Guess only groundcover and RickB caught my note: During day light hours when people are doing things in the house, I run tractor at 2900RPM and the PTO at 540 RPM. At night or when it is really quiet, I run the tractor at about 1750 RPM and PTO at 950 RPM.
I.E., using a two speed PTO
The GenSet is turning at the required 540 RPM at the PTO in both cases producing 120-125VAC, only at nite, when there is little or any draw, there is no load to cause a drop in engine RPM...voltage drops are less than 5VAC during off peak times ( I have checked this with a meter). I talked with my Kubota dealer and he saw no problem with this setup.
During times when there might be more load (meal times and evenings with many lights on), I switch over to high engine RPM, and the 540PTO speed. It is not much of a job, and even in a blinding rain, can be done quite easily, under 5 minutes.
This was the first opportunity that I had in over 8 years to "test" so to speak a long term outage, get a feel for fuel consumption, and to know what long term needs the tractor might need such as oil. The way I look at it, over the 46 hour period, I only used just under 12 gal of fuel, that is about 1/4 gal per hour average....that is sipping fuel. The oil was fine before and after the run. I probably could have done the oil/filter change before the outage, but as it had only about 55 hours on it, did not see a pressing need, and did it after.
As for using or not using the genset, I figure, if in for an ounce, in for a pound. If I know I am going to run my genset, I have fuel available just because the local fuel guy may not pump fuel. What is the purpose of being ready for an outage if you are not ready with the fuel to run the genset? Maybe I did not need to run it the full time, but now I do know what is or is not needed to do this for an extended period, including how much fuel I may or may not need for any potential long term outage.
Most average outages around here last well under 2 hours. I do not normally turn the genset on during daylight hours in those cases. In the evening I might if it is around meal time. Later we might just use lanterns. However, when I have advance notice of an impending storm (hurricane, winds, ice, snow, etc), I do stock up on fuel, make sure that my tractor/genset is ready (that is, fueled and connected to the house).
Also, during this recent storm, I was one of only a few in the area with standby power. We had lights, water, heat (if necessary) and warm water for showers. While we were only out 46 hours, several neighbors began to lose food in freezers and refrigerators. Those who were unlucky enough to be without power beyond 2 days did lose food. It was those of us who were prepared who weathered the storm (pun intended). I live in a rural farming community. All farms have standby power and fuel. Do they need to run 24 hours? Maybe not, but all the "large" farms do as they milk 24/7. Unfortunately some farms in the state had to dump milk as the roads/bridges were out and the haulers could not empty their tanks.
So, the long and short of it....the B7300& PTO-7 did the job, while not large enough (7KV/40A) to fully run the house, it was plenty to get by. The only thing I might change short term is maybe permanently mount the GenSet on a pad close to the entry point to ease setup. Other than that, fully satisfied and recommend that if you have the tractor and PTO, use it.
