Comparison Home Stand By Generators

[atgreene]

I bought the Central Maine Diesel 10 HP Yanmar L100 6500 watt. Runs the entire house and garage (no welder or air compressor). I plumbed it into a fuel tank in the basement, during Irene it ran for 60 hours +- with a/c's running and normal house operations. Used .24 gallons per hour. Yanmar Powered 6,500 Watt Diesel Generator

I would love to upgrade to a larger one, and when I do it will be another diesel. Propane is hard to come by during extended ice storms.

 

[Garandman]

^^^This.

I have a 14KW propane fueled Kohler unit. I'm actually very pleased with how easy it is on fuel. I have a 120 gallon (250#) tank hooked to it and it has done weekly tests and three 4+ hour outages without dropping below 70% (80% is "full") in over a year.

Great to know: mine is getting the propane connected tomorrow! The dealer recommended twin 120 gallon tanks.

 

[ultrarunner]

I bought the Central Maine Diesel 10 HP Yanmar L100 6500 watt. Runs the entire house and garage (no welder or air compressor). I plumbed it into a fuel tank in the basement, during Irene it ran for 60 hours +- with a/c's running and normal house operations. Used .24 gallons per hour. Yanmar Powered 6,500 Watt Diesel Generator

I would love to upgrade to a larger one, and when I do it will be another diesel. Propane is hard to come by during extended ice storms.

Thanks for the link...

Looks to be very efficient.

Sound or quiet of operation is a big factor in my next genset purchase... the small "Valley" where I would use it reverberates sound...

How is the noise level and have you done any mods?

 

[MossRoad]

Notice that it says propane and natural gas generators are:
- More expensive to operate by as much as 3-times the fuel consumption compared to diesels
and
- Shorter life expectancy by a factor or 10 to 1 for air-cooled models and 3 to 1 for water-cooled models compared to diesel powered GenSets

 

[grsthegreat]

Thanks you so much grsthegreat for sharing the illustration. I saved for future use.

This next question is for when the generator is not running under load just on auto.

Now if I turn the switch to off form auto and leave it like that so the generator will not start right away when a black out occurs. Then I decide to start for an hour or so just to bring everything up.

1. I will turn off the 2 pole breaker on the side of the generator.
2. Start the generator, let warm up a few seconds
3. Turn on the 2 pole breaker and this should feed the house right.

Then just reverse what I did and let the generator cool, shut the generator off and then once the power is restored I just put it back on auto and turn the 2 pole breaker on again.
Thanks
Gilles

that sounds right. you dont have to leave it in auto. the battery will still charge even if in off.

 

[grsthegreat]

I view oil changes on all equipment as important, but see air-cooled being esp. critical due to the elevated oil temperature.

What do you use during standby to heat the oil, one of those silicone glue-on pan heaters ?

Sump pumps seem to be the critical requirement, driving the purchase of auto-start/xfer systems.

Rgds, D.

mine hase a glue on type, as the unit is older 16 YO generator. The newer generac offer a nifty little slip on oilfilter heater (240 volt) and battery warmer pad as an option. kind of spendy though, but very easy to use. self regulating also.

 

[K man]

When I purchased my Generator this Fall I was asking the salesman about how would it start in the Winter and he told me that Winter package where included heavy duty battery( 665cc) battery warmer, block heater and synthetic oil on all Generators that were installed in harsh cold winter areas. So it is nice to know that my generator will be ready to start during the winter. All I have to do is make sure the air intake are not blocked by snow and that I will be ok. I can sleep good at night knowing I don't have to worry about having to run out and boost or whatever to get my generator running.

 

[buickanddeere]

Notice that it says propane and natural gas generators are:
- More expensive to operate by as much as 3-times the fuel consumption compared to diesels
and
- Shorter life expectancy by a factor or 10 to 1 for air-cooled models and 3 to 1 for water-cooled models compared to diesel powered GenSets

Who runs a standby generator enough to make diesel pay in " fuel savings". As for being "reliable". Who is going to run the spark ignition engine enough hours to wear it out. In particular when operated with clean burning LP or NG. As for long life and reliability of diesel vs spark ignition. This is 2014 with tier IV emissions diesels . This isn't 1975 with gasssers having points ignition and burning leaded fuel competing against a diesel.

 

[hr3]

that sounds right. you dont have to leave it in auto. the battery will still charge even if in off.

Where is it getting the power for the charger ???

 

[MossRoad]

Who runs a standby generator enough to make diesel pay in " fuel savings". As for being "reliable". Who is going to run the spark ignition engine enough hours to wear it out. In particular when operated with clean burning LP or NG. As for long life and reliability of diesel vs spark ignition. This is 2014 with tier IV emissions diesels . This isn't 1975 with gasssers having points ignition and burning leaded fuel competing against a diesel.

I think you're getting all excited about the gas vs diesel pickup truck thread again.