Portable Generators

[ultrarunner]

It seems I am putting more equipment on sinewave UPS at the Hospital...

If I were building a new hospital I would design UPS circuits back to the panel rooms... much easier on the maintenance than under desks and in the Operating Rooms.

Hubel Outlets throughout the facility... most are Hospital Spec 20 amp with some being Orange Isolated Ground Hospital Spec 20 amp and some being Red Emergency Power Hospital Spec 20 amp...

Regularly I will find things like bed warmers plugged into E-power and things like Patient Monitors plugged into non-E-power... totally opposite of how they should be even being color coded and all.

All of our Surgery Microscopes and some of the Opto equipment are now on UPS in addition to E-power because even with a typical 6 second transfer lag who wants a Doctor doing micro surgery in the dark for even one second.

Unfortunately Utility Power seems to go out too often... maybe 90 minutes every other month... most often it's a vehicle collision with a utility pole or sometimes a utility transformer blows... then it is more like 6 hours...

The local grid dates from the post WWII and above ground... I can imagine it would be worse if the Bay Area was subject to lightning caused outages.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Another solution is a line stabilizer. In the old days of variable line voltages from the power company, we used autotransformers that would hold voltage within 1%. I still have one that I used in my darkroom in the old days to keep power fluctuations from changing exposure times on my enlarger. Essentially it's a 35 lb. L-C choke. I would be surprised if any line noise managed to make it through the windings.

 

[TheMan419]

Here in the midwest we need to make sure the furnace is working during the winter. At the house I am in now we actually have a boiler. Natural gas provides the fuel to heat the water, but there is an electric pump for circulating the water. So a gen set will be installed. I have a 6700 (running) watt gen set. Gasoline powered. Usually here there is no problem getting gasoline. So no need to store 5 days worth for a hurricane or something similar. If we had the polar vortex coming I would fill the tank on the gen and have 15 gal of gas in cans. That would give me 20 gal and I could make it last 3 days. Plus both vehicles would be full and I could siphon from there so that is another 30 gal or so.

I am always amazed at people who live here and do not keep their eye on the weather and make sure the fridge is stocked when we have a blizzard on the way.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Here in the midwest we need to make sure the furnace is working during the winter. At the house I am in now we actually have a boiler. Natural gas provides the fuel to heat the water, but there is an electric pump for circulating the water. So a gen set will be installed. I have a 6700 (running) watt gen set. Gasoline powered. Usually here there is no problem getting gasoline. So no need to store 5 days worth for a hurricane or something similar. If we had the polar vortex coming I would fill the tank on the gen and have 15 gal of gas in cans. That would give me 20 gal and I could make it last 3 days. Plus both vehicles would be full and I could siphon from there so that is another 30 gal or so.

I am always amazed at people who live here and do not keep their eye on the weather and make sure the fridge is stocked when we have a blizzard on the way.

It would be great to convert the generator to natural gas. You wouldn't have to worry unless both gas and electricity went out. If that happens, I hope you have arctic sleeping bags!

 

[CADplans]

It would be great to convert the generator to natural gas. You wouldn't have to worry unless both gas and electricity went out. If that happens, I hope you have arctic sleeping bags!

We had a snow storm around 1990 in Roanoke.
Some electricity around the city went out. The power to natural gas pumps, of course, was on the list.
Many of my co-workers had electricity to their home,, but, no natural gas.
They were staying in motels. :confused2:

Nothing is "perfect",,,

 

[TheMan419]

It would be great to convert the generator to natural gas. You wouldn't have to worry unless both gas and electricity went out. If that happens, I hope you have arctic sleeping bags!

I had actually looked into buying a tri fuel generator (gasoline, propane and nat gas). The cost of piping for the nat gas was an outrage. Of course where the meter is located at the new house it should not be a problem..... hmmm.....

Is it hard to convert the gasoline gen set I have to run either? Also what kind of "penalty" do I take? I know nat gas is less energy dense than gasoline so that will result in less wattage from the gen set.

 

[Garandman]

Is it hard to convert the gasoline gen set I have to run either? Also what kind of "penalty" do I take? I know nat gas is less energy dense than gasoline so that will result in less wattage from the gen set.

What kind of generator? There are kits for popular models, you pretty much just change the carb.

Generator Conversion Kits - Engine Name & Generator Manufacurer Page Links

 

[Pettrix]

Is using conventional 5w-30 motor oil in a Honda generator OK?

After break-in, is using synthetic motor oil a better option to reduce engine wear?

 

[DieselBound]

Is using conventional 5w-30 motor oil in a Honda generator OK?

After break-in, is using synthetic motor oil a better option to reduce engine wear?

What does the user manual say?

If you're really worried about engine wear then get a water cooled diesel generator.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

If you're really worried about engine wear then get a water cooled diesel generator.

Have you ever heard of an "air cooled" Deutz engine?? How about an "air cooled" SLH engine??

They last as long or longer than any of the water cooled engines and have less things on them, in the cooling system, to go wrong!

BTW, I run Mobil 1 10w-30 synthetic in my Honda generator.

SR