Looking for an electrician to install a residential/whole house generator

[@thelake]

Hi,
I'm looking for an electrician to install a 12kW Honeywell/Generac generator in Moultonborough.

If you can recommend an electrician that is experienced with whole house generator installs including load sheading, I'd appreicate your feedback.

Thanks!

[MDoug]

John Woodaman of JW Electric installed out generator system, and it works very well.

[inquiring one]

Hi, Along with John I would also suggest calling Ron Reppucci (387-4323) or Troy Mahoney (455-4217)

[sluggo]

give Troy Mohoney a call. company name is TNT Electric 455-4217 great guy fair priced and does great work.....

[Little Bear]

Sure, most any electrician can sell/install a generator and transfer switch, but then who services the unit on an annual basis and more importantly, if the unit has trouble? I used Powers Generator Service for this very reason. They service the unit every year (change engine oil, etc), but also offer 24/7/365 service should anything go wrong. Imagine if a bad storm hits and the power goes out for days...but your generator decides to crap out during this event. I purposely chose a company that would both sell and service the unit for this very reason. I'm had my 25KW Kohler unit for 6 years now and have had to rely on it several times when the power from that lousy NHEC goes out! http://www.powersgenerator.com/

Good luck!

[@thelake]

I appreciate your responses! This site and its contributors are valuable Lakes Region resources.

I tried an online, consumer-rated recommendation list that rhymes with mangie's. Their first recommended company/electrician had a website that listed their service area, and I (M’boro) wasn’t even close.
¡Ay, caramba!
:-)

(This may be a good service for other categories or different geographic areas, but failed for me, this time.)

Thanks again Winnipesaukee.com & users!

[songkrai]

Just beware of some of the junk coming out of China now on some of these generators.

There is a motor. Be sure you understand what country that motor was manufactured in.

The assembly of total unit may be USA. Got to dig a little deeper in brochure to find where engine/motor was made.

Westinghouse has bought and sold many of its businesses. The Westinghouse name is used by other companies.

And so to with Generac. That company or division has had multiple owners.

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by @thelake

I appreciate your responses! This site and its contributors are valuable Lakes Region resources.

I tried an online, consumer-rated recommendation list that rhymes with mangie's. Their first recommended company/electrician had a website that listed their service area, and I (M’boro) wasn’t even close.
¡Ay, caramba!
:-)

(This may be a good service for other categories or different geographic areas, but failed for me, this time.)

Thanks again Winnipesaukee.com & users!

I can be tough to recommend someone when posters do not include what town the home is in. That is why I neglected to reply with recommendations.
Good luck.
Songkrai almost no unit weather is be tool car, boat etc is made in the USA anymore. It might be built here but most parts come from other countries.
But then again having one vehicles made by a US company and 2 not, I can tell you the US made vehicle has been in the shop twice as many times for problems as both the foreign vehicles together.

[codeman671]

We have a 12kw GE Power Systems (Kohler), it runs a 4300sqft house no problem and has been reliable. I wish I had gone slightly bigger for summer use as it is not really enough to start all 3 zones of AC at once. It is plenty in the winter to run everything. If I could do it again a 15kw would have been a better fit.


Little Bear- 25KW? What are you powering?

[Little Bear]

Originally Posted by codeman671

We have a 12kw GE Power Systems (Kohler), it runs a 4300sqft house no problem and has been reliable. I wish I had gone slightly bigger for summer use as it is not really enough to start all 3 zones of AC at once. It is plenty in the winter to run everything. If I could do it again a 15kw would have been a better fit.


Little Bear- 25KW? What are you powering?

The 25KW powers my entire house on the mainland.

[MDoug]

JW Electric rigged a Generac 8500 watt unit for us a few years ago. It powers everything we need in the cabin to stay comfortable during outages on Bear. The Honda engine starts on the first pull!

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by @thelake

Hi,
I'm looking for an electrician to install a 12kVA Honeywell/Generac generator in Moultonborough.

If you can recommend an electrician that is experienced with whole house generator installs including load sheading, I'd appreicate your feedback.

Thanks!

Do you want load shedding because your house has central air conditioning?

Load shedding is usually used because you don't have enough watts in the generator to run everything at one time. To solve this you can use a Standby Transfer switch with a load Control Module (LCM) that will shed the load with a Generator with less watts.

Standby Transfer Switches with LCM are more expensive and will cost you more for labor to have them hooked up.

If you go with a Generator with more watts, you might not need shedding.

I have hooked up Standby Transfer Switches but not one with shedding capabilities. The generator had enough surge power to take care of all loads at once.

[songkrai]

Originally Posted by Belmont Resident

I can be tough to recommend someone when posters do not include what town the home is in. That is why I neglected to reply with recommendations.
Good luck.
Songkrai almost no unit weather is be tool car, boat etc is made in the USA anymore. It might be built here but most parts come from other countries.
But then again having one vehicles made by a US company and 2 not, I can tell you the US made vehicle has been in the shop twice as many times for problems as both the foreign vehicles together.

There are three main parts to an electrical generator. The frame, the electric generator part, and the engine.

The engines for just about all generators are manufactured in
USA
Japan
Korea
and then China

There is a reason why no automobiles manufactured in China are sold in North America. They don't meet safety standards and the quality control is poor.

If you want to rest at ease, skip the engines made in China.

[Belmont Resident]

Originally Posted by songkrai

There are three main parts to an electrical generator. The frame, the electric generator part, and the engine.

The engines for just about all generators are manufactured in
USA
Japan
Korea
and then China

There is a reason why no automobiles manufactured in China are sold in North America. They don't meet safety standards and the quality control is poor.

If you want to rest at ease, skip the engines made in China.

Thanks for clarifying what you ment!
I totally agree with the China thing, but I'd rank Honda (Japan) over Briggs ans Straton (US) any day.
B & S quality and longevity have been slipping over the years, still a good motor but not the best.

[@thelake]

Belmont Resident, thanks for your comments, and to all those that did not respond to my specific request and kept this discussion on point.
I did list my town in the original post, though.

I’ve already purchased a Honeywell (by Generac) 12kW generator with transfer switch from Costco.
Purchasing from a dealer, I might have gone Kohler, primarily for the cleaner power. My machine promises within 5%, I think they offer 2% total harmonic distortion, but Costco has NEVER steered my wrong, and I would have paid about double for a Kohler unit.

Codeman671, good to know your experience with the 12kW.

12kW is just about right for us, we want to run AC, hot water, fridge, lights, the office, all the basics, remembering that we’re in an outage (however long it may be) and there may be some sacrifice, or perhaps major appliances taking turns. (only one zone of AC during the outage, ooh, the horror :-)

It’s bad enough this thing will be gulping propane like the cookie monster gone wild, even at half load, and probably faster than Amerigas could ever get here (Uum, when are you guys delivering my propane? “Well, our policy is 10 business days…I see you’re at 9 days, now. We’ll try and get someone out Monday.” That’s another post!)

Rusty, the generator comes with a transfer box and two load sheading switches. I don’t plan on running the unit at 100%, ideally just at 1/2 load, but our transfer box comes with two, so why not hook them up? (thx, I’ll watch the labor addition here)

Currently, the big loads are three Mitsubishi heat pumps and hot water, but we’ll probably move the HW to propane when this tank goes. Whether it’s a heat pump or the hot water, we’ll go with whatever is recommended. We’re not using a sub panel, so it might make sense. Reading the manual, it may be difficult to connect the heat pumps up, it wants a thermostat cable.

Songkrai, it is a Generac, but the motor is specifically designed for generator use, OHVI, low rpm. I appreciate your point…but I can’t buy the new iPhone, because they’re still cranking them out in China. As long as that huge pay differential exists, most everything will be made overseas. I already own this generator, so I’ll see how this goes. I agree with your QC list, preferably made in Japan over China.

MDoug, those portable Honda’s are sweet, and a great lower cost solution and easy connection. We’re looking for a larger, automated system. Glad to hear it’s working for you. If I was here all the time we would have looked at this harder.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by @thelake

I’ve already purchased a Honeywell (by Generac) 12kW generator with transfer switch from Costco.

Just curious, did you get the 100 amp Service Entrance rated transfer switch (Generac RTSD100A3 Nexus Smart Switch)?

If you got that one then you might need an additional electrical sub-panel to be installed that can add up to an additional expense during installation and require the extra space to install a third box in the garage.

I believe the code requires this for 100 amp SE Transfer switches.

You might want to ask that question when you talk to an electrician.

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by @thelake

Currently, the big loads are three Mitsubishi heat pumps and hot water, but we’ll probably move the HW to propane when this tank goes. Whether it’s a heat pump or the hot water, we’ll go with whatever is recommended. We’re not using a sub panel, so it might make sense. Reading the manual, it may be difficult to connect the heat pumps up, it wants a thermostat cable.

@thelake;

I think you will find that your Mitsubishi Heat pumps will draw very little wattage from your generator. I just had three interior units and one outside condenser installed at my camp and we lost power a week later. I ran all three units off a small 6500 watt generator as well as everything else in the house without a problem I have a wattage meter on my generator and was blown away at how little power it took to run the heat pumps!

Dan

[SIKSUKR]

Couple of things here. If you already have the generator and it will not run your ac, getting a load shedding device will be of little help. The cheapest load shedding device is what I use, my brain by not using a hi load device or by just simply turning off that breaker. Why spend all that money when you can simply turn the thermostat up or shut off a breaker.

For ishoot, the only big load you have is that 1 outside compresser unit. The inside air handlers use very little power as they are really just a fan blowing across a coil.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

The cheapest load shedding device is what I use, my brain by not using a hi load device or by just simply turning off that breaker.

Very good point, and thats how I do it.

Fancy shedding switches are nice but are they really necessary? The amount of times that you might want to shed something off so that you can run something else are probably very few. So, is it really worth all the extra expense?

@thelake probably got a good deal by buying the Generator and Transfer Switch as a package deal, but will the extra expense of hooking it up be worth it?

[ishoot308]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

For ishoot, the only big load you have is that 1 outside compresser unit. The inside air handlers use very little power as they are really just a fan blowing across a coil.

Correct, the three air handlers utilize a small 1 amp fan motor but the outside compressor also draws very little compared to most. If I remember correctly I believe my wattage gauge said it was drawing less than 1000 watts which I believe is around 8 amps.

Dan

[SIKSUKR]

Originally Posted by ishoot308

If I remember correctly I believe my wattage gauge said it was drawing less than 1000 watts which I believe is around 8 amps.
Dan

That is very low usage. Maybe that is when it was in low use mode? And you are correct that 1000 watts is appr. 9-10 amps depending on voltage of 120 or 110.