Whole house generator installation?

[janedoe]

We bought a whole house 20,000 watt generator. My husband doesn't want the propane tanks near the house so we are locating them about forty feet away. This involves trenching two feet down. He also wants a concrete slab instead of that prefab stuff. Our general contractor recommended an electrician and we got a quote from him today. My husband thinks it's too much. With concrete slab, trenching, install, what would be a reasonable cost in your opinion?

Thanks in advance.

[Bamps]

Labor is expensive. We just dug our own trench here for water lines to our new well. I rented a trencher from the rental place in town. Both my son and I did the PVC and conduit then my son did the electrical. I would not have been able to afford it otherwise, it was over 100 ft. They wanted several thousand dollars to do it all, adding another 10k or so.

[janedoe]

Labor is expensive. We just dug our own trench here for water lines to our new well. I rented a trencher from the rental place in town. Both my son and I did the PVC and conduit then my son did the electrical. I would not have been able to afford it otherwise, it was over 100 ft. They wanted several thousand dollars to do it all, adding another 10k or so.

Thank you. That's in line with some of things this guy was saying.

[POPTOP]

No experience with a generator. We considered it with all the heavy snows and ice we get. Surprisingly, power outages are few and they don't last long.

[KenZ71]

No idea on the cost other than expensive!

A trencher can be rented from Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Taylor Rental, etc

Once the trench is done, return the tool and either rent a cement mixer or simply mix the stuff in a wheel barrow.

Then take a few Advil, you will need them!

[csblabmom]

We're actually having ours installed tomorrow LOL. 2 major differences from you situation though... the propane tank(underground) is less than 12 feet from the generator and we went ahead and poured our own pad.
The generator itself is right next to the exterior power panel. Normal cost for install here is about 5K over the cost of the generator... ours is less than 2K.

[Jeff]

No experience with the long distance thing. However, a couple things to make sure of since I know yours is an older house, make sure the electrical box can handle it. When I moved into my house, it needed the electrical box upgraded. So I put in a new one, also planning for the fact I may need to put in a generator some day and room for expansion, like my basement lighting and outlets are all on one circuit if I ever get around to putting in my home theater and bar and things, then I am going to want more circuits.

Anyway, I did not put in the switches and plugs at the time for the generators but saved room. So later another year after tax returns and so on I put in a generator, mine is natural gas and the gas line was already near there. However, the electrical and switches alone was about $750 and this was in a electrical box already designed and planned for it. So electrical work may be even more as I am assuming running longer wires and so on.

Oh I am on total automatic mode too on all my electrical if that makes a difference. Basically if power outage is detected, generator automatically fires up and takes over until power is restored then it shuts down generator. Manual mode should be cheaper.

[janedoe]

No experience with the long distance thing. However, a couple things to make sure of since I know yours is an older house, make sure the electrical box can handle it. When I moved into my house, it needed the electrical box upgraded. So I put in a new one, also planning for the fact I may need to put in a generator some day and room for expansion, like my basement lighting and outlets are all on one circuit if I ever get around to putting in my home theater and bar and things, then I am going to want more circuits.

Anyway, I did not put in the switches and plugs at the time for the generators but saved room. So later another year after tax returns and so on I put in a generator, mine is natural gas and the gas line was already near there. However, the electrical and switches alone was about $750 and this was in a electrical box already designed and planned for it. So electrical work may be even more as I am assuming running longer wires and so on.

Oh I am on total automatic mode too on all my electrical if that makes a difference. Basically if power outage is detected, generator automatically fires up and takes over until power is restored then it shuts down generator. Manual mode should be cheaper.

Ours is a fairly newer box but it has sub panels and is only 100 amps. After much discussion last night, my husband and I decided that the electrician (who is a sales and service guy for the brand we bought) is much too la-de-da about the box itself. He wants to add yet another sub panel then bring everything from the other sub panels over but didn't seem to assess whether that would handle the load, simply saying "You don't have a jacuzzi and there are only two people living here". Didn't want to hear about the planned upgrades and restoration which would make the finished/used square footage 4500. Never have I had to argue spending more but he wasn't interested in upgrading the box, just the (expensive and redundant) add on.

[voodoo]

no idea but found a good read on the subject How much does a standby generator cost to install? | Benchmark Electric, LLC Generators4Memphis.net

[Jeff]

Ours is a fairly newer box but it has sub panels and is only 100 amps. After much discussion last night, my husband and I decided that the electrician (who is a sales and service guy for the brand we bought) is much too la-de-da about the box itself. He wants to add yet another sub panel then bring everything from the other sub panels over but didn't seem to assess whether that would handle the load, simply saying "You don't have a jacuzzi and there are only two people living here". Didn't want to hear about the planned upgrades and restoration which would make the finished/used square footage 4500. Never have I had to argue spending more but he wasn't interested in upgrading the box, just the (expensive and redundant) add on.

Yeah I would upgrade the service myself. It is just me and Hemi but still I could see lights dim when the well kicked on and things when I bought the house. I don't have a Jacuzzi either but I went for the 190 amp service. Whole house surge suppression, etc. I don't like spending money either but if I am going to do something I prefer to spend a few extra up front to do it right and allow for change in the future than spend more later. Being in the computer industry we always expand and grow and things. Same goes for homes now days. Never know when you are going to add on stuff. Best to do it properly. For example when I did mine I had no idea I was going to buy an RV in 5 years to take Hemi camping. Now I have a 30 amp plug in the garage so I can have it hooked up and powered up while i am loading and unloading. Things to change.