PTO generator selection help

[Larry Caldwell]

200 HUNDRED hours from a 100 pound tank???

What's in that 100 pound tank, nuclear fuel?? lol

SR

Oops. Added an extra zero. 20 hours, maybe 25.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Oops. Added an extra zero. 20 hours, maybe 25.

lol no problem, SR

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I would love to hear from someone with real world experience on using propane generator. Haven't read any users on amazon saying it won't work

I have an 8 kw propane portable. It runs great, but bugs are a problem. There is a mixing valve in the intake with two holes in the back for ventilation. Bugs love those holes. Mmm, dark, protected, great place to lay eggs. I have to take it apart every fall to blow it out. Fortunately, it's only four bolts and four screws, so it only takes 20 minutes, including time to grab the tools.

I have one 75 lb. tank and half a dozen 20 lb. tanks, plus an old 5 kw gasser that still works, plus a 1 kw camp gen that will run the freezer/fridge/tv for 4.5 hours on a gallon of gas, plus a farm house still set up with 19th century technology: wood heat and gravity feed water. Oh yeah, a drip coffee maker and an antique hand crank coffee grinder. :dance1: Electricity is a convenience, not a necessity. I can even heat bath water on the wood stove, and we cook there too during outages.

Think defense in depth. The comfort level of the house does not change during an outage, and the FIOS modem/router uses a 12 volt power supply, so I wired up a deep cycle battery as a UPS. A tablet and cell phone offer hours of computing. If the power goes out after dark, I won't even bother to fire up the generator until the next day. Gotta run the dishwasher. :thumbsup:

BTW, if you buy a gasser or a diesel, be sure to bag the exhaust. The daubers will get you if you don't watch out.

 

[tradosaurus]

Oops. Added an extra zero. 20 hours, maybe 25.

And with two 5 gal gas containers I should easily get two days of use.

 

[90cummins]

I agree with the procedure mentioned here however I added a heavy ground cable to the frame of my 25kw pto generator so I can ground my tractor/generator to a suitable ground or ground rod.
The electrical integrity of any portable generator should not be taken for granted.
My generator is directly mounted on a 3pt hitch platform and during operation I set it on the ground along with the loader to minimize the possibility of shock when getting on or off the tractor.
As mentioned earlier there are more hours designed into your tractor engine than you could possibly use. Do not worry about wearing out a well maintained machine it was made to work.

90cummins

 

[tradosaurus]

Now I have to figure out how big a propane tank to get. I originally settled on a 100 lb tank but with propane it will weight about 170 lbs.
That would be difficult to get into a truck or trailer to get it filled.
I'm thinking about getting two 40 lb tanks and having them piped together.
Maybe mount the generator and propane tanks on top of a Harbor Freight trailer.
The local propane dealer would sell me a 100 lb tank for $130 and fill it for $65.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Despite the seriousness of the matter there are the funniest spoofs out there on the Internet. "Mom! . . . We're out of tinfoil"

Generators. Grounding. Mostly the worst that could happen is a 110V shock to ground. 240 volts is still just 120V to ground. Not like many people run 600 volt gensets.

 

[grsthegreat]

Despite the seriousness of the matter there are the funniest spoofs out there on the Internet. "Mom! . . . We're out of tinfoil"

Generators. Grounding. Mostly the worst that could happen is a 110V shock to ground. 240 volts is still just 120V to ground. Not like many people run 600 volt gensets.

agree. we dont set ground rods in stand alone units. their grounded thru connection to house.

i have never grounded any of my portable generators. never in 30 years of using them. never had any issues. and besides, they all have GFCI receptacle. A GFCI receptacle by design does NOT need to be used on a grounded system to work. thats why you can add them to any 2 wire older house to get a 3 prong outlet legally.

i have no idea if PTO generators have GFCI outlets or not. if they dont, than a ground rod may be necessary.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I wouldn't want a CGFI as any part of my backup system, personally. If I'm handcuffed to my generator and am standing in a nicely salted puddle with house slippers, that might be different.

You want a shock. Go take a shower in my shower, built on slab and touch the metal knobs. Tingle current. Something that has happened since the house was new in 73, and an army of utility guys (and Injuneers) found nothing wrong. Went away with massive grounding on my part and now returned when Ontario Hydro replaced my Transformer half a year ago on account of PCBs. Weird!

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I ran across an interesting PTO generator video on YouTube. This is an old IH PTO generator. I think it's rated 13.5 kw continuous 3 phase, or about 4k single phase. I have thought about shopping for a used 3 phase generator like this because 3 phase shop equipment is a lot cheaper than single phase. The voltage regulator is really simple and good enough for non-critical work. The description of that starts around 20:45