hp needed for genny?

[daTeacha]

That little stunt, unfortunately, is fairly common around here, especially with portable back-up units that sit in the corner of the garage until needed. So far at least, no one has failed to disconnect their mains before backfeeding the panel in this manner. The power company definitely does not like it, but there isn't much they can do about idiots.

 

[JB4310]

Your talking about what I have seen referred to as "the old fashioned way" here, and though many may not want to admit it, it's probably still the most common way it's done. With the wealth of knowledge available here, and all the alternatives mentioned, that will help educate people and promote safety for all involved.

Just to play devils advocate for a moment, the danger can go both ways, I had a commercial building that was being rehabbed and the service was supposed to be disconnected for x number of days, when some one looked out the window and saw a lineman with the hot stick ready to connect our building, never came to the door or any way notified us, thank God we saw what was happening because the electrician was up to his elbows in the main box at the time, it was a sobering thought, what could have happened.

 

[Soundguy]

Well you know what they say about assuming!

I'm wondering why you need the power running 24-7

Why park it by your window... a small whizzbang genny running at 3600rpm will be just as noisy setting by your window.

I'll bet if you look at fuel usage based on a per KW sacle of power consumed.. a tractor with a finely made injection system may be pretty close in line with a cheap throw-away carb on a disposable whizzbang generator.

( Yes.. maintenance costs for a tractor will be higher ) As for wear? I would hope your tractor will outlast your small whizz-bang genny aluminum throw-away lawnmower engine by a large number of years.. perhaps by a multiple even. A good tractor engine should be able to rack up 4000hrs without too much difficulty... and 6-8-10-12 on the larger engines. Those will be tough numbers for small gas engines like these gen heads use, to achieve.

If you have specific needs for 24/7 power generation.. you should have posted them ... without specific info.. you get generic answers.

When florida had the 'great 2ys of storms' in 04/05 we all had our gennies out. We ran them a couple hours a day to keep the refer's cold, and to pump some water up fromt he well.. maybee cook some food or check the news / weather and to recharge portable devices. I don't recall finding anybody running their gen 24/7 Besides.. fuel was hard to come by... we only ran when power was needed. People needing 24/7 power due to medical necessity / life support were evac'ed out.

Thanks for the smart-alec reply! it helps the rest of the even keel'd people here determine who the pot stir-ers are.

soundguy

How about this, I don't want to try sleeping with the tractor running at PTO speed next to my bedroom window.

Also, I would prefer to burn less fuel and spend less on maintanence.

I'm assuming that since you decided to make fun of the question rather than answer it, you don't actually have an answer.

 

[Soundguy]

That little stunt, unfortunately, is fairly common around here, especially with portable back-up units that sit in the corner of the garage until needed. So far at least, no one has failed to disconnect their mains before backfeeding the panel in this manner. The power company definitely does not like it, but there isn't much they can do about idiots.

I guess that's one of those issues where the elec company is not aware of it unless someone FORGETS to flip their main breaker.

IE.. the people that remember to flip their main breaker don't backfeed, and thus are not noticed.. it's the guy that forgets that causes the problem and DOES get noticed.

soundguy

 

[dangerdoc]

Well you know what they say about assuming!

I'm wondering why you need the power running 24-7

Why park it by your window... a small whizzbang genny running at 3600rpm will be just as noisy setting by your window.

I'll bet if you look at fuel usage based on a per KW sacle of power consumed.. a tractor with a finely made injection system may be pretty close in line with a cheap throw-away carb on a disposable whizzbang generator.

( Yes.. maintenance costs for a tractor will be higher ) As for wear? I would hope your tractor will outlast your small whizz-bang genny aluminum throw-away lawnmower engine by a large number of years.. perhaps by a multiple even. A good tractor engine should be able to rack up 4000hrs without too much difficulty... and 6-8-10-12 on the larger engines. Those will be tough numbers for small gas engines like these gen heads use, to achieve.

If you have specific needs for 24/7 power generation.. you should have posted them ... without specific info.. you get generic answers.

When florida had the 'great 2ys of storms' in 04/05 we all had our gennies out. We ran them a couple hours a day to keep the refer's cold, and to pump some water up fromt he well.. maybee cook some food or check the news / weather and to recharge portable devices. I don't recall finding anybody running their gen 24/7 Besides.. fuel was hard to come by... we only ran when power was needed. People needing 24/7 power due to medical necessity / life support were evac'ed out.

Thanks for the smart-alec reply! it helps the rest of the even keel'd people here determine who the pot stir-ers are.

soundguy

I just had a specific question about PTO generators.

The better backup generators work with more poles to decrease the RPMs needed from the engine. Lowering the RPMs by half increases engine life by about four times, it seems reasonable to apply the same logic to PTO generators.

Where I live, when the power goes out, the weather is not generally condusive to human health. You want something that you can start and will run as long as posible before you have to go out into the elements again.

I'm not looking for recomendation about what type of generator to buy, but I am still interested in the answer to the question. However, some of the other responses makes it pretty clear that the answer is no.

I took your response as a smart-alec reply. If I was wrong, I apologize.

EDIT:

Let me rephrase that. Regardless of how I took your reply, I responded in kind. I was wrong and apologize to you without reservation.

 

[daTeacha]

Soundguy -- I think the power companies are very aware of the situation, but there is nothing they can do about it except constantly warn people. Unless they start wanting to register our generators, that is. Then you'll need a license to sell them, the feds will get into the act because of interstate sales, and things just might start to get out of hand. Before long there will be metropolitan areas offering to buy back generators to save lineman's lives and folks will start stealing them just to turn them for a few buck.


Seriously, though, around here people who start them tend to let them run 24/7 in winter. There isn't a lot of light, no water, and not much heat either during a winter storm induced power outage. (Sorry about the pun for all you who caught it) There are lots of woodburners, but folks tend to be spoiled and want that furnace running when it gets down in the single digits or negative temperatures. Something about keeping the pipes from freezing or other such nonsense. I guess they don't think about draining the water system in a prolonged outage and most of them like to be able to use their own toilet, too. Some close things up and drive to a motel where there is power since the outages are not usually extremely widespread. You can usually find somewhere with power within 30 miles or so. We don't get hurricanes up here. Last time ours was out for more than a day it was in a band about 15 miles E-W and 100 miles or so N-S and caused by an ice storm. Then the same thing happened about 30 miles west of here a week or two later.

 

[atgreene]

Well you know what they say about assuming!

I'm wondering why you need the power running 24-7

Why park it by your window... a small whizzbang genny running at 3600rpm will be just as noisy setting by your window.

I'll bet if you look at fuel usage based on a per KW sacle of power consumed.. a tractor with a finely made injection system may be pretty close in line with a cheap throw-away carb on a disposable whizzbang generator.

( Yes.. maintenance costs for a tractor will be higher ) As for wear? I would hope your tractor will outlast your small whizz-bang genny aluminum throw-away lawnmower engine by a large number of years.. perhaps by a multiple even. A good tractor engine should be able to rack up 4000hrs without too much difficulty... and 6-8-10-12 on the larger engines. Those will be tough numbers for small gas engines like these gen heads use, to achieve.

If you have specific needs for 24/7 power generation.. you should have posted them ... without specific info.. you get generic answers.

When florida had the 'great 2ys of storms' in 04/05 we all had our gennies out. We ran them a couple hours a day to keep the refer's cold, and to pump some water up fromt he well.. maybee cook some food or check the news / weather and to recharge portable devices. I don't recall finding anybody running their gen 24/7 Besides.. fuel was hard to come by... we only ran when power was needed. People needing 24/7 power due to medical necessity / life support were evac'ed out.

Thanks for the smart-alec reply! it helps the rest of the even keel'd people here determine who the pot stir-ers are.

soundguy

Personally we run our generators 24-7 when needed for several reasons.

1. Convience, I don't own it to look at and polish it, it's a tool and I use it when I need it.
2. Health, my son has issues that require power
3. It's cold in Maine, when it's 10 degree's it doesn't take long for the temp in the house to drop and pipes to freeze.
4. It's hot in Maine, and humid. Sleeping (or trying to sleep) when it's that humid means I get no sleep, if we have a storm that knocks out power chances are I'm booked the next day doing clean-ups. It's no fun and not safe running equipment when tired.
5. Even though we have wood heat, it's a boiler, it requires power to run the circulator.
6. Because I'm on the FD I may have to leave with little to no notice with no way to return to restart the genny while away. Easier on my wife and son if I just leave it running. For what it uses for fuel, the piece of mind is worth it.

Most folks around here that have generators have a fuel supply as they know they are on their own for an extended period, so round the clock is not an issue. During an outage if I shut mine off I can hear others in the distance, even though I have very few neighbors, the few I have all have one.

 

[JB4310]

Personally we run our generators 24-7 when needed for several reasons.

1. Convience, I don't own it to look at and polish it, it's a tool and I use it when I need it.
2. Health, my son has issues that require power
3. It's cold in Maine, when it's 10 degree's it doesn't take long for the temp in the house to drop and pipes to freeze.
4. It's hot in Maine, and humid. Sleeping (or trying to sleep) when it's that humid means I get no sleep, if we have a storm that knocks out power chances are I'm booked the next day doing clean-ups. It's no fun and not safe running equipment when tired.
5. Even though we have wood heat, it's a boiler, it requires power to run the circulator.
6. Because I'm on the FD I may have to leave with little to no notice with no way to return to restart the genny while away. Easier on my wife and son if I just leave it running. For what it uses for fuel, the piece of mind is worth it.

Most folks around here that have generators have a fuel supply as they know they are on their own for an extended period, so round the clock is not an issue. During an outage if I shut mine off I can hear others in the distance, even though I have very few neighbors, the few I have all have one.

Are you running a portable gas generator? if so I didn't think they would hold up to 24/7 operation for very long.
John,