Diesel Standby Generators

[Johno Geo]

Never stops amazing me how much experience you guys bring to every topic!!
I am a Mech Engineer by education a rehab guy a construction professional, but you guys amaze me. There is so much experience and knowledge out there!!
Great forum...
TBN has helped me so far with: Out Bldg Insulation opinions,
Drainage, equip accessories... repairs, etc...
The only thing I think is a little lacking is that so many are Pro Kobota..
I looked at Kubota and in compact and Utility, in my opinion, they were lacking, but competitive....
Just my opinion guys....My machines have been perfect for 20 years..
If they weren't I would be looking elseware
Keep up the good work guys!

 

[JB4310]

The efficency on the Isuzu looks to be pretty good. You start running one of these for 48 or 60 hours it makes a big difference.:thumbsup:

I hear ya, but there may be a typo in the specs on the 21 KW isuzu, it shows it at 32 HP that would only support ~16 KW you would need close to 40HP for 20 KW. (2 HP per KW) if it is a typo on the HP, hope it's not on the GPH

Also says it's aluminum block with cast sleeves?

Doesn't say how the Kubota is built, but the 14.5KW Sparrow wants lists it at 28HP and cast block. Only 3 cylinder though.

The only thing I think is a little lacking is that so many are Pro Kobota..
I looked at Kubota and in compact and Utility, in my opinion, they were lacking, but competitive....

I agree, but this was started as a kubota site, I prefer JD but it does have a Kubota engine

JB

 

[sparrowhawk]

Never stops amazing me how much experience you guys bring to every topic!!
I am a Mech Engineer by education a rehab guy a construction professional, but you guys amaze me. There is so much experience and knowledge out there!!
Great forum...
TBN has helped me so far with: Out Bldg Insulation opinions,
Drainage, equip accessories... repairs, etc...
The only thing I think is a little lacking is that so many are Pro Kobota..
I looked at Kubota and in compact and Utility, in my opinion, they were lacking, but competitive....
Just my opinion guys....My machines have been perfect for 20 years..
If they weren't I would be looking elseware
Keep up the good work guys!

I agree with you there. It seems like everyone here brings a different aspect or view to a problem or solution. I am pro green, so I'll balance the rest out a bit I'm EE and CS by schooling.

 

[boggen]

if you are having electrical redone now.

my question, is why go for a whole house gen?

get your main electrical panel installed, then have a sub panel installed right next to it. and run, fridge, deep freeze, heating if electric, lights, and some outlets. just basic stuff, (no need for computers, video games for kids, no need to run everything)

get yourself a auto transfer switch / auto start gen. and hook it up to the sub panel. vs trying to run entire house. it can drop your overall requirements by a good amount for how big you need for a gen.

granted having a liquid coolant / with fan to cool the gen off, is always nice to have. but is it needed?

----------------
wired a 20x24 cabin, to run off a gen. off grid setup. it got old stretching extension cords around. so installed a panel. and went that route.

for the house, i still need to update main electrical panel, but when i do will be switching to a new main panel and a new sub panel. i can live without all the lights on, not operating electric dryer, or dish washing machine, i don't need to have power out to the shed.

i have learned to watch power consumption. granted i could get a bigger generator, but do i really need it? nope. do i really need every outlet in house operational? nope.

 

[sparrowhawk]

if you are having electrical redone now.

my question, is why go for a whole house gen?

get your main electrical panel installed, then have a sub panel installed right next to it. and run, fridge, deep freeze, heating if electric, lights, and some outlets. just basic stuff, (no need for computers, video games for kids, no need to run everything)

get yourself a auto transfer switch / auto start gen. and hook it up to the sub panel. vs trying to run entire house. it can drop your overall requirements by a good amount for how big you need for a gen.

granted having a liquid coolant / with fan to cool the gen off, is always nice to have. but is it needed?

I have done this already: house is broken into two panels for this very purpose and I'll be including an auto transfer switch in the setup. The reason I am going with the size generator I'm looking at is because I am designing my system to run at partial load. I will have ample peak demand generation if necessary and added capacity for the unseen with minimal increase in fuel consumption. I equate this to boating.... why run at 100% all the time? get used to running at 75%, that extra 25% is for when the dark clouds show up on the horizon and you need to get to port at all cost. been there

 

[JB4310]

The reason I am going with the size generator I'm looking at is because I am designing my system to run at partial load. I will have ample peak demand generation if necessary and added capacity for the unseen with minimal increase in fuel consumption. I equate this to boating.... why run at 100% all the time? get used to running at 75%, that extra 25% is for when the dark clouds show up on the horizon and you need to get to port at all cost. been there

I like that way of thinking, but the fuel efficiency goes down a little doing it like that, turning a larger engine that's needed for the load. but still if I were getting one of those premium stand by's I would go with the 14-15 kw minimum.

I have done this already: house is broken into two panels for this very purpose and I'll be including an auto transfer switch in the setup.

I don't agree with the separate panel, I would rather have the ability to run any circuit in the house, not every circuit under full load at once, but any circuit I needed. Not sure what would be needed to have an auto switch for a set up like that, they have the manual switches that switch between utility and generator. It's a big switch and not cheap, but we are not talking about doing it cheaply.

It can be done very simply with a manual interlock, but that is manual.
Generator InterLock Kit - Introduction

I mentioned that my JD tractor has a kubota engine :confused2: obviously incorrect, Yanmar.

JB.

 

[sparrowhawk]

I don't agree with the separate panel, I would rather have the ability to run any circuit in the house, not every circuit under full load at once, but any circuit I needed. Not sure what would be needed to have an auto switch for a set up like that, they have the manual switches that switch between utility and generator. It's a big switch and not cheap, but we are not talking about doing it cheaply.

The longer story is, in completely rewiring my new fixer upper, the person before me (carpenter that got foreclosed on ) added a second 100 amp panel fed off the main 100 amp panel. His plan was to add the new wiring/circuits to the new panel. What I have since done is split wired each room so that if I chose, I could load manage approximately 60 amps worth of circuits. I have also kept with the secondary panel so that I can split the place into two units later by adding a separate electrical entrance that I've already made provisions for.

Sounds complicated, and it is, but I didn't want to redo too much of it. My automatic switch will be laid out in such a way that the whole house will be powered and if needed I can shut off the auxillary panel.

This is not the cheapest installation for sure, but I'm not one to skimp.

I mentioned that my JD tractor has a kubota engine :confused2: obviously incorrect, Yanmar.

JB.

Close enough.... :laughing:

 

[sparrowhawk]

One of the consultants on my team just sent me this and I thought it was relevant...

Maine ingenuity/rednech tech: Icecream truck reused as a generator site and remote data center in a box. They actually have servers and a big huge genset in there for "what if"...

awesome!

 

[Richard]

I went pto for a few years. Heres why I sold it and went standby.

~Have to take implement off the tractor to hook up. We always loose power during thunderstorms and heavy snow, neither is fun to do in either situation.

~Tractor often was not handy to the house. Sometimes in another hayfield or at another location.

~I didn't mind running the tractor all night, did it numerous times for 24 hours or more, but it's overkill.

~During a storm it's nice to have the use of the tractor.

~When I was away, my wife couldn't unhook the implement on the tractor and rehook to the gen.

For some a PTO works great, for me it was a real hassle. The auto start does it's thing no matter where I am, no worries of the house freezing up or if my wife is ok when I'm dealing with a storm for the FD or with my business.

I gotta admit, I have talked to the wife about getting a generator and was specifically interested in a PTO type unit.

You just turned my lights on (no pun intended) with the other side of the story.

Thanks. No pto unit here anymore. Excellent reasons why to not do it (for me).

 

[Richard]

Never stops amazing me how much experience you guys bring to every topic!!
I am a Mech Engineer by education a rehab guy a construction professional, but you guys amaze me. There is so much experience and knowledge out there!!
Great forum...
TBN has helped me so far with: Out Bldg Insulation opinions,
Drainage, equip accessories... repairs, etc...
The only thing I think is a little lacking is that so many are Pro Kobota..
I looked at Kubota and in compact and Utility, in my opinion, they were lacking, but competitive....
Just my opinion guys....My machines have been perfect for 20 years..
If they weren't I would be looking elseware
Keep up the good work guys!

My wife keeps wondering why I keep going back (or asking questions) to "that tractor site"

I keep telling her that there is simply ALL walks of life represented here and you could bring up just about any possible topic and someone here will have had some experience in that area and willing to help/share.

Almost like an Internet Encylopedia on Life!