Generator House Upgrades

Upgraded house, showing new roof, exhaust system, and PVC carrying wires to/from the residence.

The generator house (see this post) did a great job.  However, we needed some upgrades.

First, we needed to get the exhaust fumes out.  The extra heat and the flammable gasses were a potential problem. So, with some black iron pipe and some welding (again, my brother-in-law has skills), we fashioned the exhaust system and connected it to the generator.

Next, in order to power the house, we had to run a cable from the generator to the transfer switch--every time.  I bought a new transfer switch with more circuits and more suitable for my house.  We ran 10/4 wire from the transfer switch, and 14/2 from an existing circuit, to a junction box, then out through the wall, where the wires ran through PVC down the outside wall, underground, and into the back of the generator house.  The 10/4 goes to a junction box, where it connects to a cable that plugs into the generator. Now we don't have to mess with the heavy cable every time we want to power the house.  The 14/2 supplies 2 boxes:  one with a switch that goes to a light plus 2 unswitched  receptacles and the other to a switch that controls 2 receptacles--the fan is plugged into one and the battery charger to the other. These will always be powered, except in the time between house power going out and running the generator.

Third, the quick roofing job was not sufficient, so we took off the old shingles, put down tar paper, added metal drip guard around the edges, re-shingled, and added lead flashing at the top.

Now we have something!  When we have a power outage, all we need to do is flip the switches on the transfer switch to off, start the generator, let it run for a few minutes, then flip the transfer switches to generator, and we have power.  The whole house, except air conditioning and the stave and dryer can run off the generator.

BTW, when I say "we" with respect to any work I mean my brother-in-law under my expert supervision (which is mostly me saying "that' looks good").

See the video.

Generator House--Better Than the Design

This is the reason why I have not been posting much lately. This carpentry project has held my attention.

A couple of months ago I used my generator house project to test out SketchUp and 123d-design (see this post).  Here's how the house came out.  Thanks to my brother-in-law, who has real skills, the design was modified to make it sturdier, by adding a lot of interior support, and by replacing the 1X2s I had for the floor with 6" 5/4 decking.  The only major shape change was to reduce the roof pitch from 30 degrees to 15 (I used 30 to make the calculations of rear elevation and roof width simple),


Here are some photos to show the construction: