Start up draw question

[BlueLabel]

My wife and I are building a house. Its in an area that is prone to more frequent power outages then usual. A co-worker of mine, when building his home, inquired about putting in a secondary/sub panel that would be power by a back up generator during power outages. He wanted to hook up his GeoT system to it. (I do not know what system he had installed) But, discovered that the initial draw to start the system, was more then your standard gas powered generator could handle.

So, my wife and I, earlier today, sat down with our electrician. We ran the idea by him (Sub panel, generator, GeoT) and he thinks that its do able.

My question is: (System info below) Can anyone here tell me how much the system draws when it initially fires up?

WaterFurnace NDV038A111NTL Dual Capacity Envision Unit
40 Gallon Preheater Tank
VanEE 1001 Gold Series Heat Recovery Ventilator

If you need more information, I can try to find it for you. I am pulling the info above from the quote given to my builder.

Thanks,

Rich

[geome]

Show the attached file from WF to your electrician regarding the Intellistart unit.

Intellistart can be purchased as a factory installed option, or purchased and installed later. I strongly suggest the factory installed option if you are considering a generator.

[BlueLabel]

Thanks for the reply. I will pass this onto him and see what he says.

Thanks again!

Rich

[AMI Contracting]

A 3 ton can be fired even without the intellistart by a relatively modest generator, but I agree soft start is worth adding.
j

[BlueLabel]

Yes, it could.

I could still purchase a 13Kw generator, which would start the system without Intellistart(IS). But with IS I can power other items such as the sump pump, or a fridge...etc. I can just make more use of the same sized generator.

Gome: The PDF you attached had exactly the information I/we were looking for. Thanks again.

[AMI Contracting]

load staggering on a generator can accomplish the accomodation of more appliances on a smaller generator.
Time delays and capacitors on "soft-start" kits are subject to failure like everything else. They are not a panacea. The good likely outweighs the bad, but we'll know in time.
j

[BlueLabel]

I did think about just firing up the generator, then gradually flipping breakers at the secondary panel. But, I need the ease of use for when I am not home, and my wife has to get it all up and running.

[geome]

You're welcome Rich. Credit goes to Water Furnace for posting the pdf originally.

If you're getting an automatic transfer switch, you may want to consider one with load shedding capability, or one that has a priority load feature. These features can make the transfer switch more expensive, but can further extend the usefulness of a generator of a given size.

Also, look for a generator and transfer switch package (with the transfer switch included with the generator) that suits your needs. Pricing should be better than purchasing the same components individually. The ones I have seen were packaged sets from the generator manufacturer.

I hope to get our generator running in the next 4 weeks or so. Powering our sump pump is the main reason we got started with our generator project.