Used Generac 11kW

[Daubs]

Found a used 11KW Generac generator, model G0070310.

Lists 1,450.8 hours on the clock. Asking $1,200.

I live in country, have well water, propane heat, and heat-pump. Is 11kW enough to power most or all of the house?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Stuart in MN]

Without knowing the size and current requirements of your well, heat pump and any other devices you may have there's no way to tell. I'd suggest trying out a few of the generator sizing calculators that are available online to see if you can get consistent numbers from them.

 

[ForceFed70]

It'll power most of a typical house if you're careful with your heavy loads (laundry dryer, HVAC, kitchen stove, hot tub/spa) but hard to speak to your exact house/needs. My concern would be with your heat pump. What kinda wattage are you talking about. You can do a very basic calculation if you know the size of the breaker. 30amp x 240V = 7200W (7.2KW).

Best thing for you to do is some of those calculations. You may also be able to get an AC clamp meter and measure the electrical load of your home in real time. Estimates/math is great, but doesn't hold a candle to actual measurements.

 

[sberry]

Yes, it will run a typical house easily. Might not heat water along with the cook top and AC but it takes half that if you are modest. I am not sure what engine is in it,,, but that is a fair amount of hours for some small engines, if it runs ok now should be ok for intermittent future use.

 

[LXCam]

Size aside that's a fair amount of hours. I would suggest you get it load bank tested if possible.

 

[ForceFed70]

Yes, it will run a typical house easily. Might not heat water along with the cook top and AC but it takes half that if you are modest. I am not sure what engine is in it,,, but that is a fair amount of hours for some small engines, if it runs ok now should be ok for intermittent future use.

I disagree. I do think 11KW is ample for emergency power, but to say it'll "easily run a house" isn't accurate. People will often say a 100A service isn't enough for a modern home. 100A is 24 kW. 11Kw would be the equivilent of a 46A service and I think everyone and their dog would tell you that a 50A service isn't nearly enough for a typical home.

 

[Higgins]

Were currently looking at installing a generac generator! Just a few comments:
The house is aprox 2600 Sq Ft. 4 T heat pump (Electric) WH is electric, Well. We added a 30,000 BTU wall heater to the basement family room, propane, the kitchen gas top is propane, as is the dryer.

Based on what you've got, your going to be into a 20-22KW generator!
When getting estimates I would ask that they not put the WH, and HP in the load calculations, as we could always turn off the AC or the WH if we need to reduce the load. All the dealers would not quote the installation that way, as the systems are to be automatic start systems, and there is no guarantee that we would be home to turn the HW and AC off. Turns out in some areas, that is also stated in the electrical codes.

Without the HP (emergency), WH, and well loads, we could run on a 16 KV generator. Using the calculator, as soon as I added either the WH or Well, it would change th generator size up to 22KV.

Our installation costs were around $8,200 give or take a few $$ depending on options chosen.

Hope this helps!!

 

[Daubs]

Thanks Higgins: I've done some calculations on Generac's web site, and of course they say get the 22KV unit as well.

Eventually we will get a set up like yours...but wanted something as a stop-gap / bridge to cover us in case of emergency now.

Most 10kw units are in the $1,000 range new. Saw this one used and thought I would ask the questions...

 

[Higgins]

be careful using the calculator, as it doesn't necessary include the transfer switch, The transfer modules, the base, shipping cost, don't forget TAX, and there will be an additional tail gate charge to unload the generator.

AL

 

[Stuart in MN]

I disagree. I do think 11KW is ample for emergency power, but to say it'll "easily run a house" isn't accurate. People will often say a 100A service isn't enough for a modern home. 100A is 24 kW. 11Kw would be the equivilent of a 46A service and I think everyone and their dog would tell you that a 50A service isn't nearly enough for a typical home.

The thing is, there's usually a big difference between the electrical service size and the actual electrical load at any given time. Certainly, it can vary depending on the size of the household and how many electric devices are present, but for instance - during the evening in my house there's a television, a computer, a couple lights, the furnace fan (gas furnace), and the refrigerator running, and that's pretty much it. A lot less than 50 amps.

 

[Norcal]

Were currently looking at installing a generac generator! Just a few comments:
The house is aprox 2600 Sq Ft. 4 T heat pump (Electric) WH is electric, Well. We added a 30,000 BTU wall heater to the basement family room, propane, the kitchen gas top is propane, as is the dryer.

Based on what you've got, your going to be into a 20-22KW generator!
When getting estimates I would ask that they not put the WH, and HP in the load calculations, as we could always turn off the AC or the WH if we need to reduce the load. All the dealers would not quote the installation that way, as the systems are to be automatic start systems, and there is no guarantee that we would be home to turn the HW and AC off. Turns out in some areas, that is also stated in the electrical codes.

Without the HP (emergency), WH, and well loads, we could run on a 16 KV generator. Using the calculator, as soon as I added either the WH or Well, it would change th generator size up to 22KV.

Our installation costs were around $8,200 give or take a few $$ depending on options chosen.

Hope this helps!!

Some transfer switches have load shedding capabilities to shut down equipment not deemed necessary to be run on EM power, Generjunk has them.

 

[MBfreak]

And since we are the GJ, install a heat exchanger on the engine cooling system ( 11 kW electricity at n=0,35 from engine equals more than 10 kW coolant loss) and use that for your hot water system as primary energy source.
Ola

 

[mike93lx]

I disagree. I do think 11KW is ample for emergency power, but to say it'll "easily run a house" isn't accurate. People will often say a 100A service isn't enough for a modern home. 100A is 24 kW. 11Kw would be the equivilent of a 46A service and I think everyone and their dog would tell you that a 50A service isn't nearly enough for a typical home.

I'll say it. 50a is plenty for a ton of homes. My last house had 60a service. Electric dryer and electric range, never had a problem.

When i run my house on my generator, i have two fridges, a freezer, well, furnace, lighting... Never had to manage loads.

We only lose power in the winter, so a/c isn't a concern, but my 2 ton minisplit doesn't use much power

 

[ForceFed70]

The thing is, there's usually a big difference between the electrical service size and the actual electrical load at any given time. Certainly, it can vary depending on the size of the household and how many electric devices are present, but for instance - during the evening in my house there's a television, a computer, a couple lights, the furnace fan (gas furnace), and the refrigerator running, and that's pretty much it. A lot less than 50 amps.

I'll say it. 50a is plenty for a ton of homes. My last house had 60a service. Electric dryer and electric range, never had a problem.

When i run my house on my generator, i have two fridges, a freezer, well, furnace, lighting... Never had to manage loads.

We only lose power in the winter, so a/c isn't a concern, but my 2 ton minisplit doesn't use much power

Yes, I get it guys. Hence why I did use the word "adequate" to describe the generator.

I'm not saying that 11kW isn't suitable/enough for emergency power. In fact- let me make it clear that I absolutely think it's enough. I was simply taking exception to the statement of "11kW will run a typical house easily".

Had the statement been "11kW will easily meet the emergency power requirements of a typical house" I wouldn't have disagreed.

 

[American Locomotive]

11kw will run a typical house very easily. The average US electric bill is $110/month, and the average US electric cost is $0.12 kw/h. That means the average U.S. home electric draw is 1.2 kw continuously. Obviously the peaks can be much higher.

11kw will run all your lights, your TV, an electric range, a hot water heater and a well pump simultaneously without issue. You might start running into issues if you have central air going at the same time.

But for the average home? Easily more than enough power to use everything normally.

 

[48RON54]

agree with other person that stated you should have it load banked

 

[Slowgsr]

I wouldn't buy a used generac with those hours...

 

[_Stang_]

I worked for Generac back in the day on their industrial side (MW range gensets.). I recall internally they always said the air cooled engines were good for about 2500 hours on propane. Propane is hell on an air cooled engine. You've got about twice or more the heat value of NG. Also you don't size generators based on running amps. You need to size to the starting KVA. If you're not load shedding automatically then you need to assume everything starts at once.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[sberry]

I use 8k welder and I have 3hp well which is a problem. 5 fridges, I turn off air comps. Turnoff any electric heat.
BTW,, it was noted in running a typical house that it did not include electric water heat.

 

[Bigbandguy]

In my opinion (worth what it cost you) is that an emergency generator should be sufficient to maintain a civilized lifestyle but not necessarily your usual day to day lifestyle. If I have power to run a TV, a fan, a few lights and a computer I can get by. I many have to switch loads around or maybe turn a few unneeded things off but I can get by. That said our generator is 17 KW. I could get by on less though.

 

[Baydog]

Besides handing the current load of whatever is running, the generator also needs to be capable of handing the starting current of the largest motor connected to it. In residential applications that will be the heat pump or the air conditioning condenser. The outdoor unit will have a nameplate that includes the "Locked Rotor Amps". It will be indicated as LRA. An 11 kW Generac will have a maximum LRA rating of 77 amps. If you try to start a motor mush larger then that, voltage drop will be above 30% and there is a possibility of damaging both equipment and the generator long term. If the voltage drops too much, the generator will shut down. Depending on the efficiency of the heat pumps, anything more then about 2 tons will have higher starting amps.

1400 hours on a standby generator is a lot. The older ones exercise about 12 minutes a week, so that's only 10 run time hours a year. This one likely was used during some extended outages. Its condition will depend on how well it was maintained. A brand new 11 kW with all the modern improvements lists for $2800.

 

[Higgins]

Our place has a 200 Amp power panel.

Our large loads are:
4T Heat Pump
Heat Strips for the HP
WELL

Electric WH (*)
Electric Stove (*)
Air Conditioner (*)
(*) available to load shed

When running the system sizing calculator, as soon a I choose any 2 large loads it will automatically kick me to the 22 KV size generator.

We live on a mountain top in TN and loose power frequently due to downed trees, people running into power poles, ice storms, and animals. Three yrs ago, our area has a nasty ice storm and were out of power for 11 - 13 days depending where you lived. Since then, there have been several extended periods of time we have experienced outages.

With that said, I don't want to be stuck at home burning candles for light, and huddled in front of a fireplace for heat! When this happens, we don't have the luxury of running into town Burger King, GAS or other services.

Our only MAJOR issue is that we have enough propane to run the generator for an extended period of time! If that were to occur, we might even resort to not running 24hrs.............

 

[Norcal]

22 KV Genny? as in 22 Kilo Volts? Bit of a typo, KV vs KW.

 

[sberry]

An electric stove or range really is listed at 50A, a cook top maybe 3500 watts or so, less than 15A but that is wide open, holiday dinner stuff. It takes a LOT less gendet for comfortable survival. Doesn't mean a guy has to run everything he owns wide open and spends hours in the hot tub with the A.C. on hi.
Being modest and a little conservative allows for a lot smaller unit and wayyyyyy less fuel use.