Natural Gas Generator Update !!

   / Natural Gas Generator Update !! #1  

Rat Rod Mac

Silver Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
177
OK fellas, I've been watching and reading all of your posts and I do appreciate all of your thoughts and suggestions, but to be perfectly honest there are so many opinions that I don't know if I'm coming or going, so I'm going to rewrite what is going on and EXACTLY what I have and what I would like to have when it's all said and done. Here goes,,,,, First off I do not want a permanent outside generator if at all possible. Takes up a lot of room, plus the weather takes a toll on it over a period of time. Would prefer a small portable unit that I could store in the downstairs garage and open the door and push outside when needed. Next,, I have free gas. That's why I would like to go this way. And another thing, I have proven it to myself many times with my chainsaw ( and I'm sure there will be someone that will argue the point with me ) gas goes stale after about 30 days, my natural gas supply would always be fresh, and would run without any hassles of refilling in the middle of the night. When the power goes out I could push the generator outside, run a flex line from my gas line in the garage by way of a flex line and ball valve to the generator, unwind my service cord from the hose reel and plug in, start generator flip a switch and let her run. Since posting the first time I have visited a couple of generator dealers ( I live in Amish country and we all know about Amish and electricity, so these Amish dealers have seen it all when it comes to jury rigging electricity ). The one dealer ( a Honda Dealer ) showed me a gas generator that was converted to natural gas and the valve was still imbedded in the top of the piston. There is some kind of kit that you can install on these generators that goes between the carburetor and air filter that will allow you to convert to NG or propane, but I'm told me the engines will not take the abuse that the NG puts on them over a period of time. He also stated that he promised the Honda field rep that he would not do the conversion anymore. You guys are right, they do make a natural gas unit, but it is the outside permanent unit. The other alternative is to buy a gas unit and keep a couple of five gallon cans handy and when the weather man says a storm is coming fill the cans up and when the storm is over dump the gas in the pickup truck until next time, that way you always have fresh gas. I am also a very simple guy that does not like a lot of bells and whistles on my toys. I don't need electric windows on my pickup or bells telling me when my seat belt is not fastened. Etc,Etc. So a 6500 watt portable unit, running on NG with a gas hookup and a wire plug hookup is all I'm looking for. Maybe this post has answered some of your questions on what exactly I'm trying to do. So thank you all for your advise and opinions and keep them coming. Just maybe I can end up with a unit out there that fits my needs. Thanks again guys. RRM
 
   / Natural Gas Generator Update !! #3  
tri-fuel or atleast bi-fuel.
Both mine are set-up as bi-fuel and portable. I have two propane tanks (a 250 gal & a 315 gal) set up to serve the house. The line runs past the back of my shop where I have a tap with ball valve.
When needed I set the generator out, hook up the flex line and plug it in.
That's the only time I run on propane, otherwise I use gasoline.
 
 
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