Generator Selection?

[workinonit]

If that building is going to be conditioned you could partially fill it otherwise condensation is not your friend. If you have a diesel tractor or some other equipment you could put a pump on the 200 gal tank and use it to fill your equipment when it has been sitting for a while. Then refill it.

 

[Rustyiron]

I think I've talked myself into only filling it 100g and treating that. I have 2 other 275 g tanks around with fuel oil or off road in it anyway.
And no, there's a block heater in that unit and there's no other purpose for that little building, just a generous space all around the generator for any service or maintenance.:thumbsup:

 

[Industrial Toys]

As far as additives. Really, I have become more obsessed about adding lubricity to prolong the life of my injector pumps. That and extreme cold additive to individual equipment fuel tanks.

 

[LouNY]

There are several biocides on the market all that I have used have appeared to work.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Sawyer, you know we differ on that. Not so much the hours, I couldn't sleep knowing my tractor was running, and as for my old JD 770, full bore, throttle pulled right back, to run my old Onan 15K pto set, perfectly.

Choose "wisely" grasshopper, obviously you didn't!

SR

 

[Industrial Toys]

A failure can occur on pretty much anything. I elected to abandon the whole 3ph thing. Although I still think a Diesel powered tractor/pto set is desireable over a gas generator in prolonged outage situations. Just someone has to sit on the tractor all night. lol

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A failure can occur on pretty much anything. I elected to abandon the whole 3ph thing. Although I still think a Diesel powered tractor/pto set is desireable over a gas generator in prolonged outage situations. Just someone has to sit on the tractor all night. lol

What you meant to say is, YOU have to sit on your tractor all night... The rest of us go to bed and sleep comfortable... lol

SR

 

[Industrial Toys]

Good job for Wifey. Just tell her not to touch anything. lol

Isn't running a PTO set unattended like running ones tractor, taping over the gauges, not being able to detect smoke and no being able to hear what's going on? I kind of think so. I did have the hydraulics quit for no reason on another tractor running this same generator. Sheit happens.

 

[grsthegreat]

Well, no matter what generator i have, i dont run it when im sleeping anyways. Stupid power went out today again, not sure why. But it only lasted 45 minutes. No wind, nice fall day. Weird.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I know my energy demands are very low at night. Fridge and freezer mostly. But I do like to have access to all normal lighting, electronics and so forth. Of course, to run a PTO set or other larger unit for that is out of the question.

And although I easily have the capability, I have no interest or use of a generator and transfer switch coming on when I'm not here.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Isn't running a PTO set unattended like running ones tractor, taping over the gauges, not being able to detect smoke and no being able to hear what's going on? I kind of think so. I did have the hydraulics quit for no reason on another tractor running this same generator. Sheit happens.

Speaking of sheit, big farmers here run their sheit pit pumps, with their tractors unattended, just like some run water irrigation pumps unattended and other jobs too.

I guess I chose wisely, I have never had even one problem running any tractor unattended...

SR

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not sure some operators wouldn't have murphy shut down gauges.

As far as choosing wisely, as far as getting a compact back in 98, there wasn't much out there. In fact, I beleive it was at least a decade longer before you could even get a factory cab on a compact JD.

 

[LouNY]

Good job for Wifey. Just tell her not to touch anything. lol

Isn't running a PTO set unattended like running ones tractor, taping over the gauges, not being able to detect smoke and no being able to hear what's going on? I kind of think so. I did have the hydraulics quit for no reason on another tractor running this same generator. Sheit happens.

Not hardly, I have enough confidence in my tractors that many of them have run unattended for many hours at a time,
some of that on pto generators.
And they will again when the power goes out.

 

[ponytug]

I have used several different biocides for diesel, and I think the major ones all work. You might want to consider a small fuel pump and a filter set to continuously, or more reasonably periodically, filter your fuel. If you make your prefilter one that is a water block, you can help get water out of the fuel, and then run it over a fine filter. (Put the water block filter before the pump to keep the pump from emulsifying the water.) Your engine will appreciate it.

Personally, I like to keep my diesel tanks full to limit condensate issues, but YMMV.

If you plan to use your generator in the winter, I would recommend a block heater, oil heater, or an air intake heater. Any one of them reduce the startup load, and increase the reliability of your setup, which is the point, right? The first two will help keep things warm, which also reduces condensate issues...

One thing not to do is use biodiesel in a tank that isn't going to be used for awhile, e.g. a standby generator. Algae and bacteria grow way too easily in biodiesel.

That is a beautiful looking shed.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Rustyiron]

One thing not to do is use biodiesel in a tank that isn't going to be used for awhile, e.g. a standby generator. Algae and bacteria grow way too easily in biodiesel.

That is a beautiful looking shed.

All the best,

Peter

Luckily I read that line about 4 times, avoiding embarasment. The first 3 times my brain read it as bioCIDE instead of bioDIESEL.:laughing: It does have a water heater that I'll wire into a thermostat to turn on at freezing or there about. I don't believe that I'll need any more heaters, oil, air. I do like the idea of an auxiliary fuel pump and filtering system to do periodically.
Thanks for the comments.

 

[Diggin It]

Which version do I want for gas pipe routing? I'm leaning towards #2, though #3 would take a couple less black pipe fittings. Only things in the house that use gas are are burners (furnace, stove, wall heater), no other engines where debris would matter much. Haven't had a problem there in all these years.

 

[RoyKing]

None

At the first T the down leg is the trap, the up leg is then T for gen and house

 

[ultrarunner]

Are Blue Tooth enabled generators with CO sensors problematic?

Just thinking of running a water pump on a genset with heavy smoke in a wildfire situation and tripping CO shutdown???

 

[grsthegreat]

Are Blue Tooth enabled generators with CO sensors problematic?

Just thinking of running a water pump on a genset with heavy smoke in a wildfire situation and tripping CO shutdown???

Never thought about that, but i could see an issue. They are just trying to stop the idiot that runs it indoors.

 

[ponytug]

Being in the midst of some severe smoke at the moment, I can say that unless the flames are on your generator, it won't be an issue. Our AQI is 220+ at the moment, and the CO monitor is still zero.

All the best,

Peter