I have always found this system conceptually fascinating, where the return is the earth itself.
File name is its time-stamp 
I’m in Western Canada, in the prairies, in a residential subdivision. THD into my P12 was around 5% before the pandemic, now it is averaging well over 6%. The voltage level really drops, 4 to 5 volts, from midday to supper time. The main line into the subdivision has no neutral where the line crosses the highway. There is a neutral wire around the subdivision, but essentially we are on a different ground than the upstream distribution system. This is repeated in some other cases, not others. The utility will not make improvements as the THD standard they follow allows up to 8%.
I’m mildly bemused at the concept that European Power is better that ours in North America. it’s really dependant on the locale at not geography. I live in a subdivision just North of Toronto and our lines are buried and the local transformers are 16K Volts. One sits right at the corner of my lot about 25 feet from the meter and entry to the house. Voltage is pretty good ranging from 121 to 119.7 and THD of 2.5-3%. Our home in Florida is in a gated community and has buried lines. The power there is 118-125 V with up to 5% THD. Not third world but not perfect, but still pretty good. The failure in our Toronto house is that the feed is on above ground lines on an adjacent Main street and during the last major ice storm in 2013 I think, our power went out because the main lines were brought down by ice even though our subdivision was intact. We have power outages once every 4 months or so for an hour or so. It’s likely that these are planned outages that they don’t communicate to customers. Our next house will have a back up generator. All of our main business buildings have back up generators.
I’m buying a portable, gas powered, 14kw generator this summer. I intend to connect it to my house through an illegal, 30A-2P suicide, twist-lock receptacle. Just have to remember to open the main breaker before energizing the generator and closing the generator tie breaker 
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Which genny are you getting? We’ve toyed with the idea, possibly similar size with Honda power. An alternative would be a Generac LP powered unit. Similar thoughts regarding implementation, manual throw over with 30 amp feed. Primary needs would be to power refrigeration, heat, well, and septic system, possibly a few lights.
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Given the people I know, Generac is high on the list (I spec a dozen plus bigger machines yearly). I’ll bet the Honda’s are awesome though. Another item to consider is battery powered inverter big enough to run your furnace. For me, the biggest issue is storing gasoline. My suicide receptacle is something that can be managed safely, storing a lot of gasoline is something else. I guess you could always siphon gasoline from your car.
Bwaahhh…ha, ha, ha…
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Just looked at Honda pricing, and that it is gasoline only. Genrac appears to be a better choice as the location I am considering has LP storage.
Clearly the concern is having manual capability to ensure no backfeed, don’t want to sting any ComEd lineman doing their restoration gig.
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I live in Scotland. Ok… I have the best electricity, period. When I built my house I decided I wanted the best power source for my audio system, so I built a Dam at the rear of my property twice the size of the Hoover Dam, with 30 turbines, it produces 8 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power per year just for my house. Perfect Power! Slight downside, the river and Dam reduced the size of land my property stands on by 20% but, that said, it was well worth it. It wasn’t expensive, it only cost me just shy of a two billion pounds sterling, just pin money to me. Obviously - stevensegal has a bigger, better Dam than me – but that goes without saying because, well, he’s totally unique in every-way .!
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Is battery tech just not up to providing clean power for hifi? I am surprised someone hasn’t gone this route to completely isolate their hifi from the ‘dirty’ grid. 10 panels on our house zero our total electric bill over the year - half that should be able to keep a battery (I googled Tesla Powerwall alternatives and got lots, e.g., Generac PWRcell) charged for hifi needs.
Even better, have PSAudio make the AC generation (not re-generation) from the battery DC! Powerplants could be half the size
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I’ve got essentially the same thing at my vacation home in northern Michigan. The only difference being the switch for cutting power (in Ted’s photo it’s the rectangular thing between main line and transformer) is on the main line one pole away. Never gave much thought to it, but a regenerator may be required if I ever get above my current “vintage” system.
running plutonium heat batteries here, don’t need lights at night then 
gotta keep those tannoy westminster’s running in the castle…
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rural power can be grim!
mind you, suburban estate here (when not at the plutonium powered castle of course).
i see 248 volts now, 7 hours ago with the elec shower and oven and kettle and washing machine all running i had 221 volts.
the substation is just around the corner…
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Well I’m considering an upgrade to a Di-Lithium Crystal Reactor. Clean, pure power that’s logically incorruptible.
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Love it, but seriously speaking here is the power plant in my backyard. We’re so close no wires are needed. We just pick-up the stray power emitted from the emf off the 345kV lines. The picture represents 2650 MWe baseload. Note one of our local critters strolling past the switchyard. Forgot to mention, that’s the Byron Nuclear Power Plant, my previous place of employment.
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After hearing my neighbor Generac throw a rod after 48 hours during the TX cold snap. Then reading comments on their warranty service on Amazon I am thinking Kohler since they have better engines. Two weeks later he still has not had a warranty repair visit.
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Good info, wish Honda made a version that runs on LP gas. Kohler are a solid recommendation. For serious power get a Cat with below grade diesel fuel storage, no worries. Downside is the neighbors may complain about the turbo whine. A friend installed an Army surplus Cat diesel on his farm, the thing is a beast.
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A diesel like a cat should be able to run LP with the correct conversion. Diesel Farm tractor LP assist is a good way to increase HP by a third. It seems they could run straight LP with the right mod. Saw many a tractor pull with them running a version of LP. Lots of steam versus black diesel smoke.
The trick is the Cat package has the diesel sized to the generator. Apparently Cat does make Generators that run on Natural gas, 50kWe is the smallest, so an LP gas conversion would be possible. As far as gas generators the king of the hill used to be Cooper-Bessemer, and their diesels were none too shabby either.