Cabin came with standby generator that sat unused for years and lacks propane tank

For one owner of a cabin in the mountains, a 22-kilowatt generator came with a bunch of questions.

Here's what to know

In Reddit's r/Generac_Generators, the owner said the Generac standby generator and transfer panel were already installed, though the unit had gone unused for 2-3 years. They added in a comment that buying a propane tank would cost a couple of thousand dollars and wanted to know whether a portable generator could be connected through an inlet in the meantime.

A commenter said delaying the tank purchase might work, but only if the portable unit matched the home system's electrical setup.

"Most home standby systems are 120/240 single phase," they explained. "Your generator must be the same for it to work properly. If your gen is 120v only, you will have to do some rewiring."

More background

After one person asked why a propane tank was not already at the property, the cabin owner indicated that fuel costs may have been a factor. 

"It was a foreclosure; probably rented the tank and didn't pay," they said.

Another commenter suggested: "You can do two 120 gallon tanks. For some reason that is sometimes cheaper."

The conversation also explored why the generator might have been installed. The cabin had gas cooking appliances and a 1.5-ton heat pump, and electric-resistance backup heat can drive up demand during cold-weather outages.

"That heat pump has electric resistance heating in addition to the heat pump function. I have seen 20KW heatpacks in the high elevation areas here in North Carolina. Probably why the sizing of the genset. I have a 22kw Generac and a 26kw because of it," one person shared. 

What can be done?

The usefulness of a standby system is tied to fuel storage, maintenance history, and how major loads are set up for an outage. The practical option was to see whether the portable unit and transfer equipment could serve as a stopgap.

The owner also pointed to another way to keep outage costs down: cutting demand instead of trying to run every load. "During an outage, I can just run the heat pump with the generator and use the fireplace if it really was that cold," they said. 

For buyers in similar situations, one way to avoid surprises is to confirm with the seller or propane company whether a tank is owned, leased, or included with the property and whether using two small tanks could reduce the upfront cost. For people who don't need a whole-home system, plug-and-play backup power is another option to explore at a fraction of the cost.

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