Home generators

[JMcCullough]

Who has em? What's the best one? Anyone on here sell/install them?

[Russ81]

Folks put a Propane one in after Ike. Our plan of using the welding machine as a generator thru a master plug in the garage worked but you listened to a Miller Bobcat all night. propane rig is setup next to they're bedroom window and they have slept thru power outages.

The propane gen also is every low maintence and you can work a service clause into your purchase

[Hart8]

My best friend used to install them.They were Ruud brand I believe.Ran off of propane,and would power the entire house.No maintenance,and they would cycle on and off daily,without interruption...$5000 installed,5 years ago

[JMcCullough]

I've got the welding machine but want something my wife doesn't have to worry about messing with. Sounds like propane is the way to go for sure

[dc1986]

They run on natural gas also.

[Rockjock]

using the welding machine as a generator thru a master plug in the garage worked

I know this works but can be dangerous. Especially if you don't disconnect from main power.

[Todd-ty729]

We run gas for an electrical contractor in Dallas area that installs them.

They use Generac brand.

Always use an automatic transfer switch. If power is being back fed into a panel the danger to lineman is the electricity is also being back fed into the power lines.

An unsuspecting electrical worker can get shocked.

If you have a manual main disconnect then turning it off will keep this from being a problem.

[krisw]

I don't have one but from talking to people that have them and electricians, definitely use the auto transfer.

[JMcCullough]

Thanks everyone for the input I have located one and will pick it up when I get back on dry land. Now to find someone to install it

[Russ81]

I know this works but can be dangerous. Especially if you don't disconnect from main power.

Ours was a female plug outlet wired into the house's electrical. We had a heavy duty extension cord with male plugs that connected the generator of the miller too the house. Electrician said after power came back on just unplug. We only used it for Ike but worked like a charm.

[Mike D]

Ours was a female plug outlet wired into the house's electrical. We had a heavy duty extension cord with male plugs that connected the generator of the miller too the house. Electrician said after power came back on just unplug. We only used it for Ike but worked like a charm.

But if you didn't open the main breaker on your panel you were still back feeding onto the over head lines. There's been quite s few linemen injured or killed because of people doing this.

[Russ81]

But if you didn't open the main breaker on your panel you were still back feeding onto the over head lines. There's been quite s few linemen injured or killed because of people doing this.

We did open it since our lines were on the ground under 4' of water. When the linemen showed up to replace the transformer pole we turned it off