How To Get Whole Home Backup Power For Under $1000

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⚠️ Disclaimer:
This video is for educational purposes. Any and all HVAC repair work is done at your own risk. Any person attempting to deal with any type of refrigerant MUST have their EPA 608 certificate. The DIY HVAC Guy channel is not responsible for any possible damages or injuries caused by the use or misuse of the provided information.

[k.b.tidwell]

The best thing about my generator setup which is functionally the same as yours is that it is MAGICAL. Most of the times I've used it, right after selectively shutting off the water heater (I'm all-electric), dragging out the generator, connecting the cable, getting things cranked up...wait, I need to fill the tank completely up first to get maximum runtime, and usually all of this is in a downpour, and finally switching over the breakers, the MAGIC happens and line power immediately comes back on.

It's turned into a meme in my family. "Dad! Get the generator out so the power will come back on!"

[VinceDiaz]

I’m in Texas and still recovering from Hurricane Beryl. I ran a gasoline-only generator, and finding an open gas station with available fuel was nearly impossible. I'll be switching to a natural gas generator.

[HeritageWealthPlanning]

This guy crushes! Don't know half of what he's talking about but man it's cool to see dudes who know what they're doing.

[TroyStevensStelzerPaintingInc]

Your vids are absolute gold for us average dudes who just need some guidance. Thank you for all your contributions.

[jascam]

This is one of the best HVAC - DIY channel on YouTube. You have saved me a bundle. tks

[Emmilythecat]

I bought one of these from Costco 3 years ago. Ran it on propane the whole time. Had to run extension cords. I do not have the generator inlet box yet or a natural gas outlet yet. It is one of my goals to install soon. When we had our hard freeze, we were able to run medical devices and keep our fridge going. Very happy with our generator.

[pineda]

Simply awesome, millions need this set up in TX, as we keep having issues with power grid, if it's a snow storm, tornado, hurricane, you named it, it happens in TX, have 1 house done, working on our next residence and no worries about power.. even looked at the wind turbine to keep ac and fridge running in the summer ⛱️⛱️😂

[scott]

I have the Pulsar 12kw dual fuel generator and my friend just bought one for $960 on Amazon. It runs at 9500 watts on gas and 8500 watts on propane. It runs my whole house, well and water heater. Couldn't be happier. Generators run best between 50% and 85% of rated watts. Cheers

[Bassguitarist]

One thing to note with soft start devices, they lower the inrush current at startup. THEY DO NOT LOWER THE RUN CURRENT OF AN AC COMPRESSOR. Soft start devices do not save your money (in reality its very negligible) in electricity bill costs, but they greatly save your compressors life span minimizing wear and tear since it's not hard starting with a partially for fully locked rotor from the pressures inside.

Great video!

[darkloom]

I have the identical generator to yours, with a generator interlock powering a 30 amp circuit; yesterday hit 111° and SoCal Edison decided to cut power (preventative measures they say). I ran the generator, with a cable leading from the 30 amp outlet to a 30 amp input attached to my breaker box. The digital display on the generator showed 245 volts, but got no power in my house. I called Furman and a very impatient woman said that I needed to hire an electrician to unbond the neutral ground; having done all this work myself, I thought I could tackle the uncoupling of the neutral ground, but two different videos sent me to two different wires, so I'm stuck. If you have any information about this, and have time and generosity to answer, I would be very grateful. By the way, some people have the skill to make videos, and some people don't; you sir, are a natural.

[shenmisheshou]

I live in Texas and after the big freeze 2.5 years ago that killed about 600 people, I decided to put in a generator inlet and interlock kit after that because I never wanted to be near freezing to deay again. I went with an inverter generator, which is much quieter and much more fuel efficient (though if you are running on NG, that is not so important), and while my generator is not big enough to run the AC even with a soft start kit, most of our extended power outages are in the winter and spring where keeping central heat is more important than AC. This past winter we were out of power for 3.5 days and I was one of the only people in the entire area that had power. My inverter generator is 5000 watts continuous, and this was more than enough to run everything in the home with the rare exception that I could not run both the microwave and toaster at the same time (we have a full fridge, mini fridge, and small chest freezer, and all of these were kept running as well.) It worked so well that five of my neighbors decided to put in 5000 watt generators with an inlet and interlock. They know they may never need them, but they now have the ability to keep their families worm for days at a time if the power is ever out again. If I lived where there were hurricanes, I would probably go with a standard backup generator, but for these 3-4 day outages, the interlock setup is fantastic.

[PorkGrinder]

New subscriber here! Thank you for your willingness to share your knowledge. I am a trades instructor for one of our local colleges. Not for the money but because I feel there is a real need to pass on what we were fortunate to have others teach us. Thank you and I love you “down to earth” methods!

[ahent]

Please remember all generators are not created equal and to run electronics it is safest to have one with a Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of less than 6% or it can ruin computers, DVD players, and other sensitive electronics.

[djvision]

Great Video. Thanks! I wish I had this set up before the hurricane last week. I had never heard of soft start kit. Great information!

[mrVet]

Glad I did this when he released this video a year ago as I have the same generator. Generator has been running almost a week straight since Beyrl hit Monday and now Sunday and still no power. Already did 2 oil changes and will change spark plug when power comes back on. Been able to run 4 ton ac unit with micro air soft start, dishwasher, washer and gas dryer (not simultaneously), 2 fridges and chest freezer, and small electronics like router and cable modem .

[robertcearley]

Something VERY IMPORTANT that was not mentioned. You need a 240 v generator not 120v. Most generators are 120 volt. After buying 2 cosfco generators, a parallel kit and paying an electrician $1500 to do the electrical work to put in an inlet and an Interlock kit I found out the hard way, that my two firman generators would only power "every other circuit breaker". The electrician confirmed that the only way to power the whole house is that you have to have a 240 volt generator. Unfortunately 240 volt generators are expensive and I lost a lot of $$ since I waited too long before finishing the project and had to sell off my firman generators. Sure costco allows returns but if you return too many items or too many big items you risk getting your membership terminated.

[Nolaman]

My 4 ton went from inrush of 120 Amps to 40 Amps for reference. I have a similar setup but don't run my Central A/C with my portable generator. It does run my entire inside breaker box. I do not have a main breaker or shutoff on the outside box, pulling the meter is the only way to disconnect power to the main outside box. I just shut off the inside box, outside, then run the inside box from the generator. My Central AC is on the outside box. Works great for me as I can run everything except Central, Oven, Hot Tub.

[emilysantos]

Learning especially with what just happened in Texas. A coworker was telling me about this, and this video popped up in my feed. Thank you

[rwstarke]

FYI .... According to the T07571 manual, the maximum is 31.25A. I have the same generator. I have seen a 42A peak at startup using the Micro Air soft starter, but it is usually 36A. Then the A/C runs on 13A. When the A/C starts, I still have the refrigerator, HDTV, desktop PC, LED lights and other small devices on without a problem. I think that the generator is producing more watts on NG than what is stated in the manual.

[billballoo]

I wish this guy lived in GA, I'd hire him in a heartbeat