PTO Generator

[DarkBlack]

No way I'm going to leave a $20K tractor running full tilt 24/7 to power a house load. That's what $600 gas gens are for.
Besides, Do you really know if your tractor RPM's will hold perfect speed all night? How about when you leave during the day to go to work. No worries leaving your expensive tractor running full tilt? Not me. Besides, I usually need the tractor for storm clean up, when the gen's powering the house.

 

[Baby Grand]

Service stations don't run out of gasoline, nor do they run out of power.

Wrong.
They may not run out of power where you live, but most had no power here for 4 to 5 days, everything within a 50 mile radius, that is.
The ones that did have power had huge lines of cars waiting to get gas. And then they ran out of gas.
I'm not sure where the OP is located, but when the power went out here, almost all the pumps were closed, too.

 

[Recoveryhill]

Wrong.

Yea, well, there you go...another variable. I didn't take into account living on top of a bazillion people that can and will deplete supplies in a New York minute. Even then, if you're not heating with the generator, a couple of hours run in the morning and then a run from dusk until bed time at half a gallon an hour and 20 gallons in the hole will get you a few days. Here we got plenty of gas for quite some time in the ground and they all have a genset so once you cut your way through all the downed power poles on the way to the station, you're good.

 

[newbury]

I am a 6 day owner of a brand new Kubota B3300SU and I'd like y'all's thoughts and advice on a PTO generator. We've been meaning to buy a generator and now that we have the tractor, a PTO generator is an option. Pros, cons, tips, etc... Please.

It's a GREAT OPTION, but unless you find a great bargain it's still expensive.

The power head my be cheaper, but the power source (tractor) is more expensive to own and to run.

Actually the power head seems to be about the same price, but your not paying for the built in motor.

I'm a firm believer in generators, it keeps SWMBO from burning candles and the house. I've got a 6.5KW gas powered by a Honda engine. I've had it about 10 years and other than testing about every two months I've only had to use it once for about 8 hours elapsed time 1 hour run time. Thus I figure it cost me about $600 for that hour of use, or $60 per year for the insurance value.

But I'm moving to the mountains of Mississippi and the power goes out there more often and I figured I's need "more power". I'm trying to get a good diesel generator in the 10KW plus range. But I also bought an almost new Winco 12.5KW for $600 w/PTO shaft. My reasoning is that I've got two tractors but can only sit on one. The advantage is I can take it out in the woods and be pretty darn sure it will run, plus it only cost $600.

For the OP - unless you run across a GREAT deal start with a good gas generator with a Honda engine.

 

[Notforhire]

For the OP - unless you run across a GREAT deal start with a good gas generator with a Honda engine.

Not a bad suggestion IMHO.

In my previous post I mentioned that converting my gas generator to LPG was something I was thinking about.

LPG generators, while not as common as gas, are available. I happen to have a large LP tank in my yard to connect to, if you don't, 100lbs tanks are available. If your connected to natural gas, that's even better.

If your concerned about storing gasoline, LP could be an alternative. It doesn't spoil.

I have owned my 5KW Honda gas generator for about twenty years. In that time we have had several short outages, and a few that lasted about a week. Because I have a Z mower I generally have between 5 to 15 gal of gas on hand. I have never had a problem with bad gas, or running out of gas. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it hasn't for the last twenty years.

I seldom run the generator for more than a couple of hrs. at a time. While it's on, we take our showers, and run the heat up, and let the refrigerator do it's thing.

I can see uses for PTO driven units.

For me, to run my 55HP tractor at PTO speed when I only require 5KW is just not practical.
So much has to do with your own situation.

Best, Bill

 

[lsfish]

I have a 10K PTO generator and it is real nice. We have used it several times in winter power knockouts. I have it bolted down, pre-wired with a shaft sticking out of the building. Just back the tractor up and viola! It has been a life-saver (or at least preventing us from being dirty, cold, and hungry). Bear in mind that just a hot water heater draws close to 20 amps and think what all you want to run. And think about surge current draw as well. I think 5k units have their place but personally would not get less than 10K. All that said, I am moving to where I have no set place to put the gen so I am thinking of selling it or buying a trailer and mounting it, one of the two. Cats meow would be a dedicated 18-25k, 1800 RPM diesel gen in its own shed with the muffler piped outside.

 

[sdef]

I have an 8kw gas generator used to power the well pump, freezer, refrigerator, microwave oven, small battery chargers, etc. and I run it an hour or so at a time, several times day. It has worked out great and I stock pile ~ 65 gallons of gasoline in 5 gallon containers using Pri-G as the stabilizer. I used to store the fuel for 18 months and then cycle it through my vehicles at a 50 - 50, fresh - stored ratio, up to ~ 80%+ % stored and never noticed any difference in power using 10% ethanol fuel. I now cycle the fuel through my vehicles every 6 months or less to keep it fresher- just in case. Have also started storing non-ethanol added premium from Shell, as another step in a more positive storage environment.

We will be building a new place in a year or so and will have a built in, stand by generator, ~ 15 - 20 kw or so. I have yet to decide how to fuel it, but it will not be gasoline nor natural gas and will be diesel or propane, something I can depend upon when the pumps quit working in a long-term outage. I also vote for not using my only expensive tractor as the power source, although the price of that PTO genset is attractive and far less $ than what I will be doing. A friend has just purchased a small farm and it comes with a beater tractor, something that may be dedicated as a PTO genset power unit.

 

[buickanddeere]

Your tractor will carry 17Kw of continuous load. As generators are rated on the ragged edge, running a generator loaded to the max rated in hot weather for hours at a time is not recommend .
A 20Kw generator would be a minimum and even 25Kw is not out of line.

 

[EdwardB]

It's a GREAT OPTION, but unless you find a great bargain it's still expensive.



Actually the power head seems to be about the same price, but your not paying for the built in motor.

I'm a firm believer in generators, it keeps SWMBO from burning candles and the house. I've got a 6.5KW gas powered by a Honda engine. I've had it about 10 years and other than testing about every two months I've only had to use it once for about 8 hours elapsed time 1 hour run time. Thus I figure it cost me about $600 for that hour of use, or $60 per year for the insurance value.

But I'm moving to the mountains of Mississippi and the power goes out there more often and I figured I's need "more power". I'm trying to get a good diesel generator in the 10KW plus range. But I also bought an almost new Winco 12.5KW for $600 w/PTO shaft. My reasoning is that I've got two tractors but can only sit on one. The advantage is I can take it out in the woods and be pretty darn sure it will run, plus it only cost $600.

For the OP - unless you run across a GREAT deal start with a good gas generator with a Honda engine.

$600! That is a great deal. I'd love to run across one like that.