Generator fuel usage... Big vs Small

[aczlan]

So, still thinking of generators. I have come up with some pie in the sky load numbers and am debating what size generator will be needed.

Lets say that based on the last year or two of power bills, the house averages 4kw of power used, but the winter months average 6-7kw and wost case peak load (multiple things starting while the electric hot water heater is running) is 15kw.

Would I be better off getting a 10-12kw genset, or something bigger like one of the 20-30kw ones I see which run about the same price?
I would prefer to avoid underloading it and wetstacking the engine, but if I can get a little extra headroom, I would like to.

As I mentioned before, my priorities (in approximate order of importance) are:
1. Easy to use - My wife or inlaws need to be able to run it without any extra fussing
2. Diesel - I have had enough of messing with gas and we will have a diesel tank to fuel the tractors with anyway.
3. Reliable - When the power goes out, it needs to work (see 1 and 2)
4. 7-10k - Needs to run the house (no electric heat/cooking, but possibly some window AC units)
5. Parts available - I see lots of "Apache" generators and they look nice, but I worry about parts availability 5 years down the road. The Aurora ones also look nice, but I also wonder about parts availability with their units that are in my price range
6. Repeatable - I will probbaly end up setting up something like this for my inlaws once I get the bugs worked out
7. Water cooled - No mouse nests in the engine cooling fins to cook the head
8. 1800 rpms - Would be nice, but not a top priority with a good genset
9. Quiet - Sound levels are a not a top priority as this will probbaly be in the detached garage of the new place (single car garage across the driveway from the house) with a secondary muffler and a CO2 alarm.
10. Cost - I dont want to break the bank with this, but it would be worth a few grand to not have to worry about the power going out.

Thanks

Aaron Z

 

[ragkar]

It seems that every one that's thinking of getting a generator wants a whole house, auto-start, auto switch runs forever with no maintenance unit. They lose track of the fact that an outage is an emergency situation that you only need survive with no damage.
So what is a couple rooms are without power for the duration. So what if the yard lights don't work.
Worst case - a winter evening with snow and high winds and sub-freezing temperatures. the outage lasts a couple hours to three or four days. for the longer duration you need stored fuel and the bigger the generator, the more you will need. And it's likely that the corner gas station also has no power for the pumps.
So your minimum needs are powering the water pump, furnace, refridgerator, sewage, some cooking (not necessarily the range and oven - I've done well heating stew on the top of my kerosene heater) and maybe lights in a few rooms including one bathroom.
Why don't you go here - Electric Generators Direct - Your Portable Generator and Home Standby Generator Superstore - Power Generators, Gas Generators, Home Generators, Backup Generators, Electric Generator, Portable Generators, Power Generator, Gas Generator, Emergency Gene and look into their advice.

Personally I use a 5.5KWH battery start, manual transfer switch with three days of fuel. It doesn't power the whole house but it works for me.