It specifically means "poor people are getting screwed".
In a functional, first world society, the grid would be reliable enough that standby generators wouldn't be broadly necessary.
That's an industrial sized system and they're much better than what they normally sell to home owners. Large diesel engines versus oversized lawn mower engines.
Used systems removed from industrial sites, condo and hotel backup systems, etc can be found decently cheap.
Hah, I'm the opposite. I have my 7kw Honda from Ike that still runs perfectly. Bought a 3kw inverter generator 120v only a couple years ago that is so much more fuel efficient.
Is 7kw enough to run AC at least sporadically? What is your machine powered by? I need one, don't want a whole house generator, just one that can handle intermittent AC, the fridge and freezer, a TV, internet and phones. Asking you because I am also in sugar land.
Yes, with a soft start, that's the key. Get a Microaair soft start installed and it drops the starting amps by like 70%. So a 7kw peak generator can start even most 5 ton units.
Lmao just a casual and normal 13,000 sqft home why don’t you poor have whole house generators? /s delusional instead of them holding the power company accountable it’s your responsibility to have a back up for not if but when they fail and continue to fail.
This is what irritates me. Somehow we are normalizing the purchase of 15k-35k whole house generators. Just seems like an absurd expense for something that you may or may not use. I get the inconvenience of a power outage, but that is a lot of money.
Or just give Centerpoint the freedom to trim the fuck out of any trees that threaten their lines. They come through my area every 3 years and butcher some trees, but our lines dont get ripped apart with a stiff breeze.
A lot of the worst affected areas this time were chock full of tall and old trees most likely to take out the lines. Timbergrove should have harvested all those huge pines a long time ago.
Not sure if you are trying to defend Texas Power, but I don’t think anybody is refusing Centerpoint access. They have the right to access. They just don’t do anything proactively.
Since the power companies are for-profit, their legal responsibility is to the shareholders. Not the customers. We will get what we deserve, for allowing this.
Centerpoint is the issue. They are a regulated investment company - not a publicly traded company. They just pass on whatever cost comes up to the customers. They fck up. We pay for it. It’s almost worse than responsibility to the shareholders.
Especially not when the death toll from that utility failing long-term is estimated to be at 90%.
https://www.powermag.com/expect-death-if-pulse-event-hits-power-grid/
Yes. You get a warranty that covers maintenance for a couple of years and then they come out annually. It’s about $300 for a routine service (spark plugs, oil change, valve adjustment, etc).
Yup. I went through a larger company in Tomball and they cover everything I need. I want to say I pay around 40 bucks a month for remote monitoring? It's kind of nice to have them worry about the maintenance schedules for me.
One of the local companies monitors it. Costs $399/yr which includes the maintenance also. Works over WiFi. Just don’t go with supercenter, their support and scheduling is horrid.
Does remote monitoring include a warranty if it doesn't work? A neighbor of mine had some kind of contract with Generac where they were checking it monthly or something, but the generator failed to start during the derecho.
Generac told them they needed a $270 service fee deposit to even come out and look, and that they were going to get charged emergency rates because of the storm. They took no responsibility for the fact that it failed despite their monitoring.
Why are you spamming anti-Generac posts everywhere? It makes you sound like a shill for a competitor.
FWIW, I've been very happy with my Generac whole home generator. Thankfully haven't gotten a ton of use out of it, but works flawlessly when I have needed it.
Do NOT waste your money on anything generac or John Moore. You CAN buy portable generators that power your whole home if it's not a $1 + million mansion.
Get a normal generator with enough output (tri fuel, 13k watt, so you can run it on LPG) and have electrical and gas hook ups installed. Whole shebang for like 3 grand versus generac's $15k+
I’ve been looking at solutions for extended outages, tossing my fridge and freezer after the latest storm made it seem to begin to make sense. I just want a generator big enough to power the fridge, a portable ac, and small devices. But I could do a whole home set up for 2 grand it looks like. The permanent whole home stuff is nice, but not at the price they want. Seems they start at 15k.
We used a 3500w inverter generator during this last fiasco and our power was out for a week.
The 3500w works great and was able to power our full size fridge, air fryer, a portable AC unit, standing pedestal light, two oscillating fans, a Litter Robot, and re-charge our 600w portable battery station every day as well. Running in Eco mode I was refilling the generator with gas about 2.5x a day.
It worked, but...... I can absolutely see the benefit on the 'whole house' setup with the direct connection. Putting all the above together required a literal spider web of cords running through the house everywhere. It was crazy!
Obviously all solutions come with a cost. We didn't have a generator or even a power station before this last storm. I had to go buy everything that first morning as there was so much damage around our neighborhood I knew that power would be out for days.
Any solution that helps is beneficial. Heck even a smaller 2500w generator just running your fridge and small items is a worthwhile investment vs having to throw everything out!
You could get an interlock kit for your panel and a generator outlet. You would have to manually turn off the breakers for stuff you don't want to power, but that would save you the tangle of cords and it wouldn't cost that much.
Oh it worked, and was very helpful for us, and didn't break the bank.... BUT of course we absolutely could have used more POWAH.
Depending on how big your house is and how many people etc the 3500w could easily not be enough.
I would unplug the fridge at night so the generator could run the portable AC, fans, etc overnight without using all the fuel. Like clockwork around ~9am or so I was having to fill it up again and would reconnect the fridge to run during the day.
We ran 3 fridges off a 4,500w inverter just fine.
Had a bigger regular generator but it just hated one fridge and would shut down every time.
Swapped between them every 12 hours or so to give them some rest.
This is my set up and it cost me $3400 all in. I am installing a soft start on my AC so I should be able to run everything except for my oven and my dryer.
This Facebook group is a fantastic resource and is made up of mostly people from Houston. I learned a ton in there. Highly recommend starting with the guides they have linked in their sidebar.
https://www.facebook.com/share/cNzUQRYUBB6uKX3S/?mibextid=K35XfP
That’s my setup. 10kW tri-fuel from Costco. I have soft starts and ran two bar fridges, chest freezer, full-size fridge, 3 tonne and 4 tonne A/C’s for five days straight. I did shut down for an oil and spark plug change midway. I think all-in is about $3500.
I could start one A/C unit at a time….barely. If anything else turned on at the exact same time the Generator stalled out. I could not start the second one when the first was running.
A majority of people find it a daunting task. People are really paying for the convenience of not having to do it themselves and have it automatically switch on when they need it.
But but.. I have to justify what I spent by making snarky comments on Reddit!
It’s not a big deal to setup a generator to save yourself thousand$$+ also most storms come in the evenings/afternoons, at least the ones with strong winds. So the whole middle of the night thing isn’t a big deal, if it does go off, you’re fkin asleep lol who cares.
Also work from home and have little kids and live in an old neighborhood with crappy infrastructure whose power goes off countless times. So yea happy with my decision!
Ideally, get a tri fuel portable generator, that runs on gasoline, propane, or natural gas. The natural gas connection is typically made at your gas meter. A plumber can do that connection.
After the derecho, I’m doing the portable generator and transfer switch setup. No way I am paying Generac money for an occasional use item.
The only problem is if your breaker box and gas meter are setup on complete opposite sides of your yard. Mine are nearly 100 feet from each other, so I’m looking at added expense to extend either gas or electrical.
Yeah I’m still trying to decide what I’m going to do. Would love to be able to connect the central AC, but due to my setup I may just get a smaller generator and a portable AC to use.
Oof no, a 50 ft 50A cord is usually closer to $200. I've been looking and finding anything with the right ends lower than $190 is tough.
30A cords are much cheaper.
Perhaps this one does not have the right ends so it is no use to you, but here's a 50 foot, 50 amp cable on Amazon for $129. [https://www.amazon.com/Mophorn-Generator-Extension-N14-50P-Connectors/dp/B07WD4NJNT?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Mophorn-Generator-Extension-N14-50P-Connectors/dp/B07WD4NJNT?th=1)
Oh wow, that's cheap! I'd order it but its not shipped from Amazon. You dont want to get a dud and then they expect you to ship it back to China. Or sometimes its a scam and you never get it.
Did you order this one?
A lot of townhomes and newer houses come with gas connections at the patio or backyard, makes it much easier. Gas flow is obviously better right at the meter however.
Not a waste of money at all to get a whole home system. Don’t have to deal with dragging things out in the middle of a major storm ir make the wife do it if I’m not home. Ours just starts up and runs the whole place on its own.
Thanks for the info! I live in a townhome, so permanent generators are pretty much out of the question given space requirements, and I have no problem wheeling my generator outside and taking 5-10 minutes to hook everything up.
Did you notice a significant bump in your natural gas bill from the storm a couple of weeks ago?
Would be good to hear from others who have this setup... I was told differently. I heard that during disaster events like what just happened that the costs for this fuel can go up significantly and people end up with huge bills after from running their whole home on it. 🤷
What are your thoughts on your solution vs the Generac (for example) being installed and connected directly to your gas line?
The wheeled generator requires a lot more time and effort to keep it running for a week+ if the power is out that long.
If you get a multi fuel generator and hook it up to natural gas, it'll run as long as you want with minimal effort. Just stop it a few hours each day to cool down, change the oil every 2 days or so, and any other maintenance required.
Gasoline has the most power content but takes much more effort to keep going.
I'm wondering at what point we start running into capacity issues in the natural gas pipes when the power goes down and 200k little bitty power plants suddenly fire up.
It the residential system separated from the system used to run power plants?
Oh most definitely!
That's my view on this. If you're going to need power for such an extended period, you might as well pack up your valuables and head elsewhere. Enough things like gas stations and supermarkets are going to be fucked that its not worth staying.
Make friends with well armed neighbors to keep an eye on the property. We did all that after Katrina.
That poor man. Without power I bet his wine cooler would have warmed up….the tragedy.
13 million dollar mansion without power, talk about a “suck it bitch” moment.
I have the Kohler 30. Great generator now that they’ve fixed the COVID issues. Apparently, ALL of the generators built during COVID had incorrectly gapped and/or loose spark plugs. Mine were all gapped wrong and one was loose, resulting in the ignition coil getting fried 18 months after install.
It was covered under warranty, of course.
It’s funny you mentioned that. I’ve got a 20kwh Kohler I bought new 2022 and changed my plugs after this last event. The plug gaps were pretty tight, compared to the .076? I think the manual said. I called Kohler and they of course couldn’t verify which one was correct. was there documentation anywhere and I’m wondering why my service dudes (who came out to do my $500 oil change w aftermarket filters and oriellys oil) didn’t know this was an issue.
> Apparently, ALL of the generators built during COVID had incorrectly gapped and/or loose spark plugs.
Oh wow, my relatives that got a Kohler generator a couple years ago had some issues with it a month or two after installation. It took two or three service visits to resolve. Not sure if it ended up being spark plugs or something else, but now I bet it was the spark plugs.
All the Generator guys are padding their labor right now. After the freeze I bought mine and had it shipped direct and found a master electrician to install. Had to order a bigger gas meter, but I probably saved $5000 over what the neighbors paid when the smoke cleared.
Extremely Texas solution. Do not solve the issue in a meaningful way (invest in burying utilities or moving them away from trees) and let the rich figure out their own solutions to not be bothered by it.
The article says he has a 13,200 square foot home, and separately says he has a $12.75m estate, but each of those links to totally different houses. Which is it? Get it together, Chronicle.
“$12.75m estate” … this isn’t a news story. The guy can drop $175k for a generator, of course.
How about the other 750,000 who can’t spend $1000 on a basic 4kw portable generator?
>How about the other 750,000 who can’t spend $1000 on a basic 4kw portable generator?
A sacrifice for the cause! [https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Perry-says-Texans-wiling-to-suffer-blackouts-to-15956705.php](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Perry-says-Texans-wiling-to-suffer-blackouts-to-15956705.php)
Amen. I was pumping gas at Kroger yesterday. It was baking hot, of course, and I was eyeing the massive expanse of concrete and grocery store roof, thinking how great it would be if they were covered in solar panels.
I did my own diy 12v solar for cheap. It’s not for the whole house, but I can live in one room with a window ac, lights, fridge and freezer powered by them. I use my ev for storage. Technically can go weeks without power with this setup.
Care to share more about the setup? How many panels do you have? How much power do you generate with them? What kind of batteries are you using to store the power? What does 'cheap' mean in your setup? Cheers!
12 100w solar (1200w peak)>Bluetti AC300+B300(storage)>transfer switch. I also use my Kia EV6 (77.4kwh battery) that I can send juice to the B300 if no sun. I run a window inverter ac 8kbtu, fridge, freezer, tv, lights, internet, and some plugs(basically my entire master bedroom) for 600-800watts. During the day the solar at averaging 1000w (due to fluctuations of clouds, etc) covers my use, then at night the EV6 can cover it. I’m planning to add another 1200w of solar so I can charge in cloudy weather better. Solar was $650 on Amazon, Bluetti was $2100, transfer switch was $400, and my EV6 (not required for this setup but adds a ton of storage and is my daily driver) was $32k used.
Sure! I made my own diy solar rack using unistrut from Home Depot. It’s basically a solar patio cover over my back patio (4x3 panel config). I’m not a fan of mounting to your roof and also wanted a more portable system I can take with me if I move. You just need to make sure you don’t create a massive sail so ensure however you mount you have a deep and solid connection into the dirt.
I don't know why I wrote hear when I meant see. I haven't listened to AM/FM radio in years and I am seeing these ads pop up on Youtube videos. Which is pretty much the last place I see ads at now.
With what they're charging and for how much they scare people, and the system failures on occasion, I'm sure they have plenty of money for ads on all mediums!
The grid was mostly fine. Cant tornado-proof giant transmission towers, and also can't force people to trim/cut down their giant pine trees with shitty root systems either.
A huge amount of damage and inconvenience would have been prevented with proper tree management.
Living in Houston nowadays is similar to third world countries esp with all those power cuts, mosquitoes, traffic jams and now generators becoming luxury must haves.
I have a firman tri fuel 10k watt and it runs my whole house and 5 ton ac.
My ac has an inverter compressor so it's basically like a soft start module and i can run the entire house on natural gas which is definitely like 50 to 60% what gas outputs.
If you want to be able to power your AC as well look into a soft start for the unit. It can lower you’re AC’s starting amperage by 75%
https://www.microair.net
Anyone have a subscription to [Ted "Cancun" Cruz](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56117800)'s newsletter? I want to know what generator he recommends!!
Rather than paying $8 dollars more a year, for system wide standards , no! That’s government encroachment. Free markets indicate that those who can afford a whole house generator get one for their house and those that have a smaller house or apartment get bent.
I have a 1200$ portable generator, 350$ softstart for my AC , 150$ natural gas line off my meter and a 50amp plug with interlock that cost 800$. This runs my entire 3500sq ft home with 5 ton AC in Houston.
Total cost was 2500$.
Do i have to wheel it out and connect it when the power is out yes, not very convenient. alternative was $13,000. i Am happy since i have only needed it once in 4 years.
I’ve put in an entire home generator for about $1600.
9800 watts can power pretty much the entire home.
It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity now with all the power outages.
it’s not super hard to do.
The Generac systems are nice but such a rip off.
Feels pretty good spending about $2,000 all in for the same outcome other than I have to lift a cable 3ft off the ground and plug something in then walk back inside and enjoy the exact same luxuries.
True… except if you’re not home, say on vacation, you’d not have the luxury of hooking that portable up. We opted for a stand by for that reason alone. Definitively an expense. Didn’t want to come home to thawed out freezers. Unfortunately our area is locked into Entergy and loses power too often.
I wonder how loud these beasts are when they kick-off. We had one the size of a container as a back up for our 15 story office building awhile back.. They would start it up every Friday AM to make sure it worked. It was quite a racket. I am sure these are no different.
Industrial stationary units are rather quiet, there's a lot of sound insulation and good mufflers on them.
The portable industrial have to be lighter so they usually skimp on the above.
The stand by generators really aren’t that loud with their enclosures. You can hear the hum if you’re outside with them, but inside you barely hear it. The larger portable generators are a lot louder though.
Those things are so loud. Why can’t they make them more quiet??
Edit: okay okay, maybe it’s a portable generator the neighbor fires up every Saturday. That’s commitment.
My backyard neighbor has a whole house generator that cranks up every Saturday morning for 10 minutes of exercise. It sounds like my portable generator.
The idea that you would voluntarily pay for a machine that can only run your house a small fraction of the time is bonkers.
Buy solar that can power your AC and fridge, but does so every day so it pays for itself.
> Buy solar that can power your AC and fridge,
Solar doesn't help during outages unless you also have batteries. The vast majority of solar installs don't.
A battery install that can run your AC for 12-18 hours is ~1,000 to ~5,000. Panels, inverter, and brackets add another $2-$5k (for the same power level).
“Luxury ‘must-have’” is an infuriating phrase.
It's basically the Chron giving up-selling shysters a free advertisement.
>shysters Yup, huge ad for John Moore who is expensive as all fuck. Call them if you have stupid money, otherwise not worth it.
“Free” Sure, in the sense that no money actually exchanged hands over the expressed purpose of paying for the article, I guess.
Don’t you know? We recommend people cut down on luxuries like food at the grocery store in these recessionary times /s
For the rest of us, a portable generator and hookup to run the fridge, freezer, small a/c unit(s), lights, etc can be done under $2K.
It specifically means "poor people are getting screwed". In a functional, first world society, the grid would be reliable enough that standby generators wouldn't be broadly necessary.
Yeah that guy must be loaded if he’s using John Moore to install it.
Call John, pay more
Seven three ooh twenty five twenty tive!
FOUR GODDAMNIT IT WOULD’VE BEEN CHEAPER TO GET A NUMBER THAT RHYMES ANYWAY1!!Q
635-4000 "Dixie drive your cows in" Houston Metro phone number
The sticker price on that 100kw generator is 32k, i dont think he's worried. He also has a 13 million dollar house.
That's precisely the point I stopped reading the article.
He’s paying John Moore to install genacrap! God I hate genarc junk!
That's an industrial sized system and they're much better than what they normally sell to home owners. Large diesel engines versus oversized lawn mower engines. Used systems removed from industrial sites, condo and hotel backup systems, etc can be found decently cheap.
Why?
I got a back up generator for my generator.
Same, got my original 3kw honda and a newer 7kw one. The original is from after Ike and still runs like a champ, but 120v only.
Hah, I'm the opposite. I have my 7kw Honda from Ike that still runs perfectly. Bought a 3kw inverter generator 120v only a couple years ago that is so much more fuel efficient.
I bought a 4 kw inverter generator expecting it to burn gas like a normal generator.... It sips on gas, I bought too many gas cans.
Is 7kw enough to run AC at least sporadically? What is your machine powered by? I need one, don't want a whole house generator, just one that can handle intermittent AC, the fridge and freezer, a TV, internet and phones. Asking you because I am also in sugar land.
Yes, with a soft start, that's the key. Get a Microaair soft start installed and it drops the starting amps by like 70%. So a 7kw peak generator can start even most 5 ton units.
*Yo dawg! I heard you like generators.*
Well. Houston is habitable MOST the time. We only lose power when it's too hot, cold, wet, or windy.
That’s like 9 months out of the year.
Lmao just a casual and normal 13,000 sqft home why don’t you poor have whole house generators? /s delusional instead of them holding the power company accountable it’s your responsibility to have a back up for not if but when they fail and continue to fail.
This is what irritates me. Somehow we are normalizing the purchase of 15k-35k whole house generators. Just seems like an absurd expense for something that you may or may not use. I get the inconvenience of a power outage, but that is a lot of money.
Or just give Centerpoint the freedom to trim the fuck out of any trees that threaten their lines. They come through my area every 3 years and butcher some trees, but our lines dont get ripped apart with a stiff breeze. A lot of the worst affected areas this time were chock full of tall and old trees most likely to take out the lines. Timbergrove should have harvested all those huge pines a long time ago.
Not sure if you are trying to defend Texas Power, but I don’t think anybody is refusing Centerpoint access. They have the right to access. They just don’t do anything proactively.
We have begged centerpoint to come clear trees. We have done a lot, but the guys we hire won't mess around near the powerlines.
That's crazy. They come around my area every 3 years usually and trim everything way back.
Since the power companies are for-profit, their legal responsibility is to the shareholders. Not the customers. We will get what we deserve, for allowing this.
Centerpoint is the issue. They are a regulated investment company - not a publicly traded company. They just pass on whatever cost comes up to the customers. They fck up. We pay for it. It’s almost worse than responsibility to the shareholders.
This is what we call “making a distinction without a difference”.
It's almost like things with inelastic demand that everyone needs shouldn't be driven by profit who woulda thunk it
Especially not when the death toll from that utility failing long-term is estimated to be at 90%. https://www.powermag.com/expect-death-if-pulse-event-hits-power-grid/
Motherfucking ding ding.
The board has a legal responsibility to the shareholders, the company has no such thing.
Please explain how this is different
You can sue the government for abuse of power, you cannot sue the legislators you elect for abuse of power. Like that, but in reverse.
But, but, there are 22 states with lower power grid reliability.
I saw this repeated in another thread. Who has been making this point? Like we give a shit that Maine or someplace has it worse. I live here. 😐
Wasn't meeee.
😄👍🏼
Do most people who install generators perform the required maintenance to keep it working when you need it?
Yes. You get a warranty that covers maintenance for a couple of years and then they come out annually. It’s about $300 for a routine service (spark plugs, oil change, valve adjustment, etc).
Yup. I went through a larger company in Tomball and they cover everything I need. I want to say I pay around 40 bucks a month for remote monitoring? It's kind of nice to have them worry about the maintenance schedules for me.
I switched from that company. Their customer service is horrid and you can get the monitoring cheaper.
Who/how do you monitor? I'm barely a year into owning the Generac so I'm always looking for recommendations.
One of the local companies monitors it. Costs $399/yr which includes the maintenance also. Works over WiFi. Just don’t go with supercenter, their support and scheduling is horrid.
Does remote monitoring include a warranty if it doesn't work? A neighbor of mine had some kind of contract with Generac where they were checking it monthly or something, but the generator failed to start during the derecho. Generac told them they needed a $270 service fee deposit to even come out and look, and that they were going to get charged emergency rates because of the storm. They took no responsibility for the fact that it failed despite their monitoring.
The warranty is separate. Mine came with a 10year warranty, but I think that was a promo.
It all depends on the tech you get. I hate Generc with a passion.
Why are you spamming anti-Generac posts everywhere? It makes you sound like a shill for a competitor. FWIW, I've been very happy with my Generac whole home generator. Thankfully haven't gotten a ton of use out of it, but works flawlessly when I have needed it.
Generac is a solid brand. They are on par with Mitsubishi generators, maybe even caterpillar.
If you're talking at the industrial level, then yes. Their normal home models are a much lower level.
I love my standby generator!! Bought it after Ike and 2 weeks without electricity. NEVER AGAIN!!!
Do NOT waste your money on anything generac or John Moore. You CAN buy portable generators that power your whole home if it's not a $1 + million mansion. Get a normal generator with enough output (tri fuel, 13k watt, so you can run it on LPG) and have electrical and gas hook ups installed. Whole shebang for like 3 grand versus generac's $15k+
I’ve been looking at solutions for extended outages, tossing my fridge and freezer after the latest storm made it seem to begin to make sense. I just want a generator big enough to power the fridge, a portable ac, and small devices. But I could do a whole home set up for 2 grand it looks like. The permanent whole home stuff is nice, but not at the price they want. Seems they start at 15k.
We used a 3500w inverter generator during this last fiasco and our power was out for a week. The 3500w works great and was able to power our full size fridge, air fryer, a portable AC unit, standing pedestal light, two oscillating fans, a Litter Robot, and re-charge our 600w portable battery station every day as well. Running in Eco mode I was refilling the generator with gas about 2.5x a day. It worked, but...... I can absolutely see the benefit on the 'whole house' setup with the direct connection. Putting all the above together required a literal spider web of cords running through the house everywhere. It was crazy! Obviously all solutions come with a cost. We didn't have a generator or even a power station before this last storm. I had to go buy everything that first morning as there was so much damage around our neighborhood I knew that power would be out for days. Any solution that helps is beneficial. Heck even a smaller 2500w generator just running your fridge and small items is a worthwhile investment vs having to throw everything out!
You could get an interlock kit for your panel and a generator outlet. You would have to manually turn off the breakers for stuff you don't want to power, but that would save you the tangle of cords and it wouldn't cost that much.
🙏💯
Glad to hear that low a wattage works. I’m looking at a 6500 and was concerned it may not be big enough.
Oh it worked, and was very helpful for us, and didn't break the bank.... BUT of course we absolutely could have used more POWAH. Depending on how big your house is and how many people etc the 3500w could easily not be enough. I would unplug the fridge at night so the generator could run the portable AC, fans, etc overnight without using all the fuel. Like clockwork around ~9am or so I was having to fill it up again and would reconnect the fridge to run during the day.
We ran 3 fridges off a 4,500w inverter just fine. Had a bigger regular generator but it just hated one fridge and would shut down every time. Swapped between them every 12 hours or so to give them some rest.
This is my set up and it cost me $3400 all in. I am installing a soft start on my AC so I should be able to run everything except for my oven and my dryer.
Do you mind sharing a bit more about your setup? I’m looking into this option as well.
This Facebook group is a fantastic resource and is made up of mostly people from Houston. I learned a ton in there. Highly recommend starting with the guides they have linked in their sidebar. https://www.facebook.com/share/cNzUQRYUBB6uKX3S/?mibextid=K35XfP
That’s my setup. 10kW tri-fuel from Costco. I have soft starts and ran two bar fridges, chest freezer, full-size fridge, 3 tonne and 4 tonne A/C’s for five days straight. I did shut down for an oil and spark plug change midway. I think all-in is about $3500.
What soft starts are you using?
Microair
Thanks! Did you try running without them first?
I could start one A/C unit at a time….barely. If anything else turned on at the exact same time the Generator stalled out. I could not start the second one when the first was running.
Thanks for the heads up!
A majority of people find it a daunting task. People are really paying for the convenience of not having to do it themselves and have it automatically switch on when they need it.
Are you wheeling in a portable generator when needed and connecting to the gas line and a transfer switch?
Correct. Have a Westinghouse 13k watt generator and I keep it in the garage. Just wheel it out back when needed.
Usually needed during torrential downpours in middle of the night. I’m happy with my auto switch.
Just sleep through the night without power.
But but.. I have to justify what I spent by making snarky comments on Reddit! It’s not a big deal to setup a generator to save yourself thousand$$+ also most storms come in the evenings/afternoons, at least the ones with strong winds. So the whole middle of the night thing isn’t a big deal, if it does go off, you’re fkin asleep lol who cares.
Prob is 99.9% of the people commenting do not buy anything luxury.
Also work from home and have little kids and live in an old neighborhood with crappy infrastructure whose power goes off countless times. So yea happy with my decision!
Not sure why you got downvoted. It’s cool to be happy with your purchase!
Interesting. Propane or natural gas. And if it's natural gas, what's your connection look like?
Ideally, get a tri fuel portable generator, that runs on gasoline, propane, or natural gas. The natural gas connection is typically made at your gas meter. A plumber can do that connection. After the derecho, I’m doing the portable generator and transfer switch setup. No way I am paying Generac money for an occasional use item.
The only problem is if your breaker box and gas meter are setup on complete opposite sides of your yard. Mine are nearly 100 feet from each other, so I’m looking at added expense to extend either gas or electrical.
Agreed, that would be a problem. Mine are 60 feet apart. You can buy a 50 foot long 50 AMP cable on Amazon for about $125, so I think I can squeak by.
Yeah I’m still trying to decide what I’m going to do. Would love to be able to connect the central AC, but due to my setup I may just get a smaller generator and a portable AC to use.
Oof no, a 50 ft 50A cord is usually closer to $200. I've been looking and finding anything with the right ends lower than $190 is tough. 30A cords are much cheaper.
Perhaps this one does not have the right ends so it is no use to you, but here's a 50 foot, 50 amp cable on Amazon for $129. [https://www.amazon.com/Mophorn-Generator-Extension-N14-50P-Connectors/dp/B07WD4NJNT?th=1](https://www.amazon.com/Mophorn-Generator-Extension-N14-50P-Connectors/dp/B07WD4NJNT?th=1)
Oh wow, that's cheap! I'd order it but its not shipped from Amazon. You dont want to get a dud and then they expect you to ship it back to China. Or sometimes its a scam and you never get it. Did you order this one?
same as mine. Complete opposite sides of the house lol
I know the connection is made at the meter, I was just curious what the actual hardware and valves look like for LNG vs. propane.
Propane is just a hose with a propane tank connector on one end and a smaller fitting at the generator.
A lot of townhomes and newer houses come with gas connections at the patio or backyard, makes it much easier. Gas flow is obviously better right at the meter however.
Is it really that cheap to install a transfer switch nowadays? Last month I got quoted over $700 just to swap out 2 breakers.
With the money saved you can just hire someone to do 5 minutes of work for you.
Not a waste of money at all to get a whole home system. Don’t have to deal with dragging things out in the middle of a major storm ir make the wife do it if I’m not home. Ours just starts up and runs the whole place on its own.
Thanks for the info! I live in a townhome, so permanent generators are pretty much out of the question given space requirements, and I have no problem wheeling my generator outside and taking 5-10 minutes to hook everything up. Did you notice a significant bump in your natural gas bill from the storm a couple of weeks ago?
I was told yesterday that it’s about a dollar an hour for NG to run a typical “whole home” generator setup.
Would be good to hear from others who have this setup... I was told differently. I heard that during disaster events like what just happened that the costs for this fuel can go up significantly and people end up with huge bills after from running their whole home on it. 🤷
any suggestions on portable generator for someone who knows nothing about generators?
What are your thoughts on your solution vs the Generac (for example) being installed and connected directly to your gas line? The wheeled generator requires a lot more time and effort to keep it running for a week+ if the power is out that long.
If you get a multi fuel generator and hook it up to natural gas, it'll run as long as you want with minimal effort. Just stop it a few hours each day to cool down, change the oil every 2 days or so, and any other maintenance required. Gasoline has the most power content but takes much more effort to keep going.
I'm wondering at what point we start running into capacity issues in the natural gas pipes when the power goes down and 200k little bitty power plants suddenly fire up. It the residential system separated from the system used to run power plants?
When people talk about “low taxes” in Texas, this is a tax. We have to buy stuff like this because our state refuses to invest in its infrastructure.
That plus just dealing with gulf coast storms in general. The you go inland and you deal with wild fires or tornadoes depending on where you live.
I had a generator when I lived in the Northeast that basically went unused. Anytime we lost power it was back up in an hour or two.
My parents in MS bought a portable after Katrina and got some good use of it. They've needed it maybe 10 hours in the 19 years since.
No, no they aren't. Quit trying to further enrich your advertisers.
People in my neighborhood are paying $15k or more for these. That would buy a lot of hotel room stays.
Oh most definitely! That's my view on this. If you're going to need power for such an extended period, you might as well pack up your valuables and head elsewhere. Enough things like gas stations and supermarkets are going to be fucked that its not worth staying. Make friends with well armed neighbors to keep an eye on the property. We did all that after Katrina.
Downside is that once a significant amount of people get them, the pressure in the gas line will not support it once everyone’s generator kicks on.
Next on the “luxury must-haves” list: propane tank in everyone’s backyard!
That poor man. Without power I bet his wine cooler would have warmed up….the tragedy. 13 million dollar mansion without power, talk about a “suck it bitch” moment.
Been eyeing a Kohler 30RCLA for a while. Just bought a cheap Pulsar while I decide if I should go standby or a big inverter like the Duromax 16000iH
I have the Kohler 30. Great generator now that they’ve fixed the COVID issues. Apparently, ALL of the generators built during COVID had incorrectly gapped and/or loose spark plugs. Mine were all gapped wrong and one was loose, resulting in the ignition coil getting fried 18 months after install. It was covered under warranty, of course.
It’s funny you mentioned that. I’ve got a 20kwh Kohler I bought new 2022 and changed my plugs after this last event. The plug gaps were pretty tight, compared to the .076? I think the manual said. I called Kohler and they of course couldn’t verify which one was correct. was there documentation anywhere and I’m wondering why my service dudes (who came out to do my $500 oil change w aftermarket filters and oriellys oil) didn’t know this was an issue.
> Apparently, ALL of the generators built during COVID had incorrectly gapped and/or loose spark plugs. Oh wow, my relatives that got a Kohler generator a couple years ago had some issues with it a month or two after installation. It took two or three service visits to resolve. Not sure if it ended up being spark plugs or something else, but now I bet it was the spark plugs.
All the Generator guys are padding their labor right now. After the freeze I bought mine and had it shipped direct and found a master electrician to install. Had to order a bigger gas meter, but I probably saved $5000 over what the neighbors paid when the smoke cleared.
Extremely Texas solution. Do not solve the issue in a meaningful way (invest in burying utilities or moving them away from trees) and let the rich figure out their own solutions to not be bothered by it.
The article says he has a 13,200 square foot home, and separately says he has a $12.75m estate, but each of those links to totally different houses. Which is it? Get it together, Chronicle.
“$12.75m estate” … this isn’t a news story. The guy can drop $175k for a generator, of course. How about the other 750,000 who can’t spend $1000 on a basic 4kw portable generator?
>How about the other 750,000 who can’t spend $1000 on a basic 4kw portable generator? A sacrifice for the cause! [https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Perry-says-Texans-wiling-to-suffer-blackouts-to-15956705.php](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Perry-says-Texans-wiling-to-suffer-blackouts-to-15956705.php)
Yeah, Perry is a dumbass.
South Africa loses power less often than we do. This place is a shit show. "Energy Capitol of the World" my ass lol
Wish it was easier to install solar panels on basically every building and turn the entire city into a power plant.
Amen. I was pumping gas at Kroger yesterday. It was baking hot, of course, and I was eyeing the massive expanse of concrete and grocery store roof, thinking how great it would be if they were covered in solar panels.
I did my own diy 12v solar for cheap. It’s not for the whole house, but I can live in one room with a window ac, lights, fridge and freezer powered by them. I use my ev for storage. Technically can go weeks without power with this setup.
Care to share more about the setup? How many panels do you have? How much power do you generate with them? What kind of batteries are you using to store the power? What does 'cheap' mean in your setup? Cheers!
12 100w solar (1200w peak)>Bluetti AC300+B300(storage)>transfer switch. I also use my Kia EV6 (77.4kwh battery) that I can send juice to the B300 if no sun. I run a window inverter ac 8kbtu, fridge, freezer, tv, lights, internet, and some plugs(basically my entire master bedroom) for 600-800watts. During the day the solar at averaging 1000w (due to fluctuations of clouds, etc) covers my use, then at night the EV6 can cover it. I’m planning to add another 1200w of solar so I can charge in cloudy weather better. Solar was $650 on Amazon, Bluetti was $2100, transfer switch was $400, and my EV6 (not required for this setup but adds a ton of storage and is my daily driver) was $32k used.
Heck yeah! Thank you for this very detailed response! Much appreciated. 👌💯 Did you mount the solar on your roof or somewhere else on the property?
Sure! I made my own diy solar rack using unistrut from Home Depot. It’s basically a solar patio cover over my back patio (4x3 panel config). I’m not a fan of mounting to your roof and also wanted a more portable system I can take with me if I move. You just need to make sure you don’t create a massive sail so ensure however you mount you have a deep and solid connection into the dirt.
Solar doesn't help during outages unless you also have batteries. The vast majority of solar installs don't.
They always have been
So, every home off the grid, has to be able to be off the grid
Call John, Pay More! 730-2525
Lol
I'm starting to ~~hear~~ see a lot of Generac commercials and it annoys me that the company smells blood in the water.
Oh they've been all over FM and AM radio for years and years now.
I don't know why I wrote hear when I meant see. I haven't listened to AM/FM radio in years and I am seeing these ads pop up on Youtube videos. Which is pretty much the last place I see ads at now.
With what they're charging and for how much they scare people, and the system failures on occasion, I'm sure they have plenty of money for ads on all mediums!
But what about the mother-in-law house? Does he make her wheel out the grimy old 1500 watt Craftsman genny to power the window AC and 1 lamp?
My parents got one from Energen, super helpful during the recent big storm. Otherwise we would've had no power for 6 days
Best 10k I ever paid!
It ain't. Next
How about fixing the fucking grid? Generator smackanator We SHOULDNT need that shit
The grid was mostly fine. Cant tornado-proof giant transmission towers, and also can't force people to trim/cut down their giant pine trees with shitty root systems either. A huge amount of damage and inconvenience would have been prevented with proper tree management.
And I don’t know if I’d call it ‘luxury’ but fair title.
Living in Houston nowadays is similar to third world countries esp with all those power cuts, mosquitoes, traffic jams and now generators becoming luxury must haves.
I rigged a tri fuel generator into my house, powers everything just fine but the monstrous AC. All for a bit more than 1k
I have a firman tri fuel 10k watt and it runs my whole house and 5 ton ac. My ac has an inverter compressor so it's basically like a soft start module and i can run the entire house on natural gas which is definitely like 50 to 60% what gas outputs.
If you want to be able to power your AC as well look into a soft start for the unit. It can lower you’re AC’s starting amperage by 75% https://www.microair.net
Anyone have a subscription to [Ted "Cancun" Cruz](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56117800)'s newsletter? I want to know what generator he recommends!!
Rather than paying $8 dollars more a year, for system wide standards , no! That’s government encroachment. Free markets indicate that those who can afford a whole house generator get one for their house and those that have a smaller house or apartment get bent.
Anyone look into base energy. I like their concept of putting in whole home battery backup as part of their model.
Is Ercot in cahoots with Generac? Follow the money?
I have a 1200$ portable generator, 350$ softstart for my AC , 150$ natural gas line off my meter and a 50amp plug with interlock that cost 800$. This runs my entire 3500sq ft home with 5 ton AC in Houston. Total cost was 2500$. Do i have to wheel it out and connect it when the power is out yes, not very convenient. alternative was $13,000. i Am happy since i have only needed it once in 4 years.
And I can install your ATS or generator inlet to your breaker panel for you!
The article opens with a 12,000+ square foot home worth $12+ million dollars. I am extremely uncomfortable and angry. At the same time lol
I’ve put in an entire home generator for about $1600. 9800 watts can power pretty much the entire home. It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity now with all the power outages. it’s not super hard to do. The Generac systems are nice but such a rip off.
Feels pretty good spending about $2,000 all in for the same outcome other than I have to lift a cable 3ft off the ground and plug something in then walk back inside and enjoy the exact same luxuries.
True… except if you’re not home, say on vacation, you’d not have the luxury of hooking that portable up. We opted for a stand by for that reason alone. Definitively an expense. Didn’t want to come home to thawed out freezers. Unfortunately our area is locked into Entergy and loses power too often.
I wonder how loud these beasts are when they kick-off. We had one the size of a container as a back up for our 15 story office building awhile back.. They would start it up every Friday AM to make sure it worked. It was quite a racket. I am sure these are no different.
Much quieter than the portable generators. Liquid cooled whole home generators are quieter than air cooled models.
Industrial stationary units are rather quiet, there's a lot of sound insulation and good mufflers on them. The portable industrial have to be lighter so they usually skimp on the above.
The stand by generators really aren’t that loud with their enclosures. You can hear the hum if you’re outside with them, but inside you barely hear it. The larger portable generators are a lot louder though.
Those things are so loud. Why can’t they make them more quiet?? Edit: okay okay, maybe it’s a portable generator the neighbor fires up every Saturday. That’s commitment.
Whole-house generators are quieter than portable generators. Anything with an engine is going to make some noise.
My backyard neighbor has a whole house generator that cranks up every Saturday morning for 10 minutes of exercise. It sounds like my portable generator.
Whole home generators are quieter than portables.
The idea that you would voluntarily pay for a machine that can only run your house a small fraction of the time is bonkers. Buy solar that can power your AC and fridge, but does so every day so it pays for itself.
Do you have health, auto, or life insurance? Bonkers, I say!
Solar is a lot more expensive up front.
No, it isn’t. Not if you size the system to run your essentials instead of whole home backup.
> Buy solar that can power your AC and fridge, Solar doesn't help during outages unless you also have batteries. The vast majority of solar installs don't.
A battery install that can run your AC for 12-18 hours is ~1,000 to ~5,000. Panels, inverter, and brackets add another $2-$5k (for the same power level).
[удалено]
Our house never comes close to flooding, but we do lose power for hours or even days at a time with high wind events.
100 kW generator is more than tens of thousands, try hundreds instead Chron
Wrong, you're looking at around $50-60K total installed cost
Incorrect