Generator PTO Generator

[khamill2000]

will a 16/15k pto generator be enough to power my house. Average size ranch house, propane furnace and water heater, electric stove and oven. would I be able to run multiple items. almost all of the lights are compact flourescent. This is what I am looking at

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

 

[jake98]

That looks like a good unit for the $. But every time the power goes out for 90 minutes do you want to spend 45 swapping equip.?
Jake

 

[vsteel]

Hit google and do a search for household power requirements or something like that and you will run across a ton of charts that list the power for things like water heaters furnaces and all kinds of things which you can then add up and show you what size of generator you need or how many items and which ones you can run at one time.

 

[JB4310]

I would say you could run the whole house at once, maybe not every burner and oven on at the same time as the H/W heater, but that's not usually done, except for thanksgiving diner. I would keep the hw heater off when cooking, all the lights in the house are not going to add up to much with the cf's, those heating appliances are big drawers but they do not require extra start up current like large motors do.
If your serious about getting a generator then you have to sit down and calculate the sum of all the demand you expect to draw.

Looks like a nice complete package with the carrier and shaft, I didn't even know HF sold gennys, might be a little leery of the quality. what will you be spinning it with? I bought a 10 kw Imd, now I wish I got the 15 kw, for the few extra bucks you get 50% more gen.
Here are some more name brands for sale.

PTO Generators

 

[zzvyb6]

If it takes you 45 minutes to hook up a pto generator, maybe you should buy some Red Bull or Monster. Good grief, Charley Brown, how long does it take you to put your shoes and underwear on ?????

Park the dang thing in a dog house behind the meter, back the tractor up, hitch the shaft, run the cable, throw the mains, and turn on the TV.

If getting the old Lady's help or permission to do the work is holding you back, move out...

 

[Mickey_Fx]

A question I'd be asking myself is, how often do you have the need for a genny and what is the avg amount of time it would be in use. Once you have those answers you can decide if you actually have the need to be running all your high power stuff at the same time or if running some items can be scheduled to reduce the peak demand.

Knowing the answer for freq and duration will give you some idea of the qlty of the genset. Some genset are intended to operate intermittently and their rated life could be in a few thousand hrs. Other genset are intended to operate 24/7 and can do so for extended periods of time.

Most all low end genset run at 3600 rpm (60hz) and as qlty and size increase you start finding genset operating at 1800 rpm. This is a noise and longevity concern in my book.

IMO lots more to think about than just power output.

YMMV

 

[jake98]

If it takes you 45 minutes to hook up a pto generator, maybe you should buy some Red Bull or Monster. Good grief, Charley Brown, how long does it take you to put your shoes and underwear on ?????

Park the dang thing in a dog house behind the meter, back the tractor up, hitch the shaft, run the cable, throw the mains, and turn on the TV.




I don't have to put shoes or underware on to get my generator running. That was the intended point of my post. Plus, if i was out moving snow when the power went out, I wouldnt have to run all of those extention cords and get them tangled in my tires.

I like a red bull during a long night of bellying up...

Jake

 

[RickB]

Everyone needs to remember its dollars vs. time and convenience. I have a PTO alternator that runs the whole house easily via a properly installed transfer switch, and for no more than I need it, I would not have anything else. I don't need the lights on in the house to plow the driveway. No need to get uppity about someone else's frugality or desire to have the most convenient installation.

 

[Travelover]

We've had a lot of good discussions about Harbor Freight and Chinese stuff in general so I won't rehash it, except to say that I'd be reluctant to buy anything Chinese that is categorized as emergency equipment. To me, a generator can be a lifesaver.

 

[WilliamBos]

We've had a lot of good discussions about Harbor Freight and Chinese stuff in general so I won't rehash it, except to say that I'd be reluctant to buy anything Chinese that is categorized as emergency equipment. To me, a generator can be a lifesaver.

I agree.

Wonder if this is China built??

John Deere products for homeowners: Features for Attachment Category 1 3-Point Hitch 10K PTO Generator

Green and yellow is spendy,but if it is good, may be worth a look.

Wallenstein also builds them.

 

[hr3]

All you need is 7 to 10 kw for what you are useing,,,the thing to look at is, unless your going to run cords from the 2 /20 amp. outlets you only have 1 / 30/ 120/240 volt outlet,,,the deere unit had a 40 amp..

30 amps is alot but not 15kw's worth it's only about 7.2 kw...

 

[Northland]

I calculated that I needed 8 KW for my home but the HF one is such a deal, with the 3 PT mount, that I would buy it.

A similar unit at Northern Tool, with less KW, would cost more then the HF unit and it doesn't come with the 3 PT mount.

Neither comes with the shaft but The short one required for the HF unit can't cost too much $.

 

[Licklog]

will a 16/15k pto generator be enough to power my house. Average size ranch house, propane furnace and water heater, electric stove and oven. would I be able to run multiple items. almost all of the lights are compact flourescent. This is what I am looking at

Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

Nice outfit but unless you have a lot of long power outages that is a lot of $$$$ to spend for a generator and unless you have easy access it would be a bear to setup.

I have a similar demand setup in my house:
Propane furnace
Propane fireplaces
Propane Range
Propane Hot water
Propane dryer

Refrigerator
Freezer
Well Pump
Lights, TVs, Ceiling fans

I cover any outage with a 7500/5500 watt gasoline generator with NO problems. The only thing I obviously cannot run is the air conditioner. Takes me less than two minutes to start the generator, connect the cable and throw two switches in my panel. The reverse for disconnecting.

I am planning to convert the gasoline generator to propane this fall.

 

[jake98]

You guys all want to avoid the obvious question because you want to see something spinning on the PTO. You got money burning a hole in your pocket.

If the power is out... you may need your tractor for other things.

Jake

 

[WilliamBos]

You guys all want to avoid the obvious question because you want to see something spinning on the PTO. You got money burning a hole in your pocket.

If the power is out... you may need your tractor for other things.

Jake

Not necessarily. Priority one, feed the woodstove while blowing out the driveway, and then hook up to the generator. Or if you have 2, you can do both at once.

 

[sandman2234]

I drooled over Steiner's 10KW generator setup for their lawnmowers, but they are more expensive than green and yellow. Then I found one on ebay where somebody had copied the Steiner, but used the 10KW head available from HF. I won the auction and shipped it here from Illinois, for about $600. I tried it out on the Steiner, and that was the last time it was run. Probably should drag it out again on a semi annual schedule just so the magnets don't loose their field charge.
I had kept a couple of old military 5Kw constant duty 1800 rpm generators out back, but got talked out of them this summer. They put out 110, 220, single and 3phase, so the new owner is happy. I was going to convert them to pto by removing the engine and installing a pillowblock bearing support with a pulley to run off the pto on my JD.
David from jax

 

[Northland]

Not necessarily. Priority one, feed the woodstove while blowing out the driveway, and then hook up to the generator. Or if you have 2, you can do both at once.

my sentiments exactly

 

[khamill2000]

All you need is 7 to 10 kw for what you are useing,,,the thing to look at is, unless your going to run cords from the 2 /20 amp. outlets you only have 1 / 30/ 120/240 volt outlet,,,the deere unit had a 40 amp..

30 amps is alot but not 15kw's worth it's only about 7.2 kw...

The HF unit has a 50 amp plug

 

[khamill2000]

I calculated that I needed 8 KW for my home but the HF one is such a deal, with the 3 PT mount, that I would buy it.

A similar unit at Northern Tool, with less KW, would cost more then the HF unit and it doesn't come with the 3 PT mount.

Neither comes with the shaft but The short one required for the HF unit can't cost too much $.

The HF unit DOES come with the shaft

I have a transfer switch already set up for a generator to be placed inside or next to my 45x100 quanset.

I currently have a 5k generator that I have to work on before I can use it each time. Usually about once or twice per year for several hours and for a day or 2 every 5-7 years. I don't fire it up at every little flicker, only when the power has been out for several hours and the wife starts complaining.

 

[RonMar]

Yep, not a lot of loads in your setup. I do this:

Refrigerator
Freezer
Well Pump
Lights(CFL's)
TV/satellite
Pellet Stove

quite easilly with a standalone 3KW diesel set. If I shutoff the garage feed which is the freezer and well pump, I can use 2 burners on the stove, OR the microwave to prepare meals.

I get hot water from the engine cooling system. I would need 7KW if I ran the electric water heater(4.5KW all by itself)... I don't need to mess with the tractor and I can have the house on generator power inside of 5 minutes when needed. It of course is all about preference, and I prefer a generator in a nice warm shed instead of my tractor droneing away unattended at PTO RPM out in the weather...