Generator PTO generator feedback

[CamshaftLF]

I have a tiger power 10k it runs everything the house and garage,and a well pump, have it mounted in the garage, have a small door made that i take off and back the bota up to it and hook the drive shaft up and a way we go. longest i'v been with out power is 6 to 7 hrs. love it wouldn have anything else. as for worrying about the tractor coming apart there that chance but very rare one unless it a very old machine all of the compacts are very reliable mine is 13 yrs old and doesn't use any oil. as for the gen it has all the electric bells and whistles. its your money what ever u decide i will be happy for you !!!!

 

[Earl Ohl]

I have a tiger power 10k it runs everything the house and garage,and a well pump, have it mounted in the garage, have a small door made that i take off and back the bota up to it and hook the drive shaft up and a way we go. longest i'v been with out power is 6 to 7 hrs. love it wouldn have anything else. as for worrying about the tractor coming apart there that chance but very rare one unless it a very old machine all of the compacts are very reliable mine is 13 yrs old and doesn't use any oil. as for the gen it has all the electric bells and whistles. its your money what ever u decide i will be happy for you !!!!

I also have a Tiger Power. Mine's a 15 KW. Messick's sells them, but I got mine from Eckroth in Orwigsburg, Pa. Messick has a good detailed description of them on their website.

I really believe that most of the guys that post negatively on PTO generators don't have one, never did have one, and never used one. That's just my opinion based on some of the comments I've read on TBN over the past few years.

I also have a stand-alone portable generator, an Arctic Cat 4.5 KW. I know you can't compare it to a 15 KW. But it is more of a PITA than it is good. You'd better get ALL the gas out of it after each use. You'd better have FRESH gas when you want to use it. Stabil helps, but it seems not as good as it did years ago. Maybe it's the gas we're getting nowadays. Another thing is where (how far) do you go to get gas when the power is off. We don't have any stations in our township anymore. I have oil heat (275 gallon tank) and have a 55 gallon drum filled for tractor use and so have plenty of fuel for the tractor.

We have an event here that we do each year called "A Night in the Country". The Ambulance Corps, Fire Companies, local businesses, & charitable groups set up fund-raising & informational stands. They use portable generators for lighting. This is one place a stand-alone generator is good for IF YOU CAN GET IT TO START! You should see some of these people when theirs won't start. Small gas engines, especially ones that don't get used & maintained regularly can be a problem when you need them.

I've been around & operated several stand-alone generators over the years (almost 51 years old) & none have impressed me. On many of them the lights flicker & they don't seem to put out good "clean" power. That's just what I've seen over the years.

On the Tiger Power PTO generator I have, I can't tell the difference if I'm on Met-Ed or the generator except for the fact that I can hear the tractor running.

 

[RickB]

I really believe that most of the guys that post negatively on PTO generators don't have one, never did have one, and never used one. That's just my opinion based on some of the comments I've read on TBN over the past few years.


On the Tiger Power PTO generator I have, I can't tell the difference if I'm on Met-Ed or the generator except for the fact that I can hear the tractor running.

A man after my own heart.
There's a lot of guys here willing/able to throw a lot more money at infrequent power outages than I ever will. My Winpower PTO unit and manual DPDT transfer switch serves me very, very well when I need it.

 

[Earl Ohl]

A man after my own heart.
There's a lot of guys here willing/able to throw a lot more money at infrequent power outages than I ever will. My Winpower PTO unit and manual DPDT transfer switch serves me very, very well when I need it.

Thanks Rick. Your post reminds me of another thing. No matter which type generator you have, it's important to have the proper transfer switch. It may save someone from an electrocution.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I was very close to buying a pto genny but opted for a Troy Built stand alone unit. I am glad I did. Its 8550 watt and runs our well pump, propane furnace, and all the lights, micro, stove, dish washer, washing machine but no dryer, ect we need. It ran once for 8 days strait for just shutdowns every 2nd day to change the oil. Oil change recommendation was every 50 hours. It has also been used for a 6 day outage, a 3 day outage, and 6 or so 1 day outages. It has burnt 9 gallons a day no matter what I was doing. The trick for me is having fuel on hand.

The first big outage we had in 2005 was 8 days and I only had 20 gallons of gas. I had to drive 2 hours to find fuel. Same thing the next day but that time I took a 55 gallon drum and filled it. I now keep about 100 gallons on hand and if I do not use it in 6 months or so I run it though the cars and trucks and buy fresh.

Chris

 

[SPYDERLK]

I put my NorthStar 12/13kW PTO gen on a pressure washer cart with pneumatic tires, and rigged the cart for 3ph use. I store the assembly inside and roll it out to the tractor when needed. Plenty of fully portable power for general farm use. The only time any planning is necessary is compressor startup while doing hi amp welding.... Or if I run it on Mighty Mouse which only has 10PTOHP.
larry

 

[gerard]

Have you ever run out of fuel on diesel engine? That is the thing I would worry about using tractor as a drive for a generator. It is a big hustle to restart after refueling. Or is it not? Never happened to me but read about the procedure somewhere on TBN.
Otherwise for field use or occasional usage during power outages tractor driven generator is fine. If you could add low fuel shutoff I don't see a problem. Just an opinion.

Fule usage is fairly steady when running on constant load and rpm so you have a good idea when you need to refuel. No reason to run out of fuel BUT if you do, it's not a big deal to get er going again. My wife ran mine dry once. Had to crack the bleed valve on the fuel filter until fuel ran out and I think I did the same with one of the injectors at the end of the fuel line, then cranked it over. Runs a little rough at first until all the air's purged but it wasn't as hard as I thought.

 

[JB4310]

I've got a 10KW from IMD which advertises here on TBN but their link doesn't work?

Of course we haven't lost power since so no real world experience, did do some heavy load testing and found it does require some attention to deal with varrying loads.
We never really lose power for very long, in my whole life the longest we lost power for was maybe 2 days and that was 30 years ago.
But for me it was more for piece of mind.

The main criteria for me was it had to be oil fired since I always have heating oil on hand.

I got mine with the 3pt frame, and with QH it would be a simple hook-up.

JB.

 

[Dead Horse]

I am going to hazard a guess that much depends on how you use the genny as to if the PTO version is best or not.

I have a relatively small genny, 6500 watts. It has a honda engine with an automatic "throttle control" for when the load drops. I keep it in the garage right next to the GenTran outlet. When we lose power, even the bride can open the garage door, wheel the unit outside, plug in the extension cord and fire it up. It is an electric start, gasoline engine. The GenTran switch is in the basement next to the power panel, and it is stupid proof.

We have power outages often enough in the white mountains of NH that the fuel in this thing remains pretty fresh, (plus the tank is sealed). I keep the battery on a trickle charge and it has not let me down in ten years of use.

My tractors are in the barns, no closer than 1/2 mile from the house. My bride is not and "outdoor gal" and operating a tractor is not on her top 100 things to learn how to do, let alone rigging up a PTO genny.

Finally, we often lose power because of a storm........ in that case my boys are ususlly busy wth other chores and can just be standing around running a genny.

On occasions I have needed the genny to be someplace else... the fact that it is self contained and on wheels makes that a **** of a lot easier than if it was PTO driven.

For this family, a honda motor driven, somewhat portable genny was the right choice. Plus it is so big and heavy you don't have every deadbeat bumming neighbor asking to borrow it.

 

[whistlepig]

Is it OK to get these PTO generators wet while they are running? Could you leave the tractor and generator running out in the rain?