Generators, hot topic now. Here any way.

[DavidBarkey]

I personly have a 5900 (max) 5500 continual use . in our garage with the exhaust piped outside . I set it up with 12v electric start so anyone can start it . It is plugged into a pony panel in the garage that is wired into the basement where I can plug in the essentials . It is gas only and will go through about 30 litres in 12hrs. so can get expensive to run.
Essentials = 2 fridges , 2 freezers , well pump , Natural gas furnace , and the hall lights,receptacle,and smoke/CO detectors for the whole house line .

At some point I want to change to a Natuaral gas generator as we are on a main so supply is NOT an issue . I did a little write up before about the exhaust .

Where would I find your exhaust write up Dave.


Noel

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=342&hilit=generator+exhaust

[Toolslinger]

It really comes down to what your Needs are and then some Wants thrown in...

I have a very small house in NJ. When Sandy knocked us out for a few days, I was able to run my natural gas boiler, fridge, and a couple lights from an old 2400 watt generator. Had heat, food, and some light along with device charging. Sump didn't kick on, so that might have been an issue, but not sure.

The house I'm moving to now has a lot bigger oil fired boiler system with 6 circulators, bigger fridge, electric water heater and cistern pump for water. I haven't figured out the boiler draw yet, or the cistern pump. Obviously it's more than the little gennie could handle. That said, I have gravity feed water as well, and wood burning stove that can heat the place, plus a tankless coil for hot water off the boiler. So if I can power the pump, and fridge, I'd be ok probably. I'd like to get a mil surplus diesel fired generator as I've got 1000 gal fuel oil tank I can draw from, thinking a 10k would work nicely. I'm not that far from civilization that I would expect to be out of power for more than a week ( usually it's a couple hours, and I don't bother with backup other than the UPS's on the electronics). If it was bad enough to go longer, there's a whole lot more gone wrong than I'm going to be able to prep for...

[Timj]

This is the one I’ve been sorta looking at.

Noel

Have you taken an inventory of what you need to run? You should have a pretty good idea of what you need after your recent experience. Large amp draw items are what you need to look at.
This generator may be larger than you actually need. Output is usually less on propane than gasoline so that should be factored.

[propane1]

Some of my reasoning for this propane generator is I have a 80 gallon propane tank at the garage I could hook to. And a 300 gallon propane tank at the house if needed.

Noel

[Gordy]

Some of my reasoning for this propane generator is I have a 80 gallon propane tank at the garage I could hook to. And a 300 gallon propane tank at the house if needed.

Noel

Propane is the way to go for me. My electric Coop is very good about line maintenance /tree clearing, and we don't have many BIG storm events here. Since 1988 we had 2 power outages of 2-3 hours each. To me propane has advantages of very long term storage (as long as the tank does not rust out ;-)
, and not fouling carburetors.

I do have an old Onan generator from a motorhome. I added a $300 propane kit and the original flat free tires (steel wheels) for portability. It gets exercised by pulling it around the yard with a GT and powering the pole saw and electric chain saw.

Watching local online auction sales I was able to pick up 100 pound propane tanks for $25 each, a couple were actually full or close to it ;-) And a collection of 20 pounders for small jobs.


Gordy

[Harry]

I had a HF 3000-watt generator that worked just fine for small power outages that would normally occur in my area. Then one October we had a bad ice storm and it knocked power out all around my area. We lost power for nine days. Unfortunately, this all happened the weekend my oldest daughter got married. They took off on their honeymoon and I had my generator in the back of my pickup. i would run my place for a few hours then drive to theirs and pump the sump pump down and power essentials. Then repeat the process. After two days of that the HF quick putting out power. I ran to a CT store, and they told me a shipment was coming in Monday morning and it was Sunday. I ordered two 5000-watt generator and picked them up on Monday. I kept my sump pump going with a battery backup system, but their basement had a couples of inches of water in it. Those two generators kept us going for various power outages, which were usually short in duration.
Later down the road I started traveling doing welding inspection's and I know the wife could not pull out the generation get it started and run all the
extension cords to where they needed to go. So, I had a company come in and install a Generac 24K propane powered system. Weve had a few outages since then but no longer than a day. Were out and come home, hit the garage door opener and it goes up. Come into a warm house and don't realize the power is out until you see the clocks flashing. Also, no TV or internet because no power at the pole.

Keep the
Harry

[propane1]

Just wondering Harry, do you know how may hp the Generac is. ?

That would be the system to have for sure.

Noel.

[MattA]

Noel - From what I've seen small engine gasoline generators are typically about 2HP per continuous KW output.

This is the inverter generator I have:
https://westinghouseoutdoorpower.com/pr ... -generator

Probably could have gotten by with this smaller one:
https://westinghouseoutdoorpower.com/co ... -generator

Lots of good reviews on youtube. Very quiet and fuel efficient. The igen4500 comes in dual fuel (gas + propane). Also has remote start/shutdown.

[Timj]

Some of my reasoning for this propane generator is I have a 80 gallon propane tank at the garage I could hook to. And a 300 gallon propane tank at the house if needed.

Noel

I like the propane idea too. The biggest problem with generators is having them run when you need them to. Gasoline going bad and carb issues are probably the most common. You have to stay on top of it or you may be wrench',n in the dark or worse yet the cold and dark. Propane would eliminate that.
I don't have outages very often and longer than a day is rare. Been twenty years since we were out for a week. As nice as they are I can't really justify a standby one for how little it would be used and having other options available.

[Timj]

On the subject of generators, I have read a few threads where guys have set them up to be ran off their Case tractor. I've rolled the idea of doing it around a little bit, but I don't really need another generator.
For the person that doesn't need one real often it could be a good fit. We always have a good running tractor around. So no extra engine to maintain. If you bought a new generator head there's not much savings vs a low cost unit, but if you found a generator with a bad engine cheap.