Back Up Generator Location?

[HemiRambler]

I'm pretty close to scoring a backup generator. It's a small 4cyl. diesel and I am really wondering where the best location to install it is. I have basically 3 options - directly behind house, about 50ft from house next to garage, behind garage 100ft plus away from house.

My concerns are noise, fumes and of course cost.



One thing I thought about is running the exhaust further away - probably cheaper than moving the unit "far away"

Thoughts are much appreciated.

 

[gonefirefighting]

small insulated garden shed

 

[Andamo]

If you're going to use it to power your entire house, you should consider the distance to the main panel box. The wiring can get expensive with long runs. Having it far enough away from the house to keep the noise level down and let the exhaust fumes disapate is a good idea, but getting to it to start it up while wading through snow a blinding snowstorm is something to consider. I don't know your layout, but next to the garage would be my choice so access to it is better and having tools close at hand would help.

Mine is a gasoline generator and I put it under my deck for weather protection even though the main panel is on the other side of the house. It's not a Honda motor so it's pretty noisy, but it sure is nice to have water (well water) and heat.

If you install it, get on a routine of running it every so often to use up the diesel fuel and keep adding fresh fuel. I have a trickle charger running to the battery all the time on mine to keep the charge up.

 

[BD1]

Is it weatherproof ?? some manufactures have insulated weatherproof enclosures designed for them. Try contacting manufacture. Andamo
and gonefirefighting have great input. They do sell fuel sta-bil for diesel too.
just a thought about your location it may help having some type of engine heater for it.
did you try contacting manufacture ? They should have some guidelines for installation and distance footage. Does this have outlets on it ?? Some that we worked on had power out terminals that would feed to a separate panel.

 

[rlme36]

Having a 20k generac installed right now. Electrician needs to finish the wiring

I have mine 185ft from the panel behind the garage and 2ft off the building due to code. The wire pull is a big consideration, #2 for that distance isn't cheap, but to be honest its a rounding error for this type of project. Gas tanks if you don't have them are $1k plus fill up alone and also the unit itself so... If you have to trench for the distance it can be a pain as well as added expense. I had the pipe already in the garage when I was installing the orig elec to put the generator back there.

The other issue that I recently came across is in my town the control wires can not run in the same pipe as the main power lines. Tossed a bit of a wrench in the works, but it makes me glad I put 3 pipes in the ground way back when

I am looking at this as the best insurance not to lose power again. The big storms last year in the NE I was out 7 days each time. DONE with all that.

rob

 

[koditten]

My 16k N.G. unit sits outside the master bedroom wall. It was still a ***** to pull the wires for only 50' to the panel in the basement. I don't even hear it run anymore when it does its weekly test run. Put the unit were you can get at it for service easily. There are sound insulating enclosures that look fairly appealing, or make your own.

The noisy part is when the transfer switch throws during an actual power outage. When that last threw at 3:30 in the morning, I thought the fridge fell over. Scared the **** out of me. The transfer switch is bolted to the basement foundation wall, so it transferred the shock thru the whole house.

The transfer switch is not used during the weekly test run, so I never actually knew what it sounded like.

Ko

 

[rlitman]

Heh, heh, heh.
We've got a 1MW generator at work. People damn near **** themselves when the transfer switch flips.
I know what the timers are set to, so when I do the annual testing, I'm always watching the stop watch, so it doesn't get me by surprise.

 

[mothgrey]

Were about 35 to 40 ft from the house. also our code is can't be within 5 feet of anything combustable. We had to have a couple pipes in the ground for the wire so we ran an extra for my garage build also.

 

[koditten]

Heh, heh, heh.
We've got a 1MW generator at work. People damn near **** themselves when the transfer switch flips.
I know what the timers are set to, so when I do the annual testing, I'm always watching the stop watch, so it doesn't get me by surprise.

I'm glad I made your day.

Happy Easter
KO