Buying Advice Diesel generator for home back up use

[GManBart]

That's why I own both.My generac 17 kw whole house gen.(LP gas)cost me $4,650 installed about 3 years ago.

Generac? You're doomed man, doomed!

 

[coobie]

Generac? You're doomed man, doomed!

I hope not,LOL.I change the oil(5w-30 full syn.)and filter once per year unless I get extended run time then I change ASAP.Had the valves adjusted last year and air filter changed.So far so GOOD.coobie

 

[Utopia Texas]

I guess I am the "odd man out" in this conversation as I have a 55KW unit to run my homestead, but that includes 4 water wells, 2 houses and 3 barns with a Pecan processing set up. We have gone as long as 8 days without electricity during the last Hurricane but were even capable of running my Dad's hemodialysis machine 5 hours a day. The generating unit is a ancient propane driven Kohler with a 6 cylinder White-Hercules engine. It is 35 years old now and parts are becoming almost impossible to find....

 

[buickanddeere]

I take great delight in having exactly what I need....

Not wasting thousands on something I don't, money down the drain. And wasting lots of precious, hard to replace during an outage, fuel for a generator 10 x the size I actually need.

I could go on a very nice european vacation, twice, for the cost of the generators some people are insisting one needs. When a long power outage comes up again, I'm spending the money I saved on a vacation.

My Honda 2000 will power every single appliance in my home except central AC...

Microwave
Furnace
Fridge
Deep freeze
Theater system
Lights
Fans
and even a cheap window AC I would put in the den or master bedroom if it is too hot

Of course not all at the same time, but who actually NEEDS to run any of that at the same time.

As well as being easily portable.... Lets take you 20Kw generator on a camping trip or loan it to your neighbor for awhile to help them. Your fuel for 1 day weighs more than my entire generator!

Freezer has several jugs of water frozen as block ice, will stay cold for days without any help from the gen.

If I had a well pump I would have an appropriately sized generator to run it, but no need for 20Kw.

Very low maintenance, and low cost. I'm delighted all the way to the bank!

I'm glad that your huge genset gives you so much personal sanctification.

I don't recall saying that I own and use a 20kW standby system.
There is enough capacity to run two freezers, two fridges, washing machine,microwave , furnace fan, all the lights instead of staggering around in the dark like a fool. The AC unit and a couple of block heaters. Any motor load can start when anything or everything else is running without tripping equipment off with a brownout.

 

[buickanddeere]

I suppose worse yet are the people during every power outage who go out and try to find any generator as they have none. Even though they have had or know of other extended power outages previously .

 

[daybreak1998]

Howdy,
This has come up many other times.
1. City dweller = town water = only needs fridge powered. Get a little tiny Honda.
2. suburb dweller = well = water heater = fridge = maybe heat. Get something strong enough to run water heater, then all the other stuff will work with ease. Of course not all at the same time. Of course you could shut down overnight.
3. Homestead dweller = control their environment, enough ___kw auto switched to run things without being hampered. AC/heat, lights, tv, pumps, wells, etc...
4. Farmer = generator capacity to run whatever is needed, whenever needed. Either auto switch or manual. Enough ___kw to do it.

Remember = A true electrical load survey for a simple standard house is way off base. The survey would included absolute power capabilities to cover a double electric oven, electric water heater, pump, lights.. more or less your entire amperage load of your panel.

A 10kw generator will let a homeowner live very nicely during a power outage. Smaller generators work, but many here can attest to they want a larger unit. Yes, If I was looking at a generator at this size, I would go with diesel.

GmanBart = relax, its all part of the process of forums.

Me I have a 30kw pto generator. Hooked into a central distribution for the farm. Powers all I need and more.

 

[GManBart]

GmanBart = relax, its all part of the process of forums.

I'm totally relaxed

 

[newbury]

I think we scared the OP off.

 

[dave1949]

I think we scared the OP off.

Maybe. If so, it's his own fault. If he would have answered the first question I asked, none of this would have happened. :laughing:

 

[daybreak1998]

Maybe this is the wrong section. I am new to Tractobynet so forgive me.
I live in the rural northeast. back in 2011 we had sever power outages. I want to get a home generator to address that potential problem. Power was out for 6 days so I need more than a small 2-3KW. I want a diesel since I have a Kubota tractor and have diesel around and also have oil heat and two 275 gal. tanks to pull from. . Plus diesel doesn't have the long term storage issues that gas does. In NY all fuel oil is now low sulfur so its exactly the same as diesel except for color. When power goes out , the one gas station in town cant pump and las t long term outage the roads were closed and we couldn't even get to a town with power.
so, the logical solution is a generator , running on diesel/fuel oil. Researching the market, all I see is up to 7KW and then its a 4x price jump to go to 10-12 KW.
Trying to find prices for Kubotas smaller diesel generators or anyone else's for that matter is difficult There are plenty of Chinese 7KW out there but they concern me with all the poor reviews.
based on my rough calculations I need 10 KW.
anyone have any suggestions, ideas, recommendations?

Howdy,
The smaller diesel generators are mostly open frame 3600rpm air cooled units. Once you get into the 10kw are larger diesel units, they are liquid cooled units with most spinning at 1800rpm. Since you have a liquid cooled engine, there is a lot more to it. As other members will also state, you could also put the tractor to use with a PTO driven generator. The same thing applies here too, the smaller PTO driven generators are usually 2 pole units which need to spin internally at 3600rpm to keep 60Hz. Because of the spinning speed, you do have some gear noise. Once you get to a certain size, they are 4 pole units which spin internally at 1800rpm. With that, the noise is less. But, they also cost more $$$. Of course, there is gearing between you are the alternator. The tractor itself needs to keep the PTO drive shaft spinning at 540rpm.