OK. Now I understand B&G.

On the subject of wiring for a standby generator when the house is being built always brings to mind an idea that I have had for some time. If I had had it in 1976 when I built my house, I would have done it. My idea is to wire a new house with low voltage wiring (12V) and install an appropriate number of decent looking light fixtures throughout. In addition of course to your regular wiring. What I am saying is essentially to wire the house the same as a modern travel trailer is wired with a couple of deep cycle batteries and a 12V charger, about 50 amps I would say. Older trailers had what they called a power converter. When 110V was disconnected, a relay closed and the batteries kicked in to supply 12V lighting, radio, etc. Restore the 110V and the converter switched off the batteries and supplied 12V converted from 110V. The converter did have a trickle charge going to the batterys when on 110V. What it boils down to is if the power fails in your house, the 12V kicks in and you have lights and whatever else you have that runs on 12V. Like small fans, etc. There are a number of TV's that operate on 12V also. Add a propane cook stove and you pretty well have all you need to be reasonably comfortable. The system doesn't replace a standby generator but it gives you reasonable comfort during a power failure without the generator. You would need a generator of course to keep the batteries charged if the power failure lasted for an extended period, that is, several days. The size of the generator would depend on whether you wanted to power your air conditioner and microwave. If you want hot water, get a propane water heater when you build the house. (Please don't call it a "hot water heater". There is no such thing. It is a COLD water heater.) Remember, you can get a good sized RV refrigerator and mount it in your house. It runs off 110V or propane. Even on propane though, it still requires 12V though for the circuit board. Just an idea but with some thought and planning, especially when building a new house, it doesn't seem all that expensive to consider.

Anybody else want to weigh in make suggestions on this idea? Maybe this is the subject for a new post as this one has gotten completely off subject. In rereading the post, I don't think I made everything quite clear. It is clear in my mind but that doesn't help the reader does it? As I have said before, I just CANNOT be brief as hard as I try. Just one of my flaws I guess. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />