The Wordless Picture Thread

[PaulFLUS]

You know, I can take the snow and the cold. I do know how to survive and overcome the cold. I was just being a candy ass looking for sympathy. Not to be found here. Thanks Outback for the wake up call!

However, my heart goes out to the folks who have no heat and no power, especially the elderly here in San Antonio. That bothers me greatly. There are over 300,000 people without power today. I am blessed because I have both power and heat! Stay well and healthy my friends!

.........

[PaulFLUS]

Funny how the distances that used to seem so huge have been so diminished by the internet. Here in Florida those who can afford one all have a generator but not for winter storms. Here it is for summer; specifically for hurricane season. Both storms are devastating and potentially deadly but diametrically opposed in nature. The people who are particularly well healed have a whole house generator that will run on natural gas because a hurricane causes no disruption to gas service... normally at least.

[tcrideshd]

If you have power outages it’s worth it, this is the 3rd house we have had with a whole house backup generator, very efficient, runs on our natural gas from the city, last house was propane and the first was diesel. Once you have one you won’t feel comfortable without.

Power is restored in 1 minute, shuts off as soon as power back on. I could make due, but the wife’s condition, she can’t with without cool air and oxygen. Before it was just convenient to have with me gone 300 days a year so she was protected. You can get smaller ones that will just run certain items that are really inexpensive. Installed in a house our size with 2 zones air, around 10k if done when you build, the electricians are there.

[PaulFLUS]

It's a LOT more if you do it after the fact. My sister in law and her husband added one that will run the whole house and it was a lot more than that. I think like $35$-$40k. They have a 5k.sq ft house though so it had to be a huge one. With theirs the power goes out for about a second or two before the generator kicks in. They love to overspend on stuff though so they probably got the most expensive option made. It sure is a nice feature though.

[tcrideshd]

Not sure why so much. Ours is 3500 and a big barn with power. The units theirselves were about 10k 10 years ago to run everything. If I had 3 zones I would have had to step up and size. 12,800. Now the electric install not sure. It was in the price of my building and the disconnect box is pricy. But I don’t know it was in my contract to build but I can’t imagine it was another 20k for install. For that kind of money you can just build it solar and wind and be off grid and sell back. Not sure maybe it’s just floridat

[petercp4e]

Still waiting for mine.
The electrician was here and said 8,500 will do the whole house.
The problem here is the pandemic. The transfer switch he needs to use has been backordered for months. He's on the list at his supply co. No telling how long it will be.

Pete <:-}

[tcrideshd]

Pete you will be happy. The transfer box is the life of the system. Hope yours comes in soon

Sometimes I think it would be cheaper to run on the natural gas than electric. Once a month mine goes into maintenance mode and runs for an hour and gives a diagnostic update

[PaulFLUS]

Not sure why so much. Ours is 3500 and a big barn with power. The units theirselves were about 10k 10 years ago to run everything. If I had 3 zones I would have had to step up and size. 12,800. Now the electric install not sure. It was in the price of my building and the disconnect box is pricy. But I don’t know it was in my contract to build but I can’t imagine it was another 20k for install. For that kind of money you can just build it solar and wind and be off grid and sell back. Not sure maybe it’s just floridat

Well, I'm not positive about the exact figures. It might not have been quite that much but I know it was more than twice what you mentioned. I want to say upward of $30k. I'm not kidding though, they insist on paying upwards of full retail on everything. My brother in law...in law is brilliant but I'd be surprised if he can tie his own shoes. He has the cleanest tools you've ever seen. I hear him talk about his experiences at the auto mechanic and think, "Boy, they really saw you coming." He's the kind that gets "took" by unscrupulous contractors. Plus they live in the gated golf community so I'm sure they bid high.

[PaulFLUS]

Oh... I do remember that they were told they had to upgrade their service which I didn't quite understand. The house is not that old and I would be surprised if it didn't have 200 amp service already. I can't imagine why they would need to go higher than that. Not sure how that relates to a generator anyway but they did also add on a mother-in-law suite for his spinster aunt.I often wonder when I hear about these things after the fact and say, " They told you what? " These are the kinds of things that people like him get horned into because they don't know any different. So anyway I'm sure that added to the price too which really can't be considered part of the generator price.

[tcrideshd]

Couldn’t be 5k sq ft and not be 200 amp, the only thing you need to install one is the transfer box like Pete is waiting for. It taps into the incoming power and senses loss off street power and switches on the generator, if I guess right that box is around a grand, then you need an electrician for an afternoon, and of course depending on the size of your house max load then the generator, Pete’s usage may not be as high as people in the south because we need air conditioning, most houses over 2500 have 2 zones, over 4000 3 zones, mine had to include a 100 amp service to my barn, so the Ginny needed to be sized a little big. But hey if they got him to pony up, his loss, I got the best one on the market, and it was 10 k