Re: PTO generator what i run?
the generator will run all essential pieces of equipment in the house, refrig. , furnaces , lights and well pump, freezer, tv, computer, microwave, kitchen, bath and bedrooms and livingroom outlets and lights, garage outlets, aux wood furnace,dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer. when you run the dryer you dont have much in the way of amps for anything else. also have the ability to run the electric water heater, although i have never needed it as the power has never been off long enough to deplete the tank. i could add about six circuits to the panel if i use half breakers, although i havent found much that i need to run in the short term that i cant run an extension cord to do. except for the clothes dryer and the hot water heater everything runs off the pto generator at one time. i can also run my shop from the generator welder, air compressor, power up the lights, heat, outlets.
i have also a 4000 watt coleman that will run the house/ shop, if i need to move the pto setup, or the tractor is in use. i bought the pto generator because it was too good a deal to pass up, i just sort of fell into it by accident. i initially planned on just using the coleman, but with the pto setup, i have all the power i want, and it is essentially maintenence free. i hook it up a couple times a year for a few hours, otherwise it sits under a tarp in the shed unless there is a power outage.
i will tell you this is a serious piece of industrial equipment, weighs about 500 lbs without the trailer, and if i ever decide to trade up the tractor, i will get more generating capacity besides.
the gentran panel has meters on both hot legs to balance the load, but i havent had to watch that as the loads seem to be reasonabley distributed when they were hooked up. i would definitely reccomend this type of panel unless you are doing a new installation. there are a few lights and things that dont work with my set up, but these are minor inconviences, i did not hook up the oven or stovetop to the circuits, with the microwave you can get a meal ready, i figured if i needed to i have a coleman stove i could use to cook on if the power was out for an extended time. i have extra half breakers so that i could add circuits if i need to. check out the gentran site to see about the panels, northern tool sells them.
alex