[00:00:00] Eric Goranson: It's around the house in the second hour of around the house. Today we're gonna talk about two different subjects. First, my tips for designing that outdoor living space at Outdoor Kitchen. How do you wanna live? Do you have a covered deck? Do you want to just have a place out of the sun or out of the rain to enjoy yourself?

[00:00:28] Eric Goranson: And then later on in the show, we'll talk with Jared Griffo from. Electric generators direct. I'm trying to figure out backup power. Maybe it's hurricane season, maybe it's tornado season. Maybe you'll live on the west coast where we've got wildfires and the power could be off for days, either one. We've got a great show lined up for you to cover outdoor living and backup power generation.

[00:00:51] Eric Goranson: You don't wanna miss this one. We got that, and so much more on today's episode when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home. There is a lot to know, [00:01:00]

[00:01:00] Intro: but we've got you covered. Is around the house.

[00:01:05] Eric Goranson: Welcome to The Round the House Show. This is where we helped you get the most outta your home through information and education.

[00:01:11] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to hour number two today. We've got a great show coming up. If you're listening to us on the radio. Thanks for tuning in and, uh, don't worry if you miss part of the show. If you're a radio listener, you can always catch the podcast found on your favorite podcast player. Thanks for all of you tuning in today.

[00:01:27] Eric Goranson: Well, today in the second hour of the show, we're gonna talk about. My top 10 tips to design an outdoor living space now, it's something that I've been working on for a while at my house, and so I thought, you know, hey, what not A great topic now that we've come into, uh, summertime. We're past Memorial Day weekend, and it's time to start thinking about spending some time outdoors.

[00:01:52] Eric Goranson: So let's, I broke this up into segments kind of here so we can break it off into pieces so we're not jumping all around today. When it comes to outdoor living [00:02:00] spaces, I can tell you what planning is the most important part of all this, because you need to really think about how you're going to live in it, so you can make sure and put the pieces in, because there's some definite steps that have to happen here.

[00:02:14] Eric Goranson: Now, for instance, if you're like, okay, I am going to build an outdoor kitchen. Let's talk about this. You need to create, before you even start anything, you need to create a complete plan for your space and visualize that completed project. Now, this is a key right here, because there are so many things that you need to put in early on that if you didn't, you're gonna go, oh man.

[00:02:40] Eric Goranson: So let's say you build your deck and you go to put your outdoor kitchen in, and you go, oh, wow. I didn't build this deck to be able to hold the extra couple thousand pounds of materials that I'm putting in for the outdoor kitchen. So now I have to go rebuild the deck. So you wanna start this plan from start to finish.[00:03:00]

[00:03:01] Eric Goranson: So first off, when you're doing an outdoor kitchen, I. You plan out the kitchen, plan out the appliances, the features, the countertops, the materials and all that, and then you'll have an idea what that stuff weighs. You know, for instance, on mine I put four extra beams in underneath my outdoor kitchen to take the load.

[00:03:19] Eric Goranson: Cause I had slab countertops going on there. If you were doing concrete or tile or something like that, you don't want the typical spongy deck. You need to build this heavy duty like you would a house. Not just an outdoor deck. So you really need to plan for that in that, and making sure you have enough power in utilities.

[00:03:39] Eric Goranson: You know, many outdoor kitchens, I say, you know, probably five circuits, which means five different home runs back to your power. You know, refrigeration, countertop, outlets. Ventilation lighting. You know, you could have a starter circuit for, uh, [00:04:00] uh, a charcoal barbecue or a, uh, you know, a feeder or electronics for app pellet grill.

[00:04:08] Eric Goranson: There's so many different things out there that you need to plan for. You know, you have televisions, you have all these different things that are going on out there. You need to make sure that you have enough of that there. So that's really what it is. How about natural gas? Are you gonna put a gas cooktop in there?

[00:04:26] Eric Goranson: If you've got natural gas there, why not put natural gas in and not have to worry about filling up a propane tank? So those are things that you really want to consider and ventilation. If you have a roof over this, if you're gonna be barbecuing or you're putting in a patio cover, you need a rain hood, I would put a ventilation hood in so you don't smoke out all your guests sitting there.

[00:04:50] Eric Goranson: And you're something solid. So think about all of those needs before you build it so you can get that stuff there. And [00:05:00] then what materials you're using for the cabinetry. Countertops, one of my least favorite materials for countertops are stainless steel. It's scratches easy and it's really hot in full sun.

[00:05:15] Eric Goranson: You just get absolutely smoked with that stuff. If you put a pad of butter on a dish, that thing can be melted in no time. You don't need another cooking surface there. So that's the key right there. So thinking about how that all goes together is a key right there. Making sure that, uh, you've got that planned out for the outdoor kitchen.

[00:05:39] Eric Goranson: So think about that. Think about what the flooring material is. You are gonna be dropping grease in many cases if you're barbecuing, unless you're doing plant-based burgers. There's gotta be some kind of fats there. So if you've got a, uh, a decking material, wanna make sure that that's one of the, like the PVC capped ones or something that's sealed, or it's a tile surface that can get grease on it.[00:06:00]

[00:06:00] Eric Goranson: So think about those kind of things and how you're gonna manage that. And seating, lighting, all those things. Now let's get over here into deck and patio cover. Now, this is, this is the first thing here. Make sure you have the ability to build and place it where you want to make sure all utilities and elements are being followed or easements are being followed, and the locations are known like you don't wanna build.

[00:06:29] Eric Goranson: Your DAK over the septic tank lid. Right. Unless, like a project that I saw with Dr. Dax, he actually did a radius design in the middle and the center medallion came out of the radius, and that's where the septic tank lid was. So that's one way to do that. But having access to all this stuff, you don't wanna be bearing, you know, shut off valves, sprinkler systems, whatever, when you do this deck.

[00:06:57] Eric Goranson: So make sure you've got that. [00:07:00] And of course, make sure that you call before you dig, before you start digging footings and those kind of things. Make sure that, uh, you're not building over an easement. There are some neighborhoods that say you can't build so far between that and the fence. Those are all things that should be checked out before you dive into the project.

[00:07:16] Eric Goranson: Now, that's really important. Next thing is, as part of the planning, okay, what do I need? I want you to plan for the weather conditions. For your home. Do you need shade? Do you need a space to hide from the rain like I do? Do you have heavy sun that comes from one direction that you're trying to do prevailing winds that are a problem?

[00:07:45] Eric Goranson: How about mosquitoes, pest wasps, bats. How about severe storms like thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes? Those are all gonna affect how you plan to build this. [00:08:00] And then third of all, check to see if, to make sure that, uh, of this, that you've got, uh, the right building permits or if you need them, or all, you know, in, in Oregon here, they have a thing that, uh, if you're attached 'em to the side of the house, uh, a 200 square foot patio cover you get away with, you can build that without pulling a permit.

[00:08:16] Eric Goranson: But if I got 200, two square feet, I need a permit. Permits are not a bad thing. They're just gonna force you to build it, to make sure that it's strong enough to make. And work in your area. Now, if you've got hurricanes or if you've got severe thunderstorms that tend to pop up in your area or heavy winds, you want to build it to be able to withstand the lift, cuz you know, patio covers can act like a wing.

[00:08:45] Eric Goranson: And if you get a 40, 50, 60 mon hour wind, do you have that thing attached to the ground strong enough? It's gonna hold up to that. The last thing you need to do is that thing lifting up and getting pulled off and ripped [00:09:00] off and put in your neighbor's yard and it ripped half the side of the house out while doing it.

[00:09:04] Eric Goranson: So making sure that these things are all dialed in and properly fastened and fastened into the ground, especially if you're like a frost area where if maybe on the east coast or the north where, uh, frosty is a thing, sometimes those footings need to be 3, 4, 5 feet deep. That way, they don't lift that and the frost heaves it up out of the ground.

[00:09:26] Eric Goranson: So making sure that you've got it the right distance and no matter what, don't be building this stuff on those little corner patio blocks. Those aren't really worth it for what you're trying to do here. Around the house. We'll be right back after these important messages. Let's keep talking about how to build that outdoor.

[00:09:58] Intro: What's up, Mrs. Stick and [00:10:00] Satchel from?

[00:10:01] Eric Goranson: Diehl Panther and you are listening

[00:10:03] Intro: to Around

[00:10:04] Eric Goranson: The House with Eric G. Yeah. We love Eric G and you

[00:10:09] Intro: should too.

[00:10:24] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we help you get the most outta your home through information and education. Hey, if you're one of our podcast listeners, we appreciate you as well as all of you on the radio network out there with Talk Media Network. Thanks for tuning in. Hey, we're gonna have some exclusive to content available coming up here in the near future.

[00:10:41] Eric Goranson: Look, uh, for our announcement here about, uh, some of our new stuff coming up, that's gonna be really exciting and, uh, to give you guys some special access, you'll be able to find that over at around the house online.com for more information there. Now we've been talking about my top 10 tips and [00:11:00] probably then some as well on designing an outdoor living space.

[00:11:03] Eric Goranson: And we've been talking about that deck. You know, and or patio cover. Now I want you to, to, again, like we talked about with the outdoor kitchen, I want you to design this from start to finish so you have the ability with it to grow. Maybe you've designed out that, that, uh, covered patio area and you've got it all finished off and you're like, man, I wish I would've put a place so I could put a ceiling fan up there, or an overhead electric heater for the wintertime.

[00:11:33] Eric Goranson: Why you have it open, there's a time to wire that stuff up and get it roughed in. So making sure that you've got everything dialed in and planned for is key to this. Making sure that you're, uh, not building it where it's reducing access into the backyard sometimes. You know you've got a power pole on the back fence and your house is the planned access.

[00:11:54] Eric Goranson: The last thing you wanna do is build a deck across an area where utility company goes, Hey, uh, I was supposed to get to that [00:12:00] pole down the side of your house. Now you're gonna be tearing that down cuz you, you built across the easement. So making sure that you've got that covered as key, but making sure you've designed this with the right lighting, gutters, hanging lights, fans.

[00:12:16] Eric Goranson: Any of that is key, making sure that's styled in. Now let's talk about your materials for a minute, cuz that's a big one here as well. You know, if you're doing a clear plastic or one of the acrylic roof panels, that can be cool, but you have big trees up there where you're gonna be washing that every three or four weeks to do it.

[00:12:34] Eric Goranson: I couldn't do one of those in my area cause I have big fur trees that leak sap and everything else. It's gonna look like hell after a bet. So I can't use that type of thing. So you really have to think about what you're going to do on that roof surface to keep that from looking bad. So really make sure that you've got the right materials up there for it to look good and hold up.

[00:12:57] Eric Goranson: So that's the key there. Now, when you're [00:13:00] talking about materials composite deck, if you're gonna build a composite deck, Many old wooden decks had 16 or 24 inch on center when they're built with solid two by type material, like two by six outdoor wood decking, for instance. The problem is, is that a lot of the composites like to have a 12 to 16 inch on center joist pattern, so you might have to rebuild that to put composite if you're gonna reuse part or all of that deck framing.

[00:13:31] Eric Goranson: So make sure you've got the right surface there for that is key. That's all part of that planning thing. And that way you know you've got the strength to hold it. Like we're talking at the outdoor kitchen. If you're gonna put an outdoor kitchen on that deck one day, build up the extra beams and stringers and make sure that that'll handle the extra couple thousand pounds for that, or a hot tub or whatever.

[00:13:52] Eric Goranson: Maybe you're gonna look at steel like we talked about a few weeks ago in the show. So those are all things to really take a peak at. Now if [00:14:00] you're gonna do composite decking, find the right composite decking for your project. They're not all equal. Do you have blazing hot sun? If so, you might wanna look at that moisture shield stuff that reflects the heat.

[00:14:13] Eric Goranson: I know Trex is, uh, just coming out with their version of that, that they came up with to reflect the heat. But, uh, you need something to re composite Decks are a warm surface, so if you're going to the dark deck, that really can suck up the heat. So make sure that you've got the right surface so you and your pets can walk on it.

[00:14:31] Eric Goranson: And that's the key right there, as well as that covered patio up there. Making sure that that's gonna be protecting the areas that you want. Make sure to understand what driving rain does, what the, where the sun's going, and those kind of things. So you're, you know, leaning it the right way or you're building it at the right height.

[00:14:48] Eric Goranson: Sometimes if you build it too tall, you don't get the shade that you think that you would get because, well, it's getting underneath and, uh, giving you a lot less shade than you thought, especially in the late afternoon [00:15:00] sun. So those are two keys right there. Now, when you're designing this out, I really want you to work on a lighting plan.

[00:15:08] Eric Goranson: Now a lighting plan is key for this because you wanna have equal coverage. If you've got a bar area, are you gonna have some hanging lights on that? Are you gonna have a pendant? You're gonna have a chandelier, a fan? Do you want something that's dim? So you could have a nice. You know, quiet, evening out, or do you want it bright where you've got the game on and people are doing stuff outside and they wanna be able to read a book or something like that.

[00:15:30] Eric Goranson: So understand the lighting. Having a good lighting plan for so there's no shadows is a really key to this to make sure it looks like money. I. And then on top of that, that deck lighting the stairs, the, the railings, the little dots coming outta the floor, these are all things that really take a structure and elevate it to the next level.

[00:15:54] Eric Goranson: And those are those little details that can really make this look like a spectacular project. [00:16:00] So if you're not thinking about any of those lightings that you would have around your deck on the stairs and that kind of stuff, it's key. And then audio visual. What are you doing for a television? Where's your speakers gonna go?

[00:16:13] Eric Goranson: How are your guests or friends? Or you going to enjoy it? Do you want it where you're out there BBQing all day and you wanna be able to see it? Is it something that you want your guests sitting at the, uh, raised bar area? It's your tiki bar to be able to watch or do you want out where people outside can be watching the, the game outside out there in the fall or the summertime and really enjoy watching your favorite sports thing.

[00:16:37] Eric Goranson: So really designing around those needs right there as well as what are you going to be drinking? We talked about this a little bit, but not in the outdoor kitchen as much, but I'm thinking more about the entertaining side. Do you have coolers out there where you always got, oh, my friends all drink beer and we always have a A cooler.

[00:16:57] Eric Goranson: Awesome. But what if you [00:17:00] had just a outdoor refrigerator you could grab from, or do you wanna have a finished place that you can put the cooler? So it looks like a cooler. Maybe you want it to feel like you're out camping and you want to be able to lift the lid and knock the ice off and, and have that experience.

[00:17:15] Eric Goranson: Maybe you could think about building that in someplace that looks really cool, that gives it a, a home, but still works. Maybe you just need an ice maker outside, but then also thinking about how it's gonna win winter. You know, if you're in the South, where rarely does it freeze, it's not that big a deal.

[00:17:36] Eric Goranson: But if you're maybe, you know, in the Northern States, can that wine fridge go outside and be frozen? Can the under counter re refrigerator be frozen? Maybe you're gonna put a sink in. How are you dealing with that? Are you gonna be able to drain that sink and be able to use it and close it up and not freeze the faucet up, or you're gonna winterize it all?

[00:17:59] Eric Goranson: Thinking [00:18:00] these things through, and outdoor faucets are tough guys, and that's the first one. It can be done. But usually you're having to cut through a foundation wall. You're having to come up with something that needs to be, uh, insulated, something that needs to be able to be blown out, like a RV type system where you can.

[00:18:16] Eric Goranson: Clean it out or winterize the traps. These are all things that you need to be able to make sure that you can handle, cuz the last thing you need to do is be busting up a faucet and freezing it when it gets below 30 degrees outside. And that's where we're gonna run into a ton of problems. All right, we're gonna come back.

[00:18:31] Eric Goranson: We'll be talking about furniture and some other little details. Just as soon as a around in the

[00:18:36] Intro: house returns.[00:19:00]

[00:19:01] Intro: Hey, this is Ron Keel,

[00:19:02] Eric Goranson: the middle cowboy from Keel. The Ron Keel Band and Steeler, we are rocking around the house

[00:19:09] Intro: with Eric

[00:19:10] Jared Griffo: G. Ray is you.

[00:19:11] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round the House Show. This is where we hope you get the most outta your home through information and education. We've been talking today about designing that outdoor patio space.

[00:19:20] Eric Goranson: And making it sure that, uh, well, it performs like you want to. Coming up a little bit later here in the show at, uh, later on in this segment, we're gonna start talking about, uh, getting ready for summertime, especially with summer storms and wildfires. We'll, uh, jump into a discussion here with, uh, Jared Griffo from, uh, power Generators Direct about backup power for your home.

[00:19:41] Eric Goranson: But let's, uh, wrap up this conversation here, of course, about outdoor living spaces and making sure that we've got that dialed in. Now one of the things that I want you to talk, wanna talk about is outdoor furniture. And depending on whether it's hitting the sun or it has to be covered, this is a great [00:20:00] conversation and making sure that you've got a fabric that's gonna be durable.

[00:20:03] Eric Goranson: You know, over the last 10 years or so, they've come out with a few of the different fabrics like, like Kuru, umbrella. All these different companies out there have these different fabrics that are now very durable to the sunlight. Now things you need to be careful with is make sure that they can handle like tree sap and some of the other things that can happen outside.

[00:20:26] Eric Goranson: You know, bug droppings, those kind of things. Any of those things can be damaging to your, your outdoor furniture. So making sure that you're taking care of it, you're keeping it clean. And when a Dow buy a nice pool cover for when that storm comes through, that you can just cover it up and protect it from the, uh, bad outdoor elements and it'll keep it cleaner.

[00:20:45] Eric Goranson: Along the way. You know, I'm not a big fan of walking into the home improvement store and getting 'em, but places like Costco and some of these other companies, even online companies, have great selections of maybe just slightly higher quality outdoor [00:21:00] furniture. I. That can last to a number of years. I think I'm on year five or six on my outdoor couch.

[00:21:05] Eric Goranson: It's getting to be a little more worse for where, cuz we've used it, it's been out in the sun for, in the weather for a number of years and so it's had a lot of great life and one day we'll upgrade it. But, uh, I think it's got another year or two out of it before we decide to do something different with it.

[00:21:20] Eric Goranson: But, uh, something nice and durable and uh, something that really just holds up. It might be something that we actually have somebody build some covers for and have something custom made to match what we want to do, or we'll just go out and buy a new one. That's the beauty of it. And that'll end off to, uh, one of the kids or friends for their outdoor patio.

[00:21:39] Eric Goranson: Well, one of the things here too that I want to just kind of wrap up is making sure that whatever you're doing outside. Fits the style of your home and it's really up to you. But I've seen some kind of things that maybe don't work well. Maybe you've got that southern, you know, classic mansion style or [00:22:00] plantation looking home, or you've got a colonial house.

[00:22:03] Eric Goranson: Sorry guys. As much as I like the tiki bar sometimes that doesn't fit out back. So really making sure that this stuff is gonna dial in and, and, and hold up and be true to what the value is that you're putting in. I, I'd like it to really try to match the style of your home a little bit. You can have some fun with it, but making sure that it's not that outta place where people walk back and go, wow.

[00:22:30] Eric Goranson: Never would've thought somebody would've done that here. That's not always a good thing. And these are all investments you can spend. 50, 60, 70, $80,000 really quickly outside, and those are one of the things that I really want you to make sure that you protect your investment, that it's gonna fit. One little trick that I like to do with my decking, let's say you've got a, a medium tone hardwood floor, and you've got a sliding or a patio door, double door going [00:23:00] outside, if you match that to the floor, Of your kitchen or dining room or wherever that's coming out of, and you make it look that way.

[00:23:10] Eric Goranson: It makes it look like your living space is twice as big as what it is because your eye goes, oh wow. That just keeps going. So that's a nice little trick of matching that flooring. It looks really good when you can do that, cuz it'll expand out and make the place look bigger. Little trick of the eye there guys, that can make it look really good.

[00:23:30] Eric Goranson: And especially with the colors too. If you can kind of extend that outside a little bit, it will. If you've got a lot of glass, it will look like that living space continues on and on and on. Now that wraps up my thoughts on designing that outdoor living space now that we're coming into, uh, well, summertime here, and it doesn't matter if you're on the, on the East coast where we starting to cruise into hurricane season or out on the west coast out here, where we really start running into fire season.[00:24:00]

[00:24:00] Eric Goranson: We are seeing here, especially in my neck of the woods out on the west coast, where more and more utility companies are shutting down power because of potential fires. They will see it, and we've seen the lawsuits in the news where, uh, maybe a line came down, it's caused a wildfire, and, uh, these things are getting blamed to the utility companies, whether it was their fault or not.

[00:24:24] Eric Goranson: It's not my debate here, but my point is, is that we are going to see more and more of the wind cul, you know, wind rolling blackouts on the west coast, and this will also happen out in the more forested areas of the East coast as well. This will come your way. And, uh, once it happens here, it's expanding, and we're already seeing it in the Pacific Northwest now.

[00:24:44] Eric Goranson: So when we see those dry winds, we're gonna see that. So coming up with backup power is a key, especially if it's 80, 90, a hundred degrees and we've got a a 40 mile an hour wind, it can make for a miserable situation in your house. And if you've got a couple days of wind, that could be a big problem. So let's go out here [00:25:00] and talk with Jared Griffo from Electric Generator, direct Power equipment, direct about keeping that power on.

[00:25:07] Eric Goranson: It doesn't matter if it's summertime or if we're in the middle of winter and we've got power outages. Backup power is something really important to have around your house. Today we got Jared Griffo Electric Generators direct. Welcome to Around the House. Thanks, Eric. Thanks for having me, man. You are my go-to guy for backup power, you know, and we've talked before, but I really wanna kind of address it because it's one of those things that now that we're moving more and more into electricity, it's even more important.

[00:25:35] Eric Goranson: Definitely,

[00:25:36] Jared Griffo: yeah. Uh, we've been seeing the trend, you know, more people needing generators, you know, all across the country. You know, whether it's, you know, their grid is bad or they're in, you know, places where, you know, uh, uh, hurricanes, storms, you know, anything like that. Uh, yeah, people need power and, and definitely generators are the way to go right now.

[00:25:58] Eric Goranson: Yeah, here in the Pacific Northwest, you know, we have [00:26:00] our windstorms and stuff in the nice storms in the wintertime. And then when it comes into summertime, we're starting to see a little bit more of the, uh, power companies trying to protect the environment and the grid and turn shutting off power when we get into those red flag warning times.

[00:26:13] Eric Goranson: And, uh, those can last for days. So I think backup power is even more important now than it ever has been before, especially when we're starting to talk about maybe charging a car or two, just trying to get to the office.

[00:26:24] Jared Griffo: Definitely. Um, I mean the biggest issues that we're seeing is people want to go, uh, solar, which that's fine.

[00:26:32] Jared Griffo: Solar's great, but solar's very limited. Um, and it's not just the sunlight. A lot of it is the, the. Products themselves. Can't put out enough power to charge your electric vehicle. You know, it's not gonna happen overnight either, because you know, you're not getting solar overnight. So, you know, generators, backup generators, whether it's, you know, a little small portable unit or you know, the home standbys are definitely going to be, uh, what people are gonna want, uh, for situations [00:27:00] like that.

[00:27:01] Eric Goranson: So, you know, the, the big two kind of differences I see out there is there's your portable one that you've got your transfer switch that you, you know, roll the thing outta the shed of the garage and plug it in and hit the switches and turn it on. And then there's your full on. You know, I don't want to think about it.

[00:27:16] Eric Goranson: Standby. How do you pr, how do you figure out which one you want to go with as a consumer? Uh,

[00:27:22] Jared Griffo: I mean, there's a lot of different thing, uh, things to consider on these. Um, number one is cost, right? Uh, the, the cost of a standby generator can be, you know, 10 plus thousand dollars for the generator and the installation and things like that.

[00:27:37] Jared Griffo: Mm-hmm. When I could get a portable generator for maybe a couple grand and have it hooked to my home. So that's definitely something to weigh as far as options, but, There are limitations to the, the portables. Like, you know, if I'm in a hot area where I need air conditioning, portables just aren't gonna cut it.

[00:27:54] Jared Griffo: Right. That, yeah. And that, and you know, if I'm living in Florida, air conditioning is a [00:28:00] necessity, not a, not a want, you know? Right. Um, so the, that's something to consider with those, uh, you know, and, and then sizing them properly for the application, uh, that, that's key, uh, that that's the number one thing.

[00:28:15] Jared Griffo: So, yeah.

[00:28:18] Eric Goranson: Make sure you follow around the house on social media. Just look for around the House Show now. We'll be back after these important messages with Jared Griffo from Electric Generators Direct and Power Equipment Direct after these important

[00:28:31] Intro: messages.[00:29:00]

[00:29:00] Intro: Welcome

[00:29:00] Eric Goranson: back to Around The House Show. Now let's continue our conversation with Jared Griffo from Electric Generators Direct. Yeah, that is key. And you know, the one nice thing that, uh, I will say, and this is one of the things that I'm always concerned about, is you know, that that portable generator I have is a big one.

[00:29:16] Eric Goranson: It's not easy for my wife to grab and drag it outside if I'm not home, and then, you know, okay. I think she's comfortable doing it, even though she's never had to plug it in and start it and do that stuff. You know, it's one of those things that you kind of have to train your household how to run this thing if you're gone.

[00:29:32] Eric Goranson: Mm-hmm. The backup, you know, the full backup system. It's automatic, isn't it? Yeah,

[00:29:39] Jared Griffo: yeah. I mean, I, I hate to always say it, but you know, I use Florida as an example. Cause they're, they're a hotspot, right? Yeah. They, they get hurricanes, they get storms, they get everything down there and it's, it's hot. And, uh, you know, they, they need generators down there.

[00:29:54] Jared Griffo: So I do reference them a lot. But the, also the thing, I mean, There's a lot of older folks [00:30:00] down there, you know? Sure. My dad is retired down there, you know, that's, that's where it is. You just go, right. It's nice, but. You know, physically, you know, am I gonna want my 80 year old grandma or somebody down there trying to pullstar a generator, you know, trying to rip that cord to, to get something, you know, going to, to back up their house.

[00:30:21] Jared Griffo: No. You know, it's just, no, it's, it's not what you want. So. The standbys definitely excel in that for, you know, whether you just wanna be kind of lazy and just let it do its thing, or you know, you actually just physically can't do it. Uh, it, it, they're definitely a, a good option.

[00:30:37] Eric Goranson: So, yeah, we had a couple, one of the, one of the issues I had, just from a personal experience, I've got a great generator.

[00:30:43] Eric Goranson: It's. Does the job, but it's, it's gasoline powered. Mm-hmm. It's not a tri fuel or anything like that. So we had a huge ice storm, took down trees everywhere, took down power lines, everything else. So I didn't have power for five days. My problem was, I went through 32 gallons of [00:31:00] unleaded to keep the house powered.

[00:31:02] Eric Goranson: I don't keep 32 gallons of gasoline around the house for obvious reasons. So that was a, that was a constant battle.

[00:31:10] Jared Griffo: Well, one of the things we're seeing, um, in the market is a shift with portables actually, that I actually am starting to sell. Uh, generators that are not only gasoline, but they're tri fuel or dual fuel.

[00:31:25] Jared Griffo: Mm-hmm. Will, you'll get, you know, gasoline and, and propane or gasoline, propane and natural gas. Mm-hmm. Now, something to consider with those, you, you'll see a lot of the ratings out there where it'll say, you know, this generator's 8,000 watts, but that's on gasoline. There's a duration for the other fuels because they just don't have the same amount of energy.

[00:31:45] Jared Griffo: So I could have an 8,000 watt portable unit on gasoline, and then I use it with natural gas, and I'm only getting like 5,000 watts out of it. Ooh. So it's a pretty big duration, you know, from what it's actually putting out. But, [00:32:00] As far as a convenience goes, if I have natural gas running to my home already, I have infinite fuel.

[00:32:07] Jared Griffo: Uh, you know, and natural gas tends to be a little lesser expensive too. You know, 32 gallons of, of gasoline nowadays and 32 gallons of, you know, natural gas, uh, definitely are different in cost.

[00:32:20] Eric Goranson: Yeah, and I will say too, the environmental damage on that gasoline compared to natural gas from that point of view is, is that man my neighborhood.

[00:32:28] Eric Goranson: With all the generators that were running, it smelled like it was everybody firing up their, their lawnmowers for the first time in the spring, all I smelled with carbon monoxide fuel. An exhaust outside just from all of those gasoline units running away 24 7. And it was, uh, not the best air quality. Yeah.

[00:32:49] Jared Griffo: Yeah. That's definitely something to consider. And the other part of it is noise. I mean, you, you, they're new power outage. Everybody's pulls out their portable generators and it's like everybody's running their [00:33:00] lawnmower. It's like day and night and you're like, What's going on or how am I gonna get some sleep?

[00:33:04] Jared Griffo: That's another reason the, these standby generators kind of, uh, outshine the, the portables cuz I'm getting, you know, something that's, you know, they rate 'em in decibels and, you know, my customers, I, I try to say, oh, this is 68 decibels, which to most people means nothing, right? Yes. But so I always rate it this.

[00:33:23] Jared Griffo: 60 decibels is you and I having a conversation, right? 68 decibels is about what an air conditioner running outside is, right? So if I have a generator running, I sleep when my air conditioner's running, so why couldn't I sleep through that? Whereas she get into the portables and it's now it's like, You know, somebody's on a riding lawnmower outside.

[00:33:45] Eric Goranson: We can't really sleep with it so Well, and and to be honest, that's a good analogy because a lot of those bigger engines are what goes on at riding lawnmowers. Yeah. So, I mean, it's the exact same thing. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's interesting, so I know when people come [00:34:00] over to your website for instance, they can really search and take a look.

[00:34:04] Eric Goranson: Um, is it something, if they're looking at a standby, should they be also having a conversation with an electrician at the same time to make sure that that's getting sized up correctly? Or is that something you guys can help 'em with?

[00:34:13] Jared Griffo: Uh, we can definitely get the people going. I mean, we have, uh, sizing calculators where, you know, they can just kind of type in, you know, what they want, hit the checklist and it'll kind of spit out a general idea.

[00:34:25] Jared Griffo: Right. Um, it is always still good to have an electrician, you know, come out, do a load calculation cuz there's a lot of code involved also, you know, especially with the, the standby generators. I. You know, some of the manufacturers will say, this is where it needs to be, this is how it should be, this and that.

[00:34:43] Jared Griffo: But local code can over, always, always supersede that, right? Yeah. As long as it's more safe, not less safe than, than manufacturer. Um, but the load calculation is key. I mean, it, it, it, we wanna make sure, I mean, we usually kind of oversize generators, [00:35:00] kind of want to be about 20% larger than whatever your requirement is.

[00:35:04] Jared Griffo: Mm-hmm. Just so you're not pushing that generator. Yeah. A hundred percent all the time. Right. I always equate it to, yeah. You know, if I'm driving down the highway, redlining my car, you know it, it'll do it, but it's not gonna last very long doing that. Yeah. Whereas if I'm just kind of coasting along, doing my thing, it, you know, lower RPMs, it's definitely going to last longer and, and be more fuel efficient also.

[00:35:26] Jared Griffo: So yeah. An electrician that makes sense. Electricians are, are key in this, but they, you can definitely get going without having one up

[00:35:35] Eric Goranson: front. So perfect. You know, I'd be amiss and I don't wanna talk about brands, so we're not gonna talk about which truck this is, but we've all seen the commercials and the people talking about how you can plug a truck into your house mm-hmm.

[00:35:47] Eric Goranson: And power your house. There's a little more to that, isn't there?

[00:35:50] Jared Griffo: Definitely. Yeah. So when we get into electricity and grounds and neutrals and all different fun stuff like that, um, what a lot of the [00:36:00] people just don't realize is you can't just plug in something that has a lot of protection to it. So, The newer vehicles are coming with onboard generators, the electric vehicles.

[00:36:11] Jared Griffo: Uh mm-hmm. And so the working professional goes out. He's using this truck, he can plug into it and use it as a generator, which is fantastic. But because of that, there's OSHA regulation, right? Says I'm on a job site. OSHA is involved and you don't want people getting electrocuted. So a hundred percent what they do is they cover everything with G F C I.

[00:36:31] Jared Griffo: So ground fault interruption. Mm-hmm. It's so that you don't get electro electrocuted. But what that does is it ties it into all of the outlets on the generator. So if I go to plug this into my house, what happens is it thinks that somebody's getting electrocuted. It's not completing the circuit, and it'll trip breakers and things like that.

[00:36:49] Jared Griffo: Now, what they have are, um, what they call switched neutral transfer switches. And Okay, what it does is instead of just switching from, you know, utility to [00:37:00] generator, it's going to have a. Kind of a middle section where it's actually switching that neutral, which then doesn't cause it to trip breakers. Um, it's something to consider.

[00:37:10] Jared Griffo: I've actually just been, I've been getting calls just this week from a gentleman trying to do that. He wanted to hook it up, you know, all to his home and make it work. And yeah, unfortunately there, there's a particular way of going about it. So if you do have one of those, Really dive into it. Um, I actually have a, a, a video on YouTube kind of explaining, uh, bonded and grounded neutrals and, and floating neutrals and and that's really what floating neutrals,

[00:37:36] Eric Goranson: all those crazy things.

[00:37:37] Eric Goranson: Yeah, there's, there's a little science to that and if you get it wrong, it's gonna be a head scratcher for ya and be very frustrated. Definitely.

[00:37:44] Jared Griffo: I, I'm no electrician, but I know enough to be dangerous and yeah, it's, I still scratch my hedge on some of this.

[00:37:52] Eric Goranson: Yeah. It's pretty complex. Yeah. Well, well, Jared, if someone's out shopping for a generator, where do they best track you guys down at, man?

[00:37:59] Eric Goranson: Um,

[00:37:59] Jared Griffo: so they [00:38:00] can either go to power equipment direct.com or electric generators direct.com. Um, those are the two sites that we operate through, uh, and they can. If you have a call in, uh, we've got plenty of people that can definitely help them get started and, you know, sizing properly. And, uh, you know, we're all actually factory trained on, on pretty much all of the product that we sell.

[00:38:21] Jared Griffo: Um, there's a few things new that are coming out. You know, a lot of the battery powered stuff that I've gone through, some of the other people aren't, you know, as versed in it. Yep. Um, but as far as generators go, we definitely excel in that. Uh, that's why we, we try to be number one in, in the generator world.

[00:38:38] Jared Griffo: So, no question.

[00:38:40] Eric Goranson: No question. Well, man, thanks for coming on today. And heck, if somebody calls in, they might even get you on the

[00:38:45] Jared Griffo: phone. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm taking calls all day long. So yeah, call in if you want. You can ask for me. I'd be happy to help with anything that they need. So,

[00:38:55] Eric Goranson: There we go. Jared Griffel, Griffel Electric generators, direct Power Equipment [00:39:00] Direct.

[00:39:00] Eric Goranson: Thanks for coming on today and giving us a little more education on generating that power. Thanks again, Eric. Appreciate it. I'm Eric G, and you've been listening to

[00:39:09] Intro: Around the House