Re: Whole house generators (slightly OT)

["BruceR" <razrbruce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

That's exactly what I have now, 6250 watts feeding a 6 breaker transfer
panel but I want to be able to run AC and more things as well.  It looks
like this endeavor will cost around $12,000 but with the frequency of
problems that our antiquated power company has, I think it's worth it.

 SC wrote:
> By using a manual transfer panel you do not have to power all your
> loads at once.  We have a small (5000w) generator which can run some
> lights and refrigerator OR some lights and our well pump.  During an
> outage, when we want to use water, we just turn off the fridge
> breaker and turn on the pump breaker for a little while.  It's not
> great but we get by with a much smaller generator.  By the way, the
> National Electrical Code allows you to do this as long as it is a
> manual transfer.  An automatic one becomes "emergency" standby power
> so the generator has to be capable of powering all of the loads
> simultaneously.
> Boy! 35000w would be nice!
> SC
>
>
> "BruceR" <razrbruce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:RR6Zg.13181$gU6.10463@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Enduring Sunday's 6.5 earthquake was no big deal... I only lost one
>> picture window.  The real hassle was being without power for 16 muggy
>> hours.  If that happened very rarely I'd be happy with my little
>> 6000 watt Costco special that runs the reefers and a few lights.
>> However, Hawaiian Electric Company's newest generator is 30 years
>> old and they just haven't kept pace with growth on the island. That
>> results in ever more frequent outages lasting up to 30 hours
>> (recently). So, I think it's time for big honkin' generator to serve
>> the whole
>> house. I've been looking at the Generac line and I'm considering a
>> 35,000 watt unit to serve my 200amp home.  I'd appreciate any info
>> or suggestions that any of you have to offer.  I'd like to run it
>> off Natural gas with LP gas as a backup.