whaletacochamp t1_j37ykef wrote
Not to be pedantic, but.....the batteries that you are talking about are quite literally backup batteries to power your house. They aren't "battery powered generators" since a battery powered generator would be kinda counterproductive.
Annnyway. Backup batteries work pretty well. Remember that they are always charged and ready to go, so you don't necessarily need sunny sky to have power. You DO need to have sunny sky to recharge them via solar, however. Capacity and time of coverage depends on the system and size of the system. My neighbors have a system and they were able to go two days - but I believe the batteries only run their well, boiler, septic pump, and a couple of lights.
Personally I wouldn't go with a propane generator unless you already have propane onsite. Just seems like a lot of extra peripherals and pain setting up delivery etc. With that being said, it is certainly the lowest maintenance option and probably best for someone who has limited knowledge/comfortability with small engines. You can also get ones that run off natural gas but since you heat with oil I'm guessing that's not an option.
We heat with propane and I'm planning on installing a generator right next to our propane tank for this exact reason. But if we didn't have propane I would just keep a big can of gas on hand all winter for the generator.
Be aware that if you are having a company come out and do the whole shebang they are going to cost quite a lot. You will have an incredibly good system that's easy to use at the end but it will not be cheap and they will likely have you on the hook for yearly maintenance (which is important but not cheap). So if you are at all familiar/comfortable with this sort of stuff it can be considerably cheaper to buy your own generator, pay an electrician to come out and do the wiring for you, and then just hook it up and start it up when you lose power. The company your working with will likely want to sell auto cut-over which is not cheap, but is wicked convenient.
NEVER RUN THE GENERATOR WITHIN 20' OF YOUR HOUSE (although any new generator will have a low oxygen/CO cutoff and some units are designed to be closer). NEVER BACK FEED A PANEL WITHOUT A TRANSFER SWITCH
ReadBonny OP t1_j37z9wc wrote
Whoops sorry for the mistake. Clearly I'm new at this and still learning a lot. Appreciate the feedback. I agree that installing propane tanks just for a generator will be a pain. Would be great if the back-up battery solution worked for this reason.
whaletacochamp t1_j38046o wrote
Most if not all solar companies will give free consultations and often free estimates or even quotes. I would definitely explore that! From what I have heard, I would avoid the Tesla system.
ReadBonny OP t1_j381hse wrote
Thanks. And sigh, we already have starlink for internet. No need to purchase additional Elon products haha
whaletacochamp t1_j381v0q wrote
Same lol.
How does it work for you? Works flawlessly for us knock on wood.
ReadBonny OP t1_j384j7r wrote
It's incredible. No outages and we have tons of trees. We will eventually have fiber in our area so we will probably switch to that. Works better and fewer outaages than Comcast when we lived in Montpelier.
Good_Kitty_Clarence t1_j38h8j0 wrote
Idk how others are getting so lucky with Starlink. We’ve had it for less than a year and are on our 3rd dish. The previous 2 malfunctioned. The most recent got water inside that caused it to short out. When the service is good, it’s good, but the issues with their shitty equipment is making me lose my mind!
throwaway9384929 t1_j3ausij wrote
Agree with this, I had it for a very short period and it was borderline unusable, the wind blows the right way and it flat out wouldn’t work, clouds? Forget it no internet for you today
Good_Kitty_Clarence t1_j3cefu9 wrote
Bummer. Our service is stable and works great… when it does. We’ve only lost service for brief periods of time during inclement weather. It’s the malfunction of the equipment (and the subsequent snail-paced troubleshooting/customer service) that is so frustrating to me. Our third dish in less than a year and a company that truly does not give the tiniest fraction of a fuck.
whaletacochamp t1_j387j1d wrote
We had HughesNet before this which was borderline fraud for what we paid and what we got.
We also have a ton of trees (literally live in the woods) including one huge one that obstructs a good portion of dishy to the point where the app says expect an outage every two minutes (during the leafed parts of the year that is) and the only time I ever have issues is quick two seconds lags on Teams or Zoom meetings with a lot of people.
syphax t1_j38g2o9 wrote
>https://www.bluettipower.com/
Me 3. StarLink is magic for us. Doesn't change my opinion of Elon much, though.
Real-Pierre-Delecto2 t1_j3817aj wrote
Had a Tesla powerwall for years with never an issue nor have I ever heard of other issues with them. Keeps the house going for about 24hr before I have to fire up the genny. Most often the only way I know we have had an outage is because the Tesla app tells me about it.
Most-Analysis-4632 t1_j3btzca wrote
Same here. Flawless switchovers. We have two Powerwalls, got conservative with our usage after day one, and got to day three with 20% left.
Interestingly, Suncommon wouldn’t install just one battery. They told me there can be a spike-induced glitch with a single, where the crossover fails. It’s probably super rare, but I thought it interesting that they won’t install singles.
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