KUBOTA BACK UP GENERATORS

[crazyal]

I priced a Generac 7000 last week (gasoline) for $900.

Because a gas generator is so cheap it's hard to justify going with anything else. A diesel or Propane really needs to be a lifetime purchase. Gas generators use roughly twice the fuel of a diesel and typically need more maintenance than diesel engines (I'm not sure about Propane engines).

 

[lovemytoys]

there are 2 kubota gl6500 used on ebay as we speak

 

[David_Kb7uns]

You pay a premium for the small tanks (20lbs). The local hardware store gets $15 to fill them. What most people don't know is a lot of places are only filling them to about 75% of what they normally would fill them and the new valve doesn't let the tank get empty so you're probably paying closer to $5 a gallon. I did a quick search for the national average and found $2.83 a gallon. I assumed that if you own a propane generator you would use at least a 100lb tank since under full load a 20lb tank could last only a couple of hours on a 10k generator.

Filling Propane Tanks

A 20lb tank will freeze up long before you run out of the propane.

Around here most places will not lease a propane tank for a generator, you have to buy one. Since it is yours you may select whoever you want to fill it since there is no contract forcing you to buy from one company. Now that you are in the competitive market with a private tank and filling up in the off season we got the propane tank filled for $2.05 a gallon not the $2.55- $2.75 for large home deliveries some companies charge, so shopping helps.

On tank sizing the 20KW Generac at full load consumes around 3 gallons an hour. Your local propane distributer will have the charts for temperature and tank area for the propane to boil off but you need around a 250-300 gallon tank in our area to keep from dropping pressure and stalling it out, thus the 4 100lb tank recomendation. You will need two regulators, one at tank and one near generator with at least 1/2 inch but 3/4 inch prefered on the 10-12 inch WC pressure side. The regulators need to be rated over 100,000 btu an hour to keep up with demand. Propane is not something to play with and never make the mistake of feeding a generator the wrong pressure, things go boom.
When the wind is blowing and you hear the UPSs taking the hits and then the power drops, the 20 seconds for cranking and transfer seems forever but it is nice to have standby power and lights.


David Kb7uns

 

[dcyrilc]

Around here most places will not lease a propane tank for a generator, you have to buy one. Since it is yours you may select whoever you want to fill it since there is no contract forcing you to buy from one company. Now that you are in the competitive market with a private tank and filling up in the off season we got the propane tank filled for $2.05 a gallon not the $2.55- $2.75 for large home deliveries some companies charge, so shopping helps.


David Kb7uns

What I'm running into around here is that if they didn't install the system they won't rent you a tank and if it's not their tank they won't fill it. Doesn't seem to mater that it's my own tank.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Sounds like they are trying to force you into a contract, see if you have an independent in the area. Amerigas and Ferrellgas are the worst ones around here. Once they get you hooked at the $1.99 gallon fill they get you for $2.99 plus refills.

David Kb7uns

 

[LBrown59]

Craig Clayton had a good point about diesel.
1* In this area there are two grades of diesel, summer and winter. The summer grade has more wax which isn't a great problem when the ambient temperature is in the 5c (41f) to 35 (95f) c range.
2*However, storing summer diesel in the winter would likely see the wax gum things up.
3* I don't think there's a problem the other way (using winter diesel in the summer) though.

1*The summer blend don't have any kero in it .
The winter grade is plain old summer blend with some kero mixed in with it.
2* not if you treat it with an additive and or add some kero to it.
3*That's correct.

4*All you need to do is buy some diesel fuel conditioner with anti-gel. I'll help keep the fuel good for long periods of time and you'll not have to worry about it in the wintertime.

4*Rite on .

[I am running summer blend with a quart of P S per 55 gallons of fuel.]