Portable generator powering most of house in power outages.

[TheMan419]

Thankfully I have no need for a whole house. I would love to have one but right now cost prohibitive.

Moss we did not get hit in that power outage. I am sure you were glad the genny fired up. I am always comforted when ours does. Wife is glad I insisted on electric start.

 

[shooterdon]

I bought gas for $2.17 a few days ago, propane right now is 1.86 and that's if they will let you get the summer price.

You will burn more propane than you would gas too...

SR

Consumption data is from the manufacturer specifications. It might be wrong....but it is all I have.

I purchase propane on a yearly contract and likely get a better price. I am at $1.39 until next summer.

In any case, anyone interested can run the numbers based on their assumptions and local prices to get the correct cost for their application. I am 100% certain my costs will be lower using propane. YMMV.

Even if there was no saving, I would run propane....indefinite fuel storage, always 200 gallons on hand, and no refueling hassles.

 

[grsthegreat]

ive had customers with the champion brand for many years. they seem like a solid unit. ive never hears any complaints. Those propane units burn so clean. plugs never foul. no gumming of fuel, just east use and starting. If its electric start, some of them dont have an onboard charger...thats my only issue. but some of their later models do. I like Hondas, but there way to over priced as far as i'm concerned. My honda powered pressure washer is always giving me issues. I just did service on a new customer that has never had his Generac propane whole house serviced since new in 2015. Plugs were only slightly dark. unit logged 122.8 hours since new. Oil was low and real dirty. i adjusted valves, new oil and filter, went ahead and installed new plugs and air filter. fired right up and ran smooth. I LOVE propane. My Gas portable generator is used under load several times a year and serviced yearly. the plugs are filthy and burnt, oil smells burnt.

 

[CobyRupert]

BTW, wanted to add. After 400 hours, the cost to fuel the Honda would have been $1250 ($2.75/gal); the cost to run the Champion on propane is $400 ($1.39/gal). Almost enough to purchase another new one.

Either that's new math or I'm not getting something.... :laughing:

400 x $2.75 = $1100
400 X $1.39 = $556

And that's assuming a 1:1 gallon of propane VS gallon of gasoline usage, which probably isn't going to happen, because a gallon of propane contains something like 27% less energy than a gallon of gasoline. You'd need 508 gallons of propane to produce the same energy as 400 gallons of gas.

508 x $1.39 = $706.

At least that's the way I'm seeing the numbers. Please correct me if I'm mistaken. Math isn't my strong suit.

Yes, 400 x $2.75 = $1100.
..but mind the units.
400 is number of hours.
400 hours x $2.75/gal= =1100 dollar-hours per gallon. -A nonsensical unit of measurement.

$1250 at $2.75/gal = 454.5 gallons; over 400 hours = 1.14 gal-per-hour.
$400 at $1.39/gal = 287.8 gallons; over 400 hours = .72 gal-per-hour.

If the load was the same, this would mean propane has about 160% more energy than gas. ...but it doesn't....so both of you are bad at math!! :laughing:
....or the Champion has a WAY more efficient engine.

 

[PILOON]

Quote:
ve had customers with the champion brand for many years. they seem like a solid unit. ive never hears any complaints. Those propane units burn so clean. plugs never foul. no gumming of fuel, just east use and starting. If its electric start, some of them dont have an onboard charger...thats my only issue. but some of their later models do.

I was given a gas powered Champion for scrap as it had no compression at all.
In fact I could spin it with my fingers and I suspected a broken connecting rod as it was so free.
Well being the curious type I tore it down to salvage any good parts.
The built in meter showed 800 hrs +.
The only problem was that the valve stems were so worn that the valves stayed open all the time.
Cylinder and rings were A-1 perfect.
With a simple valve adjustment I had it up and running just like new.

It had been used on construction sites and really showed it.
Shucks even the battery was still good and it went on to power a home during a 3 day power outage.

(NO, I don't work for Champion.)

 

[shooterdon]

What people are missing is that a large unit consumes more power than a smaller efficient one. My normal load is about 1 KW-hr. That could be supplied by a little Honda like this:
Honda EU1i Model Info | Super Quiet 1 Watt Inverter Generator | Honda Generators

Look at the specs...it runs 3.2 hrs on .6 gal of fuel at full load. Cost to operate ($2.75/gal fuel) is $.52/hr

A larger than needed genrator will use more fuel just sitting there at low draw....no different than any other engine.

To keep it simple...lets look at the Champion (7500 watt) model I am considering:
75-Watt Dual Fuel Generator - Champion Power Equipment

At 50% load it runs 8 hr on a 6 gal tank. Cost with $2.75 gas will be $2.06/hr
At 50% load it runs 5.5 hr on a 20 lb (4 gal) tank of propane. Cost with $1.39 propane is $1.01/hr

My old Honda (11,000 watts) )was even costlier to run.

Not trying to be argumentative but the numbers tell the story. In my siutation, propane offers a significant saving in addition to the other benefits of plenty of safe on hand fuel storage, no carburator problems, no need for refueling, and not needing numerous 5 gal cans of gasoline.

With the dual fuel option, if gas does to $2/gal and propane goes to $3/gal I can switch to gas. With a whole house generator if propane goes to $3/gal, (add by code I need a 16kW unit), it would be cost prohibative to operate.

 

[MossRoad]

Your math is good but you have not factored in consumption per hour.

The Honda uses 1.14 gal/hr of gasoline
The Champion uses .73 gal/hr of propane

Also there is a difference in fuel consumption with an 11kw unit vs a 7.5kw unit even at idle. And with propane the Champion is not even at 7.5 kw but 6.75 kw.

I used the consumption rates at 50% load as that seems like a normal load in my conditions.

BTW, my average consumption is about 25 kWh per day....it has never exceeded 45 kWh per day.

I think the smaller unit will easily handle my needs so why pay for capacity I do not need?

Thanks for the additional data. :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Thankfully I have no need for a whole house. I would love to have one but right now cost prohibitive.

Moss we did not get hit in that power outage. I am sure you were glad the genny fired up. I am always comforted when ours does. Wife is glad I insisted on electric start.

All I know is that when the power is out in the neighborhood, and my wife can still take a shower, flush the toilet, and not stub her toes in the dark, I'm the hero. :laughing:

That was the longest outage we've ever had. Most are less than 4 hours. Seems like we've had more outages in the past year than the past 20 years total. We're on I&M, are you too? Our land out on 23 towards North Liberty will be on NIPSCO if we ever put power out there.

Not sure why ours was out; trees or water damage. Anyway, I've been pretty happy with I&M. :thumbsup:

 

[TheMan419]

All I know is that when the power is out in the neighborhood, and my wife can still take a shower, flush the toilet, and not stub her toes in the dark, I'm the hero. :laughing:

That was the longest outage we've ever had. Most are less than 4 hours. Seems like we've had more outages in the past year than the past 20 years total. We're on I&M, are you too? Our land out on 23 towards North Liberty will be on NIPSCO if we ever put power out there.

Not sure why ours was out; trees or water damage. Anyway, I've been pretty happy with I&M. :thumbsup:

Yes we are on I&M here. Grandson of a prior owner said power here went out all the time. I have only used our generator for powering the home twice.

You are right when swmbo can shower and get ready for dinner out when the power is out you are a hero. She was reminded of why I initiated on a natural gas water heater.

Also we have horses so we need a minimum of 60 gallons of water per day for that operation.

We are on a circuit with only like 6 or 8 homes. So when we go down we are not on a priority.

Last time was only for 5 hrs or so. But that was due to a tree falling at neighbors house. When it was a major storm it was 12 plus hours. Nice to have lights and heat during that time.

 

[jaydee325]

We got along a good number of years with a Coleman 5500 watt portable (has a Yamaha engine/generator). We had to manually swap loads around depending on what was important at any given time.

August 2018, we installed a whole house generator. It has provided 136 hours of backup power since then! Our last outage was just last weekend and lasted 32 hours. I've complained of the reliability to the utility, but I'm not holding my breath that we will see any improvement anytime soon!