Yes, we got the Cummins 20kw with the automatic switch, which was wired as part of the electrical bid. Make sure your pad includes some way to tie the generator down for security purposes.

You might also consider using a remote monitoring alarm and/or lo-jacking the generator.

The security issues for us are fortunately relatively insignificant. The generator is located behind our house, which functions more as a side yard since the majority of property is oriented towards a lake. So it is much less visible than most setups out here. There are a lot of homes out here with their generators exposed to the street- no cage- no bolts-nada. Low crime rate. Hope that continues to be the case.

Ours is bolted down, and we have security cams- but, we would be a poor target anyway because any miscreants would have to *tromp through the swamp* that still constitutes our yard. Quicksand as a theft deterrent... :-)

We are nearing the end of our build and had originally planned for one. After a while we cut it from the list. Now we are at the end and deciding we want to have it again. Our electrical guys are working on getting our permanent power right now. We have a meeting in the morning with them to see about putting it in at this stage. We HAVE to run the electrical connections now prior to pouring our driveway if we want to do it later. The LP tank is buried behind the garage and the electrical meter base is on the side wall in front of the garage. We would prefer to have the generator behind the garage by the buried LP tank so that it isn't as intrusive. Once the driveway is poured all of that will be covered with concrete so we need to get the lines run now. I wish we hadn't nixed it in the beginning, but our electricians are authorized Generac dealers so we are going to see what it will cost us to add it at this point. I wish we hadn't changed our minds, but I'm glad we discovered that we need to run some connections prior to pouring the driveway. I know it will be worth it, especially here in hurricane country.

Can someone give me the basic information how it works? We will be building in a few years and the area where our land is located may have power outages during ice or snow storms. Does this generator keep the whole house going or only certain appliances? What about the heat? Anybody willing to tell me the cost or is it based on sq. footage of the house?

I just did the research on this.

You can buy them to light your whole house, heat the swimming pool, and power the laser missiles but that would be expensive!

We found that there seemed to be a cost efficiency around the 20kw size - big enough to power the kitchen, some lighting, the drainage pumps and the electric heat pump, but not so large that you move up to the next price point. We bought the most efficient one we could find - i.e. gallons of propane per hour of use. This cost a bit more but the efficiency improvement was considerable.

We have a 500 gal buried propane tank behind the garage.

We have an automatic transfer switch.

The cost was about $4800 for the generator and transfer switch. The cost of wiring for the generator was part of our total electrical plan so it was never broken out for us. It was part of the spec for the home.

We kept the generator out of the builders contract so as to not pay the profit/overhead percentage on the equipment. Your builder may or may not allow such things.

We needed the automatic transfer switch because we are on a bluff over the water and as part of our shoreline management plan we need to keep the overflow pumps running during power outages in order to guard against erosion, You may or may not need that.

We were initially quoted $5300 for a 22KW with the automatic transfer switch. That was with a different dealer. Now that our electricians are authorized Generac dealers, we'll see what they say tomorrow. The first place said that the 22W would run our whole home, but we only got a preliminary bid. We'll have a walkthrough tomorrow to actually see. We have 2 central air units and 3138 living sq ft. Cooktop and tankless hot water heater on propane.

Thanks for the information.

Do you test it on a regular basis? What about the warranty in a situation where you don't need it for 2 years and then switch it over and it does not work. This would be something nice to have but we don't know exact outage details at this time. I know the roads to the mountains are closed during ice and snow but don't know how long electricity might be out.

aleleux1 Could you update us after the walkthrough?

My house isn't done yet so I have not tested it myself. You can set it to test every week at a certain time.

Prices will vary enormously. The last one I had installed for a client was eight years ago and cost US$7,500, powering most of their 3700 sf house. It ran on natural gas. Generator motors start up automatically at set intervals to ensure they are in running condition when needed.

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"Ours is bolted down...." Braze or weld the bolts to the nuts; I do that with the winches on my trucks. Even experienced thieves don't usually carry grinders.

Does that pricing (for those examples above) include surge protection for the whole house or is that completely separate?

We put in a 20K system that is set to test every week on Wednesday. It kicks on and runs for a few minutes on our natural gas line. It cost us a little north of 5K. We bought surge protectors for our important appliances at the switches... televisions, computers, refrigerators, garage door openers. Anything that might be actively engaged when the surge occurs.

I will update this morning after, yes.

I have a family member that had one added to an older existing home several years back. Probably 6 or 8 years. I know they spent close to 8K on everything and their house is smaller than ours, but it runs everything in their house. I'm not sure if prices have gotten better or if it had to do with what they needed to do after the fact. I know he said he had to hire an electrician, a plumber, and purchase the generator from a dealer.

Our electrician offers a whole house surge protector that is completely separate from the generator. You don't need the generator for it.

Forgot to update after our meeting. My initial quote was from a different dealer and was for just the generator (22 KW) and auto transfer switch (200 amp). We had to provide the pad for it to go on, hire an electrician to install (which was included in our initial electrical bid, minus the wire, which would be an additional cost), and a plumber to run a gas line. Our electricians working on our home are now authorized dealers so we met with them about a quote. I am floored! They want $10,400! Same exact generator and transfer switch. They would trench and run conduit about 60-70 ft to where our propane tank is buried, install the transfer switch (which he says is more difficult now than had we done it initially), provide a plumber to run a gas line directly to the propane stub out area. I spoke to the propane company and they will come hook up a gas line to the generator directly off the main line for $150, which would omit needing to hire a plumber. The problem is the cost of the wire needed to run 60-70 feet. He says its 2 wires (a thick one and a thin one). Copper is high. Anyway, he said they can't offer the generator and transfer switch itself for less than $5600. A local lumber store had the same one on sale this weekend for $4300 with no taxes. Their regular price is $4799. So I'm going to talk to the original guy we got the first quote from.

As far as size, this guy says we need a 25KW to run everything in the house at once. The 25 only comes in liquid cooled, which bumps the price up nearly 5K and is much more maintenance. We thought it would be overkill for what we need so decided on the 22KW for sure. It will run (2) 3.5 ton central air/heat units, freezer, fridge/freezer combo, lights, microwave, TV, dishwasher, washer, outlets, etc. When he plugged in the dryer, it bumped us up to needing the 25. In a storm, I'm fine with running my a/c and cutting it off to dry some clothes. We are in hurricane country so I can hang clothes after a storm if I had to. Our cooktop, outdoor grill, and hot water heater are all on LP already. I wouldn't even attempt to use my ovens during a storm with the other cooking options available.