groundcover
Veteran Member
Right there with you Industrial , Figure if Noah had two of everything I should have four !
Propane Whole House Generators, Warning.
- Thread starter Industrial Toys
- Start date
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I agree with the guy. Propane is convenient, but an expensive fuel. No storage issues like gasoline, but price and btus per gallon can cost a lot, and may require a big tank. I have a 10 kw diesel which burns about 1/3 gal/hour average running my house on an extended outage. No storage issues with diesel.
paul
paul
OP
Industrial Toys
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The last time I was at my Ex GF, mothers place up the Bruce Peninsula, I looked at her B&S Propane all-house system. Engine would attempt start, and shut down for overspeed. Guys that installed it are not interested in looking at it. Nor am I. I know things break, but it's new, never been used other than excercise. Just more "fancy" consumer junk if you ask me, and a standby system should be at least a little beyond that. All these things had fancy LED indicators for faults, then LED numbers and now LCD displays. All this fancy stuff costing very little, but no effort made to make them higher in quality! And all this fancy stuff to be, obsolete and unavailable even sooner, I bet!
coobie
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Keep that thought.Laffin...
Diggin It
Super Star Member
I don't watch videos, but from some of the comments, it looks like it deals with things I've thought about.
When we set up an emergency services building a few years back, we had long discussions about LP vs Diesel. The though was that LP had to be delivered by limited companies. If the roads were damaged or closed for any reason, those trucks wouldn't be able to run. Then we weren't sure if their pumping facilities to fill the trucks would work.
With diesel, being in a rural/Ag area, we figured most everybody close by had a supply on hand we could commandeer if necessary. And we knew we could gravity feed out of those tanks one way or another if necessary.
When we set up an emergency services building a few years back, we had long discussions about LP vs Diesel. The though was that LP had to be delivered by limited companies. If the roads were damaged or closed for any reason, those trucks wouldn't be able to run. Then we weren't sure if their pumping facilities to fill the trucks would work.
With diesel, being in a rural/Ag area, we figured most everybody close by had a supply on hand we could commandeer if necessary. And we knew we could gravity feed out of those tanks one way or another if necessary.
3Ts
Elite Member
I only watched part of the video. It sounds to me like he's complaining about the company that installed it. Poor service, can't get parts, don't really care about their customers, and it doesn't sound like the generator and fuel tank were sized properly.
I have a propane generator - Generac 22kw. It's more than I need, but I'll leave that for another thread. I considered diesel since I have a diesel truck and tractors. I also did the fuel consumption calculations and got a 1000 gallon tank. I also had it buried which all but one of the propane companies did not want to do. Most wanted me to use a 250 gal rented tank. (Only 60% in a tank is readily available, with a 20% reserve totaling 80% of rated tank capacity. If you run out, the whole system has to be leak checked again before filling.) One company had never buried a tank but was willing to figure out what needed to be done to do it. They got the job.
I have a propane generator - Generac 22kw. It's more than I need, but I'll leave that for another thread. I considered diesel since I have a diesel truck and tractors. I also did the fuel consumption calculations and got a 1000 gallon tank. I also had it buried which all but one of the propane companies did not want to do. Most wanted me to use a 250 gal rented tank. (Only 60% in a tank is readily available, with a 20% reserve totaling 80% of rated tank capacity. If you run out, the whole system has to be leak checked again before filling.) One company had never buried a tank but was willing to figure out what needed to be done to do it. They got the job.
Stimw
Elite Member
Seems like the guy did his research AFTER he bought the system!
I have had to go 12 days in August, Florida heat without power after a storm so I know a few things about generators.
I used a 5.6 kw gen that used 1/2 gal an hour and I had to go 15 miles for gas.
I now have that generator and a Honda EU 2000. The Honda will run 8 hours on a gallon of gas!
I only run the 5.6Kw for the well pump when needed, Honda will run 1 window AC, fridge, TV and misc as needed.
Less is more!
I have had to go 12 days in August, Florida heat without power after a storm so I know a few things about generators.
I used a 5.6 kw gen that used 1/2 gal an hour and I had to go 15 miles for gas.
I now have that generator and a Honda EU 2000. The Honda will run 8 hours on a gallon of gas!
I only run the 5.6Kw for the well pump when needed, Honda will run 1 window AC, fridge, TV and misc as needed.
Less is more!
OP
Industrial Toys
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That's still 21 Gallons if the outage is a week. We don't usually get crazy heat here. Keeping the stuff in the fridge and freezer cold IS usually the main priority.
I don't even remember when it was, the big ice storm we had with week long or so outage. A new neighbor came over, fuming because some part had failed on his new Honda.
I don't even remember when it was, the big ice storm we had with week long or so outage. A new neighbor came over, fuming because some part had failed on his new Honda.
LittleBill21
Elite Member
this post is dumb,
"i would never buy a computer controlled generator? every single inverter based generator is computer controlled including the famed Honda. every industrial level CAT generator i have delt with is computer controlled. the Higher level MEP military generators are computer controlled even their smaller inverter set.
people buy at a price point, why buy a 10k genny with low fuel consumption, if i only need it once in 5 years? even if my 500 dollar generator uses 3x times the fuel, im still saving a crap load of money.
maintenance is what it takes, nothing more nothing less
"i would never buy a computer controlled generator? every single inverter based generator is computer controlled including the famed Honda. every industrial level CAT generator i have delt with is computer controlled. the Higher level MEP military generators are computer controlled even their smaller inverter set.
people buy at a price point, why buy a 10k genny with low fuel consumption, if i only need it once in 5 years? even if my 500 dollar generator uses 3x times the fuel, im still saving a crap load of money.
maintenance is what it takes, nothing more nothing less
kenmac
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Use a B&S 5500 watt portable for my outage needs. Will run 8 hours on a tank full. about 5-6 gallons of gasoline.
Used it last month when we lost power for about 10 hrs.
Great thing about stand by generators is, they work fine until you actually need the to work ! LOL
Used it last month when we lost power for about 10 hrs.
Great thing about stand by generators is, they work fine until you actually need the to work ! LOL