street to see it and stop and grab it?

My garage is front facing, so it was clearly visible from the street. Obviously, someone would have to drive by to see it, and I don't have through-traffic. But I didn't want to risk leaving it out.

Lady was selling a BNIB 12k watt Westinghouse dual fuel generator for less than half price on marketplace and I missed it by 5 minutes. Dammit boy.

Usually I would be in agreement, but there were some things that led me to believe otherwise. I always dog around before I buy something from marketplace. Just a little old lady who didn't know how much something was worth.

There are pros and cons to every setup. During the last storm, one of our neighbor's trees blew over and ripped out the nat gas line. It was ~3 days before the gas utility company could repair the nat gas line. This would have made a whole house generator useless. I hadn't considered this a possibility and it is highly unlikely to happen again. The potential pressure issue mentioned above that would result if a lot of homes are using whole house generators is an interesting consideration...

I had an electrician install a transfer switch and an exterior receptacle to plug the cord from the generator into. I bought a large portable generator that would run everything in the house that I needed it to, but it weighed 210+ lbs.. Not a problem for me to set up, but not ideal for my family if I was out of town. Also, it had a THD rating of <23%. Lights in our house seemed to get brighter and dimmer without a generator load change. I was concerned about the impact it may have on our electronics and appliances.

I sold the large portable generator and replaced if with a couple dual fuel 4500W inverter generators and a parallel kit. Cost effective, but somewhat of a pain to set up in inclement weather.

Got the interlock kit and breaker installed yesterday for $471

Power out in oak first section 1 for some reason.

Glad I have the interlock set up. This is the 4th time I've used the generator since and including the derecho. Need to try a soft start kit on the ac. Keep getting reminded to do it…

htxag09 said:

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Power out in oak first section 1 for some reason.

Glad I have the interlock set up. This is the 4th time I've used the generator since and including the derecho. Need to try a soft start kit on the ac. Keep getting reminded to do it…

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Definitely get the soft start. Put one on my 4 ton unit last weekend, and took it from 109 starting amps down to 26.

TXAG 05 said:

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htxag09 said:

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Power out in oak first section 1 for some reason.

Glad I have the interlock set up. This is the 4th time I've used the generator since and including the derecho. Need to try a soft start kit on the ac. Keep getting reminded to do it…

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Definitely get the soft start. Put one on my 4 ton unit last weekend, and took it from 109 starting amps down to 26.

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Quick math says that should allow my generator to run it. Using the ford powerboost with 7200 watts. Shows what's being drawn and I've never been over 2500 watts. Well once, but just cause we were using the oven.

Sea Speed said:

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Got the interlock kit and breaker installed yesterday for $471

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Nice, I want to do the same. Would you mind sharing the contact info for the electrician who did the work?

HeightsAg said:

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Sea Speed said:

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Got the interlock kit and breaker installed yesterday for $471

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Nice, I want to do the same. Would you mind sharing the contact info for the electrician who did the work?

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Unfortunately that won't be helpful as I'm well outside of your area.

AJ02 said:

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The Wonderer said:

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jenn96 said:

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We're going to do the same, for the exact same reason. I'm a little nervous about potentially damaging my AC units running on the generator - does the whole home surge protector help against that?

ETA I'm looking at the 15,000 Duro max Tri, and planning to run on natural gas.

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Same on the NG. I may look at a soft start if needed, but the DuroMax is supposed to be a "cleaner" current (although not a true invertor generator) from everything I've read.

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If you have a variable speed AC, no need for a soft start. The ac essentially has a built in soft start bc it's variable.

As for the "clean" power, anything but an inverter generator doesn't guarantee low THD. Even with the non-inverter Duromax that says <5% THD, that's only on 50% load and if you call and ask for specifics or more details, Duromax can't provide anything. So I'm not sure I would trust it.

I'm not taking the risk on our AC. Looking at a true inverter generator to run it.

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Your other option is to get a big inverter that you hook you generator too, then let it clean up the power for you before feeding it into your house.

Not a lot of tri-fuel inverter generators out there with enough power and the inverter capability.

Some of the newer inverters available for off grid solar applications are impressive. The hybrid inverters can take in solar + generator or utility power (or just generator power), and push it all into your breaker panel at the same time. Probably not worth it unless you wanted some sort of solar capacity, but you could do all that and still be way less than a whole home NG setup.

My office has a massive NG generator. During the derecho, it decided it needed a firmware update and was down for 3 days. Neighbors failed too. Those are anomalies, but nothing is perfect. I like the interchangeability of portables personally. I'm ok having to be thoughtful about what loads I power at the same time to save 5 figures, but that's just me.

We ended up ordering the new Duromax 16000 inverter generator. Only dual fuel: gasoline or propane. But that's fine, because our NG hookup would be so far from our breaker box (at least 100' straight line) that makes it cost prohibitive for us to have them extend it from one side of our property to the other side of our detached garage.

So now I'm going to start researching propane tanks and delivery options. Thinking a couple of 120 lb tanks, but not sure if I want to invest and buy them outright, or just rent and have a propane delivery service come refill as needed. I wouldn't be able to load them up myself to take them somewhere to refill.

120lb propane tank will run that generator for a day at most, I just can't see a scenario where propane makes sense unless you have one of those big ass country tanks on your property

My plan is to replace my gasoline only with a tri fuel and have a 50' gas line and 50' power cable to split the difference as I have the same issue of power and gas being far away

terradactylexpress said:

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My plan is to replace my gasoline only with a tri fuel and have a 50' gas line and 50' power cable to split the difference as I have the same issue of power and gas being far away

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+1

RV extension cords ain't cheap, but they are cheaper than running 100' of gas line. Just account for voltage drop on long extension cords.

I have this hose (3/4 in and 50 feet). It's excellent:
https://ab3power.com/natural-gas-hose-with-quick-disconnect-kit/

Edit: When I had my plumber install the nat gas connection on my meter, he added the quick connect on + the connector to my generator.


This is the 50amp RV cable. I've been happy with it as well. I have the 25 foot one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RG5RF6K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I can be up and running in less than 5 minutes from the time the weather lets me outdoors.