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The Water Cooler
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Anybody have whole house generator installation experience?
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<blockquote data-quote="David2012" data-source="post: 1999028" data-attributes="member: 24428"><p>I've got a Generac 20KW with the auto switching box feeding the main fuse box 200 amp breaker... not just isolated circuits. It cost approx. $400 to have plumbers run a 1" gas flex line 30 feet underground from the main line by the meter to the generator and do the hook-up & pressure check. I also had a emergency cut-off valve installed so anyone could cut the gas supply off by simply turning the lever 1/4 turn were there ever to be a emergency.</p><p></p><p>As for the electrical wiring, I recommend that you put it as near to your meter / main box as you can.. as the price of copper wire will dig into your wallet. I couldn't give you a estimate of what the electrical hook-up of the generator costs as I had some other work done as well. But I can tell you that I had to bring my wiring from the weather head to the meter box...to the main inside breaker box up to current city code.. as it was wired with stranded aluminum wire. <strong>130 feet of #2 stranded copper wire to do the main wiring cost me right at $700 at Locke's Supply back in mid-2010</strong>. Copper prices were so volatile that they were quoting prices every 24 hours. If you got a quote on the wire today.. it might be different tomorrow morning. That didn't count the cost of all the smaller wires it took to hook up the control & battery charger system.</p><p></p><p>If you haven't hooked your gas up yet, here is something you might want to consider. Instead of a 1/2" or 3/4" line coming off of one of my other house lines near the generator, I went with a independent 1" gas line coming off my main large house line by the meter so I would be sure of having enough gas pressure going to the generator during a major ice / cold event like we had several years ago. We were without power for 7 days. At the generator, there is a reducer necking the 1" line down to 3/4" I believe.</p><p></p><p>After talking with the plumbers about the required line pressure needed for the generator to work properly, we figured during a extreme cold event that the central heat unit, the gas hot water heater, the gas dryer and several axillary blue flame heaters in the house might cause a drop in gas pressure on any lines running from the house to the generator...so that the generator might not function up to full capacity. So instead, they taped the main gas line to the house just this side of my meter. The plumber felt that by coming off that large line and running a 1" flex line to the generator... that we would always have enough pressure going to the generator no mater how much we ran gas appliances inside the house.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="David2012, post: 1999028, member: 24428"] I've got a Generac 20KW with the auto switching box feeding the main fuse box 200 amp breaker... not just isolated circuits. It cost approx. $400 to have plumbers run a 1" gas flex line 30 feet underground from the main line by the meter to the generator and do the hook-up & pressure check. I also had a emergency cut-off valve installed so anyone could cut the gas supply off by simply turning the lever 1/4 turn were there ever to be a emergency. As for the electrical wiring, I recommend that you put it as near to your meter / main box as you can.. as the price of copper wire will dig into your wallet. I couldn't give you a estimate of what the electrical hook-up of the generator costs as I had some other work done as well. But I can tell you that I had to bring my wiring from the weather head to the meter box...to the main inside breaker box up to current city code.. as it was wired with stranded aluminum wire. [B]130 feet of #2 stranded copper wire to do the main wiring cost me right at $700 at Locke's Supply back in mid-2010[/B]. Copper prices were so volatile that they were quoting prices every 24 hours. If you got a quote on the wire today.. it might be different tomorrow morning. That didn't count the cost of all the smaller wires it took to hook up the control & battery charger system. If you haven't hooked your gas up yet, here is something you might want to consider. Instead of a 1/2" or 3/4" line coming off of one of my other house lines near the generator, I went with a independent 1" gas line coming off my main large house line by the meter so I would be sure of having enough gas pressure going to the generator during a major ice / cold event like we had several years ago. We were without power for 7 days. At the generator, there is a reducer necking the 1" line down to 3/4" I believe. After talking with the plumbers about the required line pressure needed for the generator to work properly, we figured during a extreme cold event that the central heat unit, the gas hot water heater, the gas dryer and several axillary blue flame heaters in the house might cause a drop in gas pressure on any lines running from the house to the generator...so that the generator might not function up to full capacity. So instead, they taped the main gas line to the house just this side of my meter. The plumber felt that by coming off that large line and running a 1" flex line to the generator... that we would always have enough pressure going to the generator no mater how much we ran gas appliances inside the house. [/QUOTE]
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