Surviving a Week Without Power: Ultimate Home Backup Solution!

[@franklincerpico7702]

Holy moly Dave, those Microsoft stocks paid off very nice indeed.

[@douro20]

He got his fortune in the software sales business (SoftwareOnline LLC).

[@CodaBroda]

And some other business ventures post-Microsoft… 😬

[@Reman1975]

@@CodaBroda Do you think Dave might have a side hustle of being a high class gigolo for bored wealthy women ?........... He looks the type. 🤣

[@termiterasin]

Seems like the kinda guy who deserves it. Worked hard and is now making more mild educational content.

[@leonredbon]

You ain’t kidding

[@AS-oz6ep]

Next time on Dave’s Garage, we install a small, modular nuclear reactor in case the gas ever goes out..

[@GeorgeValkov]

Those take a while to spin-up or shut-down. And then he might have to power the entire neighbourhood to keep the reactor happy. ⚛ They’re also a bit more complicated to cool.

[@benbaselet2026]

@@GeorgeValkov It's a nice bonus to be able to melt all the snow from your property with the waste heat though.

[@TomCee53]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@husseinHelal-99]

what if the uranium ran out to 😂

[@jamess1787]

More like Dave drills his own well, and starts his own gas refinery in his back yard.

[@paulmorrow8372]

This reminds me of when the inspector came to look at my generator install. He asked “are you planning on running the neighborhood”. This is when I knew I sized it appropriately!

[@markmuir7338]

Most people would be better off with a small generator and on-site fuel tank. If the generator is over-sized, it burns way more fuel for the same loads. A small generator and moderately sized home battery is the most sensible combination. Similar cost to an over-sized generator, can meet your peak loads, and all the rest of the year when the grid is up it can time shift your power usage into cheap rates, saving you a lot of money.

[@mikewill1891]

Who pulls a permit for a generator🤦‍♂️

[@paulmorrow8372]

@@mikewill1891 I needed a MUCH bigger natural gas supply from the utility provider. Permitting everything was necessary before the utility would run the bigger line and install a bigger meter. In my city one gov owned utility provider serves electric, natural gas, and water.

[@jjann54321]

@@mikewill1891 As long as you never have your house inspected for insurance or attempt to sell the house you should be just fine without a permit and passed inspection.

[@dalltex]

@@jjann54321some AHJ’s don’t require permits.

[@steveschnetzler5471]

Reminds me, I don't need a generator, I just need a nice neighbor with one. Nice story, thanks.

[@ian-nz-2000]

That was me after our big 2011 quakes! My genny was the centre of a spider's web of extension cords 😀

[@stargazer7644]

It reminds me of the prepper lady at the HOA meeting telling friends about all the years worth of food and water she was stockpiling in case of disaster. She asked her neighbor what he was stockpiling. He says, "Ammunition". She says, "What are you going to do about food?" He says, "I'll take yours."

[@rowanjones3476]

You joke, but having a local ‘micro grid’ that can operate islanded from the power utility is a real thing, though it does take some work to make sure the generation/loads are in balance

[@chublez]

​@@rowanjones3476 pretty sure they were just talking about waking next door and asking for a spot out of the cold and maybe a phone charge and wifi.😂

[@melkiorwiseman5234]

'T'was me after the last big power outage, except I was the "nice neighbour" after I purchased my 8KW generator. I strung extension cords across both neighbours' fences so they could get their fridges and freezers back up and running.

[@Steve_Larson]

"You can watch your dog run away for 2 days" Oh my gosh I needed that I think I laughed for 10 minutes.

[@ryan0io]

Made my day too. I live in western Canada, and we've always made this joke about Saskabush.

[@gabbyn978]

Ever had a dog do this in a kind of suburb? We had one that would be brought back by the inhabitants for several times. She was so good at sneaking away, that we hadn't even noticed it. I still wonder how she managed to not get overrun by a car.

[@davidfisher7800]

I belly laughed at this too 😂 how Dave managed to keep a straight face made it even funnier.

[@IsabinMarius]

I grew up in the Freestate, South Africa. I assure you that comment about the dog stood out for being similar to a common saying where I come from: You'll see a thief running for days, it's so flat. Nice twist, Dave.

[@mwiz100]

I laughed so hard at this 😂

[@brianmccullough4578]

I always weld in the shower while dinner is in the stove. It’s more efficient that way

[@jondonnelly3]

Replace 3 letters and we are the same.

[@markmuir7338]

That’s actually true if your generator is big enough to handle that load!

[@butter262]

I installed a 24k Generac 18 months ago. At least 12 outages since then, some short some 8 hours. Best thing I have added to the homestead.

[@trith72]

I had a 24kw NG Generac installed near the end of 2023 down here in Louisiana due to prolonged summer outages that are common with big gulf storms and hurricanes. It served me very well after Beryl and ran for three days with only minor stops to check the oil and let it cool down for a bit. I was able to run both zoned AC units and every appliance I had without issue for the entire 72 hours we were out. We were the only house that didn't have to abandon their home due to the extreme heat and go to a hotel or friends/family on our block thanks to the generator. Best investment I've made in a while. Side benefit is NG is super cheap in Louisiana thanks to Haynesville Shale deposit so my total NG cost for three days was about $45. Not bad at all.

[@JimConnelley]

My 22kw Generac ran140hrs non-stop after Beryl. Cost me about $1.25/hr. (North Houston

[@EEggert-b4i]

​@@JimConnelley And that's the setup I need to do (also in Houston)!

[@74_Green]

Almost worth getting a second generator and running off grid?!? Add some solar to the mix?

[@mowcowbell]

@@74_Green These whole home generators are not designed for 24/7 off grid use. They are designed as a fail over for grid power outages.

[@creativechaoscom]

@@mowcowbell As a matter of fact the Generac stand-by units are designed for exactly that purpose. Of course can't run two weeks uninterrupted without checking and adding oil. During Beryl ours ran non-stop for over a week. Of course Comcast couldn't keep the service up and by Monday noon we were offline.

[@CedroCron]

Dave, I ended up as a paraplegic and also can't work any longer due to my neuropathic pain that came with my spinal cord injury. Through your channel I get to experience all the cool stuff I always wanted to do that you carry out and share on your channel and I wanted to just say thanks.

[@rowanjones3476]

I fail to understand why anyone’s life experience must depend so much on their ability to accumulate financial wealth. How we treat the most vulnerable says something about us. I’m a big proponent of universal basic income. There’s enough wealth to put everyone on a sustainable baseline. Dave has a good heart. I’d be curious to hear his take on this. Its political, sure, but everything is political.

[@CedroCron]

@@rowanjones3476 Never said otherwise

[@DavesGarage]

I'm all for safety nets, but not for hammocks. I'd like to see UBI tried somewhere and see how it impacts motivation, people's education level, and so on. I don't know the answers, so can't form much of an opinion yet!

[@CedroCron]

@@DavesGarage They ran a test in the 1970's in Manitoba and more recently in Ontario and replaced other government services with it instead. It showed that if they eliminated unemployment insurance, C.P.P. (Canadian version of Social Security), Welfare and all the other income support programs like those with this one program they could eliminate a ton of Government administration used to administer the money and check on fraud etc. and it also benefitted a lot of people. It would also be clawed back the more and more income you made yourself so that there would be motivation there for people to work because the basic income wouldn't be a ton, it would be the bare bones basics. So it looked from this small test group of people these 2 times to be a complete success. I'd love to try it nation wide on a 2-3 year test eliminating all the other income supports we have in that time and see what happens. Every income level does better when everyone does well because it can reduce the tax burden by eliminating a ton of administration and that is always a good thing.

[@russellhltn1396]

@@DavesGarage I feel the same about hammocks, but I'd think UBI would become a hammock. I also think that the more money consumers have, the more they'll bid up the cost of housing. Because a house needs land, and all the desirable land is already developed, housing isn't likely to respond to rising prices the way big screen TVs would.

[@joesmith1142]

lol..."I learned how to weld that day". I also enjoy forced welding classes on occasion.

[@RamonInNZ]

Yeah been there done that.... and lost the end of a screw driver!

[@billklement2492]

A friend of mine lived in a new neighborhood with really bad power. You entered it from the top of a hill and you could see the whole neighborhood blacked out all too often. My friend bought a military generator and hooked it up to the house. He'd get to the top of the hill and see his house as the only one fully lit up! He and a bunch of his buddies used to go camping. You know... giant screen TV, satellite dish, full sized fridge, couches (because... football!) and the generator to power it all! Glad you survived the storm!

[@KameraShy]

Yeah, that's some people's idea of "camping." Mine is a tent and a fire.

[@davidkahler9390]

Really important to keep those fountains running

[@termiterasin]

People can't think you're POOR! JK. Dave has an above average house but seems pretty down to earth.

[@spocksdaughter9641]

I noticed I wonder if it the first wife??

[@maxvideodrome4215]

😂

[@trueriver1950]

Yeah: and to be able to swim in the pool during a passing hurricane

[@rupe53]

@@trueriver1950 have you even gone through the royal pain of a large pool where the water became a science project after the filter was off line for a week or more? Just imagine the idea of spoiled food in a fridge but 30,000 gallons worth.

[@hieyeque1]

Back in 2019 I installed a small subpanel with 10 circuits to cutover power to a Pulsar G12KBN. Everyone thought I was Noah, building an ark in the desert. Anyway, I bought a GasTapper, which siphon's fuel from my vehicles, as they both hold a lot of fuel and it's fresh. Then came 2021, we were on that generator for 4 days (about 20 hours / day) during the Texas Winter Storm of 2021. We had all the lights, TV's, Fiber Internet, and 3 space heaters. We even made pizza in a convection oven and hot soup and coffee in our Keurig. It was awesome, anyway, like you I wanted more. I swapped out my 200 amp panel with one that would accommodate a main breaker for am interlock kit and now I can run 240 loads. Before I was limited to 120v. Anyway, way to go, charging 3 ev's is pretty impressive. I only have 1, Tesla M3 2023 RWD

[@simongchadwick]

Thanks for the GasTapper reference. That will certainly beat cycling through several gas cans!

[@SamJam55]

Complete enjoyment watching this. Thank you Dave.

[@garthhowe297]

At my rural house, I did the super simple way. I put the well pump, and my ONE oil furnace on regular plugs. I then installed house outlets for them to use, and beside them generator outlets. In an extended outage, especially in the winter, I would simply move the plugs to the generator outlets. If need be, I also ran an extension cord into the kitchen, and could power the fridge, and freezer. As for lights...well, living in a rural area, we had more than enough battery powered lanterns to keep us going.

[@termiterasin]

I'm not sure the point when you can use the existing wiring in your house. That fancy stamped metal piece he bought is used to cut off the main breaker and allow the backfeed the panel through a breaker safely. Accomplishes the same task. Maybe plugs make more sense in your situation.

[@garthhowe297]

@termiterasin It was just a simple and safe method, that didn't involve wiring in the breaker box. I was mainly concerned with keeping the heat on, so my pipes wouldn't freeze.

[@Richardincancale]

I did the exact same thing so I could easily feed my oil burner, fridge, freezer and lights from the V2G outlet on my EV - up to 2.5kW from a 60+ kWh battery inside.

[@christopherguy1217]

I didn't have that option as my well is 500 ft deep and requires 1.5 hp motor. The starting current for the well pump is 62.5 amps at 240 volts. The excess power, when the well pump is off, can power the rest of the house except the electric heaters.

[@ssmith5048]

This is truly a guided tour into Nerdvana. So awesome Dave!

[@Metanis]

Thanks for showing us the installation pictures! It's impressive for sure! And thanks for mentioning how dangerous this can be if not done properly!

[@doylemaleche9937]

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. When building my 4,000sq/ft home in Poulsbo, I (personally) installed a 15KW. Wife did not think we need one nor wanted to spend the $4K on top of the growing building expense. Within 1 year of moving in....total power loss for 3 days. NOT US! We also offered hot shower, cooking, and neighbor kids camping in the Home Theater. Great investment! Love your stories, Dave!

[@ParadoxicalThird]

Imagine how cool being a kid brought over to dave's house must be. My dad was a tech-head and I loved visits because he had a full fledged PC setup with a dot matrix printer as early as I can remember in like 1995, and that's like a drop in the ocean compared to Dave's house/setup which must seem like an actual castle to younger kids. As a disabled guy who, bluntly, never got to amount to much of anything in life, I'm pretty in-awe of setups like this. If things had gone differently this is basically what I had dreamed I would have as an adult.

[@Jasta1122]

Frigging awesome, Dave! You topped your fiber build out without any of the heartaches you had to deal with back then.

[@rfritchman]

Dave, greetings from Bainbridge Island and I am not a prepper. You have a terrific setup for high-comfort, medium-term tree-down power outages. But when the Big Shake hits or a large-scale wildfire develops, natural gas will be gone, either because lines have broken or because PSE has preemptively turned it off until the integrity of the lines is confirmed AND the risk of fires fueled by natural gas is zero. Your current setup has redundancy in everything except your fuel supply. One option is to bury natural gas storage somewhere on your property--your 2,000 gallon buffer--and to plan for vigorous load shedding to maximize your time with power. Another is to put your life-safety stuff (heat/AC/fridges/safety lighting/security system) on a single electrical service panel. Get a smaller backup generator--20 kw'ish diesel/gasoline/multifuel--and the bunkerage to keep it running 10 hours/day for a month. The transfer switch here is a 50-amp cable that connects the backup generator to your life-safety service panel through a mechanical interlock--no snappy automatic transfer is necessary or useful and you'll have plenty of time to get it plugged in. This is your disaster setup--there's no need to power fountains and racks of electronics when the West Coast is rubble. With proper planning , you can still charge the Deploreans and do laundry while the fossil-fuel unit is running part-time. Don't forget about hot water--you'll have it for the pool and the house. If both are gas, consider a backup electric tank. Depending upon the size and location of the pool house, consider making it your all-electric disaster shelter with its own generator/solar/battery power system. Get solar to power the Space Karen link and your emergency router. Get a ham radio license--there's lots of sophisticated and interesting technology available for analog and digital communications. On Bainbridge and on the East Side, we'll both have tall trees blocking the roadways. Emergency services will not be able to get to us--get your Stihl electric chainsaws now. Over here, we expect live like refugees for between 30 and 60 days after the Big One: the bridge on the north end of the Island is certain to be gone and the ferries--on top of other problems like fuel and crew--may be unable to navigate if the Puget Sound is full of debris or downtown Seattle is under water. We have a couple of days of food and fuel in two gas stations and two grocery stores on-Island, so we're planning appropriately. On a regional basis, the Kitsap Peninsula is connected to The World by only two roads, one of which (Gorst) is barely above sea level. Sigh. Not looking forward to any of this.

[@BatteryAddicted]

Now that was fun. Hope to have future generator/power discussions as the winter season progresses! Thank you

[@jamesweatherley7764]

When I was about 10 in the early 80s we moved up to rural Aberdeenshire, and the first winter was crazy. Even down low the snow was piled up, and sure enough power cuts followed for days. In those times the solution was candles and do what you can for food! The local TV transmitter was on top of a hill to maximise its range, but that made it completely inaccessible given the quantities of snow. It still used valves, and of course one of them blew, and TV was out for weeks. Missing all the Xmas specials as a kid was harsh.

[@DeltaMikeTorrevieja]

Draught excluders made of your mums tights stuffed with towels plus hot water bottles for warmth.

[@TomasOBrien]

I work on diesel generator systems for a living. this is an awesome video. The company you hired did it pretty much the way that i would do it, except that i would have gone diesel. it would be more expensive because you would need a fuel tank, and I'm not sure what the rules are for King County, but it would make you completely off grid. The 3x200A ATS with load shed was a stroke of genius on their part. Please be sure to load test the system frequently, and stick to the maintenance and you should enjoy many years of worry free back-up power.

[@jerryrobinson7856]

Hi Dave, Enjoyed the 65kw gen-set install. Few people know to use a UPS that constantly conditions the power which also plays well with the generator. However, having been involved with such projects before, at times the UPS input range of voltage needs to be widened in the UPS input range settings. Gen sets that are imbalanced due to load or less sophisticated generators sometimes ramp up or down output voltage and sometimes even have cycle variables. The UPS sees input voltage out of range. This can cause the UPS to revert to battery while power from the generator is live and all of a sudden the battery runs out. I had one installation (done by IT folks way outside of their wheelhouse) that I responded to and the generator was doing a see-saw in voltages and the UPS was kicking out when the voltages were in range and kicking back to battery when voltages fell outside of range. They obviously never tested it on the actual practical load. It was powering the phone system. By the time I arrived the phone system was being booted on and off (UPS battery was all used up). This caused the phone system to cold hard boot every some 20 seconds. Fortunately the phone system worked when Main power was restored. I can only wonder what data corruption could have happened if it had a hard drive. In your installation, if you experience a rhythmic issue where you see lights getting brighter and a bit dimmer, the correction is to equalize the load across the phases with more demand from the generator. At times leaving lights on and even electric ovens at 240volts will help balance the load with a pure resistance load. Here is the big secret. Some Generators are lousy at voltage regulation and have load sweet spots. Some poor regulation generators use way higher kw ratings to gloss over rotten regulation. Like a car that has a top speed of 100mph is best ran at 50 to 70 mph. This is why certain manufacturers ‘over kw’ the engineering. Smaller generators are even more persnickety. These medium sized generators like you have either have electronic regulators or mechanical speed governors. Onan, CAT and a Detroit Diesel are all electronic and highly reliable. Always consider parts availability and multiple service organizations if you don’t like someone or one becomes unavailable. It’s rare, but at times I had to use a constant voltage output transformer to power the UPS input. The transformer alters the taps so if you had as low as 95 volts, it perked it up to 120 on the output. It would do this automatically and immediately. Sola Model number 63-23-220-8/-C8 is most popular and if memory is correct, it’s 15 or perhaps 20 amps. It does make a transformer buzzing sound, so that is a consideration. But with a pair of relays, you could redirect power through this Sola unit only with the genset is running. Another point is the Sola unit does consume power and it runs a little warm. That’s another justification to use cut over relays. Today I rather use a more sophisticated UPS. Eaton was my professional’s choice and its network connection was so easy to manage and see history with. Pleasant regards. Jerry from Chicago

[@AIM54A]

You can emulate this type of UPS by having your UPS (inverter in this case) on battery 100% of the time and use an external Battery charger to supply the required load to the UPS + Charge the battery. All the voltage transients are isolated from the inverter and the battery charger doesn't care nor does the battery. Get a victron inverter, a good LiFe Battery and a 100A charger and you can build a really solid (UPS) that will run on shore/generator without a care when voltages dip, drop out.

[@r7boatguy]

Interesting video. My house has a 15+ year old Generac which I was able to get running when I moved in. One thing to keep on top of is the oil, especially if they run for many hours. This video reminded me I need to move the furnaces on to the power center!

[@theheathkitshop2424]

Interesting video, Dave. My home is 99% solar powered, yes, still on the grid, but we use the grid as a back up generator. Your comment about running this 65kW on propane cause me to chuckle a bit. Neighbor has a 25 kW propane back up, and last year a wind storm took out power for a week. He, too, lit up the house, ran the pool pumps and fired ceramics. In the end, he sucked up 500 gallons of propane in less than two days. He mentioned weeks later it was the most expensive power in the state. Talked to him this summer and he said he had essential load panel installed.

[@Terost36]

@@theheathkitshop2424 Wow 500 gallons of propane. Would natural gas be cheaper?

[@mgkleym]

This is why I have a small 3kw running inverter generator lol. It takes about 5 gallons of gas a day to run and has enough power to keep all my food cold run an 8k btu window ac, lights, electronics and run a single high draw appliance at a time. You really don't need to run the whole house I did just fine for a week on it last year. I was able to cook using my toaster oven and a hotplate, stay comfortable in one room of my house and do laundry all off a little 224 cc ryobi for about 20 dollars a day.

[@theheathkitshop2424]

@ most likely, provided you have natural gas hookup

[@eyesonlywrx1080]

That’s why I went diesel with mine. Winds up being about half the cost of propane as long as you have a way to fill the tank yourself and make sure it’s treated for the cold.

[@pupperozucca4994]

110% this but also with lifepo4 batteries please, in 2024 fossil fuel as first backup is a bad choice

[@user-Josef.Taylor]

Dave, really enjoy your videos. They in a way make up for some of the emotional trauma inflicted on me by Windows NT 4.0 back in the day when I worked as a admin

[@davidgeller6109]

Impressive video and setup. We just installed a powerwall3 this week in anticipation of smaller outages. Amazingly we never lost power on Vashon this past week.

[@fredturk6447]

Thanks Dave, brilliant. Great sense of humour.

[@ShaneFromSA]

Now you just need a Hybrid inverter system to make sure there is zero outage and then recharge the batteries once the generator is fully up and running. Inverters can also manage the load so that the generator runs at the most efficient point.

[@JohnSmith-k1x]

Hi I came across your channel and watch this generator video very well thought out and done, I am a retired lisc. facilities manager with over 30 years experience. So I can appreciate your well detailed video and thought process in coming to your decisions to your actions. I have subscribed and liked your video and look forward to your next one. Thanks again. and good luck on your next big storm.

[@AlexBesogonov]

About natural gas and earthquakes. You are actually right on the money, the natural gas pipelines are designed to shut closed in case an earthquake is detected. The residual pressure in the system might be enough to run for a 20-30 mins, but then your local regulator will shut off. So you definitely need to add a propane tank. Fortunately, propane doesn't go bad like gasoline, and can be kept indefinitely.

[@Kyzyl_Tuva]

Love these kind of videos Dave. Your infrastructure is amazing. Thx for sharing.

[@neiloconnell2120]

I shed a tear at you shedding a tear Dave 🙂. We installed as large a solar system as we could this year. It has been excellent so far. However, one thought for you is that even on a partially dull day you barely get any output from the panels and no matter what size of battery you install (mine is a very modest 11Kw) you soon run out. If you want to install a buffer propane tank, you could always stick it underground. I am delighted those Microsoft shares got you such a beautiful house. I was diagnosed this year (at the age of 65yrs) with ADhD. It has been liberating to finally discover why I behave as I do. Liberating, but only to me of course. My wife still calls me a needy child 🥰

[@Mike-01234]

The good thing about solar battery hybrid system is a generator can be controlled by the inverter it only needs to run to charge the battery when have lack of solar or if large load exceeds power of the inverter. That way generator not sitting there burning fuel to power 100 watts of load.

[@martyb3783]

Wow, I envy your setup. In a previous house I had a 20Kw home fail over genset and it worked beautifully. I considered getting one for my current house but in the 8 years I have lived here, I have lost power once, for 20 minutes. Thats it. Its hard to justify the cost when my mains input is so reliable. Very interesting video and very impressive home setup.

[@JamyRyals]

I knew this was going to be interesting and you delivered. I wired (via interlock) a 12kw propane generator into my panel here on the gulf coast. I do want a big system one day. For now, this does the job.

[@Piracanto]

This is, by far, the nerdiest video i have watched all year. And I LOVE it. Cheers Dave, I can only wish I had the chance to befriend you and share a drink and many, many nerd stories.

[@adairw]

When we built our home in 2017 we included the wiring, transfer switch, load shedding and gas piping for a stand by whole home generator. (Cummins Quiet Connect 20k) and installed the actual generator a few years after moving in. It doesn't get used often but it's super nice to know that we can run nearly everything in the house (including three A/C units with no problem.

[@terrymcchesney383]

Dave, really enjoyed this. My family had an electrical contracting business, and we were Generac dealers as well. Was hard to get people to spend the money when building a new home and bleeding green everywhere, but those who had experienced an extended power loss were on board. Eventually they experienced what you did and were happy they had back up. We sold a lot of the manual transfer plates you showed, and for sure those are a must for safety reasons, and helped people safely have the bare minimum of backup power source.

[@JoshRath]

Loved this, Dave. I would love to watch a series like this, on all the features of your home... plus it's genuinely enjoyable to just listen to you chat about that stuff. :)

[@dalltex]

Thanks for sharing this info. I also have a large home with multiple (5) AC condensers and multiple pool pumps. It’s hard to find good info on proper backup electrical. I keep running across videos showing how to run maybe one condenser or maybe window units. I can use your info to help design a plan for my home. In Texas during our winter apocalypse I had many neighbors with 7 figure homes with burst pipes due to lack of heat.

[@jeffreybassett9918]

Dave, Nice discussion about the requirements for a backup Jenny. Similar story here . Several years ago - we had a major snow/ice event - and according to the public discussions - the issue was that the power company had been deferring proper line maintenance - and tree triming - the ice took out some major lines - we were without power for several days - during this very cold period. I made the decison - NEVER AGAIN - so - I too purchased a Generac - upgraded the gas line, poured the pad - went thru all the load shedding nonesense - (A/C and electic oven/stove top). Ya know, it has been several years - and only have a few hours of actual usage - in those 30 min outages - but it still runs a 20 min exercise weekly. I have had to replace the battery, and the starter - on the generac - but otherwise - it runs the exercise every Friday. Both my sons live in areas that are more suseptable to outages and also installed LARGE WHOLE HOUSE generators - and for them it has proved very worthwhile - my one son has a 400A Generac transfer switch - that is a MONSTER.

[@DozIT]

Yep, I remember that outage from the Canadian side, think we were offline for 3 days, all because some tree fell on a line in Connecticut

[@rupe53]

@@DozIT ha.... that was retaliation for the outage on 1965 when a problem at Niagara Falls took out power to the east coast for 14 hours! Lights actually flickered from Washington DC to to the Boston area and greater NYC locations were totally out.

[@DozIT]

@@rupe53 lol! It’s crazy how fragile our grid really is. There seems to have been huge improvements since that outage, if we ignore whatever is going on in Texas (sorry guys).

[@Sevenfeet0]

This video reminds me of a conversation I had with my aunt on Thanksgiving. I found out that she had an interest in a backup generator for her house but she doesn’t have natural gas since not enough neighbors wanted it on her street when installation happened in a neighborhood decades ago. So she was thinking her only practical choice was a propane tank on her property. But I suggested something else. She sell her F-150 pickup and get the electric Lightning version while good deals were to be had and tax incentives are still a thing. Then Ford would pay for the electric EVSE installation. She would still have to pay for the inverter but she could probably survive with power for a few days on AC backup power alone. Her needs are more basic than Dave’s…she 81 and lives alone in 2000-ish sq ft ranch house. Her biggest needs are her HVAC unit, water heater, stove, fridge, dishwasher and washer/dryer (all electric). She has two TVs, two computers and WiFi. The HVAC is easily the biggest draw but I think with some conservative use, she could survive for a while in a major US city if the power was out for a while.

[@ebrown405]

I really enjoyed this video Dave! I too would like to power my whole home, one day, with an outside generator that can run natural gas or propane with smart transfer switches and power batteries inside. Having Starlink as a backup internet source, is ideal in my humble opinion but expensive. Hopefully, my next router will have two wan ports to facilitate that failover capability. You're absolutely correct about the cell towers only running as long as their local site runtime battery storage allows. I think state and/or local government should make it a standard regulation as to the minimum uptime operation needed in cell towers and other communication infrastructure because I don't think 8 hours is enough time, perhaps more like 24 hours at minimum to start with. Thank you for covering this topic as I'm keenly interested in this subject and want to avoid common pitfalls as well as learning about regulations that may apply, like the safety of the line man in a power outage working to restore power. I'm keeping a shortcut to this video in my home power folder on my computer. :)

Interresting Video. as for your concern regarding the natural gas, I agree. I actually see that as the biggest weakpoint of many backup solutions I have seen in videos from the US. Diesel Generators are used a lot over here in Europe because they can run on the fuel of the oil burners that are used for heating a lot over here. If you have no diesel in use anywhere it is not an optimal solution though. You might want to keep your old gasoline generators as a backup. Another thing I would suggest is getting a large battery bank and at least some solar. the solar part is to make the batteries worthwhile during normal times as well as to help keeping them charged during a longer outage. the main benefit is to reduce your generator runtime and increase its efficiency. A genereator has its peak efficiency at a certain load percentage. Running it at lower load gives bad fuel economy, but there is another aspect to it as well. you have to change the oil, the filters and so on after a certain runtime. that can become an issue during longer outages. With a battery bank you run the house off the generator and charge the batteries and then turn off the generator completely until you drop below a certain remaining capacity. According to a study done by victron that can reduce your fue usage by up to 80% compared to a generator running at low load 24/7.

[@MistahHeffo]

The question is, how bad was the Gas bill after that outage?

[@lukeb0030]

yes

[@johnclyne6350]

Gas bill? With a house like that & generator. Who cares? Safety of his family is paramount. He can afford it.

[@brianbisbee4760]

For my 16kw for almost 10 days it was $236 our avg here in houston is 36 bucks.

[@akaHarvesteR]

​@@brianbisbee4760that's not bad at all. I'd pay that much to not be without power anytime!

[@johnclyne6350]

@That’s way cheaper than a hotel room. Plus you got to stay in your own home. Meanwhile your neighbors were camped out in their homes the whole time. I’d choose the generator every time.

[@EEggert-b4i]

Until two years ago, I lived "just down the road" from the Generac HQ and a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin - and of course, these were the local favorite there. However, over the last couple years, now living on the Texas Gulf Coast, but also talking to folks in other parts of the country, it seems that Generac is, to many, the gold standard for solid generator support in outages. Watching your high-end scenario with a 65Kw generator seals that for me. (And after two weeks of outage from storms this last year, I'm ready to follow your lead...). An impressive and fun video!

[@I_Dont_Answer_Questions]

LOL... Cummins is the standard all are measured from. Ask your Generic clown friends how many electrons their hardware contributes to the grid.

[@AIM54A]

The liquid cooled Generac generators like Dave has are usually pretty good.. They're lower end home units are mostly junk.

[@Kristinapedia]

"I mean, you could watch your dog run away for like 2 days". I JUST DIED OF LAUGHTER and I'm still laughing. I've watched that part like 10 times already and I already sent it to multiple friends and I'm about to post it on facebook.

[@DonGlassjr]

After a ice storm took out power lines and going into the the fifth day without power. I bought a Honda generator. Only one store had it everything else was sold out. Got it home hooked up and the next day the power was restored. I think I went three years before I got to use it again. It's about 20 years old now and still starts one the first pull.

[@chewylandlive]

David, was that a Corner Gas pun? The best show ever made. Cheers from Bulgaria..

[@christopherguy1217]

Nice setup. I installed a similar but much smaller system running on propane 20 years ago and I love it. Living in the country means you're last on the list to get power restored so no heat no water no septic. Recently we started looking in to installing a battery bank and inverter system to run the loads reserving the generator for recharging the batteries. I figured I'd need the same inverter rating as my generator and enough batteries to last about 12 - 16 hours, anything longer and he generator will recharge the batteries in under 2 hours.

[@harvey66616]

_"reserving the generator for recharging the batteries"_ -- very smart. Given how inefficient generators are at lower loads, it's best if you can buffer the energy in a battery, and always run the generator at max capacity, for most efficient use of the generator's fuel supply. As an example, a 30 kW Generac will be half as efficient running at 25% load as at 100% load. That is, cutting the load to 1/4 of max capacity only cuts the fuel burn by 1/2.

[@Golden122]

I found your joke about watching your dog run away for 2 days hilarious!

[@BerndFelsche]

Slow dog.

[@n6cid]

That's totally what I would do on my off grid home just to see how much current the system could produce...:) Nice work David...

[@tns6862]

Ah nice, very good video. Now time to install a back up back up 65kW Diesel generator and store 4 weeks worth of diesel somewhere in the shred. With ATS wired in and all, 3rd source of power when the gas line fail.

[@100pyatt]

Yep ! Make the diesel the primary, it's so much more fuel efficient than natural gas

[@gaza1881]

Just looked up local gen-set supplier, their 64kW unit has 270l tank that provides 12 hours continuous supply.

[@RSkala100]

Thanks Dave, love your setup. I do the same with a propane home generator, fiber internet, a POE switch on a UPS feeding all my WiFi routers. No dropped connections waiting for the generator to spool l up.

[@sirronkcuhc]

Hello from Romania! that natural gas explosion clip you inserted was truly something in 2023 (unauthorized storage if I remember)

[@TomCee53]

I only personally know one person with Generac, much smaller than yours, but she is quite happy with it. Her rationale was more warmth than tech, but it handles her house nicely in the few outages we have in southern Illinois. Professional install is worth it, as they know all of the pitfalls and have appropriate ways to address them. It’s not for penny-pinchers, but in her case, she can afford peace of mind. I’ve looked at options, but I’m more than willing to sit out the few hours that are typical here. Anything taking power out for more than a day will be such a major disruption that internet will be the least of my concerns. That said, great video. You brought up every question I’ve ever heard. The bottom line for do-it-yourselfers is, think carefully, and think again, and plan it out fully before starting. Then expect to run into something unexpected. In other words, if you can afford to do it, find an expert. If nothing else, you’ve got someone to blame, not that I would. 😂

[@Electronics-Rocks]

We were off power in the UK in 81 for nearly 4 weeks! At first we charged spare car batteries using the cars. My dad took the lawnmower motor off & we wired it to a generator for power. We had a 12v TV & always had plenty of candles & batteries! They had to send in the marines to supply us with food with a Snowcat vehicle. Some others had food air drops from Navy helicopters or evacuated. As Cornwall rarely has snow it really caught loads of people out. The forecast is we are likely to see heavy snow this year so how many people are ready? Especially with reliance on mobile phones with the analogue network going, giving only 8 hours. I am now ok as not far from hospital & a main switching hub for power & coms. Also having worked for the grid & coms companies know the planning helps make decisions.

[@technolucas3720]

Very cool setup. Dave, you're living the dream brother.

[@wallykramer7566]

Nice additions to "Dave's Garage": A whole mansion and insights into your family! Thanks!

[@mackfisher4487]

Well done, a better overall look at home generation then most.

[@harvey66616]

At 3:15, it's a common misconception that generators have to be sized according to theoretical maximum load. This misconception is encouraged by people who sell generators (which is where I first heard the claim). I was sizing a generator for my new custom home, and the electrician selling the generator equipment claimed I would need a 60 kW generator minimum (I guess similar to what you've got here), which was well outside my budget and interest. So I did the research myself, and I learned there are three different ways to determine generator size requirements. The most sensible is to monitor actual electrical usage over a 30 day period. Using this method, code requires the generator be capable to meeting the peak power used during the monitoring period. I had the monitoring done during the summer, and I made sure to only charge one of my EVs at a time, using the smaller EVSE (20A) for any charging session. I also shut down one of the electric water heaters for the month, we forewent baking (electric oven), and dried our clothes outside. Yeah, this produced an artificially low number, but that was the goal. I wanted the freedom to base the generator size on my own criteria. The monitoring found that our peak for the month was 7 kW. I installed a 30 kW generator. In any power outage, we've never had to be stingy about what power we use. We're not profligate consumers of electricity to start with, but we do have two EVs. Even with both EVs charging at the same time, the heat pumps heating the house, using the kitchen, drying clothes inside, etc. the highest load I've ever seen on the generator was 20 kW.

[@rupe53]

Great points about the human factor being problematic because we all have bad habits when it comes to flipping a switch and forgetting about it. EV charging rates can be adjusted right on the car's control screen and we can do laundry in the early part of the day when the AC isn't running full blast. Newer transfer switches have load-shed built in so can drop out the AC while a water heater cycles or kill the water heater while you cook a meal. Typically you won't miss that for 20 minutes while another appliance finishes a cycle. Now back to your load calculation, which worked ok for you but is usually reserved for larger installation where you have access to peak demand data. (small commercial) Most electricians will simply turn everything on and measure the draw but forget about the start surge. That's a bad thing and start loads absolutely needs to be in there. This usually results in an oversized unit, all things considered. Another way is using a rule of thumb of say 1-3 Kw per room (10 room home = 10 - 30 Kw) and adding high draw items on top of that. The most accurate is to actually add up appliances and figure each room on it's own, then consider if load-shedding will work for the customer to drop down a size or two on the gen set. Remember that each power failure brings EVERYTHING back on line at once. Trying to restart 2 AC units at the same time can add 25 Kw to your calculation. Postponing / staggering that restart by 3 minutes will shave thousands from the equipment price.... and you won't feel the difference.

[@Arieeeee]

What you say is true but I've dealt with people who live in $5 million+ houses and they don't think about conserving power during an outage and in fact may be using more power - some because they don't don't care and have the money to spend to be comfortable and I've met some who actually open their house to less fortunate friends and relatives who are without power and/or have house damage following a hurricane or deep freeze. For that kind of customer, an extra $20K is chump change. The absolute last thing a generator contractor needs is to get a phone call from that kind of customer saying their generator is not working when all the roads are shut down.

[@rupe53]

@@Arieeeee The large company I retired from (6k customers and 17 techs) had a few of those. They'd spend $80k or more on a system and want to know if there's a way to avoid the "10 seconds in the dark" while waiting for the gen set to warm up. We'd go back to install a giant UPS on the lighting loads so they never saw a flicker in their theater room, the internet, etc. One guy had to have a 6 hour backup on his salt water aquarium.... just in case. He had like $75k in rare fish in a thousand gallon tank. (it takes all kinds, right?) BTW, at every major outage there's always a 1% failure rate, which generates up to 60 service calls in an afternoon. Guessing half are delayed maintenance / old age and the other half are usually fuel related. (tank empty or someone shut the gas off when closing the pool) After 2-4 days outage the rest of the failures are usually low fluid levels and similar.

[@scottandgrace1]

That was the funniest video that I've seen you do... I was really laughing out loud!! The land was so flat you could see your dog run away for 2 days... brilliant. There were so many quirky little statements in there that I had no choice but to hit the like button. Well done Dave!

[@sivadfa]

About the pistons, it's the main trade off in building an engine. Bigger bores mean more torque, while more pistons mean more power to push with. For electricity generation, having a particularly solid torque is more important in many ways than the raw power output. Particularly when it's a constant rpm output. So you end up better to have fewer really big pistons than more smaller ones. If it were a 8 or twelve cylinder motor built to a similar power spec, the sudden power of the Tesla would have pushed back harder on the engine causing a larger wobble in the voltage. While that particular bounce looked large, grid scale electricity sees similar wobbles in the voltage from air conditioning for about the same reason. Your engine remained in spec the whole time, which is always really nice to see.

[@16vSciroccoboi]

More pistons don't mean more power to push with, it means a smoother running engine.

[@DavesGarage]

Actually for given displacement I think longer stroke generates more torque. There's some inflection point where the bore gets so small it shrouds the valves, but I don't know where that tradeoff lives. At least in my automotive days, the short-stroke big-bore motors were built to rev, and the small-bore long stroke motors were built for towing and torque.

[@sivadfa]

@@DavesGarage hmmm sounds like I have some research to do. I was basing my info on my knowledge of trains and ships but I've never done a particular deep dive on the subject.

[@100pyatt]

​@@sivadfayes the Bore vs Stroke ratio is what determines torque or horsepower favoring.... Rod Ratio also plays into the design

[@bigbearbear5458]

Thanks for the video, I was looking for vendors who are experienced in installing a Generac and this video provided the info. I live in the unincorporated part of King County and has Tesla Solar panels with 3 Powerwalls, they did ok during the recent bomb cyclone when I lost power for 5 days but having a generator would be great. There was a day when the cloud was heavy and it rained all day so the solar panels weren't able to recharge the Powerwalls enough and we ended up with 1 night without power to the house. Will be contacting Washington Generator about this.

[@termiterasin]

How about an underground propane tank? Sounds like the next upgrade!

[@richardbrobeck2384]

Great Video Dave !!my folks had a Honda 5k water cooled Generator here I remember in the 1990s losing our power for a week !

[@bokami3445]

Now here's a guy that's *REALLY* serious about uptime.... 🙂

[@McGeeNZ]

Impressive setup, this is what I can only dream of one day when I've got the money. For now some small Ecoflow stations see me through. A side note, the wandering voltage on the Tesla when stepping up the load would have likely be the generator governor dipping slightly as the load was increasing and needing to compensate on for the load with more fuel.

[@eb37fnrcty19]

Dave... Why does your house use the same amount of power as a small village? Are there 200 people living there?

[@MrJasonHansen]

For those of you who get Generac generators, you should check on a regular basis the voltages coming off of both phases of the generator. Generac has a tendency to have one of the phases continually put voltages out that are less than 96V. That will wreck things that are on that phase and things that require 220/240V.

[@marlberg2963]

"On the bright side I learned how to weld that day" I lost it. Ow my ribs hurt 😂😂😂😂😂

[@ErrorCode67]

Dave, absolutely loved this episode. You have really grown in your presentation skills since your first videos. Your humor really comes through and had me laughing. ??? No question just wanted it is flagged (Dave's Attic)

[@ggugvrunt]

As a pedantic aside, the proof is not in the pudding. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

[@Fatman305]

The proof is in the smiling of the eater

[@Anachroschism]

Living in the mountains, we often get outages due to storms, and they can last days. My generator is enough to run my PC/internet, the fridges, espresso machine, and air frier; All the essential stuff. Heating is typically backed up by wood heating. Once my new garage is built, I'll upgrade that to do the entire house.

[@dennisdoty523]

Nice … i have 60 kW diesel unit . Ultra quiet and love it

[@ScottESchmidt]

I installed a similar setup - 60KW - out on Whidbey Island for our 4000SF house and shop and couldn't be happier. Out here, 4-5 day outages happen every few years.

[@rabidpb]

The interlock isn't just for the safety of line workers (although that is one reason.) The other reason is that the AC phase of your generator won't match the line phase, so when service is restored you'll have two supplies pushing significantly mismatched voltage waveforms onto the same wire, with predictably exciting results.

[@stargazer7644]

"with predictably exciting results" Yeah, the breaker will trip. Yawn. The line crews understandably are concerned with their own well being, so they never, ever get into a position where a backfeed could kill them. All lines are bonded to ground before any lineman gets near it.

[@stargazer7644]

@tripplefives1402 The idea is that the distribution line feeding your transformer is down and you're backfeeding the transformer causing the high voltage side to be live with thousands of volts. In this case you're not running any other houses so there's no extra load on your generator but you're creating a lethal hazard to anyone that goes to work on the distribution side. This happens a lot in big outages, so linemen are supposed to be on the lookout for it. But yes you're right, if you have neighbors hanging off the same transformer or distribution line and the wires from you to them are intact, your genny is just going to instantly overload as it tries to light up the neighborhood.

[@stargazer7644]

@tripplefives1402 First, the line doesn't need to be on the ground to be down or broken, second downed primary lines often don't even draw enough current to trip the overcurrent device on the line so it certainly doesn't need to be a dead short. Please try to use a little imagination.

[@stargazer7644]

@tripplefives1402 There are more than enough examples on youtube of primary cables dancing and arcing on the ground to completely obliterate your certainty. Let me be blunt and tell you to stop trying to tell an EE how this works. Trust me, I can use Ohm's law. Linemen have been killed this way, so just stop wasting your breath. It has happened. Live primaries happen so much during outages that linemen are trained to take precautions for it. Now do you want to continue to try to convince everyone you know better when you clearly do not?

[@Mark_Lawler]

You had so many funny one liners in this video I was constantly laughing. Nicely done! 😂

[@scbtripwire]

I wish I had that much money to burn. Lucky. 😢

[@Ranchhand323]

He earned every cent of it.

[@scbtripwire]

@Ranchhand323 I'm aware of that.

[@auser1922]

Luck is always a factor.

[@davidjsutherland]

Another shout out to good ol' Saskatchewan! Thanks Dave!

[@JesseOsby]

As a single person, I'm pleased with my $1500 solution. 3500W gasoline generator sends 120V to panel with interlock, and a 8000 BTU window A/C unit and 1500W space heater provide comfort When I lose power, a 1500VA UPS keeps my network up while I get the generator rigged up. I flip my HVAC and other 240V breakers off, then plug in the generator to power all my 120V circuits. I grab either the window A/C or space heater, plug it in my bedroom, then keep that door shut so I have one comfortable room in the house for myself. The inverter generator is so quiet I can't hear it inside, and efficient enough that I can go two days off two 5-gallon gas cans so I don't have to run to the gas station too often It's a lot more hassle than your 5-second switchover, and I can't wash clothes or take a warm shower, but for me those aren't worth the huge price jump for a whole-house setup

[@SeanBZA]

Add extra insulation to the water heater tank, plus as well insulate the pipes coming in and out of it as well, at least for the first 6 feet. That way, with care, you will have hot water for 3 days, and warm water for a week. I added 3 layers of insulation to mine, and got that out of it, making the unit so much more efficient, as the standing loss on the common unit is pretty high, because the manufacturers just put enough foam to reach the EPA and energy star guideline, and most installers do not insulate all the water piping like told to do in the manual, because that costs money, and is not included with the new unit either.

[@Fatman305]

​@@SeanBZAGonna have to look into that. Thanks!

[@akaHarvesteR]

I have a very similar setup here. 3kw portable gasoline unit, it's adorably small and enough to run my main pc, living room electronics and internet, fridge, and there's enough capacity left to run one of the AC units at least. I got a transfer switch and wiring components to make the transition less of a cable-running chore (and allow the ac to be powered), but those are still all in a crate, awaiting the rare, almost mythical free time in which this will be my top priority project 🫠

[@JesseOsby]

@@akaHarvesteR I was fortunate that my house came with a generator feed into the panel, so I didn't need to mess with getting a transfer switch. But, it had been added by the previous homeowner and not done to code because he hadn't put an interlock on the panel to prevent backfeeding power to the utility. I added one ($25 from Amazon) for peace of mind because I didn't trust myself to remember to shut the main breaker off during an outage at like 3am

[@JesseOsby]

@@SeanBZA Good idea! I already insulated my pipes to reduce wasted heat because I added a hot water recirculation system (instant hot water). But what did you use to insulate your tank? Do they sell something specifically for that?

[@Its-Just-Zip]

Our solution after Helen was to get a battery pack installed that could handle the peak draw of the house an a smaller duelfuel generator that could re-charge the batteries overnight, even with our average night load for power. Add in some solar and we came out about half the cost of a traditional generator for our house. I would wager our solution would be even cheaper at a scale like Dave's since its easier to scale the load capacity of a battery pack than it is to get a progressively larger generator. We did opt to shed some zones to keep power draw down tho. No laundry, minimal lights, only one of 2 AC/package units. Its more than enough to survive on.

[@BillGraysons]

You can survive a week without power if you have big money. Most of us can not afford what you have. You are a millionaire and good for you! But when you make these kinds of videos, keep in mind that the majority of your viewers can not afford to buy what you buy.

[@dstrome]

Why? He's describing his setup. What do you expect from him? To apologize at the start or end for having the money to have what he has? I certainly can't afford what he has but that doesn't affect me. Why does it affect you?

[@JohnDoe11VII]

You can go weeks without power, a house might not last 24 hours. A house can go weeks with just a basic 4,000 watt generator, a head lamp, and some cases of bottled water in the corner you bought beforehand. At minimum you should have the ability to flush the toilet and power the fridge if you keep it packed. 240v generator if you must power a well pump. Trash can could collect roof water from the gutters for toilets, but if you have a septic you will need to power it. House lights are low consumption. Things get bad when you have fish tanks and freezing weather to worry about or you work from home. I don't like running generators if I can avoid it, too expensive and loud to run constantly, oil change every 100 hours, but it will keep your food from spoiling if you run it a bit every few hours. Forget any kind of electric heaters, it's just too much unless you have to worry about freezing pipes.

[@spocksdaughter9641]

Friend that was his whole thing! Geez 'Boys and Toys' no body to show No Fun.

[@BillGraysons]

@dstrome Can you read and comprehend what you read? I said he "he is a millionaire and good for him!" It didn't "affect" me. Learn how to read.

[@The8BitGuy]

I don't think he was trying to sell anyone on what he got. I think he was just showing it off for those that were interested.

[@pdarrell]

I had a Generac standby generator installed a couple of years ago. After installation, it was in use because the power company had to replace a power pole which would take six hours during the day. I was the only one on the block with power during this time. I have had to use it more since then when power failures occurred. It was worth the expense since I’m sure you have found too.

[@Inphinityproductions]

Why would you go with generac... they are crap. Kohler is the way to go

[@wmrg1057]

Could not agree more based on past experiences. Hopefully they have improved over the years.

[@auser1922]

It's Rehlko now, but better indeed.

[@AIM54A]

Nice setup Dave, One thing to be careful with is make sure you're not running any 3 phase items from the generator unless you can verify all 3 transfer switches (switched). Loosing a leg because a transfer switch failed will kill motors, AC's, etc when one leg is dead. If you have load shedding on those items you can usually install a device that verifies (command enable to the load contactor AND (3) phase is valid.)

[@SeanBZA]

Got a 2kVA generator, and just recently converted it to dual fuel, as LPG is easier to store than petrol. Have run my stuff, and the neighbours stuff as well off it with no problem, mostly just fridges and freezers, plus computer, and put a socket outside, that rapidly got filled up with phone chargers and laptop chargers from all the WFH people. Longest outage was 4 days, aside from the regular 2 hours of load shedding.

[@haddiejonesy]

That's impressive! I can also run for a week, but my house and 1,200 sq. ft. office run on separate generators, and I don't have the same kW load as you. I love those arborvitaes!

[@nw2306]

Great Generac Story. Totally worth it in a long duration outage. 😊

[@TheArcV]

We make due with only a 5.5K portable Genset on gasoline with the manual transfer switch to power the fridge, heating system (oil), some lights, well pump, and TV and the house cable modem and WiFi. Its enough and we have been on that for days at a time in bad storms. I tell you though it is a pain to hook all that up in the middle of a hurricane and also to create a shelter for the generator out of tarp, saw horses, and cinder blocks to weight it all down to keep the rain out of the generator and motor. Dave's set up is nice!

[@SailingAquamarine]

We live in deepest darkest Devon (UK), so power is something you know will cut out in winter (thankyou storm Bert!) But we have a lot of solar, which does almost nothing in winter! However we have a good sized battery bank as well, which means all the surge and big load is taken by the batteries and we can use a small 3kw generator to charge the batteries over a longer period of time (4-7 hours a day.) The added advantage is we dont need any UPS for the network or servers, bitter experience has taught me they are the first thing to degrade and break and are most difficult thing to repair.

[@Arieeeee]

I'm in Houston and with all the power outages we've had in the last few years, I think everybody needs to have the most backup power source(s) they can afford whether it's a full blown backup generator for the wealthier folks, a big portable generator, a small suitcase generator, or some battery/inverter kits. Even if it's a little portable charger, it might be enough to keep your phone going through the emergency till the next day but as I found out during Beryl, many people don't even have that and so I was helping my neighbors in my apartment complex charge their stuff up. I'm a renter and have a couple of Jackery stations/solar generators that I had bought for my late father's oxygen machine and that was enough to get me through hurricane Beryl. When I got mine, they cost double what they cost now for the same capacity so now you can get some really decent ones for even $500 (I just ordered another on black friday). I do need to get a small inverter generator for my mother's house but she's elderly and can't set it up herself so I'd have to be there. Standby generator would be perfect for her, but it's not in the budget.

[@hendersonsobers396]

Really impressive setup. Well done.

[@davarent]

My last job was the transmission engineer at a TV/Radio station. My main responsibilities were at the mountain top transmitter site. Along with the other equipment at the building we had a 60KW TV transmitter, 10KW FM transmitter and DTV transmitter (I forget the power level). We had a flywheel UPS and diesel generator. The UPS covered everything except the tower lights and air conditioning. The generator covered everything once it came up. It never got old when we would run a test and kill the building power, and all of that equipment would stay up on the UPS while the generator was coming up. I don't what other people's experiences were with the flywheel UPS's, but we loved ours. No batteries to deal with, but yes there was a tradeoff of other maintenance that needed to be performed. I know the feeling of wanting but not wanting a power outage to see if the system will work for real!! At any rate Dave, nice install and glad you were able to keep the power on!

[@rupe53]

Locally we had Emery Air Freight, which was one of the first express delivery companies, circa 1970. Their computer system was crazy complex for that time. Backup power was a flywheel UPS and a turbine gen set, that looked like parts from a fair sized jet engine. The gen set was laid to rest due to the clean air act but not totally removed till about 8 years ago. I got to do the decommission via removing all fluids before disassembly and scrapping. In this case the flywheel was in a bunker outside and the gen set was inside the building with a soundproof enclosure.

[@SI-lg2vp]

I installed a 14KW diesel generator for manual backup with a transfer switch. It's installed in the garage with additional fuel tank. I have solar for off grid power and battery for night time use for quiet operation. So far I've never had a power outage in 4 years, but I too want to have power when everyone else is without.

[@kageofkonoha]

Great Vid Dave. I kind of was expecting you to install Span Smart Electrical Panels. Or something similar. 😀😅

[@deltabravo1257]

I'm over in Spokane and watched the mayhem unfold on the west side the evening of the Bomb Cyclone. A few weeks prior, we had some wind in Spokane and lost power for several hours north of town where I'm located. I finally decided it was time to install a proper generator connect system to run the house on the Honda EU6500i I have. I installed the panel interlock like you showed early in your video. It's a easy solution for smaller generators and houses. It's also far less costly than a transfer switch.

[@RossBobby]

You are a great story teller Dave.. 👌🏻