No power at Heberts, Big Lake...

[biglaketiger]

I love living out here BUT for the life of me don't know how Entergy stays in business, it's like we live in a constant state of power outages out here, was kicked back watching the sugar bowl, fixing to have some supper and bam, lights out again! Wife was doing homework with kiddo's, now under the flashlights, been thinking about getting a generator that kicks on when this crap happens, if a salesman was here now i'd sure nuff buy the damn thing!

[longcast]

Come see me at Teche elect. I'm a generac distributer. I will get u the best price. I would also suggest a automatic transfer switch. What size service do you have at your house

[Dink]

Get ready to drop some big cash!! I looked at em, but 20k was outta my budget!

[Ray]

I got the 20 KW last year. Installed it myself. 100% automatic.
It's like insurance. You don't us it much, but when you really need it, it's there and running.
Only issue, electricity don't go out anymore since we got the generator.
My dad has the 13 KW. Lives in the country. It comes on at least 3 times a month due to
elect. dropping out.

[Dink]

What'd you pay RAY?

[longcast]

Originally Posted by Dink

What'd you pay RAY?

Not close to 20k. Dink were u installing a tank as well.

[Dink]

Yep. Gotta run it!

[longcast]

You don't have gas at your house.

["W"]

damn texans

[Dink]

Yes, but it gets interupted too. Or so the salesman said....think he was gonna run it on propane? Gonna put in a 200gallon tank

[biglaketiger]

Originally Posted by longcast

You don't have gas at your house.

only gas we got out here is what we bring in, got to have propane tanks, i used to have propane, two hurricanes later and tanks washed away. just went straight elec when i built new house, not good now...

[biglaketiger]

Still no power and the magical hour that entergy says it's coming back on has come and gone, just gonna move the family downstairs to the 5th wheel, crank up the ole 5500kw generator, turn on the propane and all is good

[longcast]

I have no clue what tanks cost. I can hook u up on the gear though. If u want give me a call at the store. I will get u some prices. 337-436-6676. Ask for Jason.

[Dink]

I've heard of some on a 4000sqft house going 60k!!!! It was totally self reliant. It would even run itself once a week for 15 minutes just to make sure it still worked.

[ImBrowsin]

mine cranks automatically once a week and runs for 15 minutes... set up on natural gas but could set up on propane... got 45oo sq ft of hoouse with a 45kw generator... mine was 20K but oou don't need anything that large.... I done a lot of overkill.... it's nice though when the lights go out and they just come right back on.... carriwed me through a hurricane for a wqeek and my gas bill was about $ 400.00...Only paid that one time but all the small outages never put my bill over $25.00.... I wouldn't take a gold monkey for mine.... Well woth having it if you need it... Just my 2 cents...

[KDM]

I have the 20 KW Generac system with the automatic transferswitch and it runs itself once a week to charge cranking battery and "exercise" itself. Runs on natural gas. House is over 4000 sq ft. You don't have to run the entire house, just the essentials. Be sure to get a hard start kit for your A/C unit or units if they don't already have them. Makes it way easier on the Gen set to start them. One of the worst things you can do with a genrator is have too much capacity meaning you want to be able to load it up to 65-75% of it's total output. You won't regret doing it Chad.

[Shawn Braquet]

Originally Posted by KDM

I have the 20 KW Generac system with the automatic transferswitch and it runs itself once a week to charge cranking battery and "exercise" itself. Runs on natural gas. House is over 4000 sq ft. You don't have to run the entire house, just the essentials. Be sure to get a hard start kit for your A/C unit or units if they don't already have them. Makes it way easier on the Gen set to start them. One of the worst things you can do with a genrator is have too much capacity meaning you want to be able to load it up to 65-75% of it's total output. You won't regret doing it Chad.

Well said

[KDM]

By the way Shawn, your dad did the install. He is one hell of a Electrician!!!!!!!!!!

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Dink

What'd you pay RAY?

I paid $4000 for the generator, delivered to my house. Plus about another $1000 for the wire, conduit, main disconnect box(my house didn't have one outside), and slab that I poured myself.
I also didn't have natural gas, so had that run to my house. Center Point ran it for free, but they required me to have a gas water heater to get it for free.
I also installed a gas furnace, my elect. furnace was 15KW, so that would have made me buy a bigger generator.
Water heater and furnace cost me about $1600. I got them at wholesale price and installed myself.
Plus I spent about $900 on plumbing. Had to run 1" galvanized from meter up into attic and across house to tie in furnace and water heater.
City plumbing and electrical inspectors came out to check on everything before I could get meters hooked up. I ran on generator power for a whole day while waiting.
Shawn Braquet's dad is a licensed electrician. He came over and checked out my work before I called the inspector to come check it out. I also have a friend who is a plumber, he came checked out my gas and water piping and gas vents to make sure it passed before calling plumbing inspector.
I got more generator than I need cause I was able to get it for less than the 17KW generator and I wanted whole house ATS instead of partial house ATS. I was able to run every single thing in my house, including all 4 stove burners and oven at same time. When I turned on the dryer, it it bogged down. Maxed it out.
My family lives in Cameron and Creole. When a hurricane comes, I have a house full.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by KDM

By the way Shawn, your dad did the install. He is one hell of a Electrician!!!!!!!!!!

I installed my own, Shawns dad came and checked out my work before I called inspectors to come give me a tag to get my meter installed.