I've had a pretty rough year for electricity at my house.
Seems like after every rain shower, someting elecronic
stopped working. In addition, about once a month,
power flicks off just long enought to set every piece of
gear with a clock a-blinking. After hurricane Isabel
knocked out my power for 15 hours, I've decided to
finally look for a whole-house backup system.

Hi Rob,

Perhaps my experience will prove somewhat instructive in this. In my
previous home /office in Connecticut I installed a Winco 8kW auto-start
generator. Ours ran on natural gas from the street so we didn't need a gas
storage tank -- a major plus. The Winco had an automatic transfer switch
and a timed auto-start function. Any time power went out for more than 15
seconds the engine would start. As soon as it reached 220VAC the transfer
switch would throw.

A timer kicked the generator on every Friday morning for fifteen minutes to
keep the bearings and cylinders lubricated. This is critically important.
Without it the engine and carburetor might clog from deposits that tend to
precipitate out of unspent fuel and oil, not to mention rust.

To keep things ticking or rather, to keep things from flashing 12:00 until
the genset kicked in I installed a 3kW UPS. Critical things like PCs and
network goodies plus the telephone system, alarm receivers and such were
connected to the UPS. This worked fine for us for about 18 years until I
moved. IIRC the Winco cost about $3-4K retail when I bought it. I forget
what I spent on the UPS.

There were a few minor problems and one major one. The start timer was a
plug-in affair mounted within the shroud covering the various controls. It
would overheat and fail every couple of years. There were very few
companies that could service Winco gensets in our area. One tried to charge
me $190 for an unauthorized service visit even though I specifically said to
just ship me the timer. They also wanted over $100 for the timer. I looked
up the maker in the manufacturer's "blue book" and ordered a replacement
timer for less than $20. To solve the problem I installed a gem box with a
multi-conductor socket for the timer outside the generator room (more on
that in a moment) and ran a cable through the wall to a home-brew plug.

The Winco was **loud** when it ran. The noise was unacceptable in a
residential neighborhood. I had to build a sound proof room within my
garage for the genset. I also hired a bricklayer to build a 22-foot tall
chimney to enclose the muffler. To provide cooling air for the engine room
I ran two ducts to the outside. To keep carbon monoxide out of the house I
maintained a negative pressure within the generator room. This was far
easier than trying to make an air-tight seal around the room. An exhaust
fan kicked in as soon as the generator started, drawing hot air out through
a louver. Replacement air entered through a balanced damper.

Other than the added expense of building the room and chimney the system was
pretty much flawless for many years. When we lost power throughout the area
due to ice storms, various T-storms and at least one hurricane I had
continuous power for as much as a week while everyone around was without.
We also ran cables to power our two immediate neighbors' refrigerators and
TV sets (about all you *really* need).

There are quieter, more efficient models available today so perhaps you
won't need to go to such extremes. Winco is fine but there are lots of
other good names around. Best of luck.

Regards,
Robert

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