Generator backup power

[fatjay]

I thought of that, but I don't want my tractor tied up for 10-12 hours at a time. It's also my snowblower, and peak snow time is peak power outage time.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

When the power goes out here, for more than a couple hours, I start up my Honda 2000 to power a couple things, like the sump pump and the fridge...

We are not power hungary people, and I have set my house up to not need a lot of electrical power... BUT, if the power stays off for an "extended" time, like days at a time, I can easily power my whole house with my small diesel tractor and 15kw pto generator... I REALLY like having a diesel gen set over gas or propane too...

I like being able to use the pto gen set AWAY from the house too, like power a welder or ? .

Over the years, I've had several gen sets, but I like the set up I have now, the best!

SR

 

[3Ts]

We were without power for 9 days during a hurricane one year. We are building a house and will have a permanent generator as part of the build. One thing we learned is distances to windows & doors, distances to propane regulators, and for a propane tank the vaporization rate at a given temperature, and an accumulator is needed. We will be putting in a Generac 22KW. We are planning for worst case in the winter which is when we need it the most. Turns out for our case a minimum of 500 gal tank is needed to meet the vaporization rate required, but will only run the generator for a few days (24 hrs/day). We will be burying the tank which will help improve the vaporization rate - we get below freezing temperatures, but the ground does not freeze.

Initially we had a PTO powered generator to run our old house - that didn't work well because it ties up the tractor and the generator was not weather proof so we couldn't run it in the rain which is when we needed it the most. Then we went to a portable generator. That freed up the tractor, but it still was not weather proof and there wasn't a good place to put a shed to put the generator in, and the problems with gasoline. So that leaves us with a permanent mount with either diesel or propane. Generac & Kohler both make propane residental units for a "reasonable" price in propane air cooled, diesel units are a lot more. We can get propane delivered, diesel we can not.

Yes, there are diesel surplus units for not much money, but I did not want to mess with that.

 

[fatjay]

That's one thing that worries me, extended outages. I've lost power for 4-5 days in bad winter storms. Like I said, we're the last to get plowed, if we even get plowed at all. Then we're the last to get utility repair. I have 25 gallons of gasoline on hand in a best case scenario. The generator run time is 12 hours at half load with an 8 gallon tank. So I'll be making fuel runs every 36 hours whether I like it or not.

 

[fatjay]

The plug is a NEMA 14-50. Do I put the 2 blacks into the breaker, the white to the negative, and ground to ground, and that's it? Then install the interlock on the panel to make sure some idiot doesn't backfeed from the breaker and kill a pole worker?

If anyone can clarify this part, that would be very appreciated.

 

[Rara Avis]

Consider a tractor PTO powered electrical generator.

Before you do that...you might want to peruse this...
Tractor-Driven Generators: Producing Quality Power

 

[fatjay]

From what I understand, there's two legs. Each leg in the box gets it's own hot, so they're not joined together. That may require some balancing for the breakers as to not overload one leg.

 

[zzvyb6]

I thought of that, but I don't want my tractor tied up for 10-12 hours at a time. It's also my snowblower, and peak snow time is peak power outage time.

Why do you say that a pto generator "ties up your tractor for hours at a time" ? When your lights go out, do you turn on all your flashlights and let them burn until the batteries go flat ? Do you turn on all your faucets and keep the water running ? Is your car running in the garage right now even though you are not using it ? Sounds like it the way some thinkers go...

 

[techman]

Problem with a PTO generator is in the winter. I have the snowblower on my tractor and need to use the tractor to clear my 1/2 mi driveway. It sometimes takes hours with deep snow. The time and effort to connect, disconnect etc and shutting off the power for potentially hours makes a stand alone genset much nicer.

paul

 

[zzvyb6]

Problem with a PTO generator is in the winter. I have the snowblower on my tractor and need to use the tractor to clear my 1/2 mi driveway. It sometimes takes hours with deep snow. The time and effort to connect, disconnect etc and shutting off the power for potentially hours makes a stand alone genset much nicer.

paul

Now THAT makes perfect, good sense. That is why I bought a gearbox to produce a pto compatible hookup to my F-935 lawnmower. Its 22 hp and has plenty of grunt to handle all of our electric loads. I use a Kill-o-Watt to check frequency.