hurricane/power/KUBOTA

[skipperbrown]

Well after living through several hurricanes over the past 2 years and being w/o power for up to 11 days, let me say this about that: I recommend buying a dedicated generator (or 2) for generator duties during a power outage for the 3 following reasons.

One, you and your neighbors are going to need your tractor for cleanup. It won't be available for cleanup if it is running your freezer, fridge, and a/c. My bx ran 14 to 16 hours a day after Ivan moving huge amounts of debris, not to mention help lifting tar paper, shingles, and personnel up on roofs. My wife even said, gee, hon, I don't know how we would have ever got this place cleaned up w/o that little tractor.

Want to make friends in a hurry during a disaster? Buy a tractor w/ a fel. And as an added bonus, since you are tractor owner, you get to run the tractor while everybody else does the hard work w/ chain saws and lifting.

Two: Your tractor will run many hours unattended w/o an operator present while running a generator. Most generators have auto shutdowns if something goes wrong like low oil. I don't think our tractors are that smart. I know a lot of farmers run pumps and pond aerators and such off unattended tractors, but I'm not comfortable with the notion.

Three: After Ivan, I ran a 7500 watt generator about 20 hours a day for 11 days. I'd rather put those hours on another engine.

 

[TGD]

A good average for sizing the prime mover (pto, engine etc.) is 2 hp per kw.
Depending upon the mass of the generator and the rotating mass of the prime mover, you probably can get away with lower hp.
Calculating it out 28 hp would power a 14kw head. A 15kw is ok and gives some additional surge capacity but you probably won't be able to max it out. I think you should be able to run most everything needed though.

As an example, I have a generator I built from an old Wisconsin THD and a ST12 kw generator head (heavy 350 lb cast iron 4-pole) I can start and run both central a/c units, well pump, refrigerator, lights, etc. without a problem. Both the engine and the generator have a high rotating mass which helps it through heavy starting loads.

Phil

 

[RonR]

Skipper,

Gas / Diesel engines that run large generators or irrigation motors have auto-shutdown systems, called murphy switches, that kill the engine when oil pressure drops or temperature rises.

You can put them on large tractors, and my guess on compacts as well.

If I were going to run a tractor very long unattended, I'd look into getting these.

I know some farmers put them on their ag tractors in case their hired help doesn't pay attention to the gages.

Ron

 

[cart99]

What size generator could a B7800 handle effiiciently? Just how much power do you think it could squeeze out of say a 15kw pto genny? I think the PTO on a B7800 has somewhere around 28HP or so....

I have a B7800 and have been considering purchasing a pto generator, but would only want to do it if it could put out enough power to run my central air (4tons) and some other things when I need them. Otherwise i will wait and save up for a stand alone system.

B7800 is rated 22hp at the PTO.