John Deere 30KW liquid cooled generator

[techman]

Paul, does your 10 kw Kubota sit in your basement? Are you venting the exhaust to the outside?

NO

It is in a 12'x16' implement shed, about 50' from the house. The exhaust is vented outside the shed. I have two panels in the house so I can start it from the garage or basement. I also have a pair of lights, one in the shed, and one in the basement that are on the generator circuit so that once started I will have some light to operate the transfer switch, which is a manual one. I elected not to install an automatic transfer switch so the genset would not run for short outages and when we are not home.

paul

 

[kennyd]

The 15kw unit at my mother's house is definitely burning oil as there are no leaks anywhere. I spoke to her about it, and think I know the culprit. When I installed the unit in 2006, I told my father that he needed to change the break in oil after running it it for 4 hours at progressively increased load. Then switch to 5w30 synthetic. Well, I think the break in oil was left in it until 2008! Maybe it just needs new rings and valves?

My Generac 15kw is 6 years old with 275 hours on it, it runs as good today as the day I installed it. I did follow the break-in procedure to the letter however. I still believe the Generacs give the best bang for the buck for residential use.

 

[pclausen]

Howdy,
I had the same problem with the 400amp service situation. The transfer switch prices are crazy. I was able to work with my electric utility (Rappahannock Electric Coop). Its a special device which is connected right behind the meter. I made a posting about different transfer switches here.
generator-transfer-switch-connections
The unit says its rated at 40kw continuous and 48kw peak.

Wow, that meter base transfer switch looks like just the ticket! I left a message with an engineer at my power company about it. Hopefully that is a viable option.

 

[coobie]

Dang, Here I am researching what generator option I'm gonna choose (was leaning towards generac) and I read 3 failures just from your experience with them. Ughhh...........I'm getting on the ball with this, electrician is coming out next week for a consult and assist with sizing. I'm debating on a big portable unit @12Kw or a whole house standby. I could get by with smaller but I want central AC when needed.

We bought air cooled 17KW generac back in early 2010.It has been flawless.It has ran 4-5 days straight 24 hours a day on a couple storms that came threw.The guy who sold me and installed my gen. stated use 5W-30 full syn. oil and change your oil & filter every 40-50 hours of run time.I think proper maintience is the key to keeping the air cooled engines running proper.coobie

 

[s219]

I talked to a lot of people about generators, including a friend who lives in a remote part of Idaho. The consensus I got was to go water cooled and not look back. Brand and fuel are secondary factors. Some people were happy with their air cooled units, but I heard about a lot of failures, and also heat, wear, noise, etc... issues associated with them running at higher RPM (typically 3600rpm versus 1800rpm for water cooled units). So it really made me think water cooled was the way to go, even if the initial cost was higher.

Like techman, I am leaning towards a manual transfer switch, since we'd only use the generator for extended outages when we're home, and I would want complete control over when and how it fires up. I haven't ruled out automatic transfer, but it seems like overkill for our present and anticipated needs.

 

[meburdick]

Let me see how my math holds up here... The generator is about 15 years old. You put about 145 hours on it with period start-ups and not actual use. The remaining 205 hours was racked up during actual use. Remove the 32 hours from this year's outage, and you're averaging a little over ten hours of use every year.

For that, you're willing to drop $15,000?

For $800 a year, you could have a brand new gas-powered 8kw generator every year for the next TWENTY YEARS. Your investment seems a little out of line with what your needs actually are, unless I'm missing something REALLY obvious.

 

[Dirtball]

I am loving that 30kw Deere on the trailer for $16,000 with big fuel tank etc. I just may have to get one as backup to the backup and rent it to locals for events. Great feature is it's mobility. To respond to the post above. You can't always put a price in having RELIABLE power available. I once drove my genny 70 miles to my fathers house to keep him cool during a 3-4 day summer outage. Dad was awake and alert but confined to a hospital bed in the living room as he was riding out his remaining time under hospice care in his house, as he had asked for. I quickly backfed thru a dryer plug. And got him comfortable. I also ran a cord to a neighbors house who was a frozen meat salesman and we were able to save his samples running 3 freezers a couple hrs at a time. I always have an amperage meter handy to check my loads.

 

[pclausen]

Let me see how my math holds up here... The generator is about 15 years old. You put about 145 hours on it with period start-ups and not actual use. The remaining 205 hours was racked up during actual use. Remove the 32 hours from this year's outage, and you're averaging a little over ten hours of use every year. For that, you're willing to drop $15,000?

My current generator is not able to run my 3 and 5 ton A/C units. And as I found out over the last week with temps pushing 100 degrees, having outages in the summer with those temps more or less makes the house unlivable.

I have a need for portable power once or twice each year for having a live band down in the field, a 8kw is not enough with all the lights on the stage at night, etc. So I have been renting a tow-able 25kw diesel unit, much like the one I'm contemplating buying, which runs about $400 for the weekend. So that's $800 a summer that I would save right there.

And I have relatives around me that, like myself, have power issues on a fairly regular basis.

So those are all factors to consider. I'm not quite ready to commit to anything yet, just trying to weigh my options and get opinions on the matter.

 

[pclausen]

I went ahead and ordered a new pressure switch, air filter and foam pre-cleaner. I'll do another oil change (already have a stock of oil filters) and switch to Mobil 1 synthetic 5W30. Hopefully that will allow me to get some more live out of this one, or get it in good condition to sell towards the purchase of a new larger unit that can run everything.

Not sure if the engine is a re-badged Briggs Vanguard or not. It has a Generac label on it and the model is GN-570. 19 hp @ 3600rpm. 570cc.

I actually did not connect it to my house until spring of 2000, which was when I moved in. I purchased it new in 1996 and it was the backup generator for my ISP business until 1997 when we switched to an Onan 60Kw. I don't think we ever lost power, so I would estimate that I have put closer to 20 hours on it per year outside of the weekly exercises.

As for the 15Kw generator at my mother's place, I'll look to see if it would be worth it to replace the rings, if those are sole cause of it burning oil, or perhaps a new engine.

 

[meburdick]

I think that one thing that would be in your favor would be moving AWAY from propane-fired. While it's certainly convenient, I was pretty shocked at the rate of consumption of propane for a generator versus gas. The cost to operate was something like 35-50% higher based on fuel consumption alone (from what I recall, anyhow). It's very convenient because you can store propane long term, especially if you use it for other things at your house (like I do - gas log fireplace in the master and a propane kitchen stove/oven).