I can't imagine they've gone out of business with all the business their doing. I still get emails from them. They are probably inundated with calls/requests. Maybe try this number? (281) 251-6100
I bought this generator. Free shipping and no tax charged. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pulsar-1...r-with-Electric-Start-CARB-Approved/695477131 I also bought a conversion kit for it to run off natural gas, so it will be tri-fuel (natural gas, propane, or gasoline) I've ordered a soft-start device for my Air Conditioner. I've contacted an electrician to have a transfer switch installed at my house. When I'm done, I'll provide a full description of my setup.
Definitely let me know how the natural gas converter works. Which one did you get? I looked around briefly but didn't easily see one that called out this model generator. It would be great to run nat gas to prevent having to stock up gasoline. Granted gasoline might still be needed to run the house at full capacity, i.e. AC, lights, fridge, freezer, electronics, etc, but the nat gas could at least run the basics to help conserve gasoline I'm debating on a soft starter for the AC. I think I have enough power capacity to not need one, but it definitely wouldn't hurt. I had the 50 amp inlet installed as well as a interlock. I've fired up the generator on propane to keep if gasoline free for as long as possible but I have not yet done a full run to the house. Hopefully the rain lets up this weekend and I can do a full test run.
I got this natural gas conversion kit. Haven't installed and tested it yet. Hope I didn't get ripped off - don't think I did. The parts seem legit. I've ordered this soft starter for the AC. it won't be shipped until next week - one of their suppliers ran out of parts. How much did it cost you to get the 50 amp inlet and interlock installed? Note: when the power drops, gas pumps don't work. And I don't wanna have to be fighting to get propane tanks and gas cans refilled. So I also need to get a plumber to attach a connector to my natural gas meter.
It was $500 for the labor. Probably too much but the company was well reviewed so I felt good about that. It was also the cheapest so that's a win-win for me. I liked that he said I could purchase the parts (he texted me the amazon links). A couple of the other electrician's quotes had materials markup baked in. I think my neighbor paid like $250, but I'm not sure how well that set-up is done...one of the electricians said it wasn't right but I have seen it work so I don't know what the electrician meant exactly.
I've decided to set up my generator configuration in phases... PHASE I (Complete) ============================================== All of these parts have been purchased and installed Generator 65 feet of four-strand, 6-guage cable 50 amp breaker 50 amp power outlet box Cable plug connectors Gasoline syphon Notes on setup: Powers almost the entire house, including heater, refrigerators, and lights (theoretically; not yet tested) No extension cords needed; connects to breaker box and powers our usual house lights and outlets Runs on gasoline or propane; not yet configured for natural gas If generator runs out of gas and power is still down, I can syphon gas out of our cars, if necessary Can run in our detached garage, but will fill garage with carbon monoxide Probably won't run air conditioner The cost for the parts on PHASE I has been about $1,410 (most of which was the cost of the generator and the cable). PHASE II =============================================== Upgrade gas meter and move to side of property Get parts and drill hole in garage wall to vent generator exhaust out of garage Install soft start on air conditioner. Install natural gas conversion kit onto generator. Notes on setup Should power the entire house, including air conditioner Will allow generator to use natural gas Will allow operation in garage without buildup of carbon monoxide I have bought the soft start for the air conditioner and the natural gas conversion kit for the generator (both for PHASE II), but I haven't installed them yet.
I did the exact same thing, albeit with a smaller generator. Just finished installing the power inlet today. I got a Wen 2350W peak / 1900 W running inverter generator and installed an interlock and 30amp power inlet at the breaker box. 1900W is just enough to run the essentials. I did a test run today with fridge, lights, internet router and modem, gas furnace, and TV and that peaked at around 11 amps (1300W). Total cost is about $400 for the generator and $200 for the interlock kit, power inlet box, power cable, and 30amp breaker. All in all, I am really happy with it and it certainly gives a peace of mind.
Your price for the interlock kit, inlet box, cable, and breaker was only $200 ?!?! That's super cheap! Very nice!... kept your costs down, and you won't lose a fridge full of food when the power drops. ....notice I said "when", not "if"? Although we didn't lose power this winter (and I didn't think we would), I have no doubt at all that we will lose power again in the future. It's only a matter of time. My cable alone cost $300, but I'm running it across my yard so that the generator can operate from inside my detached garage.
The cable was only a 15 footer (30amp 10 gauge) so it was only $42. I didn't need a long cable since I have to move the generator next to the main panel to use it anyways. That's another reason I went with a small generator as opposed to a big one. Portability is a big plus. I bought this generator last year right after Uri and I got to use it for TS Nicholas in September when my power was out for 12 hours. I just plugged in an extension cord to power my fridge and electronics. It's really amazing how much less stressful a power outage is when you have the essentials powered. That said, I saw a crew putting in a Generac in my next door neighbor's house this morning. I will still be a little bit jealous when that kicks in haha.
Any idea how much of your house will be running with that generator? The idea of an inverter generator is attractive since they tend to be quieter and they are safer for electronics, but the cost of more powerful inverter generators scares me.
The 1900w generator is going to be able to power most of the important things except any 240v appliances (dryer, cooktop, oven, whole house AC). It can't power heavy power user like microwave, toasters, blender, washer, dishwasher, hair dryer, or portable heater. I'll use a butane portable stove for cooking. Here's the estimated power budget Generator Budget 1900W furnace fan -500w refrigerator -445w when defrost cycle is on, typical running watt is around 200w cable modem and router -30w one 65" TV -100w Lights (All LED) -200w (20 bulbs at 10watt each) Other electronics -100w (multiple charging phones and laptop) That gives a headroom of 525watt. That'll be enough for things like floor fans and garage door opener (light single aluminum door). So that small generator is going to be able to power quite a bit as long as you're aware of its limitation. Getting the smaller generator also gives the option of adding another matching generator and use a parallel kit to up the power output to 3600w in the future. The main draw back is going to be run time. It only has a 1 gallon fuel tank and runs for 7 hours at half load and 10 hours at quarter load. So I'd expect to have to shutdown the generator and refuel every 7-10 hours.
I really don't know anything about generators. I did see this one online for a good price. Predator Inverter generator 9500watts at Harbor Freight. What do you guys think?
I've heard great things about HF Predator generators. That's about as powerful as inverter generators can get. 240v 30amp outlet is really great. I think the first thing is to determine the size of the generator you need. At 9500w/7600w , it should be able to power a small central (2.5-3ton) ac unit if you don't have other big power hogs. If you have bigger central ac unit, then I'd either go up on power to make it work or go way down on power to power everything else except the AC. You can always go with a window AC unit in a pinch as well.
So, if you wanted a gas generator to recharge the solar batteries, and be hooked up to the natural gas line, is it possible to also have a propane tank instead? So that if Nat Gas prices skyrocket you can at least use Propane until things settle? DD
My genny is tri-fuel: Gasoline, Propane and Natural Gas. So using that as my guide, Propane and Natty gas are different. Or it's just marketing that I got fooled by.
...And I bought a natural gas kit for my dual-fuel generator so that it is now tri-fuel (gasoline, propane, or natural gas). ... ...question: Why aren't the solar panels charging the batteries? (and... if you're having to use a gasoline generator to charge your solar batteries, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having solar?)
They're definitely different. Nat gas is usually what's piped into your home. Propane is usually what you run around buying in canisters/tanks. In the event of a hurricane, the last thing I want to do is run around looking for propane. Of course there's also the chance you lose your nat gas supply to your home. I'm looking for electricity powered by the swimming of goldfish in the event the electric grid goes down or the sun goes out. But I'm worried that the fish may not survive if the sun goes out. I don't know what to do. lol. I'm kidding but I crack up at all the people on forums spending thousands of dollars for setups of redundancy to "save money" or be "energy independent" while living in the burbs. I say just spend whatever the minimum you need to power whatever you need in the event of a multi-day emergency. Of course, if I lived in Houston nowadays, I'd be looking into generators and a boat, too. Being in the DFW area, some of just got slammed by a pretty bad hail storm last night. I'm curious to see if people need their roofs replaced, what they do about the solar panels that have to be removed first (?) and then re-installed. Or how many solar panels were damaged. I'm guessing that'll cost some money, but I don't know how that works. I'm definitely going to try to get some panels for my next house, but not on this one.
