Whole house Generators (Generac)
 

I notice a whole bunch of camps/homes have whole house Generators in the lakes region. A lot seem to be Generac's for anybody that might have one or may just be in the know who's a stand-up company that services Moultonborough to get a price to install one? Any other good brands out there folks may have experience with? Thanks in advance...

A Kohler from the Generator Connection was our choice for a standby generator. No regrets, it has worked great and no more concerns about power outages.

Anyone install or familiar with the new whole house battery backup from Generac?


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I’ve had Generac‘s in two homes one here and one in New York which I obtained after Sandy. They are extremely reliable I’ve never had any issues with them and I do get them serviced regularly.

I’ve used power generators in Swanzy NH 800-853-7202 for my servicing here.

I’ve also added the module so they can monitor The generator from their office for any issues


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Just curious how often people have a need for a generator.

Thanks all I also read the other thread given by Slickcraft. Looks like I need to call Generator Connection!

Depends on location.
During the mid 90s, an ice storm took out some areas for more than a week.
I am on a main line, so I was out about 12 hours.

I use a portable with a quick connect that will power the entire cottage right down to the well pump and the electric stove.

My sister in Gilmanton, off of Rte 140 didn't get power back for nearly two weeks.

We had a bad ice storm I believe 2009 and my area was out for 4 days and again in 2018 we were out for almost a week.


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We had NH Generator Installers (603-856-7301) install a whole-house Kohler system several years ago. The system has worked great - almost seamless operation when an outage occurs and has been 100% reliable. NH Generator Installers has been outstanding - from installation through annual service. Highly recommended. We’ve needed the gen for 15 min to 48 hr periods eight to fifteen times per year. Tremendous security to keep furnace and well running - especially during winter.


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Our generator installation was motivated by a 36 hour power outage a weekend when we had visitors, some of whom opted to go to a hotel rather than rough it with no power. Since our installation last Fall, we have needed it half a dozen times when we lost power for up to several hours at a time.

"ALMOST seamless operation?": Have you had issues??

I’m almost done with the install of a 24KW Generac, out of state. There’s a forum at Ziller Electric that is populated by people who can tell you everything you would ever want to know about generators and generator installs. I wanted to do 95% of the install myself. I did a lot of my own research but they guided me through the process and taught me a lot. I’ll get around to doing one here eventually.

I purchased mine from Ziller. Got 22K as there was a long wait for the 24K. (Covid).
Makes no difference with my application.
I had a local electrician install.
I did get a Generac. As Generac are maed in USA.

Latest install recommendations for Generac
 

I'm looking for the latest recommendations on an electrician or installer for a Generac whole house generator. I'm looking to install a 14-18 thousand watt unit in Moultonborough.

Much appreciated - thanks

We've had a 6kw standby generator since 2004. Pretty much runs everything except the clothes dryer and electric oven. 3200 sf house with oil FHW heat . Stove top is gas. We're very happy, but if I were to do it over again, I'd look very carefully at solar with a whole house battery back up.

Generator Eperience
 

Very happy with the Generac we purchased from the Generator Connection in 2020-- fair pricing, very responsive, good communication from every aspect; sales, service, management (Brian). Has run every time we needed it. The only problem was the the propane supplier, Rymes, which was at times unresponsive and at other times, completely unreliable. To their credit they apologized and fixed everything, but what should have ben a routine, easy propane install was a stinkin' diaper mess. Get some recommendations on your supplier and make sure you know who is responsible for what on the install process, for example, your propane installer may or may not dig a line from the tanks to the generator. Your choice for tank location may not be to code, or, worse (happened to me) propane installer changed the location without notice. Ask your electrician to come out to the house before you set your plans, as you may or may not need additional electrical work outside of the house to accomodate the transfer switches, or panel work to handle th
e load. In 2020, the lead time to just get a generator was 16-20 weeks, I suspect less now, but ask and build that into your plans. Good luck!

Here. The same propane tank for furnace is used for whole house generator.

Some go with partial house while others go for whole house. Check price difference.

Then there are optional extended warranties from manufacturer.

In a retrofit. Yes. Do check about who does what and where all goes.
There are codes involved. Transfer switch. Inspection permits, etc.

I understand the want of a whole house generator, but todays cost must make it prohibitive. Would think a complete whole house generator installed is around 15k to 20k. At that cost weighed against the number of times you lose power how does one justify the costs. Outside of medical needs oh course


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Sometimes comfort supersedes the justification…. Kinda like owning property on the lake… the prices are crazy yet anything that goes on the market isn’t there long, people want what they want and if they have the money why not. I personally would not have a home without a generator of some sort.

I would think a whole house generator in the 20K size is probably right around $12,000.00 permitted and fully installed. I paid about $8,000.00 but that was a few years ago.

Dan

Correct...
 

Dan, you are pretty spot-on in your estimate. We put in a 20K Briggs & Stratton in Bedford in January, 2020. Complete cost was $14K through Powers Generators. They came out and sized it properly, based on the size of the house, what we wanted on it, etc. They did the permitting, installation and hook-up of both the electric and propane, arranged final inspection by the town....everything.

I would totally recommend that if someone who is the average homeowner who wants to go the "whole-house/automatic failover" route, find someone like Powers who is one-stop shopping, as opposed to buying the generator on line, and then finding individual tradesmen to do all the hook ups.

Wolfeboro Summers? Not So Much...
 

As summer residents of 65 years, we have never "needed" a generator. On that one hours-long occasion of power loss--fifteen years ago--our cottage interior was brightly lighted by a house across Winter Harbor about ¾ of a mile distant! :look:

In recent years, Wolfeboro seems to keep electricity flowing very reliably. (But it wasn't always this way. :rolleye2: Wolfeboro's roadsides used to be "greener"). :rolleye1:

Future state of electricity in New England
 

Thank you all for your responses.

I currently have a portable generator at the lake, and have had to use it for hours at a time in the past 3 or 4 years. It has definitely saved me $$$ on refrigerated items. Back in CT, we had a Halloween storm in 2011 and we were without power for 8 days - used a portable generator then as well.

One thing I am concerned about, going forward, is how the Northeast electrical grid will handle the electrical demand in the future. The first test may be this winter. That concern, in part, is driving me to consider the whole house generator. And by the way, I definitely do not own an EV.

The grid will be built out to handle the demand.
Reliability projects cannot be politicized away.
They may turn out to cost more than the cheapest proposal... but FERC will require their construction.

I think the question may be of convenience.
Portable propane generators are currently available.

Generator Connection handles everything on the install, good service and competitive pricing.

Have a look at the offerings from Kohler before you start writing checks.


I don't deal with generators for work but even with that, I've seen a few engine-related issues with Generac-made engines and I personally would be looking elsewhere if I were in the market.

In the long term, things like excessive oil consumption coupled with the lack of parts availability to rebuild the engine has you with two choices, replace the entire engine with another Generac-specific engine ($$$$) or replace the entire unit ($$$$$).

In short, it seems Generac in particular doesn't want their products to be repaired, just replaced.

I was the NE rep for Briggs and Stratton in 1998 and part of my resposnisibility was for GenerCrap as it was a company in the Briggs umberella. 90% of the warranty issues I dealt with in whole were associated with GenerCrap! I know that it is now a wholly diiferent company and no longer associated with the evil B&S corporation, and now has incorporated the brilliant Portland Pika Solar startup company into it, but I still don''t trust GenerCrap. Everything is rosy until it goes bad, and then the last company you want to call on is GenerCrap. They will leave you hanging!
If you are looking to add a generator backup to your house call a LOCAL installer with a history and let then advise you. My first recommendation for wholehouse generators would be Dan Rowan in Sandwich. He is a first rate gold level Kohler generator but by choice keeps a very low level profile. I've worked with him on a couple of off-grid solar installations and if I didn;t already a have a solar array/battery backup system in place it would be Dan that I would call first!

Whole house generators
 

A lot has been said about generators, all good. It is particularly important to look at the "big picture" when investing in a generator. In most Towns, there are local building Codes which describe necessary permits for installation. Pay close attention to these. I particularly like the suggestion of buying the generator from a licensed, registered, etc., etc. dealer, and having the installation be done by an equally qualified and certified person. For the money you are about to spend, don't scrimp on installation.
After the generator is all installed, and the installer is gone, and the landscaping is all back in place, take a little time to reflect on the investment you have just made in your home. This is the time to think about some type of annual maintenance plan. The mechanics of a generator aren't like a Formula I racing car, but there is annual maintenance to think about.
Personally, the gentleman who installed my generator does an annual maintenance program which, if nothing else, gives me great peace of mind. Also, if my generator ever fails to do its job, I will have no qualms about calling him for service. His fingerprints are the only fingerprints on this unit, and he knows it. So far, so good, 5 years flawless operation.

A backup generator is so far down my list of things I would spend my money on that, if I ever actually got there, it wouldn't even be a question of what I'd do because, well, it would no longer be a question of money but convenience.

Given that, I'd call up the most local shop with the best reviews and have them do everything...including annual maintenance.

These things are used so rarely that if they don't function perfectly EVERY single time, it would absolutely be a waste of money.

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We lived through 8 days without power during Hurricane Sandy before we moved up here, and it was definitely not something I would want to repeat.

We were told by one of the Wolfeboro restaurant owners before we closed that power can be lost for several days during the winter if not longer, so it was on our radar to buy.

After 6 power outages in 2019-20, mostly because of fallen trees in the area, we purchased a Kohler whole house generator through Generator Connection.

It automatically turns on every week for 15 minutes, they came out this week for the yearly service, and it is worth it for us to have peace of mind.

Since we installed it, every storm that's forecast doesn't worry me at all like it used to, I'm no longer nervous about losing the food in the fridge, as well as anything else.

Everyone has different priorities on how to spend their hard earned money, and for us, this was a decision we're very happy we made.

Totally relate to your comments. We, too, were in CT during Sandy and also the Halloween Blizzard, (I forget what year that was...maybe 2012?). Anyway, we were living in Southwest CT, which is pretty rural, just like NH. In each storm, we were without power for about 7 or 8 days. We had both well and septic, so it became pretty gross, pretty fast. Additionally, during the Halloween Blizzard, there was also no heat, so the house was about 40 degrees, which may not sound cold, but when your furniture and bedding is 40 degrees, you feel it.

After those experiences, we decided we would never go without a whole house generator ever again.

I'll hopefully be starting my new 24k "genercrap" generator next week. I paid about $5100 at Tilton lowes for it (20% discount when I signed up for a pro account). My electrician is doing the install, he's doing time and materials so don't know end cost yet. Propane company took a while to quote, but did great job. I opted to buy a 500 gallon tank rather than rent, so that wasn't cheap. You can all thank me because there won't be any more blackouts now that I installed a generator.

The issue with potential rolling blackouts is the premature shut down of generation for green points, and the insufficient pipelines for ng again due to politics.

Cost prohibitive ?

I paid about $10,000 for my 22K Generac whole house. Installed. During Covid.
I bought the generator and transfer switch directly from Ziller.
Electrician hooked up.
My transfer switch is outside on a pole.
I did do the digging myself. My neighbor has a backhoe. So yes, I saved on digging. Also had a load of sand delivered. As they want (here anyway) sand in the hole.

Go to Ziller, A/mazon, Lowe's, Home Depot and check price. This will state how much they are charging for installation.

All of the Generac have an app. Can go to web site by computer or cell phone and view all activity. And get a text notice when power goes out.

Also took the Generac extended warranty for an additional year.

Here in the Lakes Region - some have lost power for 3 days or more. Wind shear - or semi-tornado.

Would never live in a house in the Lakes Region without an automatic whole house generator. I am away too much.

Green points?

Quite a few expansion and outright new corridors have been approved in the last two/three years (mostly this year as the pricing has made the ROI worthwhile), but many are being placed on hold due to lawsuits, and others are being outright cancelled as prices are starting to subside below the ROI threshold.

Marinewife, and for anyone else with automatic whole house generators. I suggest that you change your exercise schedule to occur every two weeks, but run for at least 30 minutes.
The purpose of those scheduled runs is three fold, to keep fuel from stagnating, to keep the starter battery charged up, and to drive moistuire out of the engine oil. A weekly short run can actually cause more harm than good both becuae it doesn't fully charge the battery to the desired float condition and becuase it won't generate enogh heat the oil enough to vaporize any condensation that may have built up. Additionally, if possible set your exercise run to occur at a time when your home's energy consumption would be high, this usually means early morning or early evening. That way the energy produced by the gen during your exercise run will be self consumed in the house and be worthy

My (Dayton) genset has been exercising weekly since 2004. no problems. I've always thought the battery was on a trickle charger. I've only replaced it once. I don't know where the power goes during exercise, but we never see any evidence of a surge or other activity when we hear the genset start or stop the way it does when it goes on/off for loss of power in the street. I can start and run the genset on m y boat without hitting the switch to actually power anything, so I'm not powering anything or feed back into the grid. Why would I think my home generator is powering anything during the exercise period?

My husband corrected me, the generator goes on for 20 minutes every Tuesday, not ten as my earlier post stated.

Gen Connection said 20 minutes is plenty of time.

No Power
 

Been without power for 12 hours now. Eversource just texted me and said power could be out for three days…..sure am loving my generator!

Dan

We went out at 4am and got it back about 3:45pm.

We installed 2 x 20kw generators here. The company was supposed to commission them yesterday morning but cancelled because of the storm. Of course then we lost power at 4am with no working generators. Many calls to the electrician and the generator company later they got someone here today to get us online.

This is on top of the driveway nightmares…Been a fun-filled weekend so far!

Two 20 KWS! Holy cow what are you running up there?? My single 20 KW will run everything in the house including a double oven at the same time and our AC as well as a garage with mother in law apartment above!

I am still without power and most likely will be for some time…

Happy holidays!

Dan

My guy came by Thursday and got me online. We didn't lose our power though. 24 kw generac

How Much Snow?
 

WMUR is reporting that Gilford got 17" of snow. Is that about what you got Dan? Here in Meredith we got about 7" of the heaviest wet-cement type snow I can remember. Snapped a shear pin on my snowblower auger!

We lost power around 5:30pm yesterday and our whole-house (propane) generator kicked in. About 90 minutes later power was restored. Not knowing how long it would be out, I was pretty happy that our two propane tanks had just been filled last week!

Hi Don!

Wonderful to see you back here on the forum! Happy Holidays to you and yours!

My power came back on back on at around 5:00 pm.

Hope all is well!

Dan

The way our house is set up electrically is a bit odd. We have 2 x 200amp panels on opposite ends. It’s a big place so it helped with wiring runs. It was wired odd to begin with, and we had to redo from there. We have 2 x 60k Samsung condensers running our split system which is our main hvac, many fridges and freezers (3 in the bar alone), 3 laundry rooms, and eventually a hot tub when our deck is done. Originally he was doing a 20kw and a 12kw, but for the small price difference it made sense to do 2 x 20kw.