Good morning, thanks in advance for your responses and apologies for the long read. I'm considering having a Kohler Standby generator installed (professionally) at my home. In a perfect scenario, I'll be fueling via our existing natural gas supply from our utility company.
I'm looking for some thoughts on how I'll need to modify my existing gas meter and supply in order to accommodate this installation. I'm meeting with a Kohler distributor / installer later this week but wanted some perspectives before the meeting. Here's some info about the existing gas / plumbing / consumption.
1. I have an American Meter AC-250 Gas Meter, however I do not know for certain how large the supply line from the street to the house is because it is buried. I do know that a 3/4" supply line enters my (attached) garage from the earth, feeding the meter inlet. I also know that a 3/4" line exits my meter and travels a solid 60' through the infrastructure of my house, eventually to my boiler.
2. I have 4 existing gas appliances (boiler, dryer, cook top, fireplace) that when aggregated, consume ~343,000 BTU's.
3. Per the Kohler website, the recommended generator for my home is a 14 KW unit that consumes 193,000 BTU's. Once I meet with the installer, I'll have a better idea on generator size, but I hear that lots of folks in my area have used the 20 KW units, which consume 281,000 BTU. Regarding the generator, the plan is to locate it in the back yard at least 50' from where the meter is located.
4. Given the above, my expected aggregate maximum gas consumption will be either 536,000 BTU (14 KW) or 624,000 BTU (20 KW).
For some color on the journey that my existing gas line travels (obviously behind finished walls) before it reaches the boiler, I offer the following:
I get it that I'll have to get a larger meter for this project and I understand that I'll likely need a larger supply line to service the generator, but what I'd like to understand is:
A. If I only have a 3/4" supply line from the street do I have to replace that with a larger line? How do I find out what size the buried line is? What else factors into the this calculation?
B. Assuming the line from the street is sufficient, do I have to replace the interior 3/4" line that services the 4 existing appliances? I saw a YouTube video of an installer coming off a gas meter and stepping up from 3/4" (off the meter) to 1-1/4" via a bushing. He essentially replaced the stretch from the meter to the boiler but the boiler in this example was only about 15' from the meter. If I had to do that I'd have to rip out finished walls in my home and that would be a non-starter.
Thanks again for reading and providing thoughts, suggestions, or general feedback.
I'm at the very front end of this project with just a few hours of research invested. If there is a better path to a standby generator, I'm certainly open to it.
Have a great day.
I'm looking for some thoughts on how I'll need to modify my existing gas meter and supply in order to accommodate this installation. I'm meeting with a Kohler distributor / installer later this week but wanted some perspectives before the meeting. Here's some info about the existing gas / plumbing / consumption.
1. I have an American Meter AC-250 Gas Meter, however I do not know for certain how large the supply line from the street to the house is because it is buried. I do know that a 3/4" supply line enters my (attached) garage from the earth, feeding the meter inlet. I also know that a 3/4" line exits my meter and travels a solid 60' through the infrastructure of my house, eventually to my boiler.
2. I have 4 existing gas appliances (boiler, dryer, cook top, fireplace) that when aggregated, consume ~343,000 BTU's.
3. Per the Kohler website, the recommended generator for my home is a 14 KW unit that consumes 193,000 BTU's. Once I meet with the installer, I'll have a better idea on generator size, but I hear that lots of folks in my area have used the 20 KW units, which consume 281,000 BTU. Regarding the generator, the plan is to locate it in the back yard at least 50' from where the meter is located.
4. Given the above, my expected aggregate maximum gas consumption will be either 536,000 BTU (14 KW) or 624,000 BTU (20 KW).
For some color on the journey that my existing gas line travels (obviously behind finished walls) before it reaches the boiler, I offer the following:
- From the meter, the gas line travels straight up into the garage attic, turns 90 degrees to horizontal, and travels about 25' across the garage before entering the finished living space.
- The line, once inside the living space, is sandwiched between two framing members for a stretch of ~15' to get through my entrance-way (a header above my sliding glass door).
- Once it's through the entrance way it makes 2 turns: 90 degrees to vertical to get down to the basement, then 90 degrees back to horizontal.
- Next it travels 15' across my family room to my utility room where it finds a tee that services the gas cook top in the kitchen and travels the final 20' to my boiler room.
- Inside the boiler room there are tees for the gas dryer and gas fireplace.
A. If I only have a 3/4" supply line from the street do I have to replace that with a larger line? How do I find out what size the buried line is? What else factors into the this calculation?
B. Assuming the line from the street is sufficient, do I have to replace the interior 3/4" line that services the 4 existing appliances? I saw a YouTube video of an installer coming off a gas meter and stepping up from 3/4" (off the meter) to 1-1/4" via a bushing. He essentially replaced the stretch from the meter to the boiler but the boiler in this example was only about 15' from the meter. If I had to do that I'd have to rip out finished walls in my home and that would be a non-starter.
Thanks again for reading and providing thoughts, suggestions, or general feedback.
I'm at the very front end of this project with just a few hours of research invested. If there is a better path to a standby generator, I'm certainly open to it.
Have a great day.
