Standby Generator Help

[ArmyOfJuan]

So I got a steal of a deal on a HUGE standby generator a while back. It is a 20kW Generac. I got it wired up today and found out the hard way that I am WAAAAY over my head. Go ahead and call me a dumb ass and get it out of your system, then offer me some advice. I plumbed it with 1/2 inch pipe. It would come on, but not continue to run. I dug and dug through the manual (a windows CD…on my Mac) and finally found that in requires 294,000 BTU to run at full capacity. Yeah 294,000 f'n BTU's!!! So, I have to run 1 1/4 BIP to it and HOPE that my gas meter can provide enough gas.

So here is the question for anyone. If my current regulator won't provide what I need, will ONG put a bigger one on a residence. Will it effect the rest of my house (heater, stove, hot water tank, etc)?

I'm already 4 grand into this thing…I guess I really don't have a choice but to move forward.

 

[Old Timer]

I know they put a bigger one in at a tower site so we could use a 45 kw generator. No charge to us.
I think we ran 1 1/4 pipe for it. Think there was another regulator involved.

 

[tyromeo55]

I'm not a plumber....


If i remember correctly the standard meter ONG installs is 250CFH or 250,000BTU . The next size is like 375 or something like that ( ETA maybe 475K?).

A bigger meter would not affect the other appliances

Pipe sizing is determined by a couple of factors but mostly length of run. The house is already sized for its load You might have to go back to the meter and run another dedicated pipe just for the generator.

 

[Old Fart]

I've got a portable one that will easily power my whole house.
I've been leaning towards getting one that mounts by the side of the house and uses natural gas.
And as a backup I'm thinking about one of those small Honda two cycle jobs.
Light and easy to haul with me and probably gets better gas mileage.

 

[ArmyOfJuan]

So here is an update if anyone is interested. ONG came out today as said that my current gas meter and regulator could handle the 294k BTU generator, hot water heater, furnace, stove all at once with no problems. It will be close however (couple thousand BTU to spare), so I probably won't be able to use my gas fireplace while all that is running simultaneously. He also said that if I needed more BTU, a different regulator could be installed, or even a dedicated line could be installed. It's comforting to me to know, however, that with all this gas available, I still just pay for what I use and not what is available.

 

[Old Timer]

I've got a portable one that will easily power my whole house.
I've been leaning towards getting one that mounts by the side of the house and uses natural gas.
And as a backup I'm thinking about one of those small Honda two cycle jobs.
Light and easy to haul with me and probably gets better gas mileage.

I have a Honda E2000I for quiet times. It has a 4 cycle engine.
Makes DC and it goes through an inverter to make AC.
Very slick setup, and runs forever on gas.

I use the big noisy generator to run the well, when
needed and the Honda the rest of the time.

 

[tyromeo55]

So here is an update if anyone is interested. ONG came out today as said that my current gas meter and regulator could handle the 294k BTU generator, hot water heater, furnace, stove all at once with no problems. It will be close however (couple thousand BTU to spare), so I probably won't be able to use my gas fireplace while all that is running simultaneously. He also said that if I needed more BTU, a different regulator could be installed, or even a dedicated line could be installed. It's comforting to me to know, however, that with all this gas available, I still just pay for what I use and not what is available.

That is great news. Remember, the Generator only consumes enough gas to support the applied load. Unless you have it maxed out it won't consume near that 294K

 

[ArmyOfJuan]

That's true! For the generator to be maxed out, my AC would have to be running. And if the AC is running, why in the hell would the furnace OR the fireplace be on?

 

[Rick417]

So did you figure out what the problem is with the generator?

 

[riper1]

thats good info ive been thinking about one myself