We are presently selling our home and we have a hot tub and whole house generator that we are including in the asking price. Do these items play into the appraised value of the home. If they don't, we will probably either take them along or sell them as a separate item if the buyer wants them. Thanks for any info.
Thanks for the answers. I should have been more specific on the generator. It is hard wired into the home and has its own circuit breaker that feeds into the original breaker. It could be removed but it would cost about 500.00 to have an electrician reroute the wiring. Thats why I thought it would be a fixed addition to the home.

You can not charge more for them if you include them in your homes listing. In fact you need to specify in the MLS they are not included, because normally fixtures are.

(First, my prayers are with the Kennedy family today...May God Bless the Kennedy Family)

Many people are experiencing a great deal of fear due to the fact that Obama is spending trillions of dollars and placing our great nation in such a precarious position that will we may experience some sort of financial break-down or collapse within Months if nothing is done to stop him.

If you believe this is a possibility, what are you personally doing to prepare for such a thing?

What I have done to protect my family and home:

1. I purchased a whole house generator, it runs on natural gas with a 500 gallon LP back-up system and 2 gasoline powered (7000 watts) generators....with a 150 gallon gas storage tank.

2. I designated one room in my basement for food storage. I bought around $1300 worth of can goods, powder milk,....everything!
I bought another freezer and had it filled.

3. I have lots of gun (I own 40 acres) but I did buy 2 .40 cals and 1 .45 hand gun and have 5000 rounds each...I already have numerous shot-guns and rifles

4. Cash, gold, silver, bullets...pretty good shape

Doc, like you I have a whole house generator and 2 smaller generators, I don't have 40 acres, but I do have 15, We have canned for the past 3 years, fruit trees, well supplied with weapons and ammo, and a lee loader, invested in some precious metals, fishing gear and we have well, SO I figure when it hits we will make good with what we have.

I bought a forclosed home and paid cash. My "Money Pit" needed and still needs many repairs. I'm out of money and need a loan. I'm on a fixed disability income from the Gov't. and my credit score is REALLY bad. I've been battling Crohn's disease, Lupus, Sarcoidosis, Asthma and a few other chronic illnesses for several years spending alot of time in hospitals, and too much money on Doctors and medicines. I get NO help.
I don't qualify for public assistance because I was always too ill to have kids.
I was blessed to find this house but I stilll need a loan.

NOBODY will even talk to me. My house is worth WAY over what I paid. But I got it cheap because of the MOLD issue.

My house needs repairs and I'd like to convert to Solar power, Get Rain Barrels and Prep my house for Hurricane season. (My house previously had damage from Hurricane Charly. I'd like to pay off my medical bills (and a few other bills) and "I" need repairs. I cant even go back to any of my doctors because I owe money.

If I can get loan 25k to 30k I can pay off everything, fix my home and improve my credit. If I get the Solar Power and rain barrels I can Lower my monthly bills. I also had a Whole house generator for storm season, but it was Stolen. Also, My 80 year old Mom who has been helping care for me was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer. We are trying our best to care for each other.

Please help. I don't want to end up filing bankruptcy unless I ABSOLUTELY have to.

Thank you.

If you know of anyplace that I can go for a LEGITIMATE loan (or a Grant), please send me a response.
If you are a lender, please also provide a telephone number and a location where I can find your BBB references.

thank you

Wrong time wrong situation.

My advice to you is to sit tight and try again in 6 months and then again in 12 months.

The environment that gave you the opportunity to get such a great deal on the house is also going to make it very difficult for you to get a loan.

The marketplace for alt-a (good credit, unusual terms/situations) and sub-prime mortgages (poor to bad credit) doesn't really exist at the moment. Your best bet is a credit union, but with a score below 650 I doubt you are going to find any legitimate lenders at this time.

I have a Whole House Generator and I just installed a Solar Battery Charger. What I am trying to design is to be able to read the Voltage from the Solar Panel and from the Battery. I want to be able to read each source ( Solar Panel & Battery ) separately using only one panel mounted DC Voltmeter and one switch if possible. I want the meter to be off until you flip the switch. The Solar Panel will alway be charging the Battery until you read the volts on the meter.

I hope someone can help.

Thank You,
Ned

For starters, you need a double pole, 3 position switch.

In Position "1" - pole 1 connects the solar cell to the battery. Probably with a diode or whatever, for night time when the battery voltage exceeds solar cell voltage. Pole 2 is not connected.

In Position "2" - pole 1 disconnects the solar cell. Pole 2 connects the cell to the meter.

In Position "3" - pole 1 disconnects the solar cell. Pole 2 connects the Battery to the meter.

Hope that helps ...

With winter coming on and a big ice storm just hit it got me to thinking once again about getting a generator. What size generator do you recommend for running just the basics. I'm not wanting to power up the whole house, just fridge, freezer, a few plug in heaters and some lights, mabye a tv and some other minor stuff.

If you are serious about purchasing a generator for backup power, don't go anything less than 5kW for what you've listed. Consider installing a proper transfer panel so that connection is quick and safe.
Read through my home generator page for ideas and suggestions.

http://members.rennlist.org/warren/generator.html

I have access to a small gas-powered generator that can run a few appliances. It doesn't run anymore, so I was wondering if I could put windmill blades on it. If it is possible to do it, could i plug it right into an outlet and feed power into our system? I know it can't run the whole house, but it could reduce our elec. bill right?

Mr Tippy is right about the speed issue but you can overcome this by getting an inverter. Most wind turbines run at variable speeds so they use an inverter to convert the "wild ac" current to a usable form normally 240 volt for home systems. These inverters come in many different sizes to match your generator and can be purchased from many of the online green energy supply places. Sunny boy is a popular brand.

You will also need to figure out how big the blades need to be for your size generator. My wind turbine is 20kw and has a 31 foot diameter blade span. This is huge for a home system and I often get a check from the power company. So you will probably need to research the proper blade size.

One concern that I would have is the bearings in the generator, are they heavy enough to handle the weight and stress of the blades.

I want to build a generator like a homopolar magnetic generator, that can make some extra power (maybe not enough to power a whole house but to supplement). I don't want to be directed to a search engine, i've tried that, and i'm not looking to buy an ebook from a site with 'testimonials' and 'reduced prices' and all that gimmicky stuff, just actual plans for a generator. Anyone know where?

Homopolar handbook by thomas valone

It has the calculation and the basic diagrams to make a few. There will be nothing you could power you house or supplement you power with that wouldn't be done cheaper with a standard generator.

I have a KOLHER nat. gas generator. it is hooked to my house and can run 2 AC units + the whole house. i beleve it is a RG17 i think? it has less than 200 hrs on it.

Would need to know how many Kilowatts, but I suspect around 12KUsd. I know where there is a similar one for that price.

I am renovating a 3000 sf home and want to add a whole house, automatic generator. The generator will use LP fuel and have an automatic transfer switch. The home will have 3 heat pumps for both heat & A/C (3-ton, 2-ton, and 1-ton). Additionally, it will have two electric ovens and electric water heater. What size generator should I be shopping for? Thank you.

look at your breaker box.....is it a 200 amp? and is there only one?

if you have one 200 amp box and are on a single phase system then you need a 50 KW generator.

watts= volts x amps

240 volts x 200 amps=48000 watts or 50 KW

of course you dont really need to go this big, usually folks only will pull 50 or 75 amps on a 200 amp service, but you dont sound like the kind of guy who wants to do things half assed.

another thing to think about, have enough propane to carry you for a couple weeks or a month......if an ice storm kills the power, a propane truck dammed sure aint gonna want to fill you tank.

I live in a historic district that utilizes an ancient power ditribution system. As a result we are faced with MULTIPLE poweroutages every year. I am going to be buying a "Whole House" generator. I however, have no idea of the correct size. Rather than deal with a salesman who may provide me with information that suits his agenda (and pocketbook) rather than mine.

How do I correctly determine the load of all the circuits in my house?
We have a 100 amp electrical box with 4-30 amp , 5-15 amp, and 6-20 amp electrical breakers.
After pricing NG by the cubic foot and seeing what some models will consume a NG/LP model isn't feasible. NG here is just at $1 ft3 and these things use upwards of 150-200 ft3 per hour. No way. Looks like a gas powered manual type gen that will power only critical circuits of the house. Any other ideas?

MANPIG has the answer. You will also need a transfer switch as well to safely switch from the Line Voltage to the generator so only one Electrical source goes through your 100 Amp Load Center at a time.
Math formula for the size is:
P (Power) = E (Voltage) times I (Current)
So 240 Volts (120 + 120) time 100 Amps = 24,000 Watts
That's 24 Kw Max capability of your home.
A 25 or 30 Kw generator will do just fine and have a licensed electrician do the job (permits, inspections will be needed too!
Good Luck ! ! !