What is BX23 fuel consumption while running a PTO generator ?

[lawlopez]

The reason I'm asking is I've got a lot of fuel oil for heating purposes but I usually run a pellet stove.
So far I've always been able to get gasoline and I run a EU2000i generator 24 hours a day for heat and light.

But to bring up water and other things I need a bit more power.

And if I ever can't get gasoline I'd love to be able to use the tractor.

It could be in the garage and I could drive it out and hook up the PTO generator.

So I'm wondering how much fuel might be consumed doing this.

Beteen the transmission, hydraulics, and high RPM I'm thinking it might be quite a bit of fuel.

I'm aware I'm using up hours on the equipment but it would be worth it.

Larry

 

[dex3361]

The amount of fuel that you use is dependent on the load(Killowatts) on the generator. A good rule of thumb to get you in the ball park is that you will use around (diesel engines vary in their efficiency) 0.7 to 0.08 gallon per hour per Killowat being generated(with the engine operating in the 25% - 100% HP range). So if your load is 4KWH then your consumption will be close to 4 x 0.08(GPH)=0.32 GPH. That said most of the time our loads vary widely so to know for sure how much your going to use you will know your KWH load.

 

[art]

About a gallon an hour should be close. Just something that I've heard when doing this is often there might be damage on your own property that the tractor could possibly be fixing.

 

[lawlopez]

Randal:

I think I need to figure out how much fuel the tractor uses
just running the PTO at 540 RPM with no load.

That's something I think I can do, so I'll do that first.

Then any electricity generated can be taken at some nominal amount like .15 g/hr until it's measured.
I can do that I don't have a generator.

Larry

Art:

Well, I'd only be using the tractor to generate power when I'm running low on gasoline or when I need to run the pump.

Some day when I finish getting the snow blower together I'll use it to clear the driveway.

I think 1g/hr is about right for a MEP-003A military diesel generator which is 10KW.
or a Honda EB11000 uses about 1.5 g/hr for 9.5 kw (less efficient engine, more power lost to windage).

1 g/hr seems like a good ball park.
That is about $100 per day.

I still have to find out what the idle fuel burn rate is with no load on PTO.



Larry

 

[dex3361]

I have been running diesel generator for the last 9 days(record outage for me here in WV). I have been running a 12KBTU window AC round the clock(1200W) lights, freezer, fridge, well pump kicking on/off automatically. Microwave, toaster, coffee maker, hair dryer all used only one at a time. When using the hot water heater I shut every thing off but a light or 2 the well pump and the wot water tank. This is a 6.5KW. I have using around 10 gallons of diesel a day operating 24 hours a day and about 6 gallon a day on the 14 hour a day runs.

 

[dodge man]

My guess at a full load would be near a gallon per hour. This is based on my best guess of what my BX uses when mowing heavy grass. I would figure it wouldn't run at full load all the time, so it would probably use less. Dex3361 numbers sound like they might be good for a estimate.

I've looked at buying two different PTO driven items, a log splitter and a PTO genearator. In both cases, I found a could buy a gas driven device cheaper, and its just as good or better than the PTO units I could buy.

 

[dex3361]

I agree if at full capability of the tractor it would likely use a gallon a hour. I figure it would top out at under 10KW.

 

[genesisdj]

My bx24 with a 12 kw pto generator would go 8 hours without having to be refueled, so roughly 5 gallons for 8 hours of a 3/4 loaded 12 k generator

 

[dex3361]

My bx24 with a 12 kw pto generator would go 8 hours without having to be refueled, so roughly 5 gallons for 8 hours of a 3/4 loaded 12 k generator

Thats in line with the rule of thumb formula in post #2.

 

[General Lee]

How much is your guy's tractor bogging down under load with a PTO generator? I envision if the tractor is running at PTO speed (roughly full throttle on most tractors) to supply the correct voltage to the generator, the tractor shouldn't bog down unless generator is overloaded. But then again, shouldn't the generator's circuit breaker trip?

If the engine bogs down then you wouldn't get the correct voltage from the generator. Most basic tractors don't have an automatic governor to keep rpm's up under load. So if your operating within the limits of the generator, shouldn't you burn the same amount of fuel as you would running the tractor at or near full rpm's without the use of a generator?

 

[dex3361]

My understanding is that most tractors governor will hold the hertz very close to the required 60HZ. Hertz (frequency) is the component of the electricity that would be affected most by the PTO speed varying to much. Only if you exceed the PTO HP would the tractor PTO slow down. I do not have a PTO generator...........yet. So if you take my info here and add $10 to it you could likely go to any city in the country and buy a cup of coffee.

 

[PHILIP8N]

Attached is performance specification sheet for your engine, which includes fuel consumption curve. With this, and a little work, you can get a baseline gallons per hour for your conditions. Philip.

 

[dodge man]

How much is your guy's tractor bogging down under load with a PTO generator? I envision if the tractor is running at PTO speed (roughly full throttle on most tractors) to supply the correct voltage to the generator, the tractor shouldn't bog down unless generator is overloaded. But then again, shouldn't the generator's circuit breaker trip?

If the engine bogs down then you wouldn't get the correct voltage from the generator. Most basic tractors don't have an automatic governor to keep rpm's up under load. So if your operating within the limits of the generator, shouldn't you burn the same amount of fuel as you would running the tractor at or near full rpm's without the use of a generator?

Its my understanding that most tractors do in fact have a governor, so at the load increase, so does the fuel consumption.

 

[PHILIP8N]

Every tractor I have seen has some type of constant speed-vaiable load mechanical governor, they have to. Some are not as responsive as others, but as long as you have a little excess engine horsepower and match your electrical consumption load to the generator output, you should not have any problems. Most all pto generators I have seen have a frequency meter on them. Set you pto to speed to 60 hertz on the frequency meter under normal load and all is good. Philip.

 

[General Lee]

Then why does my tractor or most bog down, lose rpm's when bush hogging and I never see my rpm's raise until heavy load is no longer a strain. (Thick grass etc). I see a heavy a heavy electric load doing the same thing. Heavy load, engine and rpm's bog down until load is decreased or gone. Maybe I'm not understanding something here??

 

[PHILIP8N]

Tractors and most mechanical industrial engines have droop style governing. Most all generators have isocronous governing. Droop governing allows a percentage of rpm rise or droop before the governor takes over, this is easier on mechanical parts and better fuel consumption. Isocronous governing, used mostly for generators to hold a tight 60 hertz, allows almost no change in rpm, is harder on mechanical parts, and has worse fuel consumption. If your engine bogs down to a point where the governor cannot keep up, you are over loading the engine beyonds its rated output. Philip.

 

[madmax12]

The reason I'm asking is I've got a lot of fuel oil for heating purposes but I usually run a pellet stove.
So far I've always been able to get gasoline and I run a EU2000i generator 24 hours a day for heat and light.

But to bring up water and other things I need a bit more power.

And if I ever can't get gasoline I'd love to be able to use the tractor.

Larry

FUEL... I don't know if I'm reading what you wrote correctly, but if I am, I want to say this (even though I am NOT an expert):

Fuel has been changing ALOT this past decade. It's not like it was 30 years ago. You can NOT run heating oil in a diesel truck (or tractor???), made after 2007.

#2 heating oil is HS (High Sulfer). My limited understanding is that Diesel used to be HS also. It is not anymore.
Diesel became LS (Low Sulfer) at 500 ppm (parts per million) sulfer content. Well, in 2006, it changed again...
Diesel became ULSD (ULTRA Low Sulfer) at 15 (parts per million) sulfer content.

SO... if your tractor engine is designed to run on ULSD (Ultra Low Sulfer Diesel) and you put #2 heating oil in it.... well, you may be all done with your tractor after that.

Heating Oil and Dyed ULSD are not the same thing.

If your furnace oil company is delivering Dyed ULSD, then you could use that in your tractor.

Just be careful.

NOTE: If there is an expert, in Petroleum, that knows something more accurate than what I wrote, I would appreciate being corrected.

 

[aczlan]

FUEL... I don't know if I'm reading what you wrote correctly, but if I am, I want to say this (even though I am NOT an expert):

Fuel has been changing ALOT this past decade. It's not like it was 30 years ago. You can NOT run heating oil in a diesel truck (or tractor???), made after 2007.
#2 heating oil is HS (High Sulfer). My limited understanding is that Diesel used to be HS also. It is not anymore.
Diesel became LS (Low Sulfer) at 500 ppm (parts per million) sulfer content. Well, in 2006, it changed again...
Diesel became ULSD (ULTRA Low Sulfer) at 15 (parts per million) sulfer content.
SO... if your tractor engine is designed to run on ULSD (Ultra Low Sulfer Diesel) and you put #2 heating oil in it.... well, you may be all done with your tractor after that.
Heating Oil and Dyed ULSD are not the same thing.
If your furnace oil company is delivering Dyed ULSD, then you could use that in your tractor.
Just be careful.
NOTE: If there is an expert, in Petroleum, that knows something more accurate than what I wrote, I would appreciate being corrected.

Check with your distributor about this. VERY rare is the distributor who still sells anything BUT ULSD to the end user, so in MOST cases, dyed ULSD and HHO are the same thing.
There are several threads on this with EXCELLENT citations in the "Oil, Fuel and Lubricants" forum.


Aaron Z

 

[madmax12]

Rare? Not in Maine or NH. I know in Boston they were starting to just use dyed ULSD, but I don't know that all terminals in Boston switched. Are you sure that #2 heating oil is rare for home delivery?

Are all of u already filling your tractors from a furnace oil tank???

I have #2 fuel oil delivered to the house. It would cost me more to have dyed diesel delivered to my house than what I pay for clear diesel at the station.

In Maine, NH, and VT (I think) they are very, very different fuels.

 

[aczlan]

Some of the threads I was remembering:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/oil-fuel-lubricants/242326-ulsd-101-a.html
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/trailers-transportation/235248-lsd-dls-ulsd.html
NRLM Fuel

I asked our supplier and they said that the place they buy from carries dyed and un-dyed ULSD, no LSD. They deliver fuel oil (HHO) and offroad diesel.

Aaron Z