# Whole house UPS systems



## ptcity (Apr 4, 2009)

I get constant electrical interruptions where I live. Sometimes when there is a lightning storm, a wind storm, or just hot, humid weather, my electricity flickers. Usually it is just enough to flash the lights, but sometimes the power goes out for about 1/2 a second. It affects the whole neighborhood.

This wrecks havoc with my electrical stuff.

I am wondering if there is any such thing as a whole house UPS system. I am looking for something similar to what you can buy for your computer, but intended for the whole house. I would not hook up all of the circuits to it, just the 120 volt circuits.


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## dSilanskas (Mar 23, 2008)

ptcity said:


> I get constant electrical interruptions where I live. Sometimes when there is a lightning storm, a wind storm, or just hot, humid weather, my electricity flickers. Usually it is just enough to flash the lights, but sometimes the power goes out for about 1/2 a second. It affects the whole neighborhood.
> 
> This wrecks havoc with my electrical stuff.
> 
> I am wondering if there is any such thing as a whole house UPS system. I am looking for something similar to what you can buy for your computer, but intended for the whole house. I would not hook up all of the circuits to it, just the 120 volt circuits.


 
I have wired a whole house USP system. But it was 240 volts and 60 amps. Very nice piece of equipment but cost a bit of money and you have to make sure you have the room for it.


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## AndrewF (Dec 29, 2008)

Yes a "whole" house system wont be cheap. Likely to start at 10k plus maintenance for batteries. The ones we put in datacenters typically cost 50k each.

I elected to put individual UPS on key equipment. (1 for TV, 1 for DVR, 1 for linux pc, and one for something else) Since we use laptops, they dont need a UPS.


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## vsheetz (Sep 28, 2008)

I am a big believer to operate most all electronics on commonly available battery backup units - computers, televisions, stereo, etc. Units are now inexpensive making it readily doable.

There was another thread here a couple three weeks ago where someone had placed commonly available battery backups near the breaker box inserted inline of circuits that carried into the house.


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

ptcity said:


> I get constant electrical interruptions where I live. Sometimes when there is a lightning storm, a wind storm, or just hot, humid weather, my electricity flickers. Usually it is just enough to flash the lights, but sometimes the power goes out for about 1/2 a second. It affects the whole neighborhood.
> 
> This wrecks havoc with my electrical stuff.
> 
> I am wondering if there is any such thing as a whole house UPS system. I am looking for something similar to what you can buy for your computer, but intended for the whole house. I would not hook up all of the circuits to it, just the 120 volt circuits.


Had a customer with the same complaint. I arranged to meet them with the PoCo to install a recording voltmeter. 

The PoCo guy showed up. 
He was furious. ". . .assault is the tort of acting intentionally and voluntarily causing the reasonable apprehension of an immediate harmful or offensive contact."
He said that the voltage was OK. 
I repeated "recording voltmeter."

After a week of readings PoCo said the voltage was OK. 
But after that there were no more dropouts.

Probably PoCo does not want to replace degraded insulation unless it absolutely has to. The money that was set aside for this goes to
fast cars?
wine?
women?


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## ah...clem (Nov 15, 2011)

AndrewF said:


> Yes a "whole" house system wont be cheap. Likely to start at 10k plus maintenance for batteries. The ones we put in datacenters typically cost 50k each. :icon_rolleyes:
> 
> the guy just wants a backup that will sustain power for brief momentary outages, not hours, just long enough to prevent the annoying need to go around the house and reset the digital clock in every darn appliance. using google search it took less than a minute for me to find whole house UPS systems for as little as $1500. a more thorough search should turn up even less expensive alternatives. common sense should tell anyone that $10K is WAY out of line.


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## Yoyizit (Jul 11, 2008)

ah...clem said:


> AndrewF said:
> 
> 
> > whole house UPS systems for as little as $1500.
> ...


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Whole house ups systems have been discussed on here before. They range between $1500 to as much as $10,000.00 depending on how much you wish to power, until you get the genset online. They can last anywhere from 30 min's, to at least 4 1/2 hours. http://www.nooutage.com/houseups.htm


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## mpoulton (Jul 23, 2009)

ah...clem said:


> AndrewF said:
> 
> 
> > Yes a "whole" house system wont be cheap. Likely to start at 10k plus maintenance for batteries. The ones we put in datacenters typically cost 50k each. :icon_rolleyes:
> ...


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## joed (Mar 13, 2005)

This post is two years old. Why is it still being added to?


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## ah...clem (Nov 15, 2011)

peak demand is typically substantially less than 5kW, definitely NOT 20-40kW. 40kW would be nearly 400 amps at 110 volts! i don't know about you, but most of us are not trying to re-animate dead corpses! my 5kW gasoline powered generator handles everything in my house during extended outages (read 2 weeks) in the dead of winter, with plenty of headroom. typical household peak demand is 2-4kW, NOT 20-40kW. one quality car battery can deliver 600 amps at 13 volts, which is nearly 8kW of power, and can sustain that current draw for a good 15 minutes. MORE than enough for a brief momentary outage. besides the battery, the main cost will be a 5kW inverter, and those are not that expensive. the cost of the sensing and switching circuitry is insignificant.


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## George6488 (Feb 2, 2011)

Hope the OP solved this June 2009 problem / question and was not waiting for answers?


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