Generators, where do you put them
 

I know it's not a DIY but thought it might be better in this forum. Where's the best place to put a Generac type generator? My gas comes in on one side of the house and electric on the opposite side. One side gets sun, the other, well, not much at all. Initially, for my NJ house, and then another unit for my Yarmouth house. Tired of my wife blaming me for power outages!

My vote would be outdoors
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This is the right forum, I DIM , do it myself,,,
A portable on wheels In the shed and Hotwire it to the panel when needed...

As long as you install a transfer switch per code, you can do that.
If you don't and just wire it into the panel, you can backfeed thru the power companies lines and kill or injure the guy doing the repairs.

I know a few people who did this and when they went to use the generator a few years later it wouldn't start because they never exercised it.

An standby generator exercises itself weekly and does need to be serviced yearly, but they are typically failure free for a number of years.
We usually do 20KW generators unless the house has a really large service over 200A and the difference in price between minimal one with an emergency panel and one that does the whole house is usually judged worthwhile by our customers.

I also use a portable generator that I plug into the smaller circuit panel added specifically for it. DIY as well. when I flip on that circuit breaker it bypasses the corresponding circuits on the larger one going to the street power, but does not interrupt the breakers not used with the portable, so when power comes back on lights in the one room not covered turn on letting me know the powers back on. .

Place on pad closer to electrical panel. Easier to run gas line....

I guess I should have elaborated, I have a sub panel in the garage dedicated to the essentials, boiler, frig, kitchen lights, garage lights, etc..
I flip the breaker that’s feeding this sub panel off at the main panel, then crank up the generator....

The wife keeps warm and my beer stays cold :-)

Genius
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I have the exact same setup. Generac 7000 watt gen and a plug on the outside of the house that connects to a dedicated panel for the generator. Most of the house is connected except the guest rooms and the central air.

Exactly.

Yup.

That or just flip the main on your box and no one dies.Every house has a "switch" already built in...its called the main.

I backfeed thru an exterior outlet and flip the main.Whole house is energized and no one on a pole can die.

I know a lot of people do this but it's just not worth the risk. Backfeeding is not only illegal it may lead to a load imbalance which could be a big problem. Try explaining that to your home insurance when the house burns down. Not to mention the risk of injury to workers if you backfeed the line from the pole.

Lots ogf good info here. Reminds me I haven't started mine in a couple of years, time to run it for a bit.

Local rental shop mechanic says drain it and use this stuff and store it for evvah

Attachment 66430

Ray, I start mine every couple of weeks. When I'm done I shut off the fuel and run it till she dies. As for treating the gas I use Sea Foam. I am on year 5 or 6 and never had a problem starting or running.

I’m lucky if I remember owning one never mind running it every couple weeks! LOL