January 26Jan 26 21 minutes ago, Hate said: I abandoned my plan of the 15kw portable tri-fuel generator and had a 26kw Generac installed back in October. I travel quite a bit for work and didn’t want my wife or son to have to set up a generator if we lose power. Since it has been installed, we’ve lost power twice. Once we weren’t at home and another time for almost 6 hours. It was very nice to not even skip a beat other than waiting for the router to reboot for WiFi. Wait, you have a backup for your house but don't have a battery backup for you router? I've got the opposite and need to get on board the home generator train.
January 26Jan 26 Yeah, it’s never been that big of a deal but the point stands. I should get a UPS for it. In unincorporated Harris County, you don’t have to get permits to have it installed. Once I settled on the company, it was installed within 2 weeks.
January 27Jan 27 17 hours ago, Hate said: Yeah, it’s never been that big of a deal but the point stands. I should get a UPS for it. In unincorporated Harris County, you don’t have to get permits to have it installed. Once I settled on the company, it was installed within 2 weeks. Random question. Given the cost of the generators and the frequent flooding, why wouldn’t someone want their generator to be higher off the ground? I get the idea that if the first floor is under water, the generator is most likely not a concern but is there a reason not to have a generator foundation at least a foot tall? Is the actual generator already well off the ground inside the housing unit?
January 27Jan 27 4 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: Random question. Given the cost of the generators and the frequent flooding, why wouldn’t someone want their generator to be higher off the ground? I get the idea that if the first floor is under water, the generator is most likely not a concern but is there a reason not to have a generator foundation at least a foot tall? Is the actual generator already well off the ground inside the housing unit? This is why I went with a 2' generator stand. Small footer all the way around and she's good to go in winds. I wanted height to keep.out insects mice etc and maintenance is mucn easier when your not swuatting, rolling around on a wet ground. Ain't nobody for time for that.
January 27Jan 27 5 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: Random question. Given the cost of the generators and the frequent flooding, why wouldn’t someone want their generator to be higher off the ground? I get the idea that if the first floor is under water, the generator is most likely not a concern but is there a reason not to have a generator foundation at least a foot tall? Is the actual generator already well off the ground inside the housing unit? If that generator floods it pretty much means my house is flooded as well. I’ll never say never, but we’ve lived through some substantial flooding events and have yet to flood (Memorial Day of 15 with 21 inches of rain in 24 hours, Harvey with 41 inches of rain in 3 days, etc). One piece of advice I would mention to anyone getting a generator is to make sure they also install soft starts on their AC units.
January 28Jan 28 11 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: Random question. Given the cost of the generators and the frequent flooding, why wouldn’t someone want their generator to be higher off the ground? Our HVAC and generator are elevated to the same height as the house. We are ready to just watch shit float by....
January 30Jan 30 For a small amount of $, you could add an uninterruptible power supply to keep the WiFi running as the generator kicks on.WiFi doesn’t do anything when the providers don’t have power.
January 30Jan 30 1 hour ago, Goofyboy said: WiFi doesn’t do anything when the providers don’t have power. True but in my experience they also have backup power. It may be limited but the internet doesn’t drop immediately.
January 30Jan 30 1 hour ago, Goofyboy said: WiFi doesn’t do anything when the providers don’t have power. 1 minute ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: True but in my experience they also have backup power. It may be limited but the internet doesn’t drop immediately. Yep. in both 21 and 23 in Austin during freezes, we were without power for days, but an extension cable from the genny to the router and fiber jack kept us sane. For over a week in 21. This was with Google Fiber, so other providers YMMV.
February 12Feb 12 6 man crew installed our B&S generator yesterday, took about 7 hours and only cut the internet line. Waiting on city for final inspection before setting switches and whatnot.
February 12Feb 12 That install is completely opposite of mine. Mine is at the meter and the main breaker panel. It's almost modern art looking. Does the gas line come up the back leg?
February 12Feb 12 6 hours ago, Mother mopar said: 6 man crew installed our B&S generator yesterday, took about 7 hours and only cut the internet line. Waiting on city for final inspection before setting switches and whatnot. Most installs are at ground level but makes sense to me to raise it up as long as the entire structure won't rattle when in use.
February 12Feb 12 4 hours ago, Catpfish said: That install is completely opposite of mine. Mine is at the meter and the main breaker panel. It's almost modern art looking. Does the gas line come up the back leg? Meter is opposite side of the house. So I had them rework the garage sub panel to a 40/80/125A and main panel with ATS. This allowed a feeder wires to be ran across attic, so its all hidden, much cleaner install. Plus i Yes, the gas feed line and the regulator is on back left hand side. 12 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: Most installs are at ground level but makes sense to me to raise it up as long as the entire structure won't rattle when in use. Ground level install is an invite for pest and rodents, especially where I'm at. Combined with routine mx, it's a whole lot easier when you're not on your back. Not to mention that side of the house floods. If it vibrates like crazy, I will install isolators as an easy fix. Edited February 12Feb 12 by Mother mopar
February 13Feb 13 Had my Generac that was installed May of ‘21 serviced this morning. New plugs, filters, fluids, and replaced the battery.And knocked out a few dirt dauber nests.
February 13Feb 13 On 2/12/2025 at 9:54 AM, Catpfish said: That install is completely opposite of mine. Mine is at the meter and the main breaker panel. It's almost modern art looking. Does the gas line come up the back leg? Looks like a Bluetooth gas connection.
April 4Apr 4 Well, feels good to have that taken care of before storm season. Thanks @Hate for the installer rec.
April 5Apr 5 Anyone remember / know what kind of oil those take? I need to grab a couple of quarts before summer. These will run great for a long time, but need to be topped off after 30 hours or something.
April 5Apr 5 13 minutes ago, Goofyboy said: Anyone remember / know what kind of oil those take? I need to grab a couple of quarts before summer. These will run great for a long time, but need to be topped off after 30 hours or something. 5w20 (maybe it was 30) full synthetic is what my installer told me today. He said the most important thing was that it was the full synthetic.
April 5Apr 5 35 minutes ago, Hate said: Did you sign up for the service plan? I guess I did but I’d have to go back and look tbh. I know they will be monitoring my generator and coming out once a year to service it so sounds like I did lol
April 5Apr 5 That’s what I have. I just need to make sure mine stays running happily when the grid goes down during any storm.
April 5Apr 5 10 hours ago, Goofyboy said: Anyone remember / know what kind of oil those take? I need to grab a couple of quarts before summer. These will run great for a long time, but need to be topped off after 30 hours or something. Generac, I assume but they require 5w-20. I belive there are kits but im not a generac guy. Kohler, Cummins and B&S all have thier own recommendations on oil etc.
April 5Apr 5 Don’t these call for an oil change every 50-100 hours? Probably a good idea to know how to change the oil and filter, as well as having the supplies onhand. In the middle of a week+ emergency I wouldn’t want to count on that service plan. which reminds me I need to change the oil in my portable generator. Meant to do it in the winter. Edited April 5Apr 5 by Nice Guy Eddie
April 5Apr 5 I chuckle when my generac app notifies me that my unit is “exercising.”I’m guessing it charges the starter battery and moves oil around. That reminds me, I guess I need to extend the warranty past 2026 as mine was installed in late 2021.And to the previous post, I need to change the oil on my small Honda backup backup unit.
April 5Apr 5 2 hours ago, BearSchlong said: I chuckle when my generac app notifies me that my unit is “exercising.” I’m guessing it charges the starter battery and moves oil around. That reminds me, I guess I need to extend the warranty past 2026 as mine was installed in late 2021. And to the previous post, I need to change the oil on my small Honda backup backup unit. This is how you Houston, folks.
April 5Apr 5 7 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: Don’t these call for an oil change every 50-100 hours? Probably a good idea to know how to change the oil and filter, as well as having the supplies onhand. In the middle of a week+ emergency I wouldn’t want to count on that service plan. which reminds me I need to change the oil in my portable generator. Meant to do it in the winter. My B&S generator is yearly.
April 5Apr 5 My B&S generator is yearly. My Generac is yearly - unless it runs for a long time. Around 30 hours, it needs to cool off and oil topped off - per the maintenance guy - if you want a long life out of the unit.
April 6Apr 6 Generac takes 5W-20 synthetic, and a WIX 51394 oil filter. I am on an annual plan. The plan includes (is the only way to get) the app and text notifications. If you are getting the weekly "exercising" texts, you are on a service plan. They do a full inspection and test of the generator, transfer switch, etc. That includes an oil and filter change, check of spark plug, etc. During an extended outage, I shut the generator down every 24 hours, let it cool for a bit, check and top off oil if needed, and start it back up. If the outage continues, I change the oil at about 100 hours of runtime.
April 11Apr 11 On 4/5/2025 at 8:00 AM, Nice Guy Eddie said: Don’t these call for an oil change every 50-100 hours? Probably a good idea to know how to change the oil and filter, as well as having the supplies onhand. In the middle of a week+ emergency I wouldn’t want to count on that service plan. which reminds me I need to change the oil in my portable generator. Meant to do it in the winter. My guy basically laughed at the idea of the first oil change before 100 hours, fwiw.
September 29Sep 29 Did any of you guys look into the whole house battery backups vs. generators? I need some kind of backup solution for my house. Edited September 29Sep 29 by Chewbacca
September 29Sep 29 48 minutes ago, Chewbacca said: Did any of you guys look into the whole house battery backups vs. generators? I need some kind of backup solution for my house. Can you educate me on these? I would assume that a whole house battery would also need solar whereas the generators are usually powered by some form of gas/gasoline. I guess it depends on what fuel sources access you have.
September 29Sep 29 9 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said: Can you educate me on these? I would assume that a whole house battery would also need solar whereas the generators are usually powered by some form of gas/gasoline. I guess it depends on what fuel sources access you have. You don't need solar with the battery backup, but having it would help. You can charge it up from the grid and then just use it to power the house if you lose power. More expensive than a generator up front, from my initial research.
September 29Sep 29 1 minute ago, Chewbacca said: You don't need solar with the battery backup, but having it would help. You can charge it up from the grid and then just use it to power the house if you lose power. More expensive than a generator up front, from my initial research. Makes sense. I was thinking solar for the battery backup to help with extended outages. Even if solar couldn't fully recharge it to 100%, solar would extend the use of the battery for an emergency. I'm reminded how I've been without power in Houston for up to 3.5 weeks in the past. That was once in 20 years but painful to experience.
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