I know your situation....my standby generator is an 8KW Hobart
welder/generator. It's enough to run the furnace (propane) blower,
freezer, fridge, some lights, microwave and the well pumps. I had to
install two manual transfer switches, one for the house, one for the
well. Manually connected S/O cord, too. Kinda of a PITA to hook it up at
10:00 at night in the snow.
I don't need to run central A/C (Washington State) but I do want to be able
to run the entire house. I plan to install about a 15 KW generator with an
auto transfer switch right at the meter. We have propane heat and stove,
not natural gas, with a big wood stove for back up heat and cooking if
necessary. I don't want to burn up all my propane running a generator, so
I am going to install a diesel. It will cost more up front, but a good
diesel should be more reliable than a spark ignition engine, and diesel
fuel keeps a LOT better than gasoline. I can install a 100 gallon (or so)
fuel tank which should last quite a while, and in a dire emergency I could
probably find diesel more easily than propane. I can also burn it in my
tractors, so an appreciable fraction would be rotating through the tank.
At 09:15 PM 9/21/2005 -0500, john niolon wrote:
>I'm looking at something in the range of 25-30 kw backup units so I can run 50
>amps of a/c and about 30 amps of refrigeration, plus lights, tv,etc. Will be
>natural gas fired and I want auto cutover and return to utility service.
> From what I see, Guardian is the best deal..
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