Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

The exciting news is that I have found a natural gas powered standby generator and transfer switch large enough to run my air conditioning and my critical electrical needs.

The unit weighs a little bit over 400 lb. And I initially loaded it onto my trailer pulling it up the trailer's ramp using a handcart.

But once I got up to the top of the ramp and leaned into it to pull, my feet slipped out from under me and the cart with the generator on it dropped right on my left calf muscle.

I'm fortunate that it hit the meat of the muscle and not the bone. If it had been the bone I think it would have broken. But as it is I just have a very sore and bruised left calf.

Once I got that sucker home , though, the hard part is behind me. Time to hook the counterweight up to the three-point, install the loader assembly, swap out the bucket for the pallet forks, and let the machine do the work for me.

Much, much better!

Bob

Your lucky Bob. Lucky you didn’t get hurt worse and lucky to have a loader to get it off the trailer.
That should work out great once all hooked up.
Reminds me to test fire my propane generator.

Noel

Bob, glad to hear you did not get hurt. Natural gas generator, interesting. What does it have for engine?

Nice score Bob . Glad you didn't get hurt bad . No doubt you will still feel it for a few days . Eventually we want a fart gas house genny . What is the output of that one ?

It's made by generac, rated for 12,000 Watts on natural gas.

Generac makes their own engines, under the brand name OHVI. This one is a v-twin labeled 32hp. I don't know if that hp rating is on natural gas or on gasoline.

I haven't yet heard it run, but I'm assured that it was in perfect operating condition when it was pulled. I paid 650 for both the generator and the automatic transfer switch, which mounts indoors next to the main breaker box and has its own 10-slot breaker panel. I figure I can't go too far wrong at that price.

So next I have to run some 1" gas pipe to it so I can hear it run. And once I've done that, I'll pour the pad and hook up all the electrical.

The trickiest part that I can foresee is whether I have adequate gas pressure/flow to the unit. Especially if the furnace and water heater are both running at the same time. But all I can do is hook it up and see.

Bob

Big engine hp in that unit.

Noel

Glad to hear your leg didn’t break Bob and the generator got to its new home. I hope the rest of the install goes better. It will be a great improvement to your house. I know we love ours, especially when the power goes out. Harry

Plumbing parts are a lot cheaper online than they are in person and I need a bunch so I've ordered them.

While I'm waiting for them to come in I might as well get the new pad poured for the generator. It needs a 5 ft offset from the house based on how my windows are laid out. Two and a half feet by 4 and 4 1/2 ft, More or less 4 inches deep.

That calls for six bags of concrete 80 lb a piece. And I have to say this is the easiest unloading and transporting of concrete that I've ever done!
I'm getting a better feel for the loader's capability. I think it could raw lift at least another 3 or 400 lbs beyond the 480 that's on that pallet. But driving around, especially up and down hills, with the ground being as smushy as it is, is another matter. This load was fine, taken nice and easy. But I think about another 150 or 200 lbs would put it over the limit for driveability and maneuverability.

I suppose I could add another couple hundred pounds to the counterweight. That would probably make a huge difference.

And I may have to dial up the relief pressure on the orbital power steering valve. Because sitting still with a load like this, the wheels absolutely refuse to turn. It's fine if you're moving but sitting still the steering valve just bypasses. The first I need to establish what are the manufacturer's recommended limits. And it's kind of a pain to access.

Bob

Glad this portion of the install went better for you Bob, and no serious injuries. It'll be a great addition once you're finished. Nice to see the loader in action!

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Bob, do you think adding the poor man steering bearings would help?

I’ve wonder about those poor man’s power steering upgrade. Just my opinion, I don’t think it would do much. But I’ve never tried it. I have a few tractors I’d like to try it on. But. Has anybody ever tried it. Does it help ?

Noel

propane1 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 4:14 am Big engine hp in that unit.

Noel

Yeah. Most standby generators I looked at were about 2HP/1000W. This ones 2.67HP/1000W.

propane1 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 8:41 pm I’ve wonder about those poor man’s power steering upgrade. Just my opinion, I don’t think it would do much. But I’ve never tried it. I have a few tractors I’d like to try it on. But. Has anybody ever tried it. Does it help ?

Noel

I've had poor man's power steering installed on my 4016 for a few years now. It's a lot easier to turn. It does still require some effort with my 48" snowcaster or 44" berco snowblower.

Back to Bob's topic...

Good idea, @Eugen . But I designed those needle thrust bearings into the new axle.

I think it's a side effect of the wide high-floatation tires.

If I recall, the ps relief is set down around 275 or 300. I think I can double it. Or close to it

It's not at all unworkable. But it is a bit frustrating.

Bob

propane1 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 31, 2023 8:41 pm I’ve wonder about those poor man’s power steering upgrade. Just my opinion, I don’t think it would do much. But I’ve never tried it. I have a few tractors I’d like to try it on. But. Has anybody ever tried it. Does it help ?

Noel

Yes they do help . I have it on the snow blower 446. and like Bob built load bearings into the new front axle on Frankie.

We put a similar 15000w on the fire station. They use quite a volume of gas. We had to have a larger gas meter installed.

I installed thrust bearings on a 444 and they worked terrific, but had on load on front tires other than the tractor and mowing deck. I also installed them on the 644 lbh. They seemed to help when moving dirt in the loader bucket but haven’t moved anything heavier yet. I also have a set waiting to install on the 646 and would like to put some on the 446 with snow caster. Harry

Big news! I got the gas piping changes completed, and the generator hooked up to it. Threw in the battery, flipped the master function switch to "manual", and she started right up. Stumbled for a couple seconds getting the air bled out of the line, and came right up on speed, no issues.

I went and grabbed my meter, made sure the output wires were resting in a safe/insulated position, and closed the main breaker.

Put the meter on the leads and got 244 volts across the red and black, and 122 volts across either of them and the white (neutral).

Success!

I still need to anchor the unit to the concrete pad, and finish up the process of wiring in the new transfer switch/breaker box. But all those were on hold, pending proof that it actually works and I'm not wasting my time.

And now I know that I'm not. Woo Hoo!

Bob

That's awesome!

Great job Bob. I know you will be enjoying the generator when the power goes out. Harry

Project Finale: The generator is officially online. (standing by, ready to autostart in case of power outage.)

I got the interior secondary panel/breaker box installed and wired in. It has a big electro-mechanical switch at the top that has heavy #4 wire feeds coming from a dual-pole 70 amp breaker in the primary breaker box (through the lower conduit) and from the generator outside (through the upper conduit.) Then that switch feeds down into a dozen breakers.

Then it has a series of a dozen wires running from those breakers out through the lower conduit back into the main breaker box, where they're tied into the hot wires that lead out to the key circuits that the generator can carry. For example, my HVAC condenser used to be fed by a dual pole breaker in the main box. Now it's fed by a dual pole breaker in the secondary box. And that breaker is normally fed by the main breaker box, but during an outage, the generator starts itself up, cuts over the big switch, and then begins feeding that HVAC breaker and all the other secondary breakers from the generator.

It's an ingenious design.

As of now I'm feeding my HVAC, kitchen, internet closet, basement lights, master bedroom, and garage (door opener) from the secondary panel. I still have an empty breaker or so, so during the next outage I'll take some amperage measurements and maybe try to decide which circuits I "miss" the most, and then cut them over if I have capacity. I already plan to run my shop's welder/phase converter circuit off of it, but I'm waiting for the breaker I've ordered.

I already know that it can't carry both the hvac and the welder at the same time, so I'd only use it during the cool season when the AC isn't turned on.

To test it, your just flip off the 70 amp breaker that feeds the secondary panel. After a few seconds you hear the generator outside start up. And 10 seconds or so later, those secondary circuits all light back up. It's really cool to see it happen.

I've tried to do the work in a fashion that is completely compliant with codes and regulations. And I'm pleased with it. I think it looks pretty good too.

Bob

Nice looking set-up - thanks for the explanation of how you've set it up to work. A standby generator is definitely on the list for when we build our house.