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puma guy wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 3:37 pm I was searching the net for the Ford generators (they are made by Pulsar) and while reading reviews I saw on from a fellow in Naples, Florida I assume. He had purchased the 15KW Pulsar model (large for a portable) . What caught my attention was his comment that permitting for a permanent generator is a nightmare. I would think in hurricane Florida it would be a simple feat, but perhaps invading liberals decided control and thumb on the neck pressure was more important than the well being of residents.

permits for a permanent unit in Naples is a nightmare. I takes over three months to get approvals, unit has to be on a re-bar enforced slab and many more restrictions. Oh yes, you need an architectural rendition to start. I received cost figures of up to $2,500 just to get all this done.

puma guy wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:51 pm

Keith B wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 1:44 pm

puma guy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:45 pm I have my Generac XT8000E (8KW running/10KW starting) back fed to my breaker panel. We have a gas furnace in the central air unit w/ a 1HP fan motor that ran constantly and I it energized first. I had our entire 5 B/R house on it. Two refrigerators, two freezers, all rooms w/ led light bulbs (I still admonished everyone to turn off light when leaving a room), electric stove - used one large burner. Couldn't use the oven. I had two 1500W heaters running as well. The generator breaker tripped the first night about 2AM. I discovered what happened when I tripped all the panel breakers and turned them one on at a time until the gen tripped again. It was the very last 120 V breaker I energized that had a 2HP air compressor on the circuit. I leave it turned on and it leaked down and was trying to start. I just left that breaker tripped. I was surprised how long the gen ran between fill ups. It has a 7.5 gallon capacity, but I only fill it with 5 gallons of ethanol free stabilized gasoline in it.

You have conquered the challenge with smaller portable generators set up for temporary use. ‘Load balancing’ is necessary to not exceed the available wattage (amperage) of your gen set. Bringing individual circuits on one at a time will keep you from throwing a large surge to your generator and keep it from tripping. Large resistive element items like heaters, coffee makers, hair dryers, etc are the large current draw items that will cause you trouble when brought online.

It surprising how much of a house that can be kept operational with a portable generator during an outage. One thing that can really help during an outage as well as every day with your bill is to replace incandescent and CFL (curly-que) bulbs with LED. A 60 watt equivalent LED bulb uses only 8 watts compared to the 60 of the incandescent. Additionally, you can choose the color temperature, or Kelvin, the light emits. I like daylight (5k) for kitchens, utility and laundry rooms, and garages. 4K bright white for bathrooms and 3k for living/family rooms and bedrooms where a ‘warmer’ light is more my liking.

I agree. I also use LED bulbs, mainly 60 with a couple of 75W and a 100W in large spaces with different degrees Kelvin as you mentioned. One of my fridges and a freezer are in a screen room so they weren't cycling frequently during this frigid weather. It will be a different story in summer weather typical of hurricane season. I have smaller gens - 2.5KW or 4KW that I could use with extension cords for them if necessary. I also have a small window unit in a spare B/R where we could sleep since 8000W would never handle my 5T Central A/C. Though I'm back feeding through my panel, which I've done for 15 years when I need the gen, I have purchased an inlet and transfer panel to hook it up right. I have considered retrofitting the 8KW for natural gas, but that will reduce the output.