Installing a Home Generator for Emergency Power

RON HAZELTON:
During my time here at the house, I've had more than my share of power outages lasting from a couple of hours to a few days. And that got me thinking that maybe what I needed was a backup or stand by power system.
WOMAN:
The big blackout of 2003.  The lights are slowly coming back on in New York and Connecticut. What caused the blackout this week?
RON HAZELTON:
I've had this portable generator on the road with me for years. And it's a good economical solution to a power outage.  This one has a sound dampening jacket around it.  So it runs really quietly.  I always use this outdoors away from any open windows.

And I never use it in a garage or basement. This will run about 7 hours on a tank of fuel.  So if I'm expecting a long outage, well I'd want to have an adequate supply on hand.  Now what I like about portable generators is their flexibility.

You can run power anywhere you can run an extension cord.  So I could use them to operate a light or a microwave.  What I can't do though is provide emergency power to a built in refrigerator or an exhaust fan using an extension cord.

Now that generator that I have outside produces 3000 watts of power.  That's enough to light 30 100 watt lightbulbs.  Now that sounds like a lot.  But if I were to operate the microwave, a toaster and say a hair dryer, I would have used up almost all of my power.

So I'm gonna install an automatic standby generator. What it's going to do is to provide me backup power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As a matter of fact, it could cover me in a power blackout - even if I wasn't home.  My backup power system is a new super quiet model from Guardian called Quiet Source.

Installation is being done by Cannondale Generators, a local company that's put in some 2500 home generators around here.  Step one is to remove about 15 square feet of sod.  And compact the soil.  Next, stone dust is dumped on top.

Raked out, then tamped to provide a firm level surface.  This 11,000 watt unit weighs over 500 pounds and comes mounted on its own base. The trick is to slip it off the pallet and onto a couple of rollers, which are then removed.

The key to making a generator like this automatic is a power transfer switch which electrician Tony Doin and his crew are installing in my basement.  My electrical lines from the street will be connected to one side of the transfer switch. When power's lost, the transfer switch sends a signal to the generator to start.

Once up to speed, the generator begins sending power back to the transfer switch.  It relays power to 12 circuits over here in my main circuit breaker panel.  Now these are circuits that I've pre-selected like kitchen and basement lighting.

The boiler, the master bedroom lighting, the basement freezer and the kitchen refrigerator. Things that I know I'll need in a power outage and things that will make life more comfortable.  The gas line is run and pressure tested.

Then plumber Jim Morrisette makes the final connections. This generator uses natural gas, which means I won't have to worry about fuel storage.  It can also operate on propane. Well our generator's in and running.  And quite quietly I might add.

As a matter of fact, it sounds about like a central air conditioning compressor.  Now it's putting out 11,000 watts right now. That's about 95 amps.  Plenty of juice to run anything we want to operate during a power outage.

To put our new backup power system to the test, we decide to conduct a simulated power outage.  Our friend Josephine shuts off the main breaker in the basement.  And we do what we normally do, light the candles. Within seconds, the generator starts automatically.

When the power is restored, the generator will shut off automatically and we'll hardly have missed a beat.