I came for the generator set up, but what a beautiful garage!

Nice DIY work there Dan. Very similar setup to what I installed at our rural location up here in BC 14 years ago and it works a treat for such a low cost investment in both time & money. We generally have at least 2 long term power outages every year; thing pays for itself as you said in just one long term outage event + the peace of mind. Best of the season.

Thank you Dan! You have done me a huge favor by sharing this

Potential life saving info you're sharing for real!

Thank you ... never again those were tough times.

Dan is spot on. The portable ones are a lot cheaper but there are a lot of drawbacks. I went with a whole house standby and it was an expensive endeavor but it will power the entire house and come on and off by itself.

Beautiful set up Dan! I used to have to fire up my portable generator until I got sick and tired of dealing with 8 to 10 or more power outages in my neighborhood every year. I also have a swimming pool and a 300 gallon aquarium, and so I went with Sunrun solar panels and Tesla Power wall back up battery that automatically switch over instantly whenever the system detects a power outage from the grid. After two years I found out I actually have saved an average of almost $7,000 a year on the electric bill. Of course now we only have 3 to 5 power outages a year, and I only know about the power outage when I receive a notification text from my local utility company notifying me about the power outage. And many of my neighbors have since went with Sunrun solar panels and Tesla power wall battery back up so they don't freeze in the dark during a cold winter while fumbling to hook their portable generator when there is a power outage. Cheers!

Very smart addition to your new home when we moved to Eastern Michigan the first thing we did in the rural area we moved to was put a whole house generator in never regretted it one bit we've needed it in some of the worst conditions possible for days on end

I enjoy the Normal Guy DIY channel 😊

Don't forget. You never have everything on in your house at the same time. My 9400 watt tri fuel generator runs my whole house including a 3 ton ac unit with no problem.. I run mine on natural gas so its a lot less than 9400 watts. My main concern was heat in the winter, but the ac works just fine. I don;t have most of the electric stuff you have. Mine is mostly gas. I also use an interlock on the fuse panel. I love it . I had 2 different switch boxes before, one 6 circuts and then a 10 circute. Then went to the interlock . So much faster and easier. Im in MIchigan so we see cold weather a lot. I have been using this setup since I have been in this house 23 years. Your gonna love it.

You should make sure your generator can run, uncovered, if it is wet. I make a tent, for mine, so rain can’t get in, but ventilation is good. PVC frame and some stakes make an easy structure.

Merry Christmas to you and your Family Dan!!

Dan, I am a commercial generator tech in the northeast with alot of experience in residential units. Putting in a standby system will be minimum of 10k for a generac unit. I would stand clear of generac bc they are junk. We call then genajunk in the field. I run my whole house on a 6800... You can run ur whole house with the generator you have. You will need to install easy starts on ur ac/heat pump systems to work properly and not overload the generator. I strongly recommend installing a whole house surge protector. Any other questions please contact me.

You must break-in the generators before you need to use it. Read the manual . Fyi that is not a inverter unit, it could cause problems with sensitive electronics like cell phones, tvs, computers, new washers dryers and refrigerators.

Although the gas is ethanol free, I would still add a fuel stabilizer like Sta-bil or Startron to it. Modern gas will start going bad in a month even without ethanol.

Interersting panel you have there. All but one in that panel are 220 breakers, except one unlabeled 120v breaker. You have to go one step further in your other panel (wherever that is), and trim off some more load as it's on a 100 AMP breaker. Can't imagine another sub panel with 100 amp load on it for just other routine low energy drawing devices. But, I see nothing wrong... just precautionary to see what the subpanel has on it.

This is the smartest man on KZfaq. 😎

Good job Dan!

Very Timely

Nice video! We would love to see it power your AC! Depending on the tonnage it should be able to handle it if its less than 5 Tons. Thank you!

Great video Dan - I've always been told to connect the umbilical cord before starting, then have all breakers off and slowly turn the ones you want on one by one as to not overload the generator with startup current. BTW, love my Winco generator for a more premium product.

Confident Dan the Man, not going to try and see if it powers house until the power goes out. My Man!!

You’re like a genius Dan. I would have blown up the neighborhood.

I have that very generator, looks the same only 12,500 watts. 10k under load. A couple points, mine killed our coffee maker. Guess the surge. Also I have a buddy in Fla that killed his fridge during generator use from a hurricane. So, be aware that without the inverter or whatever the hell it’s called, that flattens the phase on load , sensitive electronics and controls can be affected. I know you can buy these control boxes at an RV store. I haven’t, because I’m stupid. (Coffee maker was $150 bucks which would have covered a lot of the cost). Also. Believe me here, turn off ALL of the breakers when starting up the generator. Turn on the individual ones you actually need, like pool and heat. And the room you are huddled in, after the generator is started. I learned the hard way the first time I used it that it’s a PIA to do all this in the dark and rain. (Never need it when the weather is good) so sharpie the breakers that are the key ones to be on. Lastly. Reverse the process when reverting to city power. Everything off, main breaker on, then individual breakers one at a time. I too run only non-ethanol gas, and use a battery operated pump (Amazon) to fill and drain the generator tank. I start and run the unit about every two months and keep it on its own battery maintainer when not in use. Dead battery… bad time when it’s cold. I also did a sheet showing the main circuits and their power amperage draw. That tells me what can be on at the same time. This all takes time, but now vs when it’s cold/hot is time we’ll spent! I’m in GA and we have ice storms. So I get it. Finally, if Beto had won you’d be on the national grid by now! Sorry,, had to add that. 👍

Now THAT’S Impressive! Stay warm and Merry Christmas!

I found the generator diy very helpful & i for years have prolonged the effort of following through buying one .But did the same thing with buying a snowblower & still just sitting haven't been used.

Dan i have the same setup here in the Northeast outside NY. Question... is it a Texas thing to have the fuse box on the outside of the house? Find it odd as i would not want anyone to have easy access to the breakers.

Have you thought about security for the generator? They get stolen all the time when disaster strikes...

Hi Dan. Thanks for this. I got the same exact generator off of Amazon for a similar price delivered on 10/14 (actually still in the box). I have zero experience with generators or electrical matters period. So this is helpful. I’m going to hire a company to install interlock kit and inlet box. What do u think is a good labor price I should be looking for? Also any hints to turning on the genre besides what you show on the video? Appreciate any advice bud.

Nice install Dan!

I just installed inlet box and micro-air soft stater for my 5 ton ac unit I have 12500 watts generator can run my whole house

Please next video: how much gas does the generator take to fully charge a Tesla.

Interesting, is killing the master breaker all that’s required? Have you lost power yet?

1,399.00 generator, LATING Generator Interlock 36.88,Eaton CHF250 50A Double Pole Circuit Breaker 24.00,GeepKey Latest 50 Amp Generator Power Inlet Box, NEMA 3R Generator Receptacle 50 Amp, NEMA SS 2-50P PB50 45.99, 7 50 Amp Generator Extension Cord, 13FT STW 6/3 + 8/1 Power Cord N14-50P & SS2-50R & CS6364 Twist Lock Connectors 69.99, Scepter 06792 14 Gallon Flo-N-Go Duramax Gasoline 14 Gallon Portable Gas Fuel Tank 136.99 so right around 1800 not bad.

Literally lost power while watching this video. I’ll take it as a sign.

Why is your panel outside?

Put a sport exhaust on it and a flame tune!

That's crazy your breaker box is outside the house. Is that a Texas thing?

did you do a engine break in? normally 4-8 hours on dino 30 or 40 straight oil.

Trusting Greg Abbott is like trusting 14 year old tires that have been patched 4 times.

That generator would 100% run the furnace fyi

maybe a dumb question, can heavy snowing damage the generator?

Great vid!

Never seen the main breaker panel on the outside of a house.

Probably not a bad idea to swap that breaker to GFCI - come on Dan you got a Ferrari sitting in the garage - you can afford a 50amp gfci breaker. Bring that setup to code.

You are good. Power grid is strong....

You have a Super car........ So why not get a Super Generator ❓❓😅😂 Like a Super Standby Generator

Have you thought of using a soft start on your AC? Then you can use the generator to heat or cool the house. That’s if you have central air. I have a 4 1/2 ton ac so I installed the ICM870-32A Soft Start

I've decided to go with a whole home generator. I'm tired of Duke Energy losing power at a mild wind. So stupid. It didn't use to be this way. Texas power grid is the worst in the country because of....."freedom". Yeah.

Save the pool forget the heat in the house YOU LIVE IN TEXAS RIGHT? No Natural Gas WTF? Ooohhhhh Austin Texas the NON BIG OIL TEXAS - GOT IT

You wouldn’t get away with that generator cable in the U.K. potential to have live pins in your hand if the genny was running. Unlikely - but possible. Our appliance plugs attached to the wall are also interlocked but have the male pins and the genny cable would have female pins.

thanks for sharing. What kind of wire did you use from the Circuit breaker to the inlet box?

Septic power ? We've had septic before and now, but never powered. 🤨

Now that you've got storm power I recommend storm enjoyment. The two best car magazines on the planet earth ( haven't checked other planets) , Autostrada Magazine and Vicarious Magazine. Get the print version .With Vicarious the paper is from Finland . Ferrari type quality.

Been watching a lot of videos on larger generators using a 30A double poll breaker but looking at my 3600w one it is 120v 30A max via a generator or RV cord. Assuming I would only need a single poll 30A breaker instead to do the job as i am only running 120 at 30A max ? Does that sound right ?

That generator doesn’t produce 50 amps on they fo you recover it to. A 14-50 outlet doesn’t mean 50 amps the main breaker on the generator for the 50 amp outlet is is only 40 amps. Simple maths if you run that at full bore (10500 watts) it won’t last a year if you’re using it that way more often than not. So to figure the amps it makes at max is easy use your running watts! 10,500 devided by 240 amps and that equals:-- 43.75 amps in total also NEC and local codes in my area require a “BUFFER OF 10%” so another math problem 43.75A plus 10% equals 48.125 since they don’t make breakers that size we round up. And we get 50amps! 12,000 continuous watts is exactly 50 amps! And we don’t use surge watts because surge watts are EXTREMELY SHORT TERM WATTS TO GET LARGER ITEMS GOING ESPECIALLY IF YOURE CLOSE TO YOUR “wall”…..

Gong to be 1,200,000 soon because government inflation

Dude, you have a Ferrari Mercedes AMG and another car. I'm sure 10k is nothing for you. I would of just got a whole house generator. Nice video though.

Dan, thanks for giving me yet another reason NOT to have a pool.

Don't let it get wet. The $800 ones the circuit boards are not epoxy dipped; the $1800 ones are. Ask me how I know!!!!

The generator needs a Klein exhaust......

You have no idea what you’re doing by turning it on and off! Start gen let warm and even out a couple min. While running shut main off and turn gen breaker ON. Then with a large panel like that shut off all breakers. Plug cord in and then turn your generator main breaker ON! (The 2 pole on the generator) then start turning breakers on one at a time so the generator can acclimate to each load. Flip on 1 breaker wait 1-2 seconds then next and wait 1-2 seconds until all breaker switches are on that you want on same when shutting off turn each panel Breaker off 1 at a time then shut the gas off on the generator and let it run all the gas out of the bowl helps with issues don the road plus it gives the generator time to run without load to cool down a bit. Once the gen stops running disconnect then turn on main breaker and the rest. Also NEC requires stickers on the meter box, a printed gen sticker on the gen. Breaker. And on the gen inlet box that you plug the gen into all are a NEC MUST die to potential hazard should an electrician come out to work on it. Also if the generator is a “bonded neutral” you HAVE TO UNBOND OT especially since you should have only one bonded point and that’s at the service entry. If it says floating neutral you’re fine

Soooo, “normal guy on a budget” ?? Looking at your garage, you are neither normal or needing to be on a budget ???

First🎉

I got that same generator and I cant be sure but I don’t think the 50amp plug is not putting out the full wattage. I have mine hooked into one of my panels, not running a ton and the breaker on the generator keeps popping …