Dad's has been fine for over 20 years. His lp general is simple to maintain, kicks on once a week and runs a short time and in the house you never know thebpowere has gone out.

PF I don’t doubt what you’re saying at all. I’m just speaking from years of experience with many units, and I can remember only one that I haven’t had a problem with the auto transfer system. All I’m saying is if you want to be 99% bullet proof it’s no big deal to manually test the engine every couple weeks and to walk out to the double throw when the power goes off. If you know your way around a circuit board and are handy with electricity then yes id go the auto route.

That would be nice to have one that run a whole house. If I needed one for medical reasons etc. I would have one. Not a huge deal for us if out of power. Inconvenience yes, but is nice not to have all the luxury in life but we just do with what we have at the time. I have a small generator if needed but don't bother with it.

It wouldn't be worth the money spent to have one.

Wasn't it Bud Guidry that had two generac's and neither worked when needed after that last bad hurricane he went thru down in Florida. Maybe I remember incorrectly?

I can appreciate the simplicity. But you have to be at home to flip switches and I'm not home a lot. My primary concern is my outdoor wood burner needs electric and the water won't circulate with no power and could over heat. Maybe it's not really anything to worry about but it's been a concern for me.

Maybe you go with out power more than I do. I loose power ever year pretty much. It has been out four days is all. Sometimes it is a few hours, sometimes a couple days. Could it go out longer, yes it could go out and never come back on. I do not have central AC. I have one small window unit. It can and does get up over 100 here too. But we have had a cool wet summer this year.

We installed a generator at the farm so that my elderly mother could remain at home. They have lost power for as long as a week due to ice storms. For her use, it had to have a transfer switch. She went a couple years without it ever coming on. Now I'm told power has gone out 3 or 4 times in past month......and it has fired up and ran each time.

Downside to the transfer switch is if the power just flickers........our unit will fire and run. It has to go thru the entire startup process, runs diagnostics, then runs for several minutes after it detects the line power has returned.........then goes thru the power down cycle to hand power back to the line source. What would be better for her is if it had a timer........say power off for 10 minutes or so.......before it would fire and run. She isn't up to it, but if that were me, I'd use the manual transfer. When power goes out.......the great unknown is if it will be out for seconds, minutes, hours or day. Depending on conditions outside, one can make the call as to flipping the switch. If winter or major storm and they don't know how long power will be out, time to flip the switch.

What was important to us was not enough to power up the entire house.......it was to run refrigerators and freezers........the fan and electronics on an LP forced air furnace, lights, etc. Hers is a 13kw unit and is plenty for her use. Critical that these have their own dedicaated fuel source. Propane that does not go bad and still works in winter.

Hayday and PF I completely understand your points. I just moved mine to the new system I’ve been trying to complete all summer. Hopefully I can get it finished and make a post about it.

Wiredneck, in case you didn't see this thread, it has a lot of good information:
https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/8053935/whole-home-generator#Post8053935

When I called dealers they keep trying to sell me a 22kw generator. I don't want a 22kw. I o ly want a 10 and to run most circuits. But I won't need everything but even then 10 kw would be close to doing that.

Beside the higher cost of the bigger generator it will also use 2x more lp running it from what I read. So I would size it for what you need not going bigger.

Dad's is pretty quite.

Yup, over sizing is a waist of fuel.

that is not true.

Generators on full load work harder and use more fuel......
A happy generator just puts along

I would consider a generator running constantly on full load undersized. And a 20kw running at or under 10kw oversized.

Easy way you to make sure your sized right is turn everything that electric on. Every light, washer, dryer, Ac, ect… on at the same time. Read the amps on both your legs in the house or on the pole. Sum simple math and you will have a good idea of the size you need. Adding 10% to that number is a good idea

Just an update, I had "adams generators" out of wausau wi come give me an estimate. The estimate was for a 22kw generac and the quote came on at $13200. Personally I thought that was mighty high considering the generator with a 200 amp transfer switch I can get for $5600 at menards after rebate.