Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Just the opposite for me.

I sold my 12KW PTO generator and installed an 11 KW standalone unit, which is considerably quieter than the tractor. No surprise though, the tractor is 60 HP compared to the 18 HP of the new generator.

I have to agree though. There was something comforting about that tractor diesel sound. The wife didn't care for it much, so she is happier.

Happy Wife...... ..... we all know/value the rest of that line.....

An older friend of mine built his retirement house, a few years after standby Generacs got common up here. Went to visit the new place, and he fired up the gen outside manually. Impressive sound-deadening in those enclosures. All the mech/elec has to be designed/built well, but there is also serious Eng-time going into managing acoustics...... certainly also, in the nice, small suitcase gens we can get today.

Backup.... nice to Have Choices !

Rgds, D.

 

[5030]

I cannot hear my diesel powered Generac next to the shop which is about 250 feet from the house and why I had a set of status lights wired in and mounted on the corner of the shop so I can tell it's running.

The propane unit next to the house is quiet as well. You can barely hear it in the house when running. Generac puts an abundant amount of silencing materials in their enclosures. Though I own more than one tractor, I'd never have a pto unit simply because if we had a power failure, my wife would never be able to hook up the generator to the tractor in the first place. Far as upkeep is concerned, both units get serviced once per year in November. The way it is now, it's 100% turnkey.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Tractor & generator noise is certainly an issue for some, depending on where it needs to be located. In my case, it had to be in the driveway around 50' from the house and within reach of the main breaker panel.

My 12 KW unit was not able to power the central AC, so we had to keep the windows open in the summer months. When the wind was right, this allowed diesel exhaust to enter the house which, in combination with the noise, was quite annoying. Fortunately, most of our outages occur during the cooler months so this wasn't always an issue.

I was in the process of making modifications to the electrical system to allow the tractor / generator to be farther from the house when I decided to spend a bit more money and convert from PTO to a standalone generator.

I put the new unit in some unused space in the back of the barn and ran oversized wiring to compensate for the increased distance. I ported the exhaust through the back wall and away from the house. The new unit is now 150' away and can't be heard or smelled from the house.

 

[5030]

None of that is an issue with me and I'm very adverse to makeshift wiring anyway so when I bought my 2 Generac's I had them wired up by a certified electrician.

I'm really adverse to powering up with a home brew hookup simply because of the backfeed to the utility power issue. One of my renters is a utility employee (lineman) and he told me, backfeeding the utility power can be a death (electrocution event) for a utility worker working on the power outside.

Why both mine have breakout boxes installed that completely isolate utility power from the house and outbuildings Generac power.

Besides, it's 100% no touch, turnkey.

 

[bdhsfz6]

None of that is an issue with me and I'm very adverse to makeshift wiring anyway so when I bought my 2 Generac's I had them wired up by a certified electrician.

I'm really adverse to powering up with a home brew hookup simply because of the backfeed to the utility power issue. One of my renters is a utility employee (lineman) and he told me, backfeeding the utility power can be a death (electrocution event) for a utility worker working on the power outside.

Why both mine have breakout boxes installed that completely isolate utility power from the house and outbuildings Generac power.

Besides, it's 100% no touch, turnkey.

At one time, I was a lineman and worked for an electrician, so I totally agree.

In my state, it's against the law to back feed into the grid. I have isolation relays to prevent this which activate prior to starting the generator.

As you imply, putting together a system like this should not be attempted by someone with no electrical training.

 

[5030]

My ongoing philosophy about electricity is, no one has ever seen it but it will kill you in an instant and I don't want to be responsible for anyone's demise because of my being cheap and not paying a certified electrician to do the work.

I'd never want to be working on utility poles in bad weather anyway. My hat is off to all the people who have to do that work.

From what I observe, it's not an easy job, especially in bad weather and that is usually when we loose utility power.

Besides, I'm adverse to heights...lol

 

[WinterDeere]

My ongoing philosophy about electricity is, no one has ever seen it but it will kill you in an instant...

Not only that, but at least below a few MHz, it will hurt the entire time it's doing it.

 

[CalG]

Glad someone said this. I don’t have a PTO generator, but I’ve been reading the last several posts thinking, “what about the damn tractor noise?”

The tractor is on the outside of the building, the pto tumble bar connected through a small pass through. The Gen it's self is "indoors".

Noise is an issue on such an installation.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

I can relate to all the noise comments, we used to have a John Deere 70 (2 cylinder, Johnny popper) connected to a 15kw pto generator. Closest neighbor complained about the noise of the engine running and they lived a half mile away.
Sure loved the sound of the pop,pop,pop though. Brings back good memories!

 

[daugen]

snowstorm coming into New England, looks like some of you might have some gen hours coming.

best thing I did was put a battery backup on my sump pump so I don't have to get up in middle of night to turn
on the gen manually outside. I can roll over and try to go back to sleep though lots of beeping going on from computer UPS.