Generator 15KW PTO Generator Harbor Freight

[Soundguy]

So.. you just want to argue? or help the guy. I'm voting for helping the guy.

but if you want to argue. ????

 

[SPYDERLK]

So.. you just want to argue? or help the guy. I'm voting for helping the guy.

but if you want to argue. ????

I have just stated the points explicitly. Im thinking that is the best way to help. :confused3:
larry

 

[Soundguy]

In 14 pages.. it's been covered.

 

[brewdog]

Would you mind summarizing your findings? My take: for 15 KW (I need 7500 watts for just the hot water heater!), a PTO generator is much cheaper, is driven by a robust, economical engine that sees regular use, requires no additional maintenance or volatile fuel, and is easy to move to where power is needed, but must be attached in potentially poor conditions and ties up the tractor which is relatively noisy at the rated RPM (some of the best counterarguments I've seen are here). Thanks![/QUOTE]

BjmSams,
I don't use my generator to run my Hot water tank. You must have a whopper at 7500 watts. Our tank is 4,500 watts. Either way, I will heat my water on the stove during the outage period. Having my water well pumping is far more important than hot water. The water that's in the tank will stay hot for a full day. I can run my generator for 8 hours on a tank of gasoline. Personally I don't give a hoot about fuel and cost during an outage. I will deal with it. I don't like the idea of having my tractor tied up during an outage. During one outage, I had to put my Back Hoe on to dig out a plugged drain so we didn't flood. We have learned to deal with inconveniences. I don't have any more findings. My furnace and well are the most important. Everything else is comfort not survival.

 

[Soundguy]

That's the issue with most of these threads.

the people that are against the use of a tractor mounted pto gen are of the mind set that once you hook that pto shaft up to that generator that the tractor becomes an immoble lump of metal that is 100% incapable of moving untill the emergency is over, and must run 24/7

Both are bad assumptions.

1, as most of us know that have actually been thru extended ouutages.. yuo rarely run a genny 24/7.. and usually much, much less.

If you practice good refer etiquette and don't stare in the door of the open fridge for 30m while you think about what you want to eat.. it will actually stay cool realy really well!

powering up the genny 3 times a day for an hour at a time is plenty to keep the refer cold, and for rationed water use, you can use that time to pump up the well, and here is what we did. of the 3 hrs ( max.. usually a bit less ). run time.. we used 2 of those 1 hr blocks to run watr as needed. baths.. dishes.. some clothes washing, before the gen went off. all water topped off at the pump.. in drinking coolers, and a tub poured for emergency use.

the last hour run was for the hot water heater to heat up that pumped up tank.

we had no problem with 3 seperate hours of run time keeping the reefer cool.

heck.. after a few days in that ear 2 week outtage the perishible food was gone in 3 days anyway.. as you learn to eat all that first anyway...

that leaves 21 hours the tractor does not have to be 'useless' like plowing snow.. or digging up trees, digging drainage.. etc.

if you live in an area where you will freeze to death in a couple hours without utility power.. then i'd reccomend a dedicated alternate power source FULL TIME available. maybee a wood stove. or a household genset ).

If you are on life support equipment.. .. the same reccomendation. IE. if you need 24.7 power to stay alive. get a permanent install setup. the other 99.89% of people can do with breaks in power if they act wisely and conserve their resources and manage thier backup power generation capability.

During the florida hurricane festival in 04 and 05, pto gens ran my house and my stepfathers house for right at 2 weeks. we rationed fuel and ran them as needed. we also had use of the tractors the other 87.5% of the time as needed. IE. dragging downed trees out of the drive and off the local road.

Nothing other than foot or bike traffic could get within a mile of my parents house due to large oaks down over most of the roads in our rural city and sourounding county area. When i went over there. i literally had to park on a roadside ( like many others! ) and walk 35-45m to get to my parents house to setup thier pto gen on their tractor.

Made due... no freezing weather.. but flooding and wind damage was all around you.

 

[alco141]

That's the issue with most of these threads.

the people that are against the use of a tractor mounted pto gen are of the mind set that once you hook that pto shaft up to that generator that the tractor becomes an immoble lump of metal that is 100% incapable of moving untill the emergency is over, and must run 24/7

Both are bad assumptions.

1, as most of us know that have actually been thru extended ouutages.. yuo rarely run a genny 24/7.. and usually much, much less.

If you practice good refer etiquette and don't stare in the door of the open fridge for 30m while you think about what you want to eat.. it will actually stay cool realy really well!

powering up the genny 3 times a day for an hour at a time is plenty to keep the refer cold, and for rationed water use, you can use that time to pump up the well, and here is what we did. of the 3 hrs ( max.. usually a bit less ). run time.. we used 2 of those 1 hr blocks to run watr as needed. baths.. dishes.. some clothes washing, before the gen went off. all water topped off at the pump.. in drinking coolers, and a tub poured for emergency use.

the last hour run was for the hot water heater to heat up that pumped up tank.

we had no problem with 3 seperate hours of run time keeping the reefer cool.

heck.. after a few days in that ear 2 week outtage the perishible food was gone in 3 days anyway.. as you learn to eat all that first anyway...

that leaves 21 hours the tractor does not have to be 'useless' like plowing snow.. or digging up trees, digging drainage.. etc.

if you live in an area where you will freeze to death in a couple hours without utility power.. then i'd reccomend a dedicated alternate power source FULL TIME available. maybee a wood stove. or a household genset ).

If you are on life support equipment.. .. the same reccomendation. IE. if you need 24.7 power to stay alive. get a permanent install setup. the other 99.89% of people can do with breaks in power if they act wisely and conserve their resources and manage thier backup power generation capability.

During the florida hurricane festival in 04 and 05, pto gens ran my house and my stepfathers house for right at 2 weeks. we rationed fuel and ran them as needed. we also had use of the tractors the other 87.5% of the time as needed. IE. dragging downed trees out of the drive and off the local road.

Nothing other than foot or bike traffic could get within a mile of my parents house due to large oaks down over most of the roads in our rural city and sourounding county area. When i went over there. i literally had to park on a roadside ( like many others! ) and walk 35-45m to get to my parents house to setup thier pto gen on their tractor.

Made due... no freezing weather.. but flooding and wind damage was all around you.

i have to agree with your take on this, a small pto generator that is attached to the three point can be move around while you plow or do other things, it does not have to be taken off and on, if you worry about moisture wrap it in a tarp, unwrap when you want to reconnect. it will give you some counterweight to the loader also. yes you don't need to run 24 hrs a day. i keep 4 deep cycle batteries along with a 3000 watt inverter to handle power needs when the generator is off. just disconnect the high power items it will run my furnace for 4- 6 hours or so depending. disconnect the motor loads like pumps,refrig./freezers, recharge the batteries when the generator is running, you get max use of your fuel and min run time on the generator and tractor, i just keep the batteries on a fully automatic battery charger all the time so they are always fully charged. the advantage of this system is that your wife can turn on the inverter and plug it in to the transfer switch with minimal hassle, she can run the house for a while if you are away, easily.

as far as voltage regulation i would set the generator with no load on 61.5 hz on the frequency meter, add the load and it would settle down to 59.5-60.2 depending even when the well pump cycled, so regulation is not that hard with the bid diesel motor and gear reduction giving you a tremendous torque advantage. i had a 25 kw pto generator, ran it with my 19 hp pto tractor, it ran fine and gave me reliable power, a friend of mine needed the generator badly for his business, i sold it to him, i have been looking at the harbor freight unit.

 

[bjmsam]

I don't use my generator to run my Hot water tank. You must have a whopper at 7500 watts. Our tank is 4,500 watts. Either way, I will heat my water on the stove during the outage period. Having my water well pumping is far more important than hot water. The water that's in the tank will stay hot for a full day. I can run my generator for 8 hours on a tank of gasoline. Personally I don't give a hoot about fuel and cost during an outage. I will deal with it. I don't like the idea of having my tractor tied up during an outage. During one outage, I had to put my Back Hoe on to dig out a plugged drain so we didn't flood. We have learned to deal with inconveniences. I don't have any more findings. My furnace and well are the most important. Everything else is comfort not survival.

My 240 VAC hot water heater is on a 30 amp breaker, hence my earlier 7500 watt estimate, but the label indicates two 4500 watt elements that add up to... 4500 watts, like yours. Thanks for offering your perspective; I certainly appreciate how needing to use the backhoe could make powering the entire house with the tractor less than convenient.

Thanks for the informative thread! We lost power for three days last week and this PTO genset looks like a great way to avoid a repeat of that experience (too bad I missed the recent sale - $1119.99!). Would those of you who have owned it for a while please provide an update?

Anyone?

 

[Soundguy]

yep. too many think adding a pto generator to a tractor turns it into a permanent immobile structure. Guess they don't realize that if it takes 5m to slide and hook a pto shaft.. and hookup whatever 3pt or drawbar pins.. that the EXACT same is true. 5 minutes to UNHOOK.

 

[bjmsam]

yep. too many think adding a pto generator to a tractor turns it into a permanent immobile structure. Guess they don't realize that if it takes 5m to slide and hook a pto shaft.. and hookup whatever 3pt or drawbar pins.. that the EXACT same is true. 5 minutes to UNHOOK.

Surely it's the backhoe rather than the generator that makes frequent attachment changes unattractive to brewdog. In my case, the other implement would merely be a blade for plowing out, so even five minutes is generous. I accept that PTO generators are more appropriate for some than others; it seems like a good option for me, so I am eager to hear from those who have experience with this particular model before I pull the trigger in case there is a compelling reason to consider alternatives such as the Winco.

 

[Soundguy]

now the BACKHOE.. that's the attachment i see as tieing up a tractor indefinately.

It's a huge counterweigth that only digd..


I put a hoe on a 'spare' tractor. it otherwise turns a utility tractor into a dedicated machine. IE.. TLB or TB..e tc...