OK, so I was thinking of having something for power in the event my house experiences long term power outage or even really, really long term power outage... as in end of the world kinda stuff (you never know these days what's gonna happen ya know - such as power grid failure)
I have a 200 gallon propane tank sitting out in the yard, so for short term power outages I thought of going with a Generac back up generator until I got a couple of estimates for a whole house unit (one for $10k, and another for $13k).... and one of those guys said the generator runs full RPMs (not variable speeds as needed) so all I would get is about 2 days if my propane tank was full.
I do have gas run in to my garage where my gas water heater is out... so if going with a generator, I'd just as soon get a large portable one (I've seen some pretty big generators on wheels) and have a connection added to the gas line by my water heater (flexible line) so I can roll the generator just outside my garage which is where the power comes in to the house and have an electrician install the necessary connections where I can plug in, fire up, and be in bidness
The reason I was thinking of the portable generator route is because I'm pretty sure I can get one considerably cheaper than the Generac unit and I', hoping to find one that is variable speed where it automatically turns up the RPM as needed when more electricity is being demanded (surely there's a generator that functions this way to save fuel, right?)
Just wanted to get thoughts on whether this all sounds doable and to see if anyone recommended a variable speed generator large enough to run an entire house that is one wheels (I like the idea of keeping it in my garage when not in use anyway)
My house is pretty standard... Central HVAC, couple of refrigerators, one freezer, standard lighting so it's nothing high end in terms of how much juice is needed to run the entire house (I know, at some point I need to figure out how much juice is needed - so I'm speaking in general terms to be able to start looking at generators)
I know folks have been thinking of back up power so I wanted to get some ideas from the resident experts. Thanks!
I have a 200 gallon propane tank sitting out in the yard, so for short term power outages I thought of going with a Generac back up generator until I got a couple of estimates for a whole house unit (one for $10k, and another for $13k).... and one of those guys said the generator runs full RPMs (not variable speeds as needed) so all I would get is about 2 days if my propane tank was full.
I do have gas run in to my garage where my gas water heater is out... so if going with a generator, I'd just as soon get a large portable one (I've seen some pretty big generators on wheels) and have a connection added to the gas line by my water heater (flexible line) so I can roll the generator just outside my garage which is where the power comes in to the house and have an electrician install the necessary connections where I can plug in, fire up, and be in bidness
The reason I was thinking of the portable generator route is because I'm pretty sure I can get one considerably cheaper than the Generac unit and I', hoping to find one that is variable speed where it automatically turns up the RPM as needed when more electricity is being demanded (surely there's a generator that functions this way to save fuel, right?)
Just wanted to get thoughts on whether this all sounds doable and to see if anyone recommended a variable speed generator large enough to run an entire house that is one wheels (I like the idea of keeping it in my garage when not in use anyway)
My house is pretty standard... Central HVAC, couple of refrigerators, one freezer, standard lighting so it's nothing high end in terms of how much juice is needed to run the entire house (I know, at some point I need to figure out how much juice is needed - so I'm speaking in general terms to be able to start looking at generators)
I know folks have been thinking of back up power so I wanted to get some ideas from the resident experts. Thanks!