Please post your generator choice and experiences

newbury · Jul 7, 2012

There are a lot of good replies in this thread, but also a lot of not necessarily true statements.

If the generator is for emergency use then the best is if it's never used. That's what most people do and never buy one.

And what is "emergency use"? If the power goes out for a week in midsummer at 100 deg ambient is it running my electricity bloated life at full tilt or making sure the freezer doesn't thaw out? Or somewhere in between? 30KW? 1KW? 15KW? Is the emergency a storm with trees down all over and disaster recovery? Or ist it mostly an ailing infrastructure? Do you need to be out on a tractor 24/7 or do you just need to pick up a few trees while the power companies recover from poor maintenance?
Am I supporting the neighborhood or myself?
So let's say 15KW capacity needed.

What are the fuel sources? Diesel? Nat gas? LPG? Gas? PTO?
Diesel you have store, but if you are on TBN you probably have diesel equipment. I can store diesel - 2 fords w/ about 40 gallons@, a VW w/ 12 gallons, and 1 or 2 tractors w/ about 10 gallons @, and a 300 gallon tote to store it in.
Nat Gas to me is iffy, I have no control over the pipeline, if I could make it myself I'd trust it. Only 2 of my houses are on a pipeline.
LPG - you need tanks but if you keep them full you should be good. I've got 2@ 250 gallons.
Gas - doesn't store LONG but is everywhere, but as some have noted it goes fast.
PTO - You need a prime engine, but most of us on TBN have tractors.

Does it need to be "portable"? Are you only concerned about 1 location or what about the relative whose power is out while yours is on? Do you need to run cocktail parties? A welder? A couple of lights at a campground? All my uses dictated portable instead of dedicated 1 site.

I'm always distrustful of single source solutions so I've gone threefold and have plans to "expand".
I've got a 7?KW ($700) portable gas generator with a Honda engine, which I've had for years and not needed to use. I plan on getting a LPG conversion kit ($300) to allow dual fuel. Presently it's set up to run a small a/c unit, a frig, and a few lights via extension cords. When moved to Mississippi it'll be wired into a transfer switch ($400) for similar uses.
I've got one of the HF cheap $80 1KW generators that will run a few lights, tailgate party.
I've got a 12KW ($600 used for a few hours) PTO generator which I can wire into a transfer switch (for the central a/c) or take out in the back 40 and weld with.

So I've got about 20KW of portable power for an investment of about $1400 so far and another $1K in transfer switches and fuel conversion in the future.

I can't forsee a situation where I'll want to run the whole 20KW for my own uses, I'll sacrifice my whole house a/c for a window unit when I need to run the tractor.

MikeInEburg · Jul 7, 2012

Although i'm not the OP, thanks for all of the comments as I've been trying to decide between stand-alone or PTO driven generator. Our electrical service is quite reliable making a large expense more difficult. However, SWMBO really likes the ability to flush. Short gasoline shelf life is biggest concern with inexpensive portable generator - I would rather keep large quantities of Diesel on hand.

pclausen · Jul 7, 2012

A lot of great info here!

I currently have an 8kw Generac that did not fare well during the 4 days I had no power from the storm last week. My mother down the street has a similar Generac, only 15kw. We both had issues with oil consumption, and in her case, on day 2, there was not enough "surge" capacity to start the compressor on her 4 ton A/C unit. On day 4, she lost hot water as well.

Living by herself at 78 in a large house (my father passed away last year when he flipped his 1910 Ford), I need a fully automatic system for her that won't require me to go over there every 8 hours to add a quart, and the system needs to be able to run the AC and water heater reliably.

So for both of us, we are seriously looking at moving to liquid cooled diesel generators (see my JD 30kw thread).

I did own a 25kw (50kw surge) PTO generator for many years, but it was a huge pain to get it connected to the tractor during a snow storm, and then pop off the meter from the base (after cutting the seal), and connect it directly to the 400A service entrance. So I sold it and had just my 8kw unit after that, which as stated above, is not working out for me during summer outages when I need to run the AC (I have a 5ton and a 3ton).

I have a 15 month old daughter and another due in 5 week, so I'm exploring options right now. The 8kw air cooled Generac is still online, but I feel that I need something more substantial going forward for my family.

daybreak1998 · Jul 7, 2012

Howdy,
I have commented before, but let me explain.
Large farm here. Multiple tractors. A lot of things to power. I do not have a pond or stream. 172 head of cattle which need water. 3 wells. A Tiger Power 30kw PTO generator works great here. Tractors are well maintained and usually full of fuel. 1000 gallon off road diesel tank here. 109 gallon transfer tank in the back of a truck. Freezers full of beef, and large house with lots of needs.

I also own 4 other small generators. Of course they are gas, and I cycle gas through them. If they haven't run in a while, I suck out the gas, and run it thru the truck. Buy some more 100% gas and add sta-bil, and fill them up.

Northern Virginia here. The first storm took out the power. I do not need power right away.. went driving around and saw the damage, I knew we were going to be without power for a while. Then the second storm came through. A tree across from my driveway was struck by lightning and took out all the lines. This happened to be a priority line since it cut off 500+ customers. The utility was on it quick.

PTO generator = they have gauges on them. You really do not look at your tractor rpm gauge. You set the throttle to where you have the generator reading 60Hz, and 240volts. My PTO generator is cleaner power then the utility. I also have meters from Hardy Diesel, which I plug into a socket inside the house to monitor and watch the 60Hz and volts.
inside the house meters plugged in
got them off ebay from Hardy Diesel

I like using the larger tractor to power the pto generator. It has a 540E (economy) setting which the tractor spins the pto at the full 540 speed, while the engine runs around 1580rpm. I average around 1.1 gallons and hour.

In another posting I show 3 different electrical connections which I have. generator-transfer-switch-connection-choices

pclausen · Jul 8, 2012

Hi Mike,

On your TC-200M26W meter base transfer switch, is the feed going to the generator coming up though one of the conduits inside the meter base enclosure? It doesn't appear to be external like on the Generlink.

Here's what my meter base looks like:

I wonder if that Transconnect transfer switch will work with it?

Here's a shot from 2005 when I was running the house on the PTO generator. It would probably not have been as bad if I had the proper receptacle installed by the meter base. I'm pretty sure the way I had it hooked up (see picture above), was not up to code.

hr3 · Jul 8, 2012

People die from this sort of thing.. Just think if some kid came along and touched your open meter.. let alone the poor lineman working to get power back...

pclausen · Jul 8, 2012

With no meter on the base, there is no way for power to get back up the line. I hooked the output of the PTO generator to the load side, not the utility side.

My house has a 6 foot fence around it, including a motorized gate at the driveway entrance. Back then I lived by myself, so no kids in the household. Besides, it was about 15 degrees out, trust me, nobody was out enjoying a nice stroll that morning! I had a heck of a time just getting my tractor started.

That said, I agree that its bad practice and the only reason I resorted to this was that I had issues with my 8kw generator on an automatic transfer switch. I needed the power to keep my salt water fish and corals alive. Sometimes, during an emergency, you can be forced to do things that aren't always 100% safe.

SPYDERLK · Jul 8, 2012

We have just been thru a long [3 day] power outage. Outage of more than 10Hrs has proven rare over our 12yrs here on the farm ... this is only the 2nd one. We have PTO and portable gen options that remain stored for such cases.

... The real problem is the short term since we have horses. That well pump needs to be on line or we are out of water almost instantly. To cover that I recently bought a 3KW 24VDC to 240VAC pure sine inverter to run our pump from our electric golf cart. So now we can restart the well in minutes while assessing need and preparing for longer term emergency power. The cart will power the well for over an hour of accumulated run time. Plenty of water.
larry

patrick_g · Jul 8, 2012

Diesel is nice but 3600 RPM??? The 1800 RPM units are superior but pricey. Diesel is not my first choice for short runs. If I were building a remote power station (say 20 KW or more) to run 24-7 I'd definitely go diesel and preferably 1800 RPM. For short runs I like LPG. NG is OK but as others have said, you can't stockpile it easily (CNG equipment anyone?) I have 2 each 1000 gal LPG tanks to feed house and 17kw autochangeover gen. I have gasoline fueled 17.5 kw gen on my welding trailer that can be used to back up my 17 kw lpg unit. Gasoline doesn't store nearly as well as diesel, even with STABIL but... you rotate your stock so your gasoline supply doesn't get stale. You just constantly use fuel from your hoard and keep replacing it with fresh. A little hassle but that's the cost of preparedness.

With short runs diesel maint is accelerated. If I run a diesel I like to run it long and hard enough to dry it out. LPG is so very clean. Used oil looks new.

Pat

daybreak1998 · Jul 8, 2012

pclausen said:
Hi Mike,

On your TC-200M26W meter base transfer switch, is the feed going to the generator coming up though one of the conduits inside the meter base enclosure? It doesn't appear to be external like on the Generlink.

Here's what my meter base looks like:

I wonder if that Transconnect transfer switch will work with it?

Here's a shot from 2005 when I was running the house on the PTO generator. It would probably not have been as bad if I had the proper receptacle installed by the meter base. I'm pretty sure the way I had it hooked up (see picture above), was not up to code.

Howdy,
The connection is actually run back into the meter box and is tapped into the box on the back of the mounting.
click the picture for a zoomed larger picture.

It is a 2 piece design. If you look at this pdf from thier website, you see the 2 piece design. TC-200M26W pdf You would just have the 2nd box mounted next to your meter with its pigtail either back to the collar, or wired back into the unit with short piece of conduit feeding to the 2nd box which houses its brains. (electronics)

and, the TC-200M26W unit favors utility power. That means when the utility power is restored, it waits a short while to make sure its a steady 60Hz and 120 volts on each leg, then transfer back to it. That is when the power blinks off for about 30 seconds, and then comes back on from the utility.