Cheap Generator

[brin]

Maybe I need to revise my description a bit - a long term generator solution is not in this year's budget. No way, no how. I think a long term would be several kV and run off the propane tank we'll have for the range.

I'm definitely thinking used. New and cheap means big box crap construction and I'd rather have a rusty old thing that was built well than a newly painted, heavily stickered piece of junk. Hence my hope of there being a "Ford 8N" of used generators.

My need for emergency power is to run the well pump and septic pump. That's it. I want to something on hand to do this for a couple of years. Knock on wood, but it's not common for us to have power outages and thankfully I live on a major road and underground run to the house so I suspect service issues would be addressed quickly. I might drag it out a couple of times a year to help keep it from going stale by running an electric power tool out on the property.

So my options are no generator at all or a $300 generator. Or sell the tractor to buy a proper genset and transfer switch.

I hear about these PTO generators but I rarely see them. The ones I've seen run a few thousand dollars. I'd be happy to use the tractor for now but are there old/cheap/small PTO powered generators to be found?

You have a tractor so put an ad in your local Craigs list for a PTO driven Generator wanted...any size...I did that a couple of yrs. ago and bought a 20KW Genrac PTO generator with a 40Kw surge for $250.00 from an old lady whose husband had used it for his chicken houses and had passed away...It works great....Good Luck

 

[grsthegreat]

you need to find what the start up amperage draw of the well is. That will determine minimum generator size. I just ran the figures on a well here in Idaho, and a 7,500 kw would barely work it. They opted for a 10KW. These are not cheap.

 

[Western]

Thanks, I've seen a couple of these for sale on CL.

I've also seen Colemans for sale, but my experience with Coleman is that all Coleman products are built as poorly as a Black and Decker.

David

I have to agree 100% on BD and Coleman, they (at least coleman) used to be a great name. I know the Champions have a great rep among RR'ers and they rely on them allot.


I had a 20k in a hatching facility in the 90's and back then I was in over 10K all considered, power sure isnt cheap. I like the PTO idea, but wonder how practical it would be if your in the middle of a tragic storm?

 

[Carl_NH]

There are many generators in Harrisburg area on CL for $200 to 400 range - here is one Troybilt 5500 W 8500 starting.Troy bilt generator

We ran our 1.5 HP sub water pump (22 Amps starting 10 running) on a 5700/7500 generator along with lights sump pump, fridge. We have a fairly large drawdown of 28 gallons so I would selectively turn off the heavy loads (sump pump and fridge) when needing to run the pump for water then turn it off when there was low demand for water.

We upgraded to a 8500 running 10000 starting last year that handles all the loads now, and I sold the old genset to a neighbor for $500

So unless you have a very large pump, a 5500 watt running will handle the loads you are looking at.

Carl

 

[newbury]

Harbor Freight 212cc,6.5 HP air-cooled OHV gas engine on sale for $340 today.

 

[xtruckerbob]

If you need big power cheap search Government Surplus Auctions at Government Liquidation used 5kw to 60kw genset sell as auction priecs. My friend bought a 30kw for $600 with less than 200 hours on it and it runs great. But as with any auction you will need to check out the items you are intrested in.

 

[dave1949]

I'll come up with the specs on the well pump. In my mind I hadn't pictured it being a major consumer but it's probably true it will be very peaky and startup current may be severe.

David

Is it a deep well submersible pump, or a shallow well jet pump? There would be a big difference in power needed. Both pumps are probably on their own circuit, so the breaker amperage ratings are a good place to start.

 

[aczlan]

If you need big power cheap search Government Surplus Auctions at Government Liquidation used 5kw to 60kw genset sell as auction priecs. My friend bought a 30kw for $600 with less than 200 hours on it and it runs great. But as with any auction you will need to check out the items you are intrested in.

There is one for $300 here: army generator 3KW if you get the actual model number, there are various people who can get you the full specs on them (SteelSoldiers.com and SmokStak.com would be where I would start).

See also: harrisburg all for sale / wanted classifieds "generator" - craigslist

Aaron Z

 

[dgeesaman]

Is it a deep well submersible pump, or a shallow well jet pump? There would be a big difference in power needed. Both pumps are probably on their own circuit, so the breaker amperage ratings are a good place to start.

I'm glad I checked the breaker box - it's a 20A / 240v power for the well pump. Technically that's 4800 Watts maximum, although I have to expect that there is a fair amount of headroom on that circuit. I think 5kW is not a problem, but 5kW / 240V may be the challenge.

Without going down into the well, I suspect the best way to get a true power requirement reading is to borrow a power quality meter from work and log the inrush current when the well pump kicks on.

David

 

[RalphVa]

Got one at 4 kw that I'd sell to you for $300. Ain't shipping it from Va to Pa though. It used to power our family room and 2 kitchens (frig in each and 2 freezers) and master bedroom and well pump. Trouble is we had to keep the well pump off until water pressure dropped. Then turn everyth6ing off until pump built up water pressure again. Then turn it off and everything else back on. Used it that way for about 7 years when we had power failures. Just started it the other day. It started up right away after I jumped the battery. It had gone dead even on battery tender. Have a 12.5 kw diesel one now that is whole house.

There are starting capacitors that you can put on your pumps that'll reduce their starting amperage considerably, but, of course, you likely have to pull them to do this. Did this to our one heat pump that we put on the generator.

Ralph