Business back up electricity options

[Houndoc]

Yesterday's afternoon power outage got me thinking once again about needing some kind of back up energy source for the clinic.

Traditionally that would mean a generator, wondering though if batteries such as are used with solar are an option or not.

Any personal experience with either one and leads on install for either system would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rholbrook]

I don't know the answer to this but wouldn't solar be a great option? Your normal business hours are usually during daylight. I just know the cost of a big auto-starting generator can get pricey. Kaysville City will come out and add the ability to plug a generator in a minimal cost and then you can plug in a generator with enough power to run what you have to have running, I don't know what it would cost where you are at. I can't imagine your minimal energy draw would require too big of a generator. I am curiously following this.

 

[Spork]

If I remember right you have to have a battery bank to run solar when the power is out. One of those "features" they don't tell you about.

 

[J-mobzz]

Lithium batteries and solar panels have definitely come along ways in performance and price they are for sure an option. But I think for the occasional power outage, you would be hard-pressed to get your money back out of that set up versus a generator.

 

[mighty midjet]

Uninterrupted power system (UPS) and automatic transfer switch (ATS) with a generator is a tried and proven system. All your critical systems are always pulling off of the battery backup (UPS) and commercial powers always recharging/maintaining those batteries. When you lose power the ATS disconnects you from the grid/commercial and starts your generator. The generator should start providing immediate power back to those batteries and you shouldn't even notice a lapse to anything wired into those UPS while also not back feeding the grid and preventing any damage to anyone working on it. When the grid is restored the ATS should shut down the generator and switch you back to commercial/grid power.

 

[ID Bronco]

Uninterrupted power system (UPS) and automatic transfer switch (ATS) with a generator is a tried and proven system. All your critical systems are always pulling off of the battery backup (UPS) and commercial powers always recharging/maintaining those batteries. When you lose power the ATS disconnects you from the grid/commercial and starts your generator. The generator should start providing immediate power back to those batteries and you shouldn't even notice a lapse to anything wired into those UPS while also not back feeding the grid and preventing any damage to anyone working on it. When the grid is restored the ATS should shut down the generator and switch you back to commercial/grid power.

I'd want this if I were doing surgery and the power could go out during that procedure. I realize it's a vet clinic, not a hospital. but.... I once asked my friend who was getting a new pacemaker put in if he checked with the hospital on their backup power system since he'd be dead if it went out.

 

[gijohn40]

the latest crazy is using the battery systems like EcoFlow has. There is a new circuit breaker you buy and hook to ecoflow units and when the power goes out the whole system jumps to the battery system. You can put solar panels out to recharge them while the power is out...
There is a whole facebook forum for this... cost is about $25K and up...

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[Houndoc]

Has anyone worked with specific companies on either battery/solar or generator systems?

 

[Paul R]

Do you have any idea what the size of the service you are looking to back up is or how much load you want to back up?

The most economical option will likely be a generator. Depending on the size you need, it could be either natural gas or diesel. Probably 150KW and below it is cost effective to go with natural gas and will limit the challenge of diesel storage and a bit easier on maintenance.

If you don't care as much on the costs, solar + battery storage is a great setup!

 

[Mouse]

These guys installed my home generator: https://www.kendrickelectric.biz/

They did a good job

 

[Houndoc]

Do you have any idea what the size of the service you are looking to back up is or how much load you want to back up?

The most economical option will likely be a generator. Depending on the size you need, it could be either natural gas or diesel. Probably 150KW and below it is cost effective to go with natural gas and will limit the challenge of diesel storage and a bit easier on maintenance.

If you don't care as much on the costs, solar + battery storage is a great setup!

Diesel storage would be a big issue.

 

[BCGPER]

I installed my own generator system. The generator was a 9kw, operated via a manual transfer switch.

Total costs were around $1500. This price also included an upgraded breaker panel in the house.

I only ran into one complication. The building you’re powering has to be wired with an isolated ground. Mine was, but many older buildings may not be. The problem I had was my neutral buss was still showing a ground in the house. After probably a week of searching, I found my range was wired from the factory with the neutral and ground tied together. I Separated those circuits, and it work flawlessly after that.

 

[Paul R]

If you take a picture of your main breaker panel I can run it by our team to give you an idea of what you might want (we are the industrial Generac dealer for Utah). There are a lot of options and the thing you may want to do is run an amp clamp and decide which load you want to back up and which ones aren't essential. My guess is you'll be around 50 kw but could be smaller or larger depending on what you want to do.