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WHOLE HOUSE GENERATOR WIND OR SOLAR ??


Bubo

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"Whole House" implies you wish to power the whole house. If you are contemplating Solar why not just switch the house over to solar.

 

Used existing Gen twice in 20 years....................Wish my power was that stable I had to get out of bed at 12am last night and start our gen. That powers the whole house and costs under 1K. I have to press a button to start it and throw 2 breakers (Make sure there's gas in the Gen of course

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Solar since 2012 it has more than paid for itself already, so I've got about 85-90% of my annual electricity now free. Frequent power outages, so a 6,500 watt generator and transfer switch that powers the essentials:

  • Beer cooler
  • Fridge
  • Beer cooler
  • HVAC
  • TV/Stereo on main floor
  • Beer cooler
  • Master Bedroom
  • Beer cooler
  • Basement Sump Pump
  • Well pump
  • Did I mention the Beer cooler?

Have thought about whole house generator but never pulled the trigger. We are on propane so any that do have whole house generator in our area go that route.

 

I don't get the title with OR in it. No matter your main flavor of electricity; Wind (is that even practical for personal use), Solar, Electric Company you either need a backup generator or sit in the dark. I suppose every state can be different but if it is bright and sunny and the power goes out, even with my solar panels I get nothing. There is a mechanism in line with the panels, invertor and meter from the elect. company that if it does not sense power available from the grid it cuts off the panels to the house. That way you don't end up sending excess electricity from the panels into the grid/lines while people are working to fix up stream. That was one of my biggest puzzles the first time power went out in the day time. WTF!?!? where is my electricity. If I were totally off the grid and had battery back up it would be different but I personally don't know anyone that does that yet. Battery technology is on its way but not quite there yet...unless money is no object.

 

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For residential use I would 100% recommend solar, grid tied. For backup power I'd go with a propane generator since a grid tied system will not provide power if the power goes out. Off grid systems are a whole different beast.

 

For the most part small scale wind turbines are finicky and unreliable. I'd only recommend one if someone has a strong wind resource and its mounted up on a tower above any obstructions.

 

Source = I've been working in the utility scale wind industry for 14 years.

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Electricity is still on here. Five natural gas heaters can be used for backup. If needed, my generator is a 10 hp that I have to hand start. I ordered a new carburetor last week-it will run, but not "perfectly". I have 300 ft of extension cord to keep the four houses on this end of the block's refrigerators & freezers going, if needed. I could build a fire in the fireplace, but I'm too lazy, lol.

SSH

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1 hour ago, RandyH000 said:

Solar is tricky in the Northern areas 

 

Depends...

 

While living in the Madison, Wisconsin area, had friends on the west side of town. They owned two acres of land and built their own house. Totally passive solar, just for heat. Twenty below outside? No problem, it would be 75-80 in the house. No fans, blowers, heat exchangers of any kind. Not even sure they had a generator for power outages. They did have a wood stove for he few days a winter when it stayed cloudy and the temp would start to drop in their house. They never used a full cord of wood per winter.

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8 minutes ago, Marvel said:

While living in the Madison, Wisconsin area, had friends on the west side of town. They owned two acres of land and built their own house. Totally passive solar, just for heat. Twenty below outside? No problem, it would be 75-80 in the house.

 

My house in Minneapolis had large picture windows on the south-facing wall of the living room. It could be -20°F outside, but if I opened the drapes it would be 80° in the living room.

 

The best part was that my audio system was in the living room.

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Their house looked rather traditional, but had triple glazed windows facing southwest. The floors in the living room and dining room, were 6 inches of concrete with slate on top. Easily heated the whole two story house. They added on a few years later and put in two large water columns to capture the BTUs.

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4 hours ago, ssh said:

Electricity is still on here. Five natural gas heaters can be used for backup. If needed, my generator is a 10 hp that I have to hand start. I ordered a new carburetor last week-it will run, but not "perfectly". I have 300 ft of extension cord to keep the four houses on this end of the block's refrigerators & freezers going, if needed. I could build a fire in the fireplace, but I'm too lazy, lol.

SSH

300 ft. is a long way to send 110 VAC or 220VAC. What gauge would that wire be?

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In 1999, I bought a 2500W Honda portable generator that saved my butt (and my neighbors') several times over the years.  A few years ago, I went all-in with a 20Kw Generac whole-house unit that runs on natural gas.  The transfer switch cuts over in less than 20 seconds when the ComEd service fails.  It's been fantastic.

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5 minutes ago, Ceptorman said:

Every system I've ever seen ran off of natural gas (if available) or propane delivered to it's own tank.

Cummings has a line that runs on NG and LPG with a back up tank

 

Charges batteries off of the grid, so it's doesn't have to kick on once a month

 

My brother in Nashville sold it to his wife "honey those poor people who were hit by the Tornado won't be able to do anything inc hot showers for a month or two" whole house with LPG backup instant SA approval.

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1 hour ago, pbphoto said:

In 1999, I bought a 2500W Honda portable generator that saved my butt (and my neighbors') several times over the years.  A few years ago, I went all-in with a 20Kw Generac whole-house unit that runs on natural gas.  The transfer switch cuts over in less than 20 seconds when the ComEd service fails.  It's been fantastic.

 

I assume that it powers the entire house when it takes over.

JJK

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Location: Oregon.  So far, our home relies on public power, with moving water the largest single source.  Many residents (who aren't under the trees, like us) use solar.  It seems like this is increasing.  There are some wind farmers, who were pissed a few years ago, when the state told them they had an oversupply of electricity and it would not buy energy from them for a while. 

 

220px-Oregon_Electricity_Generation_Sourimage.jpeg.67f1cbf24d5771e6c8affa766ef93a70.jpeg

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