Unknown future generator costs?

[htmdude57]

Hi, garage guys, I am getting ready to have my dream garage built. I am having my contractor install a whole house generator (11kw NG Generac) behind it. I live in a small village in NY State, so he has to have a lic. electrican do it, I can't do it myself. I am curious whether there is going to be costs down the road? Do I need to pay Generac to do annual maintenance every year forever? Would the gen make my property taxes go way up? Of course, I'm sure there will be some increase since I'm going from a 1 car to a new 2 car garage. Are there any other surprise costs that I don't know about? I did read that I will burn $4-5 in NG for weekly test running. Do gas companies charge me if I need a bigger capacity gas meter installed? Is the 3-4" composite mounting "slab" a good product or not? Thanks for any advice, Mike

 

[Stuart in MN]

It will need regular maintenance either way - you can pay the Generac rep to do it or you can do it yourself. Mainly it will consist of changing oil and filters, and basically making sure everything is in good shape.

You can look at spec sheets on Generac's website (or other brands if you're shopping around) and see the gas consumption. For instance, their 11kw natural gas generator uses 124 cubic feet of gas per hour at half load, and 195 cubic feet per hour at full load. My gas company charges 84 cents per therm (1 therm = 100 cubic feet) so it would cost me less than $2 to run that generator at full load for an hour; you'll have to look at your gas bill to see what it costs in your area.

You do need to check with your gas company to make sure your service delivers enough gas to handle the additional load of a generator.

Those composite slabs are commonly used these days for small generators and work fine, they're similar to the pads used for air conditioner condensers. You just need to have a compacted base underneath them.

 

[Mustang51js]

As part of the permit app they check your meter to see if it needs replacement. Generacs are pretty simple so not much besides checking oil.

 

[eljefino]

My work has a NG generator, and, oddly, even though the meter is sized for a certain flow it can go over. We thought about upsizing then opted not to.

Assume nothing. Ask everything.

 

[rockwithjason]

the single most important thing about a generator is that is runs for an hour a week or so. if it just sits there not running it will deteriorate quickly. other than that you change the oil once in a while.