PTO Generator question

[Bansil]

Looking to pick 1 up, problem is hp rating@

7200 watt is 14 hp, that's not much better than my gas genie

12000 watt is 24 hp, this would be ideal

But my tractor is 19.5 hp, can I use the bigger one? At reduced capacity? Like 10000 watts

 

[newbury]

USUALLY you can run a PTO generator with an engine with less than the required horsepower.
For example I ran my Winco 12KW PTO generator a bit with my B7610, but only to make sure it worked.

 

[nybirdman]

Yes,it would put out what your engine is capable of.A 19.5 hp should put out 10K on a 12K Gen set or close.
My 10K PTO powers my whole house/garage/well/furnace ect.
He may peak out under high use;not a problem.

 

[Bansil]

I.figured it would work from what I was seeing.

Thanks!

I will order it and a shaft.

I thought of building a dog house for it since it will be crappy weather when it's needed,

 

[steve tym]

The generator is a load for the tractor. The more you ask of the generator (the more wattage) the harder your tractor has work. At some point your tractor won't have the balls to run the gen and the tractor will start to bog down. Then voltage (and Hz will drop). That's bad.
Be careful of the dog house, it will generate a lot of heat.

 

[Bansil]

Okay, I will check only the "critical" needs and I don't have to have the freezers on continuous, so I may go with the 7200 that's 3000watts more than we use now, and better in tractor, good info!! Thanks.

And doghouse will actually be big, wife said to get a small carport to park tractor and generator under

 

[jonsstihl]

like steve tym said, you could hook up a 25kw generator and it would work but when you get over 10kw of load you will lose rpm HZ and volts will drop and you may scrap a few electrical appliances in your house. depending what is running when the voltage drops.

I had a engine powered generator that the previous owner left with the house that ran but it seemed slow so I turned up the rpm back to the rated 3600 rpm, what I didn't know at the time was that something was wrong with the electrical part and it had been turned down to output the correct voltage but then the hz were wrong. so when I turned it up I had correct hz but my 110 volts was more like 180 volts. blew up a microwave and a few battery tender chargers before I realized what was happening. luckily the fridges, water pump, and furnace fan didn't seem to mind.

they are designed to run outside in the weather, just keep them out of the weather when they are not being used.

 

[fatjay]

I would take a look at what you're actually using. I have a 10kw wired directly into the main panel and it runs everything, but i got a meter and look at what i'm actually using, in real time, and it's not really much. The only real increases are the microwave, air fryer, etc. Even my minisplit ac unit is only 1kw, or my furnace is about 300w. My fridge and freezer are about 100w each when they're running.

I bought this to monitor my usage and it's been awesome. I have it on 24/7 sitting on my desk so I can see what I'm using.

https://www.amazon.com/Efergy-E-Max-Display-Kit/dp/B097TRZ4JM

 

[wolc123]

I got to try out my generator hookup a month ago when we lost power for 6 hours. I’ve had this little 6250 peak / 5000 steady Black Max gas engine generator for about 15 years. It’s always been a pain to drag it out during storms, and running extension cords, so I seldom did. Fortunately, we haven’t had any outages longer than 8 hours in that period.

Last winter, I picked up a 30 amp plug from Home Depot, and made up a cord so that I could run it into the 220 volt 30 amp welder outlet, out in my shop. It worked perfectly, during that 6 hour outage, easily running my freezer, (2) fridges, sump pump, several lights, and a tv in the house. I have a wood stove for heat, so I didn’t need it for heat.

I have a porch on the shop, so I could keep it out of the driving rain. It took less than 5 minutes to turn off the main and get all the needed circuits up and running. When I saw the streetlights come back on, indicating that grid power was back, reversing that process took less than 5 minutes.

It seems to me that a larger generator would be overkill for my needs, and a tractor driven pto one would more than double my outage “response time”.

 

[zzvyb6]

You (and others) presume that all the power capacity will be called on at exactly the same time (as in startup). But who actually does this ? Dryer, microwave, stove, A/C, all the garage door openers, well, etc. all waiting in the wings for you to fire it up, or do you think you could manage staging your power needs ? If you apply some common sense, that major startup load won't happen. I ran a 45 kW Winpower with a 22 h.p. Yanmar because heat and water are kinda nice in winter. Now it runs off 35 hp and the governor never complains about the load. I don't/can't run the A/C because it's on a radio controlled meter. And when the power goes out, the radio control has it shut off anyways. Plus I tend to not run the A/C for cooling in Winter.

 

[LouNY]

It is much easier to buy a larger pto generator and not need it's full capacity, then to buy a tiny one and run short of power. The larger generator will also be able to start larger motors because of it's capacity for surge loading and then it will have the inertia to carry through a heavier starting load.
I have had my 25KW pto generator for well over 25 years and while I have never needed it's full capacity it is nice to have. Especially in light of the fact that my mini-splits may be a more economical way to heat the house in the winter time and it is nice for the cooling in the summer. I have in the last couple of years come much closer to reaching full capacity.
Get both 3 ton splits running and then the water well (3/4hp) kicks on and the freezers are running and everything just cadillacs along.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I run my 15kw pto generator "mostly" with a tractor that only has 12.5 pto hp, it works just fine!

I even exercise the generator by running my welder and side grinder with it, and it works great for that too.

SR

 

[Bansil]

Right now I park my truck at the back door before storms or when power goes out, and run 4 extension cords inside for freezers, fridge and a small oil filled heater or window ac. That is powered by the inverter in the truck, truck has 3 batteries.

When diesel was $5 a gallon, a car hooked to the truck maintained the batteries just fine.



We built the stoops and deck using the same setup before we had power, with saws, drills etc. Going at same time.

I am double thinking this...ugh....the smaller one would work fine BUT the bigger one...gas construction type generators use so much fuel just for 5000w, I can easily store 100+ gallons of diesel and treat it for the tractor and "the generator "

 

[dfkrug]

Okay, I will check only the "critical" needs and I don't have to have the freezers on continuous...

As stated, full sized freezers and refers may only draw 100W or so when running. It's the startup that is difficult. My last refer needed a startup current of about 15 Amps, but only 1A when running. When firing up your genny, prob all of your large motors in the refers/freezers will try to start at once, so your initial current draw may be huge. Unless you manually turn them on one-at-a-time.

I have heard of slow-start kits to reduce the initial current draw for motors, but I have no experience with them. Others may opine.

 

[Bansil]

Just unplugging them all but one, and wait 5 min, between plugging next one in would solve that problem

 

[Bansil]

Plus, once cold, well .....they are cold so they won't be on...so the small one should be perfect. No need for stove/oven can cook outside or just warm up canned food (pressure canned food)


Thanks everyone, cheers!


I've been in dr. Offices and getting a new phone, so I needed something to ramble about today

 

[RjCorazza]

...
...gas construction type generators use so much fuel just for 5000w, I can easily store 100+ gallons of diesel and treat it for the tractor and "the generator "

This was a major reason for my switch to a pto generator 5 years ago. Storing and handling gas was a real pain. I generally store around 150 gallons of diesel for the mowers and tractor.

 

[Bansil]

I have 4 steel barrels from work, new just had coolant in them (its a synthetic oil that mixes with water at a mixing valve). Each on a hard wood pallet. Hand crank pump, fuel filter, water separator and typical pump handle.

So load one on the truck, fill 2 miles away, treat and store and use what is oldest 1st, atleast I will have a tractor, power and already have ammo and several range cards ready.

At a gallon a day to run the tractor working (once I get everything prepared) we should be gtg...

 

[fatjay]

As stated, full sized freezers and refers may only draw 100W or so when running. It's the startup that is difficult. My last refer needed a startup current of about 15 Amps, but only 1A when running. When firing up your genny, prob all of your large motors in the refers/freezers will try to start at once, so your initial current draw may be huge. Unless you manually turn them on one-at-a-time.

I have heard of slow-start kits to reduce the initial current draw for motors, but I have no experience with them. Others may opine.

Both my freezer and fridge are about 5 years old, but are soft start, so they don't need that big draw. My freezer is 24cu ft and holds half a cow.

 

[Bansil]

Did you add the capacitors yourself?