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

@thelake · 09-25-2012, 04:18 PM

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.

09-25-2012, 04:18 PM	#14
@thelake Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 23 Thanks: 15 Thanked 8 Times in 6 Posts	Thanks! 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.