If I wanted to have multiple outlets in my home on a UPS and didn't want to buy a UPS for each location, Can I put a UPS in the basement and run wires back though the house conduit to each outlet (keeping the Hots and Neutrals isolated). Would I want to keep the ground(s) separate ?
Thanks
Yes, but you need a electrician and an armored truck to pay for it.
Tesla has whole house UPS's. I presume others do too
You could also do a whole house generator and hook it into your natural gas line.
As long as the devices you want to backup are low power, I'd personally just get UPS's for each station you wanted it on
The only things in my house on a UPS are plugged into the surge protector that feeds my desktop and the telephone equipment and internet modem/router . When it starts beeping I turn off the comp ... which leaves me with 3 laptops and a smart phone in addition to my landline for communication with the outside world .
Same here. My computer system and some of my phone parts. I do have one old fashioned phone that uses current from the phone company
I'd love a whole house natural gas backup generator, but I doubt I could ever afford one.
There is a solar Generac system advertised with solar panels and big batteries. I looked it up and batteries were about $3,000 each and replacement was recommended every three years.
My brother just had his whole house Generac backup generator installed. He is pleased with it but it cost over $10,000 and with no gas service he had to have a tank installed. Back order also took about eight months as demand in these times is very high.
You could just separate off at the panel the circuits that you want to have UPS function for, no need to run new circuits. But as others have pointed out, it's going to be expensive and has limited capacity. Why the need for UPS, instead of an automatic backup generator that starts up and cuts over in a minute? That costs a lot less and is only limited by fuel. Or a portable generator combined with a power inlet and panel lockout. That requires someone to be there to start the generator, but can be done for $1000 to $1500, less if you DIY.
Years ago before buying a UPS I had a Gateway computer make enough round trips to South Dakota for warranty repairs to qualify for a frequent flier bonus because of crashes during power failures.
Maybe buying an inverter rated dual fuel RV generator would be a good idea. Install the appropriate electrical lockouts. Connect the whole house and be careful about overloading the generator. Pretend you're living in the 1920s before air conditioning. Gasoline ages but propane seems to be ok for years.
That's the nice thing about doing it via a main panel lockout, you can power anything in the house, as needed, as long as you stay within the generator limit. And that's easier to do today, with LED lighting, high efficiency fridges, etc. Just have to watch out for the big loads, like electric water heaters, electric dryers or heaters, ovens, etc. You can have all the lighting circuits on, just flip switches around the house as needed. It sure beats using extensions.
Watch out for "hidden", so to speak, loads.
Two that I've run into
a: the automatic defrost cycle on refrigerator/freezers, which can pull hundreds of watts [1]
b: in many "gas" ovens, there's an electrically powered heating/ignition plate that ignites the gas flow. Again, hundreds of watts. And it often _stays on_ the whole time the oven is lit.
[1] We ran into this in a local religious institution. A licensed, insured, and experienced electrician ran a new outlet for a refrigerator. Which we soon used.Every so often the entire sanctuary would go dark.
It turned out he wired the outlet into the same circuit which fed the overheads. And... while the unit only pulled 100 watts when running, it pulled 500 when defrost.
So ... the circuit tripped but _only_ when all the overheads were on _and_ the defrost cycle kicked in.
And you can convert a portable gas generator to a tri-fuel unit with a "Motor Snorkel"
I have a portable generator, inlet and panel interlock. My panel is balanced so that the essential circuits are split between the 2 phases. The panel list is marked with red G's so I easily know which breakers to turn on when the generator is in use.
My generator is under my raised deck, protected by an "under-deck" roof. I don't need to move it to use it. It takes me about 10 minutes to get the house up and running again. Sure, I have to be home, since it's not automatic, but so far I've been lucky enough for that not to have been an issue.
And make sure that the panel is balanced so the circuits in use don't overload one phase.
My portable generator dips a little when the fridge kicks on, but it hasn't caused any issues to date.
]
You have to be careful about the RV generators as lots of them only put out 120 volts instead of the 120/240 volt circuits.
I have a gasoline 5 kw generator that is about 25 years old and only used it a few times as the power seldom goes out. About 3 years ago I bought a dual fuel 3500 watt generator that also runs on propane. The propane will probably never go bad and I do not have to worry about old gasoline. If the power is out a long time I can start up the old generator for more power and use gas instead of propane when I run out of the propane. I don't see the need for an inverter type generator now as most modern electronics do not need it.
The generators are such that I can power the whole house with either one but I do have to cut off the heavy loads like the water heater manually before starting up the generator.
Sounds like the most excellent cost effective solution. Even those $3000+ Generac automatic systems only power circuits that have been specifically wired in. And when that puppy fails, it's $3000 all over again. If your generator craps out, you can buy another one for $700 and wheel it over. Maybe even be able to buy one if it fails when you need it and replace it too.
Hundreds of watts for a defroster should not be a problem for a generator unless it's a really small one. For this kind of thing, typically you'd have 5KW or so.
I found my practically new 6250/5000 kw Coleman (B&S engine) on Craigslist for $275. A guy was using it at his camp and got tired of the noise so he bought an inverter. You'd think the generator was fresh out the box. I think he used for maybe 2 seasons and took good care of it.
I did all the wiring myself, so all I paid for was parts.
I have same type gasoline generator that is 16 years old. Had a transfer panel installed for essential services like well, furnace, refrigerator and freezer. Only takes about five minutes to set up and have running as panels are at the end of the garage and I just pull generator a few feet out of the garage to run under overhang there. I have used it numerous times and surprised it has worked that well but it would be nice to get an automatic set-up like my brother just had installed.
I would too, but the expense doesn't seem worth it with most outages are less than an hour. There might be one lasting a week every 2-4 years.
During the outages since I got a generator, I was surprised at how little current the fridge uses (I have turned off the outside heater).
Yes, this is what you need to look at:
"Conventional refrigerators typically have a starting wattage of
800-1200 watt-hours/day, and a running wattage of around 150-watt hours/day."Probably applies to any appliance with an electric motor.
Central air might take 5,000 watts to start and run at 2,500 watts.
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