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The Generator

September 10th, 2013 at 02:53 pm

We bought a generator last night. It cost $664 plus sales tax. It's a 5,500 watt generator, and received good reviews on Amazon. It should be plenty to power our refrigerator, freezer, and some lights during a power outage. We'll just have to watch drying clothes, and other huge energy draws. Our oven is also electric, so we'll have to see on that. Probably won't be able to bake a turkey dinner during a power outage.

We also got a bid from an electrician for installing a transfer switch, so we can plug it in to our electric system. The bid was $390. The total cost for this project will be $1,054. I was figuring $1,200.

We didn't get multiple bids for installing the transfer switch. My cousin is an electrician. We usually have him do our work. He didn't get back to me when I contacted him twice. Must be busy.

The electrician that we did choose has done a lot of work for my family over the years. We've found him to be trustworthy and reliable.

There is one thing I'm not sure about yet. If you have a generator plugged in during a power outage, how do you know that the electricity is back on? My in-laws have a dairy farm so they NEED generator to run the milking and cooling equipment. They have a light next to the generator that turns on when the grid power is restored (it's not connected into the generator stream). I'll have to call the electrician, and ask about that.

6 Responses to “The Generator”

  1. Miz Pat Says:
    1378822319

    Where did you install the generator? Is it raised up so its less likely to be flooded? What fuel do you use and how much do you have to store?

    Good question on when the power comes back on.

    What a great project!

  2. Bob B. Says:
    1378827884

    Miz Pat - the transfer switch will be installed outside, right at the electric meter. The generator is stored in our shed. I'll have to lug it out when power goes out. Down side is keeping that area free of snow, which I normally have not been doing.

    The generator is fueled by gasoline. We try to always have gasoline on hand for mower and snow blower.

  3. Miz Pat Says:
    1378828574

    That is so great.

  4. LuckyRobin Says:
    1378830922

    You have to turn the generator's power off to check for whether or not the electrical power has come back on. Depending on how it is wired to the house you may be able to do this with a switch inside or you might have to go outside to do it. I would usually just check to see whether the neighbor's lights were back on since he had no generator or the street lights to see if power had come back. The stove will be too much for that wattage of generator to handle, but you can run the microwave off it easily.

  5. Xtreme Thunder Says:
    1378833304

    Bob - You could ask your electrician about a Utility Power Restored Alert. Or, you could ask your electrician for a quote for installing a sub-panel with a transfer lock on it, albiet, more money and a little more wall space. You then transfer some of your critical loads to the sub panel. When you run the generator off the sub panel, the main panel would still be connected to the utility and any lights or devices that were on at the time you lost power would then turn back on and let you know the utility has restored power. As mentioned above, you may have a hard time running a full sized electric oven/ stove off the 5,500W generator. Regards, Joe

  6. Bob B. Says:
    1378839365

    Thanks for the replies LR and XT.

    Our neighbors across the road have a generator. There is a house across the mile. We could check that house.

    Not a huge deal.

    No street light to check, though.

    What we'll probably end up doing is calling our electric co. for their estimate on power restoration, and check periodically.

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