Generator fuel consumption

[MossRoad]

Yep. That same kid spent a week in a south American country doing volunteer work during Christmas break. We were very careful with that cell phone. :laughing:

 

[Industrial Toys]

If the power was out for some time, maybe cost won't be an issue. Any Fuel deliveries may be out of the question! This has happened again and again. Places like hospitals or Senior facilities get any available fuel first!

 

[CobyRupert]

Energy out (electricity)= Energy in (fuel) x efficiency%.

Your fuel usage is going to depend on how loaded the generator is. Typically your load is going to be bouncing all over the place as pumps or heaters cycle on and off.

Note: (Rough math here): 1 gal/hr of propane has about 26.8 kW of power in it, so 3 gal/hr is 80.4kW, so your generator's efficiency is about 17% at full load (14kW). I think that's about right for an internal combustion engine.

Edit: From wiki: Even when aided with turbochargers and stock efficiency aids, most engines retain an average efficiency of about 18%-20%. -Hey!

 

[Stimw]

I saw a discussion on TV the other night about Natural Gas.
They said the price is up 41% in the last 2 years! So much for Fracking saving us.

I ran a 5.6kw generator (11 hp Honda) 24 hours for 12 days about 7 years ago. It used just under 1/2 gal an hour. Of course that was GW's gas!
It would cost about $40. a day now!

 

[90cummins]

Most people don't think about the fuel consumption (cost) when they install a large whole house backup generator.
Another detail most don't think about is if it is a wide spread power outage how will you get fuel, the gas stations will be closed!!!
When the power goes out we should be thinking about minimizing our energy needs to just survive the outage not continue business as usual...
90cummins

 

[MossRoad]

That's one of the reasons a lot of folks are going with natural gas fired generators.... even in most power electrical outages, the natural gas still works. However, they are shocked when the gas bill arrives the next month after a week on that big old genny running the entire house.

 

[kenmac]

If you have a NG furnace, you are paying for gas to operate it ,in addition to the gas to run the generator . Now your gas consumption has just gone a little higher

 

[MossRoad]

A lot higher.

 

[RalphVa]

Our 12.5 kw Isuzu diesel generator used 2.5 gallons of diesel over 14.8 hours last year.

Ralph

 

[DarkBlack]

Energy out (electricity)= Energy in (fuel) x efficiency%.

Your fuel usage is going to depend on how loaded the generator is. Typically your load is going to be bouncing all over the place as pumps or heaters cycle on and off.

Note: (Rough math here): 1 gal/hr of propane has about 26.8 kW of power in it, so 3 gal/hr is 80.4kW, so your generator's efficiency is about 17% at full load (14kW). I think that's about right for an internal combustion engine.

Edit: From wiki: Even when aided with turbochargers and stock efficiency aids, most engines retain an average efficiency of about 18%-20%. -Hey!

If you want your post to be correct you will need to change a couple of your kW's to kWh's. It's a totally different measurement.