After waiting for a couple of months due to a backorder, we finally got our whole house generator. This generator is a Generac brand, 7500 w, propane powered generator. The machine has automatic electric start, like most whole house gennies, and automatic switching via a transfer switch. We had to haul the thing back on our trailer since putting it in the bed of the F250 would make it impossible for us to get it back out since we don't have a forklift. Anyway, the first thing that we had to do was make a slab for this thing to sit on. I had already made the frame from some old 2x4's from our scrap wood pile and laid some paver gravel down before bringing the cement mixer over and mixing and pouring a bag at a time, since each bag is 80lbs. After getting enough concrete mixed up and poured, I smoothed everything with another 2x4, raking the water off that came to the top of the concrete, and let it sit. With the slab poured, I decided to let it sit a couple of days before we move the genny onto the slab. I wanted to do this to ensure that the slab is completely cured before putting the heavy weight on top of it, especially on this questionable ground. I did want to break open the box to check out everything so I can at least put my eyes on all of the equipment so I can plan how things will go together afterward. The generator was packed in a cardboard box on a pallet with a wood frame around the unit. I had to break up the wood from around the machine and cut the box to get it from around the generator. I then had to unbolt some temporary brackets from the pallet and shift the generator around to free the brackets to get them out of the way. These are of some heavy metal, I'll be saving them for some possible future use in some later project. The wood went over to the splitter with the logs to be cut up into smaller pieces for use as firewood later on. The cardboard box got folded up since it will make a good "floor" for use either in the garage when fluids wet the floor (as is the case now under the Dodge) or on the ground in the yard when its wet after a rain. One thing that I was looking at was the breaker panel that came with the unit after opening it up. The panel has eight breakers on it and looks like the type of panel that would be recessed between the studs of a regular wall. I will have to look at the instruction manual to see what the nature of this panel is so I can determine how and where I'll need to hook this thing up. Worst case scenario, I'm putting on the table, is building a frame to contain the breaker panel where the weather can't affect it but its still close to the generator. The other possibility is cutting a hole in the wall over the current breaker panel and rewiring the select breakers in the main panel to connect to this panel. We will figure it out. Internally this generator is just like every other generator, an engine with the generator head, control electronics for monitoring operation, and the added bonus of the electric starter, which means we will need to get a battery for this thing, which is no big deal. This being a smaller unit, it appears that it uses a motorcycle battery versus a larger battery. The cover on the unit is held in place with hex bolts which will require unscrewing to access the internals compared to our mother's genny that has a lock and a hinged lid for fast access. I will most likely just hand tighten the bolts so I don't have to dig out a hex wrench every time. I will take my time and carefully go through everything to make sure nothing is missed since this is obviously a first time thing. Not that I don't know what I'm doing, its just that I have to get the understanding of the hardware and how it would be hooked up then I can get it done. There's a difference between people who "can't" do it and people who can learn despite not knowing. Some people no matter how much education they get, just can't grasp certain things, in this case electrical and mechanical things, and have to seek help to get things done. I can say that I'm blessed enough to be able to look over these types of things and figure out pretty fast how to get things done in this field, and that I will do.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2023
|